Living water

by Irene Mparutsa

Oum Pak

The Samaritan woman at the well gives the stranger a drink of water and in return she receives the Living Water; freed from bondage, she is the one who proclaims the Christ, the coming of the Kingdom.

Last month, we went to Kampong Thom Province (3 hours north of Phnom Penh, in the interior of Cambodia), to see people who had come to the HIV/AIDS workshop held last October. Oum Pak, one of the participants shared her testimony:

“When I returned from the workshop to my church, I shared what I had learned. I told them how AIDS is not spread. I told them that we cannot catch AIDS by touching people or by sharing food. I told them that it is ok to live together with people with AIDS. Before I went to the workshop, I could not tell anyone that my husband had died of AIDS and that I and my two children are HIV positive; I was afraid that people would not like me. Now my two children and I get monthly HIV medicines at the Kampong Thom Provincial Hospital. World Vision helps us with transportation money to go to the hospital, organizes a support group we go to and gives us school fees so my children can go to school. My life has changed; I find that people are loving and caring; I have hope and I can bring hope to others.”

Like the woman at the well, Pak has received the Living Water. She has gained new freedom, a new life for her and her family. She is becoming a leader in her community; she leads a support group for people living with HIV/AIDS. Like the Samaritan woman, she could not keep the Good News to herself either; she had to share it with her family, her church, others in her village sick with HIV/AIDS, everybody!

This story tells why I am passionate about community-based health care ministries: It shows how we helped just this one Pak and she is going out and helping these many others.

This understanding that we women have in UMW about multiplying our gifts by all working together is one of our great strengths, I think; and Pak shows us practically how our gifts of prayers and support are taken and given over and over throughout a village.

Hallelujah Moment: Cancer Patient Receives New Hope

by Irene Mparutsa and Amanda King
In a country that is still rebuilding its health care system after years of war and genocide, running a grassroots health development program is often a frustrating undertaking. The lack of educated medical personnel coupled with the bureaucratic tangles and the disorganization abundant in Cambodia’s health system create frustrations that all too often outweigh the immediate rewards of work as a medical missionary, but it’s the small victories that provide the motivation to keep going — small victories that, however insignificant they may seem in light of the bigger picture, change at least one life forever and serve to give CHAD’s program staff hope for the future.

One such case came to CHAD in the form of cancer survivor Horm Tot. The 35-year-old housewife and rice farmer had been told by provincial health officials in Banteay Meanchey Province in northwestern Cambodia that she need not seek treatment after her debilitating diagnosis of cervical cancer last fall — that the likelihood of success was far too little and the costs of treatment much too high.

Horm and her young family, her husband and their 14-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son, were understandably crushed by the doctors’ assessment.



“My family and I — we felt hopeless,” Horm said.

But help came to the family through their local Methodist pastor, who one day showed up at their home to see why Horm, usually a faithful church attendee, had missed services two weeks running. Where the doctors and family saw no hope, Pastor Kim Sean saw the potential for healing. Thanks in large part to his training in medical advocacy from CHAD, Kim was able to direct Horm to the program, which in turn referred her to an oncologist at a Phnom Penh hospital and to connect her with funding and transportation assistance.

Doctors at the capital’s Russian Hospital agreed with Kim’s optimistic lookout and immediately began an aggressive treatment regimen. Five months of chemotherapy later, a routine test showed Horm was in remission.

“God gave me hope,” Horm said of her pastor’s intervention. “Before, I was hopeless, but when I prayed to God, I felt better, and I had hope again. I stopped thinking about the bad things and didn’t worry anymore.”

Less than 24 hours after test results showed Horm was in the clear, she was already in CHAD’s office in Phnom Penh, recounting her story. Upon hearing the test results, Horm said she was “so happy” and excited but conceded, “my husband is the most happy.”

Horm’s whole community has reason to celebrate, really. Like many stories of cancer survivors, Horm’s entails a network of supporters, from her family and friends to church members and neighbors. And it took all of them to get her through a rather bumpy road to recovery.

One of the biggest obstacles on that road was evident from the time of Horm’s diagnosis: How would her family, poor farmers that they were, be able to afford the treatment?

The answer proved difficult. Doctors originally projected the cost of Horm’s treatment at $4,000 — well over the annual income of a typical Cambodian family.

CHAD was able to assist with transportation costs for Horm’s frequent trips to and from Phnom Penh for treatment, and the program also pitched in $50 toward her treatment, the maximum allowed under program guidelines. The family would have to come up with the rest on their own, and it would require a sacrifice, as they turned to the only resource available: Their land.

Horm’s husband, So Lyhuo, eventually made the difficult decision to sell the half-hectare family farm, a move that brought in roughly $3,700 toward his wife’s medical expenses. With no land left for them to grow rice, Lyhuo turned to fulltime construction work as an alternative source of income, and the new job often kept him away from his sick wife.

Despite the hardships Horm and her family faced, the cancer patient made the decision early on in her treatment to keep a smile on her face.

“Before, I was so sad. But then, I decided I didn’t want to think about it anymore. I accepted it,” she said. “I was worried about my husband and children. If I felt sad, it would affect them.”

Instead, her drive to endure the treatment with a smile brought hope to more than just her family. Just seeing her bravery was a source of inspiration to CHAD staff member and United Methodist missionary Irene Mparutsa.

“She was a remarkable patient. She was smiling right through,” Mparutsa said after learning of Horm’s successful treatment. “I don’t know anyone who’s had cancer and kept a smile like that. And the treatment was very aggressive, making her very sick, but she kept smiling every time she came.

It’s something in her spirit.”



Pray that patients like Horm will not be deterred from seeking the treatment they need because of the costs associated with it or because of outdated fears of hospitals and medical care that are prevalent among many villagers. Pray also that God will continue His work in Cambodia through health care programs like CHAD and the Ministry of Health as they work to change attitudes and improve the quality of care available in the country.