Stopping for the one

Usually we work with children and families but sometimes God just puts the one in front of us that needs special care and attention. Let me tell you about ‘Pamela’.

Pamela is in her 50s and is a sweet, precious lady.  We met her when we started doing outreach on a certain street area in Phnom Penh.  She started coming to our kids club and loved listening to our stories about God and being prayed for by our team.

Pamela had lived on the streets for a number of years, has no contact with any family members and was struggling with various addictions.  We were very concerned about her health and welfare due to her being so vulnerable.

After much persistence and encouragement from our amazing Khmer staff, Pamela agreed to go to a Christian rehab earlier in March.  When they arrived, two other ladies whom we have also placed there started sharing their testimonies of how Jesus has begun to heal and restore them and how kind the staff are.  Pamela was so impressed that she agreed to stay immediately!  We are so excited to see the transformation that will take place in Pamela’s life.  

Children back in the classroom!

I was reminded by my parents that I haven't posted on my blog for some time..so I thought this would be a good opportunity to share some good news stories from Phnom Penh!

One of the families we have been building a relationship with in the slum had some good news earlier this month.  Dad is the sole carer of five children and he works a hard but poorly paid job in construction to provide for his family’s needs.  The older children had been attending the local government school but stopped going when their Mum was sent to prison last year.

One of our partner organisations had a sponsor already in place.  Three weeks ago our staff advocated on behalf of the family to help get the children back into school at Dad’s request. 

We were all delighted when the older children started going to school again a couple of days later complete with new school uniform, school bags and supplies!  The youngest child will be cared for in the slum community by a neighbour whilst Dad is at work and her older siblings are at school.  The sponsor’s money will be used to help pay towards rent for the family and ensuring the children remain studying as Dad does not earn enough money to cover all the bills, especially in Mum’s absence.

Here's a photo of the children in our centre in the slum proudly wearing their new uniform..sorry I can't show their faces!