Our favourite kid

Kov (pronounced similar to 'cow') continues to bounce around our home. I grew up on 'Winnie the Pooh' (and so did our kids) - so I can readily spot a Tigger. Incredibly, this little 12 or 13 year old guy (no-one really knows) is a bouncing Tigger every day.

We've talked a bit about this little guy earlier - how he comes from a really poor family; an older brother who died needlessly last year from worm infestation; a raging alcoholic father and other kids at home who have a horrible life. That Kov can have such bounce and fun every day is just incredible.

Always busy, he has constructed every wheeled device known to boys out of the blocks we have here. That is Sreyda behind him.

Always wanting to learn something, this week it is 'I want to learn to ride a bike'. He's such a social little guy who is ever keen to do things with others, whoever might be keen to play ...

We won't let him go home, as his parents do not want him. A Khmer friend who comes from the same village visited his parents last week to talk with them about their son. He told me 'if you see how they live, you would cry. Every night they fight and yell so much, even tearing their clothes off each other until they are naked'.

We're still looking for a good home for Kov - and until that happens, it is just delightful having him around. His brain should be stunted from years of malnourishment, but he's actually really smart and constantly learning. At this time he's a sponge for English language. Bunthorn is his main teacher. 'Good morning, how are you?' is our daily greeting. He'll ignore a response in Khmer - he's got to hear 'I am fine - and how are you?'

Working the angles

Cutting the corners is everyday normal here. It is far from adviseable to be sitting like a lame duck in the middle of the road waiting for a gap, so taking the first available gap, even if you are 50 metres from the corner, is simply the way things happen on the little moto.

The same skills are often used by cars too. When you get to truck size, it is a little trickier ...

Woopsie - remember, traffic is (mostly) on the right here. My best guess is that the blue truck, carrying a load of watermelons, cut across at around 30 degrees and hit the brakes when he suddenly saw the Camry car. Unfortunately, that big white truck, laden with rice sacks and trundling down Monivong Boulevard, was not going to stop in half a metre ...

A few recent pics ...

High excitement - Donnie organised a couple of tuktuks to take our patients to the fireworks display on the final night of Khmer New Year. They were so excited all day in anticipation of this event!

Room with a view - we slept upstairs in the Healing Home for a couple of days over Khmer New Year, as most of our staff were away on holiday. Here is the view from the balcony - of one of my favourite buildings in Phnom Penh. Note the chooks bottom left - there is a rooster in full working condition amongst there, to!

Kiwi girl - this sheepskin went thru' the wash and came out in four or five pieces. Sreyda uses it every day to help allieviate pressure sores - so here is my multi-talented Susie administering a bit of healing to the poor old skin

IT Central

I popped into church yesterday looking for some mail - and saw an interesting sight:


So I followed the lead, so to speak ....

This is Karen Hanna, an Aussie who is the administrative hub of teams; when, where, who, what etc. She tells me that a very healthy virus has established residency in the NLF IT system; that they can get on-line (kind of) by mornings but the plugs are pulled every afternoon whilst war is waged. At least Karen can keep smiling!!

Surprising turn

Happy now and heading out to a new future - Phiong and baby Ritsar leaving yesterday

Our little lady had set her heart - she was returning to the only life that she knew at slumsville central. As miserable as it is, that has been Phiong's security.

Katrina, a fine lady who works to see single mums make good choices for their baby, said 'fine - we'll take you to your old home - and we will take you to the community that has other single mums too, just so that you can see what it is like'. Pulling into slum central, the old landlord was not a bit happy to see her. He had no hovel for her to rent whatsoever. Moreover, the ladies in the slum started to give her a hard time, saying that she was crazy not to take the opportunity for a better future; that they were poor and had no help to give her. Phiong was snotted. Wheels were wobbling in her world.

24 hours later and she was better than fine - heading out to a simple Khmer community where she will share a room with another single mum and receive training to support herself and Ritsar. We are amazed and thrilled - here was a non-drinking horse at a water trough who has been turned by a set of God-circumstances!

To keep

Phiong has decided to keep her little treasure. She has named her Ritsar (Khmer for 'to keep') and Ritsar looks to be very happy with mum's decision. She is an incredibly settled, contented wee baby who rarely cries and often sleeps!

This coming week will be big decision time for Phiong. She has a wonderfu opportunity to go to a Hagar women's home and to be taught new skills and have Ritsar in childcare. However, poverty does terrible things to the capacity to envisage a better future. Phiong is talking in terms of returning to both her slum hovel and labouring on buildings and roads. For little Ritsar to have a better future, we need to see mum turn.

Ritsar weighing in at 2.9kg on my 'fish scales'. To the right of the scales is a Cambodian life essential - the humble mosquito-frying electrified bat.

Testimonies

Built into every testimony is the expectation - God will do it again. What we are seeing is a gentle stream of good happenings that we thank God for. Thorn was our latest. A very anxious lady, she had a dream three nights ago of Jesus telling her 'there is nothing the matter with you any longer'. The following morning (this Tuesday) she had an appointment at the clinic and heard the doctor repeat the same words.

Jealousy is a very big issue here. Therefore, learning to rejoice with others in their good news, rather than defaulting to jealousy, is a very necessary learning curve in the Christian community. We had a fantastic opportunity to rejoice yesterday when Pam told us her fresh testimony. The details, as I understand them, concerned a lady who had a broken ankle that had never been correctly set, plus a stroke that had paralysed her down the right side. She lives in a shack on a local dump. I understand the ankle situation goes back two years - the stroke maybe not quite as long.

Pam prayed for her a few days ago, and she was instantly healed - bang. Pam then took her to a clinic to check things out. Pam and the lady were known at this clinic, so as soon as Pam pulled up, staff went to get a wheelchair. 'No need' says Pam - as her lady literally ran into the building and started to shout 'Jesus has healed me'.

Pam - at my recent birthday with gifts wrapped in riel (Cambodian currency - each note is like 3c!) Pam is more dangerous than first appearances - she seems to be this sweetest, easy going Pom. I asked her if she had a tape recording of her prayer! She says that she simply asked Jesus to reveal His love to the poor, helplessly desperate lady and then prayed something real simple. How good is that!

Easter baby!

En route to Kep on Good Friday, we received a text from Sopheap: Phiong had gone into labour. Kim, our trusty first-choice tuktuk man, took her to the maternity hospital at 8.20am. Less than two hours later, the 2.9kg little lass arrived.

Our yet-to-be-named little one. Phiong is looking to keep her wee daughter, with help from an organisation that we have connected her with. Hopefully the way ahead will become clearer tomorrow when she meets with the head lady.

R'nR

If it has been a bit quite on the blog lately, it is because we headed south to Kep over Easter. Khmer New Year is almost upon us, when the nation all but closes up for a week whilst people head to their families. Most of our Healing Home staff will be heading off too, so we thought that we would hitch a lift with Graeme and Sue Taylor and take an earlier break.

If Christmas is almost invisible in Cambodia, then Easter is wholly invisible. Even within the Christian community, Khmer New Year gets 25x the airplay compared to Easter. In the leadup to Good Friday we spent time to explain to our patients - and staff - of the significance of this season.

We hired a couple of motos for a day for a tiki-tour. This pic is on a hill overlooking Kep and up the coastline towards the town of Kampot 23km away. We took the motos into Kampot, a quaint pretty run-down town that was formerly the French governing centre for this area of south Cambodia.

Susie relaxing after dinner at the Verandah - a place with a great sunset view

Undercover Kiwi