Fat and flourishing

I love the fruit in this nation. Mangosteen are my very favourite - orange-sized purple balls containing tangy sweet/sour little white segments that are designed to crown any fruit salad.

Also high on my list of fruit goodies is the jackfruit. Now this is no little bitty fruit. Think water melon in size, growing up a 30-foot tree. We have two of these trees on our Healing Home property and over 40 of these delightful monsters are in the process of becoming a very welcome dietry addition. At a good average weight of 3.5-4kg we will not be short of jackfruit for a while!

The wonder of a jackfruit-laden tree - protected by Selena's prayer from the 'local junior mafia' (in Adrian Meston's words) whilst the Healing Home was closed over Khmer New Year

See-ya Slenny

We had just 24 hours with Selena before she headed for home via Melbourne last night. She has been absolutely amazing in her five weeks here, covering for us in the Healing Home. We have so laughed and rejoiced at her happy stories and many adventures in this time. She can leave with her head held high!

Selena at the ANZAC Day dawn service - in Phnom Penh.

Apart from her huge competence in overseeing the Healing Home (and falling deeply in love with the staff!) she has achieved an amazing amount of things - including learning to navigate this city far better than many motodop drivers that my friends have had the misfortune to travel with! There was a day with World Vision, new-to-us restaurant discoveries, visiting the Kelly's community and school project, Mekong cruising, the tragic killing fields and Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (and that included giving the motodop boy directions on how to get there!!) and a major, blessed time with the dentist (the blessing is in the almost pain-free cost from a most competent NZ-trained dentist here).

She took our staff out to dinner, made great friends with Australian Kerry Norman and bonded with New Life Fellowship Church. Tuktuk Kim loves her so much that he took to phoning her randomly to ask 'madam, would you like to go somewhere today?'

So, until next time, Slenny. Orkun chraan!

We're back

Goodbye to Aotearoa once again

After a more than full one month away in Australia and NZ, Sue and I returned to Cambodia two days ago. Since we can to 'spy out the land' in September 2006, this was my sixth landing at Phnom Penh airport.

There is always a mixture of excitement and trepidation in coming back here. I find that the tuktuk ride back in from the airport is a good time to settle into the land again - the heat, the smells, the 10,000 visual impacts of people going about life in this nation of Cambodia.

This time, the tuktuk ride did not disappoint. The city had been deluged with rain and the streets were knee-deep and better in swirling waters. Glorious chaos reigned, with cars, motorbikes and even trucks stalled and stuck in flood waters. Flooding flowed into shops, homes, businesses - it was all pretty messy.

Our hapless tuktuk guy stalled and spluttered with the best of them - maybe six times I helped him push the machine through the flooding. 90 minutes of fun and Susie's running commentary and we made it home to a happily waiting Selena. Yay!!

Fun in the flooding

We have a Selena!

How long is 26 years in your life? That's a full half lifetime for me - and that is how long this lady has been our good friend.

Selena arrived yesterday to step into the gap - as Sue and I leave for Aussie and NZ on Monday for a month away. About six months ago we made contact with Selena and asked her if she would please come and cover this time - and her answer must not have been a 'no' ...

Susie and Selena in catch-up yak mode

Actually, she tells a neat story. She says that she had been talking some to the Lord and telling Him that she was ready to step forward ... that whatever she was invited to do, she would say 'yes' to. Our email arrived a day or two later! Who was it who coined the phrase about 'it is not our ability that God looks for, but our availability'. There is a lot of truth in that one. In Selena tho' we receive the best of both worlds - a hugely capable person; a skilled nurse and a huge lover of people.

So, we are getting her up to speed. She has experienced a mango-banana-passionfruit home-made smoothie, a decent power cut, a motodop ride and two days in the Healing Home. We have three more days to give her additional survival skills before she swims in her new environment.

KK@HH

The Kids Klub continues to put some holy chaos into our week. These last couple of weeks we have dropped back from twice (Tues; Fri) to just Fridays. The little darlings are reasonably full on - but it is great.

One thing we have observed is just how incredibly fast the kids are to learn a song and dance routine. Our girls will literally present a song once - and a group of kids will eagerly jump up front and do it word-perfect.

Sypho leading the story content last Friday. This culture is very geared to story-telling. A whole lot of information and theory will not touch the surface of the Cambodian soul - stories are their language!

Snack time - you just have to love these kids!

Singing to Jesus. The girl on the right is a natural leader, a natural sportswoman - and never in school. By day she cares for little brother while mum and dad are working. We will look to talk with some good folk when we return here in late April to see if we can see her get a good education.

Sreymom

We have a new girl on the team! Well, almost new - this is already week 4 for Sreymom. She was reasonably close to quitting on Day 1 - the day that Daa and his horrific bed sores entered the Healing Home. But, she's a regular trooper and fitting in great.

Jesse, the pastor at New Life Fellowship here, originally recommended Sreymom to us back in August. She was maybe just a little shy back then and Chantol came on board instead. Now 'little sister' Chantol has landed a business job with our Aussie buddies Mark and Jo Dennert - she's studying business at nightschool and was always upfront with us about her future goals.

Sreymom visiting with Nget at Sihanouk Hospital yesterday - in the ward next to Daa. This tiny lady has been vomiting for two months. Susie again prevailed with the hospital to get her admitted. Today she was sitting up in bed with a huge smile. She is eating now and stopped vomitting.

And as regards Daa, someone gets to visit him most days. Today he has undergone a six-hour operation for those bed sores. I was at the blood clinic today to contribute one of the three units of blood needed for this op to be able to go ahead. In all of this we are building a good relationship with hospital staff and management too. This particular hospital especially cares for the poor and does not charge patients. They do well.

As for Sreymom, she has the essential quality of a ready sense of humour and a real high responsibility ethic. We love her lots.

A sign and a wonder

Remember the tale about 'a good car accident' the other month?

I was coming home from another lie-in at the dentist's today (any-one for a root canal??) and came across this Lexus.

Now, rules of the road here say that the only thing superior to a Lexus is ... a Lexus with 'police' number plates (of which there are plenty!). But ...

Check this out - if this was a stamp and you were a stamp collector, this wee item would be worth a quad-zillion!

... yes, lo and behold, I have discovered my first 'saved' police Lexus. Seeing has to be believing - right??