Not forgotten

Its been a while since we blogged. Not surprised really, life happens and things just sort of move on. It isn't front and center in your life. Job, family, bills, etc. But I have not forgotten.



Those children are in my heart and my mind every day. I think about them, I miss them. I wonder what they are doing.

I wonder if they have eaten today? Did they get to sleep through the night without worrying about their safety. Have they been hugged today? Have they been told that someone loves them?





Every time I look around at the excess that my family has, the toys my daughter just leaves on the floor, not to be touched or even looked at for days, maybe even weeks, I think of the little girl I saw who was playing with the tape reel of an old broken cassette tape and the boy playing with sticks, in the midst of so much trash. Those images stick with me.

I think about the school at CHO, where orphans and trafficked children live. A woman I met while we were there said she would love for each child to have their own soft, stuffed toy. They don't. My child has dozens.

Today when my daughter was playing outside in the water hose and her pool, I think of the children I saw playing in dirty water.

When I don't finish all my food, I think of the waste and wonder if those kids have eaten even once today.

I miss them.

I dont want to forget

Of all the things that I saw while I was in Cambodia, especially Poipet, the thing that bothered me the most, that I felt could be easily fixed was the abundance of trash everywhere. And I mean everywhere. It was disturbing. I understand that if the people are so desperate that they will sell their children so that they can eat, that they can not afford to pay for someone to take away their trash but seriously why wont the government do something about this problem? I hurt for the people that they do not even understand basic sanitation. The children live amongst this filth. As you can see from the first 2 pictures the children are having one of their school on the mat classes right in the middle of the trash and animal waste.

The Children

The children here are so beautiful. We have had so much fun visiting with them. They are everywhere. Yesterday when we visited one of the villages to see one of the sewing co~ops the children surrounded us like a little swarm. When we first arrived there were a few children and those few followed us to the back of the road to the sewing room. We talked a bit to the women sewing and when we turned around there were about 15 children! It was precious!

Here are a few pictures of some of the children we have seen while we have been in Poipet.

This boy was at the village where we were able to see “School on the Mat” in session. He was playing while some of the other children were in school.

Here he is again.

This tiny, tiny little girl was so shy. She would not look at me or smile. I just got lucky with this picture.

Are you noticing all of the trash that surrounds these children?

I think this is the sister of the little girl above. She was so sweet. She did smile at me!

Some of the children from “School on a Mat” singing a song with hand motions.

These are the same children from above doing one of their lessons.

The children are putting out the mat for school at a different village.

This is our friend Kip, an Australian man, here with the organization “Be a Hero”. He was playing Mouy, Mouy, Bee {Duck, Duck Goose} with the children!

The little boy was trying so hard to catch Kip!

These children live on the grounds at the hospital, we believe their parents work there.

Precious little man! So funny! It took him a while to warm up to us but once he did he followed us around and would push us and then laugh.

So pretty!

This boy is 7 years old, he has HIV, and his parents are dead.

School children.

Little poser!

Street girl playing with her toy zebra.

This precious girl lived in a village where there is a sewing school.

Isn’t she beautiful?

This little boy just tore my heart out! He is covered in little round sores all over his body. I am not sure what he has, someone suggested infantigo.

Look at that beautiful face, precious.

CHO projects

I am not sure how many of you have had a chance to visit the CHO website but yesterday we had an opportunity to visit some of the projects that CHO sponsors. CHO’s philosophy is a holistic one in that they desire to rebuild and restore Cambodia as a whole, and not just in this area or that area.

The process looks a bit like this:

A child is rescued in a myriad of ways {authorities bring them in, they are sent to CHO from people who know about the organization, referrals from hospitals, etc.} CHO will provide medical care, schooling {depending on the age of the child/person}, skill training {sewing, Moto-repair, agriculture and animal raising}, after the person graduates from skill training they will be given a micro loan to start their own business {they pay back the loan in 10 months} and CHO will follow up with them periodically throughout the year to make sure they are doing ok and if they need anything. Chomno’s vision {he is the Founder/Director of CHO} is to see the person through complete healing and restoration. His belief is that in order to break the cycle of poverty here that leads to trafficking in the first place is to give the person a future, an opportunity to provide for their current family or their future family that will lead to stability and a way for that family to rise out of their current poverty status.













Sewing School













Moto Repair School ~ young boys working on talking apart motors and putting them back together













School on a Mat













A school that CHO built!

CHO also supports staff that work at the local AIDS/TB clinic. The government provides the Doctors but does not provide a nursing staff to care for the patients or any kind of administrative staff. The government also does not provide food for the patients so whenever they take their medicine they used to get sick. CHO came in and now provides staff and food for the patients.













Hospital that CHO supports

We were able to visit all of these places and see what CHO does first hand. It is amazing the work they are doing here. The undertaking is so big and so overwhelming that Chomno can only do this by relying on the Lord. As I look around here I am so overwhelmed with the poverty, the need here is so big that I wouldn’t know where to start. But Chomno is a visionary. He sees Poipet 20-25 years down the road. He sees a Poipet that is healed and restored completely. He sees all of his children as working graduates with families of their own. He sees his elementary school as a University; he sees the streets of Poipet free of trash. He sees trafficking eradicated, and a fully staffed and funded hospital. He is amazing.

Cambodian Hope Organization

Tonight we had a chance to visit with CHO ~ the main organization we are considering partnering with ~ and learn a little bit about what they are about and why they do what they do. Did you know that Cambodia is only about 1% Christian? Please pray for this small team of people who are trying to rebuild Cambodia after the devastating Khmer Rouge.

They are doing amazing things here from a Safe House for Children who have been trafficked or are orphaned to School on a Mat. They want every child to have a chance at an education, even those whose families cannot afford the $20 per year that it takes to send a child to school.

Spend some time on their website and be praying for them. They are doing great things here, but there is a very very long way to go.

Good morning Cambodia!

Slept for 7 hour last night. That's awesome because it means I'm close to adjusting to the time change. It's a whopping 12 hours!

So I woke up this morning and saw Cambodia for the first time in the light. It is beautiful! It's also exotic. It doesn't look like anything in America. I really can't wait for the bus ride up to Poi Pet. I want to see more of this country.

Ate chicken fried rice for breakfast. Nothing says breakfast like fried rice :). We had a great time meditating and discussing Jesus quoting of Isaiah 61 in the temple at Nazareth (Luke 4:16). What does it mean to preach good news to the poor, and release to captives, and comfort the oppressed. This is the Gospel and it is meant to be applied spiritually AND physically. In Jesus' kingdom there will be no oppression, slavery, poverty of any kind. Our goal today is to be as best we can the presence of Jesus. What a daunting task. I truly feel poor in spirit.

The fired rice was awesome, by the way. So far the most interesting thing, however, has been the people. They are so warm and friendly. And they all ride motorcycles. Literally, it's like swarms of motorcycles. No helmets not pads, just a man with his motorcycle and his girl riding side saddle. But I've really enjoyed watching the people so far and trying to figure out how they relate to one another. On the way from the airport, we saw groups of young men randomly camped out in circles on the side of the road. Our tuk tuk driver (a rickshaw attached to a motorcycle...not a creature from Star Wars) told us that's what they do to hang out. They just go sit somewhere and will even sleep there on the side of the road. That's crazy! But it makes sense to them.

We're leaving for Poi Pet in just a bit but not before I get a massage! Yep, that's right. A massage. I've been told the most important thing is to make sure you tell the masseuse, "No happy ending please." I'm glad someone told me that before. That would have been a little awkward.

In the meantime, I'm also going down to the market to buy some sandals and maybe a shirt. There's a "look" here in Cambodia. All the men where a tan or white shirt, jeans, and sandals. Right now I don't have that "look". I'm going to try go recreate it without getting abducted or robbed. Here goes.

JD