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 February 20, 2006
Hi Friends and Family,
We are all well and thankful for that. The humidity is a challenge, but it's not slowing us down. Yesterday and today have been full of experiences that fill our hearts
with despair, sadness, and hope all at the same time. We're still sorting it all out.
Sunday morning we worshipped at a wonderful Cambodian church. You all would have loved it. They
had a worship team with live band -- the drummer was into it -- along with worship team, dancers, powerpoint
and a great speaker. Each of us had an interpreter to sit beside us and try to keep us informed. The young man who interpreted for me was on staff here with Campus Crusade for Christ.
Sunday afternoon we visited the Killing Fields just outside of town, a monument to the genocide that took place during Pol Pot's regime and the reign of the Khmer Rouge. It was sobering. We also
visited the prison and interrogation and torture center in Phnom Penh. It is thought that somewhere between 1 and 3 million people were killed during the years 1975 to 1979. Those who were
educated, professional, high government officials, teachers, doctors and their families were targeted. We weep for what this country has undergone. This alone has stalled development by 100+ years,
leaving Cambodia one of the poorest of the countries on earth.
 Today we were given a very thorough overview of
World Vision's work in Cambodia while we visited the WV offices here. Then we went to the World Vision Trauma Center here in Phnom Penh (PP). In this place
72 girls are sheltered and cared for who have either been in brothels (the majority) or have been in homes where they were sexually abused. They stay in the trauma center up to 1 year and from here go to the
aftercare centers we support. The girls were beautiful -- but there is a lost look in their faces. After they have
been here several months the smiles start to return, we are told. We were hugged and greeted by the girls who didn't want to let us go. They ranged in age from 6 to 17 years. One girl was
pregnant. About 5 babies a year are born here.
But, there is hope in the midst of this sadness. Some children are reconciled with their families or
placed in foster care. Others go on to the aftercare centers. They are going to school, receiving counseling, and love and nurture. We had a very fun time as we brought a craft project to do with
them, taking their pictures with a polaroid camera and giving them materials to make and decorate picture frames. They were delighted.
This evening we head out on the streets with WV staff to visit street kids. We have already driven past several streets lined with brothels and were told we'll see more tonight. This is very hard. It
makes us want to rescue all of them. This is big business here. Children are bought for $500 from their families and worked every day. The brothels pay corrupt government officials up to $2,000 per
month (US dollars) to look the other way. It's still an escalating business.
We thank you all for your prayers and ask you to continue.
To be continued.......
Love,
Sandy
February 22, 2006 Good Morning Everyone!
It's been a full couple of days ...
The evening with the street children was heart breaking. The World Vision team goes out two nights
a week ... Mondays and Thursdays. The first stop had their full program where they first allow the children to be children while minimal first aid is administered to the children who need bandaids and
medicine on minor cuts. They are very young ... much younger than street children as I tend to think of them in Portland -- 10 years old. We saw younger children tending to even younger children.
There were more boys than girls. World Vision's program includes time for reading story cards that also include the gospel in addition to other educational topics, drawing, playing with alphabet and
number foam blocks, singing the hygiene song, physical activity -- Sandy got very immersed in jump rope. After all the activities the children are fed a small sandwich, an apple and a carton of milk.
The second stop was the condensed program of the first aid, the storyboard cards followed by an apple and a carton of milk. It was a blessing to see two boys decide to go with the World Vision
team to the Bamboo Shoots shelter.
While we were with the street children we met a young girl who is pregnant and had no pre-natal
care. She lives under a tree. We will be leaving money with the World Vision staff to help cover her hospital care after the baby is born. There is some confusion among us as to what her age is -- 17
or 20. This confusion of fact is a topic we would greatly appreciate your prayer on ... we have had many discussions with many people, we've heard more than our brains can absorb ... it's hard to
keep it all straight. Please pray for our debriefing on Friday with the World Vision staff -- that we would get clarity in our understanding.
 Tuesday a.m. we actually went to the Bamboo Shoots program. The facility is very well organized and
provides a wonderful alternative for the children. We were pleased to learn that there had actually been 3 boys who had decided to leave the streets the previous evening. Some of the children performed two
traditional Cambodian dances for us. Many were in school. We did the bead cross necklace activity with those who where there. They loved it and were busy
making additional necklaces for themselves and fellow residents when we left.
Tuesday afternoon was our visit to the National
Pediatric Hospital. The passion the director has for the care of the children of Cambodia was heartwarming. After his briefing, we were given a tour of the facility. They have a new wing under
construction that will be for the HIV/AIDS children. Pretty much all of us have confessed that the most heartbreaking ward on the tour was the one for the malnourished. Here we experienced the
thankfulness for the work with the heartbreaking of the need.
Today -- our Wednesday -- we started the day with a visit to the World Vision office where we had
devotions with the Peace and Justice team. Our Aftercare project falls under this team. Kathy shared about our chapter, I answered the personal question of, "Why did we come to Cambodia?"
and LuAnn spoke from Isaiah 58. We spent the majority of the morning with the Program Director of the Peace and Justice team as well as the Director of the Aftercare project. It was a great
overview of the initiatives they are working. After this we were off to the Hagar project and then World Hope International. Both of these organizations are other NGO's involved in the Aftercare
program and are funded by the leverage grant our auction proceeds last year helped World Vision secure. With all three groups we met with today, we shared the date for our upcoming event and
asked for their prayer for us. We promised our prayer for them as we stand with them. It's the joining together of the body of Christ around this hugh and horrific issue of sexual exploitation and
human trafficking. I had a copy of our auction invitation printed on paper with me which we left with the Peace and Justice team at World Vision.
Tonight is our dinner with Pastor Barnabas .. LuAnn's heard him speak before. None of the rest of us have. He is a survivor of the Pol Pot regime. By the time you read this, our dinner may well be
over as it is 6 p.m. here and 3 a.m. for those of you on the west coast. Please pray that our hearts and minds can assimulate all that we will have heard.
Tomorrow is our visit to the ADP (area development project). We are all looking foward to a time for our brain to rest some and enjoy the company of our sponsored children.
Paige and Alan (Shari's famlly) arrived safely today. Jeff (Sandy's husband) begins his journey tonight. We thank God for Paige and Alan's travelling mercies and ask for the same for Jeff.
Thanks so much for you prayers ... without them we would all likely be overwhelmed beyond acceptability. At times we have each had our moments of being overwhelmed but thanks be to God
we have persevered in what it is that He has laid out for us on this journey.
It's about time to go meet the others for dinner.
Blessing to you all!
Bonnie February 26, 2006 Hello everyone!
We are now in Siem Reap and have been for a couple of days. Shari and Alan had a problem with their tickets and weren't able to get here on Friday evening with the rest of us but arrived safely on
Saturday morning after an additional night in Phnom Penh.
Siem Reap is VERY touristy ... many big hotels, tour buses, etc. If one came to Cambodia and this
was all they saw, they wouldn't have a clue about the extreme poverty in the country. Being here has given us a good time to continue to debrief with each other as we've spent our days seeing ancient
temples, etc. It's heartbreaking to see many buddhas about and many people saying their prayers to them. We are thankful that we serve a risen Savior!
I last wrote just prior to our dinner with Pastor Barnabas. We all are still amazed at the joy Pastor Barnabas exhibits and his passion for the Lord. He believes God has called him to be a travelling
evangelist in Cambodia. No doubt he will be wonderful at it. When he tells his story of testifying for
the Lord and singing "When the Roll is Called Up Yonder" while he waited for what he expected to be an execution by the Pol Pot regime it should raise the question of faith in the hearts of many lost
souls. He never ... I mean NEVER ... stops smiling. We need to pray for the hearts of the people ... that they too will want to know the Jesus that Pastor Barnabas speaks of and that the Lord will keep
him safe in his travels.
Our debrief on Friday morning at World Vision Cambodia went well ... it's hard for us to comprehend the depth of the sex trade here. We thank God that we know He is God and that
though it is beyond our comprehension, He is in control and He knows what He is doing. We need to pray for the staff of World Vision Cambodia as they go about their work in this extremely difficult topic.
 Our last stop in the World Vision Cambodia office was
with the sponsorship team. It wonderful to have a better understanding of how the full cycle works. Your letters to your sponsored children really do make it!
While we were in the mailroom, Sandy saw a pink envelope to which she responded, "This looks like my mother-in-law's handwriting," so she pulled it out of the
bin of many. It was indeed:) We've already been talking about how we need to put a stronger emphasis on child sponsorship at our events -- including the auction.
The one word I have heard many, many time throughout the trip is EDUCATION. The needs of the World Vision Cambodia staff to educate Cambodians on the risk and pitfalls of the sex trade, health
and hygiene abound as does the need of this team to help educate you -- our partners, our family, our friends -- on what we have learned. We look forward to doing that at the 3/9 P&P, the auction
and our trip presentation meeting yet to be scheduled (though we have been discussing possible dates already). God has allowed us to see much ... please pray that we will be faithful and accurate
disciples as we pass this information on.
Tonight is our last night together. It's hard to think of our time coming to an end after going through
what we have gone through together. LuAnn and April begin their journey home in the morning while the rest of us go on to Laos.
Please, please continue to pray for our conversations, our time together, our safety. Today Alan, Shari and Paige hung back at the hotel due to Paige not feeling well. She seems to be doing better
this evening. Today I developed a case of the dropsies I guess you could say -- first it was my sunglasses which broke the lens, second it was my camera which broke that lens as well. While I'm
disappointed , I'm thankful it was things that are replaceable. I know that satan loves to work in anyway he can to discourage and distract. In many ways our battle is just beginning as the needs of
Cambodia we have seen have been made much more real to us.
This is the last trip email we plan to send. As we come home in stages, different ones of you will
begin to hear our personal stories. We look forward to those times of sharing and seeing you again.
Thanks again for your prayers!
Blessings to you all,
Bonnie |
