Abandon house!

Left, right and centre - top pic, we have the wedding in progress; 'kitchen' is in the foreground. Middle pic is party 2 - and right outside our front door is the chuka-chuka-chuka generator!

Weather-wise, the last couple of months have been mostly wonderful. Global warming which buried Europe under snow and shut down a hunk of eastern USA has also blessed us with wonderfully cooler temperatures. It makes such a difference, not living in a private, sweaty bath day after day.

However - and there is a however - this is also wedding season, housewarming season and generally 'let's roll out the tent on the street and have a party' season. There are plenty of businesses here that do just that - raise up a tent outside the hirer's house (they do it in sections, so it can be 5 metres long; it can be 45 metres long), fill the tent with chairs and tables; then raise up a second tent that operates as kitchen central. No street-party is complete without a generator and a sound system that is amped to shake the moon.

On Wednesday we saw that a double-blessing was coming our way. We were sandwiched in, with parties happening left and right - and generator outside the front door. I think there was a wedding to the left and a business-blessing party to the right. That was a serious party - a good 30 metres of tent there. I had to walk my little spider scooter through the middle of that gathering to get to work, as that's just not good form to do in a wedding tent!

Thursday started bright and early - 4.46am to be reasonably exact. Party 1 sound sytem kicked in with a yodelling monk. The amplifier was set at a modest 110 decibels. A couple of minutes later and Party 2 fired up their system. Party 1 still had plenty of knob-wind on their decibel dial. The competition was on. Sue was less than delighted.

We survived that night ok. Parties must not be hurried. Friday night, and the speakers were getting tested for maximum bass output. Sue had this hunted, haunted look in her eyes, like a lady not to be messed with. We abandoned house - off to friends who live just far enough away to be safe. Ahh, the serenity!

The fight for Saroun

These last 10 days hav been very difficult for a sweet young lady, Saroun. She is just 35 years old and suffering from serious heart failure. Sue's guess is that she has had high blood pressure for a couple of years at least, leading to heart enlargement and her present condition.

Saroun came to us with her sweet, poor village mum. Eight nights ago Saroun went into unconsciousness, resulting in a mid-night dash to an ICU. We got her back the next day and have continued to care for her. However, today Sue rightly judged that she was too sick to continue with us as we continue to live under the 'no dying permitted' ultimatum.

We succeeded in having her transferred thru' to CSI, a most excellent Christian clinic here in Phnon Penh. Now, CSI believe that her heart is so weak, it is unlikely she can continue to live. Late this afternoon Saroun has been taken by ambulance back to her home, about four hours from here. It is tough.

Sue with Saroun last night. We moved her into the front room so that our other patients did not get too disturbed.

Happy hearts

That would be us - happy happy as we see grace at work among the folk who come to our home. Meet our present patients - and let me tell you a little of what is happening with them:

Here is Heng - the man who fell from a building site and has been paralysed from the waist down. From weeks of weeping in despair, Heng is now so animated, talkative and hope-filled. He has had two years of schooling in his life - but found that he could read the Bible. He reads it - out aloud - pretty well every day and sometimes for hours. He is just now able to get out and about in a wheelchair too (below).

Bin, Yun, hubbie and Kon who are all with us at the mo. Bin has liver disease and Yun is now minus a piece of foot from a bad diabetic sore. Kon and her husband can smile too, despite a terrible ordeal that they are in the midst of that I can't speak about on this blog.

Meet Yart - the lady who came to us to recover from an op. She was such an anxious little lady when she first arrived two week ago. Some real good stuff has happened in her heart as well as in her body - here she is just as she was about to head home yesterday.

Silent night

The parties are over and everyone has gone home. For the first time since about July, the Bonnevie hospitality pad has altogether emptied, leaving Sue and I home alone and thoroughly disorientated.

Christmas lunch - Frank (he's the bloke mostly hidden behind his wife Allie) runs Caterhelp; a restaurant and catering company. We contracted them for the lunch - which included Frank- hand-carved turkey and lamb. That's the Roberts at the table too, and good friends Mark and Jo Dennert who are doing brilliant work here in business training and counselling. In the background - the great bit of art given to us last Christmas by Sopheap, and painted by her father. We cleared out our furniture to get four tables into our downstairs room - no worries!

It has been a fun and active month that has included two home invasions - a mid-week staff Christmas party over lunchtime and a Christmas Day celebration that succeeded in getting 30 people into our place. Present on Christmas Day were the Scott family from Christchurch (Donald, Janice and sons x 4 and fiance x 1) and the Roberts family from New Plymouth (Craig, Loretta, Sophie and Katie) - plus assorted Kiwis, Aussies, three Khmer and one American .

Staff Christmas lunch (sorry Donnie; terrible pic of you but I wanted to get baby Naan!) - top - and pressies time. Rather than girlie smellies, we changed things around for gifts this year and gave money for them to buy what they wanted. There were two motorcyle helmets, clothing, shoes, a streaky hair-do, handbag, teddybear and other assorted goodies in their choices!

Donald, Janice and family stayed at a flat a couple of kilometres from us during their two-week family time here in Phnom Penh. They headed out to Vietnam early on Boxing Day. Craig, Loretta and girls left us that afternoon for Aussie. Susie promises not to go anywhere ....

Mum in the sun

Actually, my dear mother has been trying hard to keep out of the sun since landing in Cambodia 13 days ago. It's a sweet 31 degrees most days here now - just a bit warm for a girl who has spent the last months in a Taranaki winter.

We are having such a good time together, even tho' things have been pretty intense from the time she arrived. There has been a bit of custard to negotiate with a serious visit at the Healing Home from some local authorities, but we'll not go there on the blog! In 42 hours (yes, that would be me counting down ...) we plan to head to the coast for 3 days of r+r with her.

Mum heads off with us most mornings to be with our patients. They love her and Heng has asked for her by name to pray for her one morning when she did not show. My mum is a real good sport too - at 77 years old, she's had her first and second spin on the back of a motorbike. Just two weeks left and so much to still introduce her too - why does time move on so relentlessly??

Mum with our 'precious' - little Naan whom we first met as a 3-month old weighing 1.2kg. Now adopted by Donnie and Sophea, Naan has started to walk right on normal development time! She is bright and happy - a true miracle kid.

Wedding shoes

It is well known that impossibility defined is to understand a woman.

One of the great mysteries to mankind has to be - what is it with women and shoes?? For example, this Saturday Sue and I attended William's marriage to Prum. The first part of the wedding ceremony is called the 'fruit walk'. This happens early in the morning, whereas the afterdo celebration happens in the evening.

William led the fruitwalk procession to the church, riding on an elephant. I was so taken with the elephant that I later realised that I did not have one single pic of either William or his bride. But I do have a pic of the little lady's shoes!

Cambodia's sadness

Footbridge to Koh Pich, an island in Phnom Penh that has recently been developed as a function centre and entertainment area. The final night of the annual Water Festival had drawn a huge crowd for a night of free entertainment. There is a larger vehicle bridge maybe 200 metres from this footbridge.

Whilst New Zealand has been greatly sadenned by the mining tragedy at Pike River, Cambodia has been rocked by a bizarre disaster that has killed close to 500 people. An evening of celebration and fun inexplicably turned to carnage when a crowd crossing a footbridge turned into a senseless panic. In the demonic stampede, people were stacked up to seven high. Hundreds are still in hospitals with crush injuries, including the brother of one of our staff. The three cousins he was with all died.

Out of the senseless horror of this night has emerged so many stories of God warning His kids away. I have heard tale after tale among people we know - including 'our' Sreymom who was warned by a friend on that night 'do not go on that bridge - walk down to the other bridge'.

Just yesterday Bhopal, who directs the 'Centre of Peace' children's home, told me an amazing story. Three groups of the older children were heading to Koh Pich. One group changed their mind when they got there, and went to the Riverside. The second group decided to go home early and walked over the bridge just 10 minutes before the disaster. The third group was just three girls, all aged 16 years. They stepped onto the bridge, felt uneasy, and stepped off. After a bit they again stepped on the bridge. Again, they felt uneasy for no apparent reason. A third time they stepped forward - and that was when the disaster unfolded just ahead of them. Bhopal positively glowed in gratitude to God as she shared about how He had protected her girls!

This is Cambodia. There will be no commission of enquiry. To their credit, the government have made US$1250 payments to the families of every deceased person as well as promising to cover all hospital bills. To his credit, the prime minister openly wept on television. Over 360 people died on the night, plus a further 90+ died of injuries in hospitals up to five days ago. That number is still rising. Weeping parents spoke of how this was like Pol Pot era revisited - searching for their family members amongst hundreds of laid-out dead bodies.

Even a human stampede amongst the millions at Mecca some years ago did not produce the intensity of death that little Cambodia produced on a little footbridge. It is a stunning tragedy for this nation.