Living in the Power of the Resurrection

Dear friends,

Do you remember the story of the centurion who asked Jesus to heal his servant? It is a story of amazingly strong, yet simple, faith. Jesus hears that a centurion’s servant is sick, so he goes to visit him. But even before Jesus can reach the house, the centurion sends word to say, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But say the word, and my servant will be healed.” Even Jesus is amazed! He tells the crowd, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” Then the men who had been sent return to the house and find the servant well (Luke 7:2-10).

In my twelve years of working in Cambodia, I have rarely witnessed such faith. This is Yep’s story.

A handsome 7-year-old Herod

The first time Yep brought her daughter Chhab to us was in 2004, when Yep asked her local church to pray for her daughter who had been married for several years yet still had not had a baby. We all prayed, and then we took her daughter to the hospital, where she was treated for an infection. Shortly, she became pregnant and had a son, Herod.

Two years ago Chhab got sick again with rheumatoid arthritis. She received treatment at a local hospital for two years, but medication side effects were slowly killing her. Her mother knew Phnom Penh Hospital could give her further treatment, but her church, family, and community thought Yep was crazy to try to take her to Phnom Penh; Chhab was so weak, she would surely die along the way. Yep stood firm. “If it is God’s will for her to live, she will live. Her life is in God’s hands.”

Chhab, Herod, and Yep

Chhab and her mother made the 7-hour trip to Phnom Penh, where she was treated and released after three weeks. As they were preparing to return home, I asked Yep, “Do people at home know you are coming back?” Yep answered, “I’m not telling them. I want them to see for themselves. They won’t believe it.”

Such simple faith, but Jesus called it “great.” Yep’s faith is also unique here in Cambodia. Instead of resorting to the many rituals that the majority of Cambodian families engage in to increase a woman’s fertility, she called upon her church to pray and praised God for healing Chhab through the local doctors’ diagnosis and treatment. Then, undeterred by her own community’s unbelief, she brought Chhab to doctors in Phnom Penh, understanding that if God wanted Chhab to live, God would work through the medical staff in Phnom Penh.

I think Yep makes such a vivid impression on me because Yep understands that God does miraculously heal people through prayer, but sometimes, he miraculously heals through doctors and medicine, too.

Yep’s faith for her daughter is just like the centurion’s faith for his servant. They simply believed that God would heal them, and God did. Yep’s faith is simple, but because it is so simple and pure, it shines with the power of the resurrection. As Paul puts it in Ephesians, God wants us to know his “incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead” (Ephesians 1:19-20). I have been so blessed to witness such simple faith as Yep’s this Easter season. The power of her faith isindeed the power of the resurrection, and her simple faith is a living witness to Jesus Christ for us all.

Thank you for all your prayers and support. May Yep encourage us all to open our hearts to receive this power of the resurrection in our lives.

In His Love,
Irene

Friends and family rally around heart patient returned home

Seang Yean was greeted at her small home in Okroch, Kampong Thom, Tuesday by a crowd of family and church members hoping to witness firsthand the amazing recovery they helped make possible by financing her trip to Phnom Penh for heart surgery.

Yean, a 47-year-old mother of two, was first introduced to CHAD in February, when she was suffering from a serious but still unidentified disease. Several doctor's consultations later, it was revealed that she needed immediate surgery to repair a defective heart valve.

The members of Okroch Methodist Church would hear nothing of Yean's initial hopelessness — how could she pay for such an expensive surgery? — and they immediately started raising money. In a week, this poverty-stricken congregation had scraped together $25.

It wasn't nearly enough to finance a surgery, but church members consulted CHAD, which was able to find free treatment through Phnom Penh's Jeremiah Hope Clinic, and the church's contribution was enough to get Yean and her blood donors to and from the hospital.

Tuesday's reunion with the church family that refused to give up on her was a sweet one, said Yean, whose condition has vastly improved since her March 5 surgery. She is slowly regaining her breath and energy and says she thanks God for giving her the support and courage she needed to make it through.

Read more of Yean's story here. Donate to CHAD's Health Program here.

Heart patient on the mend after surgery

Seang Yean, the heart patient we told you about last month, is in the hospital recovering from what doctors are calling a successful operation on a defective valve in her heart.

CHAD staff member Sok Sophal said Yean was in good spirits — but quite sore — during a visit at Jeremiah Hope Clinic in Phnom Penh last week.

The surgery took place March 5 after several weeks of delay, and Yean has been recuperating at the hospital ever since. The first few days after the operation were a bit rocky, with Yean staying in the emergency portion of the clinic under close observation by hospital staff, but her status was upgraded late last week and doctors expect she will be discharged early next week.

Yean was introduced to CHAD by members of her church in Okroch Village, Kampong Thom, last month after she had been suffering from an unknown but debilitating medical condition for almost a year. It was then, after she was referred to a specialist in Phnom Penh, that Yean discovered it was a heart condition that had been keeping her in bed and out of the rice fields. Moreover, she learned she needed surgery right away.

Although CHAD does not pay for operations, staff were able to connect Yean with organizations that could, and the procedure was performed free of charge.

Read all of Yean's story here.

Donate to CHAD's health program here.

Check out Jeremiah Hope Clinic on Facebook.

Annual Report summary

prepared by Leng Thyon behalf of the CHAD team: Ms. Irene MPARUTSA, Mr. Ken CRUZ, Mr. LENG Thy, Ms. SOK Sophal, Ms. Katherine PARKER, Ms. HIM Daneth and Ms. HOUT Vannak

During a one-year period of 2011, CHAD has performed some significant activities for church and community’s vital need fulfillments. These activities mainly focus on leadership capacity building training, project group formation and monitoring follow up, networking, UMVIM medical clinic coordination, and organizational development.

In the capacity building training area, CHAD provided teaching on Biblical based transformational development to the third year theology students of CMBS, Cambodian Methodist Bible School. The course took 5 months with 2 hours a week, and completely finished in February. At the grassroots level, to mobilize the church and community for development works, CHAD has used a serial training manual called 'Mobilizing the Church' to train 214 people, including pastors and lay people, from 41 various churches in the districts of Kompong Thom, Siem Reap, Svay Rieng, Kompong Cham, Kompong Speu, and Phnom Penh. After taking 5-6 months each, the training is now completely finished, exceptionally Phnom Penh, and 3 clusters in K. Speu district. For technical aspect, CHAD also trained 108 people from 7 churches and villages in Kompong Chhnang and Kompong Speu district, on how to make organic fertilizer, to collect and make IMD, to be aware of chemical, and to raise chicken. Similarly, a two-day training on how to write a simple project proposal was also held for 17 people as LSCC, Local Social Concern Committee, from 3 churches in Siem Reap district. Concerning to the health sector, CHAD also held a drinking water workshop for 25 people from a church and community in K. Speu district.

In addition to the training approaches, through attending SCC (Social Concern Committee) monthly meeting and joint visits of CHAD team and SCC to project groups, CHAD has coached SCC members for more competence in project management. Furthermore, at MMC management level, CHAD has periodically attended pastor district meeting, and cabinet meeting for report and plan sharing as well as CHAD orientation.

Aside from training activities, CHAD together with SCC have also made a lot of effort into its every three month visits for project monitoring and new groups formation. As a result, during a year of 2011, CHAD has visited to 98 ongoing project groups of 58 churches in 11 MMC districts throughout the country, and established 42 new project groups, mostly Rice Bank group supported by UMCOR.

For networking and collaboration gain, CHAD made visits to several like-minded institutions like Chap Dai organization, Ministry of Health, Provincial Health Department of Kratie, Banteay Mean Chey, Svay Rieng, Takeo, and Kompong Thom as well as to micro-finance institutions of Kredit and Vision Fund.

In response to the community necessary need of medical issue, CHAD coordinated and hosted 4 UMVIM medical teams during this period. According to the need and request from their own sister church, these team of over 10 members on average conducted its clinic in various churches of different districts. The Louisiana team conducted its medical clinic in the district of Svay Rieng, as did the Australian team in Banteay Mean Chey, whereas did the Malaysia and Singapore team in Takeo. Resulting from these teams’ dedicated effort, 4797 of poor sick people from various rural villages got free treatment. Moreover, in partnering with churches, CHAD has also assisted pastors and Good Samaritan in patients referral of totally 318 to hospitals locally, provincially, and Phnom Penh according to actual need.

Concerning to the organizational development, through its monthly meeting CHAD always reflects its pace of project implementation against to the desired plan, looking for areas need to be improved for more effectiveness and transparency. In this sense, CHAD has also shared its progress report to all stakeholders, especially its donor. For instance, during a separate visit of Methodist Church Finland (UMC) in May and CONNEXIO (UMC in Switzerland & France) in August, CHAD laid out openly its actual program situation by letting them see directly the various project groups for evaluation and feed back from them.

Woman gets life-saving heart surgery with help of determined church family and CHAD

Sean Yean, 47, front, poses at UMC's Global Ministries office in Phnom Penh Wednesday with a team of supporters from her church who are doubling as blood donors for her heart surgery, scheduled for today. They are, from left, Chhean Samoun; her daughter, Leat Sinat; and Heam Sokkhet.
AMANDA KING PHOTO

Seang Yean's story could have been one of despair. She could have taken the diagnosis quietly and gone home to die, like many in her poverty-stricken village in Kampong Thom Province would have.

But Yean had a church family behind her. And they weren't about to let that happen.

When the 47-year-old mother of two was diagnosed with a defective heart valve this month, the doctor gave her two options: Have surgery immediately or die in a matter of weeks.

The diagnosis was devastating. How could Yean, a poor rice farmer who had been out of work sick for the last year, afford such an expensive procedure?

Her church didn't know the answer to that question either. But they started raising money anyway. It wasn't much. After all, most of Yean's fellow church members live harvest-to-harvest, just like her. In a week, they had managed to scrape together $25.

It would be enough to get Yean to and from the hospital along with her three blood donors while paying for meals and lodging during their stay. It was still nowhere near enough to pay for open heart surgery.

Fortunately for Yean, her church had more than just money to contribute. After extensive Mobilizing the Church training sessions in their district, the members of Okroch Methodist Church knew this wasn't the end of the road for Yean, that someone somewhere — a non-profit hospital, a private donor — would be able to help.

That's why they contacted CHAD. Staff member Sok Sophal was able to walk Yean through the process, from her provincial hospital visit to her visit to Phnom Penh to see a specialist. And even though CHAD itself doesn't pay for surgeries, the program was able to connect Yean with someone who did.

Today, Yean is undergoing surgery with a team of volunteer heart doctors at Jeremiah Hope Clinic. The initial outlook is good, doctors say. She could be back home in two weeks, all because her church refused to give up on her.

Want to know more about Yean?
Watch the blog over the next few weeks for updates on her progress.

What is Mobilizing the Church Training?
CHAD's training sessions cover more than just health advocacy. These workshops are all about building up outreach-oriented congregations like the one at Okroch. This means training in evangelism, leadership and empowerment as well.

Donate to CHAD's Health Program here. Donate to Mobilizing the Church Training here.

Overcoming Disability through Cow Loans

Chim Kun is more than her deformity. Crippled from birth, Kun was denied much in her life — not the least of which was a basic education. But now, with the help of CHAD's agricultural microloans, Kun is showing the world she is not someone to be pitied or shunned. Rather, she is someone to do business with.

At age 56, Kun had never attended a day of school in her life. Her mangled feet made the journey of several kilometers impossible. Nonetheless, when she heard of the opportunity to participate in a CHAD cow bank several years ago, she knew right away how the addition of livestock could help her family's finances.

Today, Kun's family find themselves with two cows and another two calves on the way. The income those cows and their predecessors have produced for the family allowed for the startup of a small poultry business, selling chicken and duck eggs.

The cows and birds combine to give Kun the resources to send her three school-age children to school. But even that is no large expense anymore, because in her eagerness to ensure they received the education denied her, Kun shaped her children into scholarship students. This mother was even able to follow in her children's footsteps, taking two years of adult literacy courses and learning to read and write.

In just a few short years, Kun has overcome deformity and illiteracy and earned financial security for her family. And it all started with one cow.

Want to find out more about how cow banks are changing lives in Cambodia?
Read about how they work here or check out another story involving cow banks here. Click here to donate to a CHAD cow bank.

Man on a Mission: Agriculture Microloan Helps Reunite a Family

Photo by Amanda King

Disabled as a civilian casualty of war, Pheng Mong was forced to stand by as his wife set off for the faraway garment factories of Thailand in search of work to support their family. But now, thanks to a CHAD cow bank, Mong has the resources to bring her back.

With two adult cows and one calf on the way, Mong's family now has financial security — something that's been out of their reach since the '80s, when Mong drank water from a well poisoned by Vietnamese troops. Ever since, he has suffered from a chronic lung disorder that frequently leaves him gasping for air.

Unable to work and provide for his family, the brunt of that burden fell on his wife, who has spent much of the last several years moving from job to job as a garment factory worker. She's currently working in Thailand, far away from her husband and son.

But if Mong has his way, that will all change soon.

Mong has big plans for those cows. He expects one more calf from each of them before he sells them to finance his dream — a small village grocery store he can run, side-by-side with his wife and son, finally reunited.

Want to know more about cow banks?
Mong's family wasn't the only one to benefit from this project. CHAD cow banks operate with a philosophy of passing on the gift, whereby some offspring of the original cow are passed on to others in the community. In this case, a local preschool teacher and a church women's leader received calves from Mong's cow. Learn more...