Little Lilian

Our Khmer staff team came into contact with a little girl called Lilian (not her real name). Lilian does not come to our centre but we heard that her elderly and sick Grandma felt she could not care for Lilian any longer and so was asking for help. Lilian is beautiful, is disabled, unable to meet any of her own needs and has not walked for a long time.

Our staff went to visit Lilian and her Grandma regularly to build up trust and relationship.  We quickly realised that there was nobody safe in the family to care for Lilian for the long term.  Grandma was doing the best job she could but she was struggling and knew she could not sustain her care for Lilian for very long. 

We took food, clothes and toiletries to help Grandma in her care of Lilian while we looked for help.  Grandma told us that she had been offered about $50 for Lilian by somebody wanting to 'help' (highly likely to be a trafficker) ..thankfully Grandma said 'no' and waited for true help to come. 

Another Christian organisation offered to help as they have a safe home for children.  After much prayer and continued visits, the government social worker came to assess the situation and agreed that Lilian could be moved and signed the necessary documentation.

A few days ago with Grandma's blessing and the government's approval, Lilian moved into her safe home smiling...and walking!!

The Locust Effect

I have many heroes...some known to many, many unknown to most. One of my heroes known to many in the work of justice is Gary A. Haugen who set up International Justice Mission (IJM) after witnessing the devastation caused by the Rwandan Genocide.  IJM partners with local law enforcement and authorities to get people out of slavery, bring criminals to justice and see people formerly victims now live free lives.

After working with and on behalf of the poor and oppressed for many years, Gary has come to the conclusion that the biggest problem in undermining efforts to end poverty is often hidden, everyday violence. He calls it the 'Locust Effect' and you can read more on http://www.thelocusteffect.com.

As I get to know more people in Cambodia, along with my experience in other nations previously (including the UK) and as our team 'digs deeper', my heart resonates with Gary's view.

Let me tell you about Betty (not her real name). We know Betty and her children and the family lived in a shack until parents missed rent payments.  The landlord came and used physical violence on both parents in front of the children, took their home away and most of their few belongings and much needed medication.  When we were asked for help we wanted to be wise and not make the situation worse (and as a leader not wanting to endanger my staff!) We also knew that doing nothing was not an option either and neither was it helpful to approach the police.

After some prayer we felt to speak to the landlord and negotiate on Betty's behalf.  It helped that he seemed surprised that we were speaking with him as I think we caught him off guard.  After we offered to pay off Betty's debts, the landlord agreed to give back the family's possessions and medication. Betty collected her things, stood tall, gave us a big smile and went on her way.

Did we change the system?  No.  

Did we make a difference in one family's life?  Yes.  

My prayer?  That next time the landlord faces the same situation he will think twice and find a peaceful solution.  And that he'll spread the word.  And that Betty will remember that God is on her side.

As Gary says let's take a stand against everyday violence and see it squashed....one person at a time.

An extraordinary day!

On the way to work one day last month I felt God say to me that today was going to be an 'extraordinary day'.  I hoped that it might mean I'd meet Mr Right or receive a life time supply of Dairy Milk chocolate....but no it was something else!

There has been a family known to some of our staff through their church who there were particular concerns about given their vulnerability.  We’re going to call them the Hong family.

In the week leading up to this ‘extraordinary’ day there were roadworks close to the area where some of our children from our centre live…so when taking them home in our centre tuk tuk we have had to drive a different way (I don’t drive it don’t worry!)  So on that particular day the staff member driving was somebody who knew the Hong family.   

This staff member shared with me when getting back to the centre that they thought that they had seen the Hong family on the street just sitting there.  So we got on the moto and off we went.

Sure enough when we arrived we saw the Hong children and mother.  The children were so happy to see somebody they knew and wanted to be hugged for a long time.

Mother Hong was sitting there looking very low, with 3 young children and with small bags with all her worldly possessions in them.  They were close to an area known for Western paedophiles having easy access to children.

We were able to take the family back to our centre where they could eat, shower, talk and play.  I think the children thought all of their Christmas’s had come at once with the amount of toys they had to play with!

A long story short but our staff were able to make sure that the Hong family were taken to a safe place and agreement was sought that longer term work would be undertaken by the church the family is linked to. 

What I love about this story is that our staff would not have seen the Hong family if the usual route had been available and if the usual staff member was driving.  And we got to the family before anybody wanting to harm the children had appeared.  Truly an extraordinary day and proof of the care that God gives His children…thank you God!

Persistence pays off

Its been a while (6 months) since I've blogged.  But God has been reminding me about the good news stories that I need to share.  Hopefully these stories will give you a bit of a flavour of the work I'm involved in.

This post isn't about mine or my team's persistence...its about a lady we met in the slum. We'll call her Florence.

Florence has a toddler who is too young to come to our centre so they are not a family we know well.  On a few occasions when we have been visiting families in the slum, Florence asked us for help.  She wanted to leave her violent drug using partner.  

Having been warned by the police when we have tried to help a previous family where domestic abuse was a big issue, we knew we could not take her to an organisation without her partner's permission.  We knew neither her partner nor the Village Chief would give their permission to allow her to leave. So we prayed.  And she persisted in asking for our help.

Eventually Florence and her child were kicked out of their home (shack in the slum) by her partner’s family.  Florence ended up living on the street and then taken in by a ‘charity’ whose advice was that she should give her baby up for adoption and go and sex work.  I cannot even begin to imagine what sort of set up this ‘charity’ is.

Thankfully Florence had given her telephone number to our Lead Outreach worker and so when we found out we were able to call her.  As she’d left the slum/been kicked out, we didn’t have to stick to the cultural ‘rules’ of needing consent from her partner and the Village Chief.

Instead our Outreach Worker made lots of telephone calls to various agencies to see who could help.  One came to visit her at our centre but there was some red tape involved and they couldn’t make a decision for a few days. We knew that we needed to act fast in order to prevent Florence from feeling like she had no option other than to follow the ‘charity’s advice.  We continued to pray.

Suddenly at 4.15pm an agency said they’d take Florence and her baby if we could get her there by 5pm.  Thankfully Phnom Penh is not a huge city and we got her there in time.  It turned out to be a refuge where Florence and her baby would be safe and she was offered accommodation, training and support in order to rebuild her life. As we left Florence gave us a smile…it was the first one I had ever seen her give.  Smiles are definitely my favourite ‘thank you’.  And prayer works.  And persistence pays off.

Liz, do we need to buy a Christmas tree?

This was a question posed to me by one of our amazing Khmer staff this week.  He wanted to know if we should buy a Christmas tree for our childrens' day centre.  Of course the British in me wanted to say 'yes of course' but then I thought again.  My Khmer staff member and I had a chat about Christmas and when I remarked that Christmas trees are not mentioned in the Bible he looked a little confused!

So we went online and looked at the history of Christmas trees and how the tradition developed.  We also talked about the birth of Jesus as written in the Bible.  And we had a good discussion about what Christmas is really all about and traditions that people have and don't have. 

Its not that traditions are bad in themselves as they can actually be quite helpful for people. But I realised that in order for our children to get excited about Christmas they needed to understand that it shouldn't be seen as a 'white people's celebration' with the emphasis on Father Christmas, santa hats, decorations and Christmas trees.  

What Christmas really is about is the gift of Jesus with the hope, love and joy that He brings in the midst of suffering. 

Remembering that Jesus was born into a poor family, in a room where animals made their home and then as a young child Jesus and His earthly parents became refugees in order to escape the genocide you realise that the children we work with can really identify with Jesus.  

And that is what we need to be sharing with our children in Cambodia this Christmas.  (But yes we do have a Christmas tree in my house:)

Tears of sadness and a heart of joy

Whilst the majority of our work is with the children and their families who attend the day centre we help run, sometimes we meet others whom it just seems that God has put in our path to be able to help and love them well.  "Esther' (not her real name) was one just like that.

Our team had gone on outreach to visit some of the families as they usually do some afternoons.  And they saw Esther. Heavily pregnant, disabled and abandoned on the streets by her partner, Esther was very vulnerable.  

In fact others who live on the streets actually approached our team to say how concerned they were about her.  Yes they also live on the streets but they could see she was extra vulnerable.  Our team gave her food and water and were able to help get her to hospital before her baby was born.

Within hours of her baby being born Esther had been offered 200U$ for her baby.  That is £128. For a new born baby.  A baby who had yet to be named.  Still in the hospital.  The future for a baby sold really does not bear thinking about.  Maybe the baby would have gone to live with a couple who wanted children but couldn't conceive. But far more likely the baby would have been sold to people who would use and abuse a baby. 

Thankfully through Esther's decision and the kindness of another charity we were able to place Esther and her baby in a safe place. And even more thankfully, through working with another charity and a miracle from heaven we were able to help reunite Esther and her baby with her family recently. Esther and her now named baby are safe and well. 

As I write this, I have tears in my eyes and joy in my heart. Tears of sadness that a baby's life can be worth so little and yet a heart of joy that we were in the right place at the right time...a co-incidence...no...a God-incidence....yes. Sadness that people are preying on the vulnerable even in hospital.  

Joyful that those around her were so concerned although they have so little, which in turn helped our staff stop for her.  Joyful that as a mother Esther did her best to protect her baby and that organisations worked together for Esther and the baby's safety and good.  Joyful that we get to play a very small part in seeing Jesus' Kingdom come here on earth.  

‘Women are like cloth, men are like gold"

There is a traditional Cambodian saying that women are like cloth so they can be easily ‘soiled’ and discarded while men are like gold, untarnished (no matter what they do) and worth a lot more.

I have been reflecting on this as I have now been living in Cambodia for 5 months.  For many women here it is seen to be their duty to help provide for their parents and so many girls who work in Phnom Penh regularly send money home to their families in the province.  Some younger guys are also expected to do this.

Sadly for many of these girls they see the only way to get enough money to send home is to sell themselves, on every level.  There are streets here in Phnom Penh where it is so very blatant that women are selling themselves for sex, often to older Western men.  Some of these men actually believe that they are helping these girls to then help their families by paying for sex.  And there is a T-shirt which some guys wear saying ‘Sleep with me, free breakfast’. 

And for many of these girls it is very difficult to break out of the cycle once they have begun work in the bars and ‘massage parlours’ especially as they are no longer seen as being ‘pure’ and like cloth, can easily be discarded. 

The good news is that there are some really good organisations which are bringing out the actual gold in these girls.  Organisations like Daughters of Cambodia (daughtersofcambodia.org) help bring women out of sex working and give them holistic care to help them move forward.  The care given involves training and employment, counselling and day care for their children.  Daughters also runs two fabulous cafes which are some of my favourite to visit!

And my team are doing our part, often in partnership with organisations like Daughters.  My teammate Amy has got to know some of the girls in the bars through regular visiting.  Amy met ‘Sarah’ one night after praying about where to go to meet girls who needed to hear that Father God has a much better plan for their lives.   Sarah was working behind the bar as she has good English but she was under pressure to start selling herself.  Sarah was looking for a way out of her situation before it got worse.

Amy started to build up a friendship with Sarah and over a period of time Sarah talked about wanting to leave her job. And so with support from some sponsors from Amy’s connections, Sarah is now studying at university and her future is looking completely different.  God used Amy’s willingness to sacrifice her time and her obedience to following His voice that night to bring about a new hopeful future for Sarah.  

We recognise that God's hand was very much on Sarah's life as she was able to leave when she did. We pray that Sarah is one of many girls that God would use us to help get freedom and be restored in Jesus name.  And as a friend/family of mine thank you for helping me be here to be a part of this.