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.
Showing posts with label Thy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thy. Show all posts
Monday, February 20, 2012
Friday, December 23, 2011
Trust in God: Raksmei Church Refuses to Submit to Threats of Disaster
by Leng Thy
Recently, Cambodia has experienced the worst flooding in over a decade due to typhoons and a greater than average rainfall. The Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers are overflowing and 17 of 24 provinces are affected by severe flooding especially those by major river courses. According to government reports, many areas have been submerged in floodwaters which have affected thousands of hectares of rice paddies. More than one million people are affected and at least 100,000 people displaced. The floods have destroyed road networks, dams, and other public utilities.
The catastrophe seems to be so powerful. It can damage everything, but can’t defeat the feeling of compassion in the church people of Raksmei. The village of Raksmei is located in Kampong Thom, one of the provinces affected by this calamity. In the midst of the hunger that set in when much of the harvest was destroyed, there seemed at first to be only trouble. But the people of the Methodist Church of Raksmei have turned it into an opportunity for them to demonstrate their faith and real identity as God's children who’ve claimed self-reliance and a commitment to share love with their neighbor.
Demonstrating their self-reliance, everyone in the village starts out trying their best to find food on their own without waiting for outsider assistance like government or other relief agencies. But, despite the lack of food, they do not simply take care of their own family, but also take care of their neighbors who are unable to afford to get food. They share whatever they have, not the excess left from their need. During my recent visit with Mrs. Sophal, CHAD team member, we heard from Mr. Chok Choung, the lay leader of Raksmei church. He let us know that his church members do not ignore or leave somebody within their community to be hungry without food to eat. Obviously, when they realized that 4 families in their church were facing hunger, they collected rice from everybody and shared 13 kg to each family.
More important than helping the hungry families to deal with the immediate need by sharing food to eat, Mr. Chok Choung said that the church members have also helped each other restore their long term needs. Those whose land size is bigger and possible for dry season rice farming shared some small plots of land for the landless families to grow a dry-season rice crop as well.
As Christian leaders willing to serve their church and in the community, Mr. Chok Choung and his pastor always know the real needs of their people. With God given talent, these leaders do not limit themselves to see resources only within the church, but also see the potential resources from other sources. They have developed the ability to build links with other like-minded institutions and to gain support from them. In response to the need of rice seed for the church they went round to visit those agencies, and eventually the government provided them 600kg of rice seed. To make the visits even more productive, these faithful leaders did not only ask for resource support, but also took some time to communicate with the government agency about how the church works to serve poor people as part of helping the government strategy of poverty alleviation. Resulting from this communication, the church obtained high appreciation and recognition from the government. They then came to the church to see and take pictures of the project group and the rice store.
Mr. Chok Choung and Pastor Ing Roeurn, stated confidently that "We don’t render the disaster, but in combination with prayer we will work as hard as we can to recover our living condition." Though at the moment the rice bank members failed to pay back rice loans due this Dec/Jan because of the lost of rice crop affected by flooding, they firmly determined to pay back by this April when they harvest their dry season rice from their shared paddy-fields.
Recently, Cambodia has experienced the worst flooding in over a decade due to typhoons and a greater than average rainfall. The Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers are overflowing and 17 of 24 provinces are affected by severe flooding especially those by major river courses. According to government reports, many areas have been submerged in floodwaters which have affected thousands of hectares of rice paddies. More than one million people are affected and at least 100,000 people displaced. The floods have destroyed road networks, dams, and other public utilities.
The catastrophe seems to be so powerful. It can damage everything, but can’t defeat the feeling of compassion in the church people of Raksmei. The village of Raksmei is located in Kampong Thom, one of the provinces affected by this calamity. In the midst of the hunger that set in when much of the harvest was destroyed, there seemed at first to be only trouble. But the people of the Methodist Church of Raksmei have turned it into an opportunity for them to demonstrate their faith and real identity as God's children who’ve claimed self-reliance and a commitment to share love with their neighbor.
Demonstrating their self-reliance, everyone in the village starts out trying their best to find food on their own without waiting for outsider assistance like government or other relief agencies. But, despite the lack of food, they do not simply take care of their own family, but also take care of their neighbors who are unable to afford to get food. They share whatever they have, not the excess left from their need. During my recent visit with Mrs. Sophal, CHAD team member, we heard from Mr. Chok Choung, the lay leader of Raksmei church. He let us know that his church members do not ignore or leave somebody within their community to be hungry without food to eat. Obviously, when they realized that 4 families in their church were facing hunger, they collected rice from everybody and shared 13 kg to each family.
More important than helping the hungry families to deal with the immediate need by sharing food to eat, Mr. Chok Choung said that the church members have also helped each other restore their long term needs. Those whose land size is bigger and possible for dry season rice farming shared some small plots of land for the landless families to grow a dry-season rice crop as well.
As Christian leaders willing to serve their church and in the community, Mr. Chok Choung and his pastor always know the real needs of their people. With God given talent, these leaders do not limit themselves to see resources only within the church, but also see the potential resources from other sources. They have developed the ability to build links with other like-minded institutions and to gain support from them. In response to the need of rice seed for the church they went round to visit those agencies, and eventually the government provided them 600kg of rice seed. To make the visits even more productive, these faithful leaders did not only ask for resource support, but also took some time to communicate with the government agency about how the church works to serve poor people as part of helping the government strategy of poverty alleviation. Resulting from this communication, the church obtained high appreciation and recognition from the government. They then came to the church to see and take pictures of the project group and the rice store.
Mr. Chok Choung and Pastor Ing Roeurn, stated confidently that "We don’t render the disaster, but in combination with prayer we will work as hard as we can to recover our living condition." Though at the moment the rice bank members failed to pay back rice loans due this Dec/Jan because of the lost of rice crop affected by flooding, they firmly determined to pay back by this April when they harvest their dry season rice from their shared paddy-fields.
The Transformation of Sok Nora Impacts on his Communities and Friends
by Leng Thy
Rev. Sok Nora is a pastor of a local church called Srei Sompong in Kompong Speu district, in the south-western part of Cambodia. In 2010, he was appointed to be a Social Concern Committee member as a representative of his district. Last month CHAD invited him on an exposure visit to see projects of Food For Hungry, a Christian NGO based in Along Veng, in the north-western part of Cambodia.
While traveling for hours together to reach Along Ven, Rev. Sok Nora and I had a good chance to chat, sharing experiences and feelings. In the discussion he admitted that for the first 6 years before he joined the Social Concerns Committee, he hadn’t really understood anything about the CHAD program. In 2005, his church received $900 from CHAD for a cow-raising group. That money had been misused because he didn’t spend all money to buy cows, but instead he kept some to buy loud speakers for his church. At that time he disliked the CHAD team and was not happy to work with them because he said “the CHAD staff seemed to be excessively inquisitive when they visited the project group at my church.” He viewed CHAD as a program that only emphasized on physical needs not the spiritual ones. As a pastor he wondered why he needed to spend so much time from his pastoral job in the meetings and trainings of this program.
Through his involvement with the Social Concerns Committee, with CHAD project implementation, and with CHAD team on monitoring and follow-up visits to project groups, Rev. Sok Nora learned a lot and began to understand about the CHAD program. He said “I’ve just realized that CHAD is a very useful program within Methodist Church in Cambodia. Through its projects and training, it plays a vital role in facilitating the churches to have a fresh look on its role and to keep it completely in God intention of God’s Kingdom expansion.” He found that through CHAD development project, he has an easier time to share the gospel than he previously did, when he understood evangelism only as sharing words, not as deed also.
Over these years Rev. Sok Nora has opened his heart for God to transform him. Right now he is becoming more active in carrying out his role as pastor as well as a Social Concerns Committee member. As a pastor he empowers his congregation to take initiative in establishing and implementing development project according to their needs. He said, “A sense of ownership is constantly in my mind. I fulfill my duties without waiting for any instruction from somebody else. That sense motivates me to work tirelessly.” Because of that motivation, in his role with the Social Concerns Committee he spends a lot of his time and energy to work with various levels of people.
At the church level he goes round within his district to visit them, train them how to manage resources with sound stewardship and accountability, and also to know how keep project records. As a consequence, the project groups can collect rice repayment on their own and have formed three saving groups without pushing from CHAD.
During the district meeting for pastors, Rev. Sok Nora, shares reports about CHAD projects, and he encourage the pastors to embrace a wholistic church ministries which included as well the development works, not focusing only on the spiritual realm.
For forming networking links he is highly courageous to communicate with various institutions. He visited to the Provincial Department of Information for broadcasting the church efforts in helping drought affected poor families last year, and again for the flood relief efforts. He also visited to the Provincial Department of Agriculture where he eventually received agricultural teaching materials to distribute to the churches. Since he has proved his high ability through his action of building good relationship with government, the other Christian denominations trust him, and nominated him as chairman of the inter-denominational council within his district.
In addition to the impacts mentioned earlier, Rev. Sok Nora has even influenced his friend whose position is in a high rank of government. He shared with me that he convinced him to be fair and honest and to humbly respect those he leads. That man listened to and respected Rev. Sok Nora for this. As needed, he sometime comes to Rev. Sok Nora’s house for advice.
Rev. Sok Nora is a pastor of a local church called Srei Sompong in Kompong Speu district, in the south-western part of Cambodia. In 2010, he was appointed to be a Social Concern Committee member as a representative of his district. Last month CHAD invited him on an exposure visit to see projects of Food For Hungry, a Christian NGO based in Along Veng, in the north-western part of Cambodia.
While traveling for hours together to reach Along Ven, Rev. Sok Nora and I had a good chance to chat, sharing experiences and feelings. In the discussion he admitted that for the first 6 years before he joined the Social Concerns Committee, he hadn’t really understood anything about the CHAD program. In 2005, his church received $900 from CHAD for a cow-raising group. That money had been misused because he didn’t spend all money to buy cows, but instead he kept some to buy loud speakers for his church. At that time he disliked the CHAD team and was not happy to work with them because he said “the CHAD staff seemed to be excessively inquisitive when they visited the project group at my church.” He viewed CHAD as a program that only emphasized on physical needs not the spiritual ones. As a pastor he wondered why he needed to spend so much time from his pastoral job in the meetings and trainings of this program.
Through his involvement with the Social Concerns Committee, with CHAD project implementation, and with CHAD team on monitoring and follow-up visits to project groups, Rev. Sok Nora learned a lot and began to understand about the CHAD program. He said “I’ve just realized that CHAD is a very useful program within Methodist Church in Cambodia. Through its projects and training, it plays a vital role in facilitating the churches to have a fresh look on its role and to keep it completely in God intention of God’s Kingdom expansion.” He found that through CHAD development project, he has an easier time to share the gospel than he previously did, when he understood evangelism only as sharing words, not as deed also.
Over these years Rev. Sok Nora has opened his heart for God to transform him. Right now he is becoming more active in carrying out his role as pastor as well as a Social Concerns Committee member. As a pastor he empowers his congregation to take initiative in establishing and implementing development project according to their needs. He said, “A sense of ownership is constantly in my mind. I fulfill my duties without waiting for any instruction from somebody else. That sense motivates me to work tirelessly.” Because of that motivation, in his role with the Social Concerns Committee he spends a lot of his time and energy to work with various levels of people.
At the church level he goes round within his district to visit them, train them how to manage resources with sound stewardship and accountability, and also to know how keep project records. As a consequence, the project groups can collect rice repayment on their own and have formed three saving groups without pushing from CHAD.
During the district meeting for pastors, Rev. Sok Nora, shares reports about CHAD projects, and he encourage the pastors to embrace a wholistic church ministries which included as well the development works, not focusing only on the spiritual realm.
For forming networking links he is highly courageous to communicate with various institutions. He visited to the Provincial Department of Information for broadcasting the church efforts in helping drought affected poor families last year, and again for the flood relief efforts. He also visited to the Provincial Department of Agriculture where he eventually received agricultural teaching materials to distribute to the churches. Since he has proved his high ability through his action of building good relationship with government, the other Christian denominations trust him, and nominated him as chairman of the inter-denominational council within his district.
In addition to the impacts mentioned earlier, Rev. Sok Nora has even influenced his friend whose position is in a high rank of government. He shared with me that he convinced him to be fair and honest and to humbly respect those he leads. That man listened to and respected Rev. Sok Nora for this. As needed, he sometime comes to Rev. Sok Nora’s house for advice.
“Commit your works to the Lord, and your thoughts will be established” ~ Proverbs 6:3
Thursday, March 31, 2011
A Rice Bank Group Making Known God's Kingdom
by Leng Thy
In the minority-Christian country of Cambodia, many local churches simply long for growth, but do not want to do any work that requires them to sacrifice even a little of the assets that they have. This story of an outstanding project group, told by its leader, provides an idea of how powerful it is to follow in the footsteps of Jesus.
A rice bank group at Raksmey church located in a north-east province of Cambodia is one of the CHAD project groups that has been highly effective in sharing the good news of God’s Kingdom through its powerful strategy of ministering to and among the suffering.
“Everyone in my church recognizes their Christian role, actively and sacrificially caring for people, no matter who they are” said Mr. Chok Choung, the 50 year-old Lay Leader, and chair of the Community Development Committee at the local Raksmey church.
Sitting on a pile of firewood under the shade tree in front of his house, this faithful leader shared a very exciting story of the rice bank project initiated by his church and community members. A smiling face expressed his confidence; full of hope and delight Mr. Chok Choung let us know that this rice bank project was initially formed in March 2008 in response to the need of poor families who suffered from food shortages during the rainy season and who paid high interest rates to the market rice lenders. He stated that at the beginning there were only 19 people interested. The project received an initial grant of $750 from CHAD to buy 3000 kg of rice. He said what helped them to grow was the principle of learning together from the Bible. This kept them faithful and encouraged them to apply what they had learned. As a result of this endeavor, each member goes out to community to imitate Jesus, doing what he did, using both word and deed. This is a change from their previous activities of using only words in their outreach approach. Group members, for example, share sacrificially from the little resources they have to poor families when they see them hungry and unable to afford to feed themselves.
He added another example of how the rice bank group members have declared God’s Kingdom. They took care of seven families whose houses had recently burned. The fire damaged everything. Their few possessions were destroyed and they were left with no food, no shelter, and no clothes or other necessities. Seeing this, the rice bank members compassionately took 500 kg of rice from the store and collected among the members another 40,000 Riel ($10.00). They did all of this to help the victims even though they are not their immediate neighbors or fellow Christians, but live in another village a ways from Raksmey.
A few days later, Mr. Chok Choung continued, a letter from a commune (local government) office where the fire had happened came to the rice bank group. He took it out and read. It was a letter from the victims to say thank you gratefully for the immediate response to those in need. They appreciated the generous support and admitted that Christians are really good. Knowing that they were interested in understanding more about God, the group visited them and shared the gospel. Since then, a preaching point has been formed there. He emphasized that this shows how powerful it is when the church carries out its task by following what Jesus did and what he continues to do through us, using both word and deed.
Surely, since the group continues to be faithful and committed to work together, God blesses them to experience explosive growth. The amount of rice, during this three-year period, for example, has increased from 3000 kg at the beginning up to 6591 kg at this moment. As the group has been foreshadowing what God’s Kingdom would be like, there is a constant influx of people who want to join the group. Right now, there are five more non-Christian families requesting to be included in the rice bank group. “These are ways that our church is reaching out to people; we want to glorify God,” said Mr. Chok Choung, smiling.
In the minority-Christian country of Cambodia, many local churches simply long for growth, but do not want to do any work that requires them to sacrifice even a little of the assets that they have. This story of an outstanding project group, told by its leader, provides an idea of how powerful it is to follow in the footsteps of Jesus.
A rice bank group at Raksmey church located in a north-east province of Cambodia is one of the CHAD project groups that has been highly effective in sharing the good news of God’s Kingdom through its powerful strategy of ministering to and among the suffering.
“Everyone in my church recognizes their Christian role, actively and sacrificially caring for people, no matter who they are” said Mr. Chok Choung, the 50 year-old Lay Leader, and chair of the Community Development Committee at the local Raksmey church.
Sitting on a pile of firewood under the shade tree in front of his house, this faithful leader shared a very exciting story of the rice bank project initiated by his church and community members. A smiling face expressed his confidence; full of hope and delight Mr. Chok Choung let us know that this rice bank project was initially formed in March 2008 in response to the need of poor families who suffered from food shortages during the rainy season and who paid high interest rates to the market rice lenders. He stated that at the beginning there were only 19 people interested. The project received an initial grant of $750 from CHAD to buy 3000 kg of rice. He said what helped them to grow was the principle of learning together from the Bible. This kept them faithful and encouraged them to apply what they had learned. As a result of this endeavor, each member goes out to community to imitate Jesus, doing what he did, using both word and deed. This is a change from their previous activities of using only words in their outreach approach. Group members, for example, share sacrificially from the little resources they have to poor families when they see them hungry and unable to afford to feed themselves.
He added another example of how the rice bank group members have declared God’s Kingdom. They took care of seven families whose houses had recently burned. The fire damaged everything. Their few possessions were destroyed and they were left with no food, no shelter, and no clothes or other necessities. Seeing this, the rice bank members compassionately took 500 kg of rice from the store and collected among the members another 40,000 Riel ($10.00). They did all of this to help the victims even though they are not their immediate neighbors or fellow Christians, but live in another village a ways from Raksmey.
A few days later, Mr. Chok Choung continued, a letter from a commune (local government) office where the fire had happened came to the rice bank group. He took it out and read. It was a letter from the victims to say thank you gratefully for the immediate response to those in need. They appreciated the generous support and admitted that Christians are really good. Knowing that they were interested in understanding more about God, the group visited them and shared the gospel. Since then, a preaching point has been formed there. He emphasized that this shows how powerful it is when the church carries out its task by following what Jesus did and what he continues to do through us, using both word and deed.
Surely, since the group continues to be faithful and committed to work together, God blesses them to experience explosive growth. The amount of rice, during this three-year period, for example, has increased from 3000 kg at the beginning up to 6591 kg at this moment. As the group has been foreshadowing what God’s Kingdom would be like, there is a constant influx of people who want to join the group. Right now, there are five more non-Christian families requesting to be included in the rice bank group. “These are ways that our church is reaching out to people; we want to glorify God,” said Mr. Chok Choung, smiling.
Monday, July 19, 2010
A Healthy Family
by Leng Thy, CHAD staff
Enjoying a healthy life, where family members live in harmony, parents enjoy bountiful harvest from their farms, children have three meals a day with nutritious food, and families willingly help their neighbors, is one of the things the CHAD program wishes to see in the villages where the Methodist churches are situated. Such an ideal picture of a healthy family can now be seen in the life of one of the members of the irrigation crop production group in a village called Phum Phnao in the Svay Rieng district.
In a wooden nice house with a clean, fairly large backyard, located approximately 500 meters behind the church, lives a four-member family: husband, wife and two children. The sizeable yard provides enough space for the family to grow fruit trees, cultivate a vegetable garden, manage fish in a pond, and raise its own animals (such as cows, pigs, ducks and chickens), thus enabling this industrious family to survive easily. It is no surprise that most of the people in their village recognize them as model farmers.
Mrs. Sam Ang, 51-years-old and the farm’s owner, reported that she and her 59-year-old husband, Mr. Em Sakhorn, have six children, of which four have already married. There are only two children remaining in her care. In retrospect, Sam Ang sadly recalls her family story. She said that before she came to know and believe in Christ she was so poor. She worked so hard that she had little time to be with her children, to give them proper care, except at nighttime when they were already asleep. During the daytime, Mrs. Sam Ang had to walk the whole day long selling noodles, in order to earn money to support her family. Since her children were very much part of running this small family business, it came to a point that all her children stopped going to school. She also tearfully told about living in a dilapidated house that was ready to collapse. She felt feel isolated and hopeless. Nobody in the village gave her any support or comforted her when she was in trouble with sickness or with no food to eat.
In 1998, she and all her family members accepted God, and since then their living conditions have improved gradually. She firmly and faithfully states that God supplies her everything she needs, like the ability to send her children to school and the resources to rebuild her house, which she accomplished in 2004. In church she has many beloved friends and is not lonely, as she was before. She was included in an irrigation crop production group, in which she was given the priority to receive the pump machine first. Having a pump machine provides her family an opportunity to cultivate a vegetable garden, from which she earns enough to support their daily needs. The garden also provides some extra resources to help her needy neighbors who come for help.
Full of compassion and kindness, she visits her neighbors and other sick people. She divides her life among her family, church, and work. She also finds time for self development, through attending training and workshops sponsored by NGOs or the government. Attending these trainings, she gaines experience that is helpful in making her farm very successful. Not wanting to keep the blessing just for themselves, Mrs. Sam Ang and her husband are eager in sharing their knowledge when meeting people at her church. She also said that because of God her life is really full of joy, since He takes care of her farm. That’s why it becomes so fruitful, enabling her family to have three meals a day, good clothes, and a nice house. She says, “I am now satisfied with everything God provides for my family; praise God for helping me.”
Enjoying a healthy life, where family members live in harmony, parents enjoy bountiful harvest from their farms, children have three meals a day with nutritious food, and families willingly help their neighbors, is one of the things the CHAD program wishes to see in the villages where the Methodist churches are situated. Such an ideal picture of a healthy family can now be seen in the life of one of the members of the irrigation crop production group in a village called Phum Phnao in the Svay Rieng district.
In a wooden nice house with a clean, fairly large backyard, located approximately 500 meters behind the church, lives a four-member family: husband, wife and two children. The sizeable yard provides enough space for the family to grow fruit trees, cultivate a vegetable garden, manage fish in a pond, and raise its own animals (such as cows, pigs, ducks and chickens), thus enabling this industrious family to survive easily. It is no surprise that most of the people in their village recognize them as model farmers.
Mrs. Sam Ang, 51-years-old and the farm’s owner, reported that she and her 59-year-old husband, Mr. Em Sakhorn, have six children, of which four have already married. There are only two children remaining in her care. In retrospect, Sam Ang sadly recalls her family story. She said that before she came to know and believe in Christ she was so poor. She worked so hard that she had little time to be with her children, to give them proper care, except at nighttime when they were already asleep. During the daytime, Mrs. Sam Ang had to walk the whole day long selling noodles, in order to earn money to support her family. Since her children were very much part of running this small family business, it came to a point that all her children stopped going to school. She also tearfully told about living in a dilapidated house that was ready to collapse. She felt feel isolated and hopeless. Nobody in the village gave her any support or comforted her when she was in trouble with sickness or with no food to eat.
In 1998, she and all her family members accepted God, and since then their living conditions have improved gradually. She firmly and faithfully states that God supplies her everything she needs, like the ability to send her children to school and the resources to rebuild her house, which she accomplished in 2004. In church she has many beloved friends and is not lonely, as she was before. She was included in an irrigation crop production group, in which she was given the priority to receive the pump machine first. Having a pump machine provides her family an opportunity to cultivate a vegetable garden, from which she earns enough to support their daily needs. The garden also provides some extra resources to help her needy neighbors who come for help.
Full of compassion and kindness, she visits her neighbors and other sick people. She divides her life among her family, church, and work. She also finds time for self development, through attending training and workshops sponsored by NGOs or the government. Attending these trainings, she gaines experience that is helpful in making her farm very successful. Not wanting to keep the blessing just for themselves, Mrs. Sam Ang and her husband are eager in sharing their knowledge when meeting people at her church. She also said that because of God her life is really full of joy, since He takes care of her farm. That’s why it becomes so fruitful, enabling her family to have three meals a day, good clothes, and a nice house. She says, “I am now satisfied with everything God provides for my family; praise God for helping me.”
Monday, January 12, 2009
Service
Ken and Thy visited a church in Kompong Chhnang yesterday to disburse funds for a rice bank. The son of the pastor prepared the lunch meal for them. It was a wonderful and humbling experience for all. When Katherine and Thy visited last month, he was so sad and didn't engage, so it was exciting this visit to see him animated. The son is living with AIDS and lost his wife to the disease last year. Ken said, "It is very humbling; those who are supposed to be served are serving."
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Story of O Kroch Church
by Leng Thy
O Kroch Methodist Church in Sala Visay Commune, Prasat Ballaink District, Kompong Thom Province is about 30 km from the town on the bumpy road to Preah Vihear. The church was established during 1996, with about 12 people, through the evangelism of a staff of World Vision, an international Christian organization that has been working in this area doing community development projects. Under the leadership of a local pastor called Kun Koun, in 2001, the church affiliated with Methodist Mission in Cambodia (MMC).
With the aim of responding to the physical needs of poor local congregations, the church partnered with CHAD program of MMC in 2005 to start a cow raising project by providing support in terms of finance and technical know-how on how to form groups, implement projects, and monitor activities. So far the results have been good, evidenced by the cooperation and willingness of members in working together. The group has started with 12 people and so far is making outstanding progress. The number of cows for instance has increased from 3 at the beginning to 9 at the moment with 3 new calves ready to be passed on to new recipients.
Pastor Kun Koun says that the experience he gained from the cow raising group provides a wider perspective on how to effectively reach out to community people. He said that the faithfulness, encouragement, submission, and support amongst members contributes to accountability and stewardship, resulting in a strong and healthy group. This healthy group environment has attracted new members from the neighborhood. The new members have helped the group to resolve the problem of passing-on the gift by exchanging the male calves for female. The Pastor also mentioned that in the village there are two cow raising groups; one was organized within the church congregation by CHAD program and another one by World Vision for poor people within the community. Amazingly according to him, while both cow raising groups started almost at the same time, the number of cows within the CHAD-church initiated group have multiplied more (3 to 9) than the number of cows (10 to 15) in the group established by World Vision. This significant difference in the outcomes has led villagers to question why the church cow raising project has produced more cows than the community cow raising project. The pastor, who is also the village leader acknowledged that group’s attitude and performance help not only to meet his congregation needs but also give him ways in which he can reach out to more people to understand about God and believe Him.
For example, Mrs. Sok Em, a group member who was not believer when she joined the church cow raising group became a very active member of the church through the day-to-day interaction of working together with Christians in the group. During household visits and group meetings conducted every three months, she encourages other members to take care of their cows and to be good stewards. Another example is Mrs. Peuo Earn who is also a village development committee (VDC) member of their village. She always shares with people during village meetings how church members care and support one another to create a united community. Likewise, the pastor firmly says that in reaching out to the community the acts of mercy carried out by church and group members has shown God’s love and have been more effective than evangelizing. This is proven by the increase in the number of church members from 35 to 42 people last year.
O Kroch Methodist Church in Sala Visay Commune, Prasat Ballaink District, Kompong Thom Province is about 30 km from the town on the bumpy road to Preah Vihear. The church was established during 1996, with about 12 people, through the evangelism of a staff of World Vision, an international Christian organization that has been working in this area doing community development projects. Under the leadership of a local pastor called Kun Koun, in 2001, the church affiliated with Methodist Mission in Cambodia (MMC).
With the aim of responding to the physical needs of poor local congregations, the church partnered with CHAD program of MMC in 2005 to start a cow raising project by providing support in terms of finance and technical know-how on how to form groups, implement projects, and monitor activities. So far the results have been good, evidenced by the cooperation and willingness of members in working together. The group has started with 12 people and so far is making outstanding progress. The number of cows for instance has increased from 3 at the beginning to 9 at the moment with 3 new calves ready to be passed on to new recipients.
Pastor Kun Koun says that the experience he gained from the cow raising group provides a wider perspective on how to effectively reach out to community people. He said that the faithfulness, encouragement, submission, and support amongst members contributes to accountability and stewardship, resulting in a strong and healthy group. This healthy group environment has attracted new members from the neighborhood. The new members have helped the group to resolve the problem of passing-on the gift by exchanging the male calves for female. The Pastor also mentioned that in the village there are two cow raising groups; one was organized within the church congregation by CHAD program and another one by World Vision for poor people within the community. Amazingly according to him, while both cow raising groups started almost at the same time, the number of cows within the CHAD-church initiated group have multiplied more (3 to 9) than the number of cows (10 to 15) in the group established by World Vision. This significant difference in the outcomes has led villagers to question why the church cow raising project has produced more cows than the community cow raising project. The pastor, who is also the village leader acknowledged that group’s attitude and performance help not only to meet his congregation needs but also give him ways in which he can reach out to more people to understand about God and believe Him.
For example, Mrs. Sok Em, a group member who was not believer when she joined the church cow raising group became a very active member of the church through the day-to-day interaction of working together with Christians in the group. During household visits and group meetings conducted every three months, she encourages other members to take care of their cows and to be good stewards. Another example is Mrs. Peuo Earn who is also a village development committee (VDC) member of their village. She always shares with people during village meetings how church members care and support one another to create a united community. Likewise, the pastor firmly says that in reaching out to the community the acts of mercy carried out by church and group members has shown God’s love and have been more effective than evangelizing. This is proven by the increase in the number of church members from 35 to 42 people last year.
Monday, August 11, 2008
An open letter about cows to the Vacation Church School children in Bakersfield, CA
From Katherine, a missionary from California to Cambodia, and Thy our brother in Christ Jesus here in Cambodia,
To the church in Bakersfield: Grace to you and peace from God our Creator and the Lord Jesus Christ.
We write to you again with the words of the apostle Paul when we say that we give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters. And this is right to do, because we know that during this time together of Vacation Church Camp your faith is growing and the love of each one of you for one another is increasing.
Mr. Thy and I heard that you will be visiting a farm in Bakersfield this week. You will get to see how we grow food to eat in the United States. What did you eat for breakfast this morning? We had rice noodle soup. What will you eat for lunch? How about dinner? We will have rice with some stir-fry vegetables and fish, the same as other people living here in Cambodia. In Bakersfield, most people probably eat cereal and bread and pasta, but in Cambodia we eat rice – LOTS of rice. So, the farmers have to grow the rice. About 85% of the people living in Cambodia are farmers.
When you visit a farm in Bakersfield, you will probably get to see a tractor. Tractors are very helpful for farmers. But, a tractor is very expensive (you can ask how much one costs). Most farmers in Cambodia cannot afford to buy a tractor. Actually, I have only seen one tractor since I came here. So, how can farmers prepare their land to plant rice? They use two cows to pull a plow! But even a cow is expensive. One local cow costs about $400, and most people in Cambodia earn less than $2 a day, so it can take a lot of time to save the money needed to buy a cow. But, even if you get one cow it is not enough, you need to have two cows to pull your plow. What can you do?
One of the activities of the church in Cambodia is to start a "cow raising group" in their local village. The community members form a group to help each other raise a cow. They choose one group member to be the caretaker of the cow. The CHAD project sometimes helps by giving the group a gift-loan to buy a cow or two. Then, the group can share with their neighbors and everyone can plow their field and do other farm chores. When a baby calf if born, they choose a new member to be the caretaker of the cow. After the caretaker has passed on two baby calves to other members of the group, the cow becomes the property of the caretaker. We call this "passing-on-the-gift." One church in Cambodia told me they now have eight cows that their members share with each other!
Mr. Thy is one of the Cambodian staff members in my office. Here is a story that he told me about one cow raising group.
Living in Atsue village, Sombor Commune, Prasth Sombor District, Kompong Thom Province, Mrs. Morm Khy, a 55-year-old widow is dreaming to own a cow one day to help her family farm the small plot of land that was left in her possession after a divorce in 1995. The divorce left her only with 1000 square meters of rice land and three young children. Since then, she became the breadwinner of the family and all the heavy burden of caring for her children fell on her. To supplement the 72 kg of rice she harvested from her very small plot of land, Morm Khy has to work as farm laborer where she earns a meager wage of 5000 reils or $1.25 per day.
One year later, in 1996 her hope was restored when she joined a Christian community in her village. That group of people provides her a lot of support, even inviting her to be a member of the cow raising group project. Being one of the poorest families in the group, Morm Khy was chosen to be one of the first recipients of the cow gift-loan from CHAD.
She said that since owning a cow her situation has changed significantly. First and foremost, she benefits from building a good relationship with her neighbors who help her feel that she is not alone and who stand by her side during times of troubles and difficulties. For Morm Khy, owning a cow means she only needs to borrow one cow from her neighbor in order plow her field and transport firewood from the forest to her house. In the same way, she told that owning a cow also gives her the ability and opportunity to help her neighbors by letting them borrow her cow. According to her, she saves 30,000 riels for transporting firewood and about 1,500 riels/day for vegetables she harvests from her garden that has been fertilized by manure from her cow.
Another benefit she mentioned from owning a cow is it affords her to be more productive and to keep busy at home. For instance, with cow manure she started doing compost, cleaning the area surrounding her house, and growing a vegetable garden--watering, cultivating the soil, and fertilizing it. According to her, these activities help her overcome her boredom and also help her to be industrious. She said, "These benefits have also enabled me 'til now to keep sending my 18-year-old youngest son to school." With her smile, she expresses her joy even though she is working hard. Morm Khy said that she would like to say thank you for all the support from her church and the cow raising group that chose her to be one of the first to receive the cow gift-loan from CHAD.
To the church in Bakersfield: Grace to you and peace from God our Creator and the Lord Jesus Christ.
We write to you again with the words of the apostle Paul when we say that we give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters. And this is right to do, because we know that during this time together of Vacation Church Camp your faith is growing and the love of each one of you for one another is increasing.
Mr. Thy and I heard that you will be visiting a farm in Bakersfield this week. You will get to see how we grow food to eat in the United States. What did you eat for breakfast this morning? We had rice noodle soup. What will you eat for lunch? How about dinner? We will have rice with some stir-fry vegetables and fish, the same as other people living here in Cambodia. In Bakersfield, most people probably eat cereal and bread and pasta, but in Cambodia we eat rice – LOTS of rice. So, the farmers have to grow the rice. About 85% of the people living in Cambodia are farmers.
When you visit a farm in Bakersfield, you will probably get to see a tractor. Tractors are very helpful for farmers. But, a tractor is very expensive (you can ask how much one costs). Most farmers in Cambodia cannot afford to buy a tractor. Actually, I have only seen one tractor since I came here. So, how can farmers prepare their land to plant rice? They use two cows to pull a plow! But even a cow is expensive. One local cow costs about $400, and most people in Cambodia earn less than $2 a day, so it can take a lot of time to save the money needed to buy a cow. But, even if you get one cow it is not enough, you need to have two cows to pull your plow. What can you do?
One of the activities of the church in Cambodia is to start a "cow raising group" in their local village. The community members form a group to help each other raise a cow. They choose one group member to be the caretaker of the cow. The CHAD project sometimes helps by giving the group a gift-loan to buy a cow or two. Then, the group can share with their neighbors and everyone can plow their field and do other farm chores. When a baby calf if born, they choose a new member to be the caretaker of the cow. After the caretaker has passed on two baby calves to other members of the group, the cow becomes the property of the caretaker. We call this "passing-on-the-gift." One church in Cambodia told me they now have eight cows that their members share with each other!
Mr. Thy is one of the Cambodian staff members in my office. Here is a story that he told me about one cow raising group.
Living in Atsue village, Sombor Commune, Prasth Sombor District, Kompong Thom Province, Mrs. Morm Khy, a 55-year-old widow is dreaming to own a cow one day to help her family farm the small plot of land that was left in her possession after a divorce in 1995. The divorce left her only with 1000 square meters of rice land and three young children. Since then, she became the breadwinner of the family and all the heavy burden of caring for her children fell on her. To supplement the 72 kg of rice she harvested from her very small plot of land, Morm Khy has to work as farm laborer where she earns a meager wage of 5000 reils or $1.25 per day.
One year later, in 1996 her hope was restored when she joined a Christian community in her village. That group of people provides her a lot of support, even inviting her to be a member of the cow raising group project. Being one of the poorest families in the group, Morm Khy was chosen to be one of the first recipients of the cow gift-loan from CHAD.
She said that since owning a cow her situation has changed significantly. First and foremost, she benefits from building a good relationship with her neighbors who help her feel that she is not alone and who stand by her side during times of troubles and difficulties. For Morm Khy, owning a cow means she only needs to borrow one cow from her neighbor in order plow her field and transport firewood from the forest to her house. In the same way, she told that owning a cow also gives her the ability and opportunity to help her neighbors by letting them borrow her cow. According to her, she saves 30,000 riels for transporting firewood and about 1,500 riels/day for vegetables she harvests from her garden that has been fertilized by manure from her cow.
Another benefit she mentioned from owning a cow is it affords her to be more productive and to keep busy at home. For instance, with cow manure she started doing compost, cleaning the area surrounding her house, and growing a vegetable garden--watering, cultivating the soil, and fertilizing it. According to her, these activities help her overcome her boredom and also help her to be industrious. She said, "These benefits have also enabled me 'til now to keep sending my 18-year-old youngest son to school." With her smile, she expresses her joy even though she is working hard. Morm Khy said that she would like to say thank you for all the support from her church and the cow raising group that chose her to be one of the first to receive the cow gift-loan from CHAD.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Cow project in Atsue village
by Leng Thy
Living in Atsue village, Sombor Commune, Prasth Sombor District, Kompong Thom Province, Mrs. Morm Khy, a 55-year-old- widow is dreaming to own a cow one day to help her family farm the small plot of land that was left in her possession after a divorce in 1995. The divorce left her only with 1000 square meters of rice land and three young children. Since then, she became the breadwinner of the family and all the heavy burden of caring her children fell on her. To supplement the 72 kg of rice she harvested from her very small plot of land, Morm Khy has to work as farm laborer where she earns a meager wage of 5000 reils or $1.25 per day.
One year later, in 1996 her hope was restored as she joins a Christian community in her village. That group of people provides her a lot of support, even inviting her to be a member of the cow raising group project. Being one of the poorest families in the group, Morn Khy was chosen to be the one of first recipients of the cow gift loan from CHAD. She said that since owning a cow her situation has changed significantly. First and foremost, she benefits from building a good relationship with her neighbors who help her feel that she is not alone and who stood by her side during times of troubles and difficulties. For Morn Khy, owning a cow means she only needs to borrow one cow from her neighbor in order plow her field and transport firewood from the forest to her house. In the same way, she told that owning a cow also gives her the ability and opportunity to help her neighbors by letting them borrow her cow. According to her, she saves 30,000 riels for transporting firewood and about 1,500 riels/day for vegetables she harvest from her garden that has been fertilized by manure from her cow.
Another benefit she mentioned from owning a cow is it affords her to be more productive or keep her busy at home. For instance, with cow manure she started doing compost, clean area surrounding her house, do vegetable gardening--watering, cultivating the soil, and fertilizing it. According to her these works help her overcome her boredom, and also make her to become industrious. She said, “these benefits also enable me to send my 18-year-old youngest son in school till now.” With her smile, she expresses her joy even though she is working hard, Morm Khy said that she would like to say thank you for all the support from my church and the cow raising group that chose me to be first person to receive the cow gift loan from CHAD.
Living in Atsue village, Sombor Commune, Prasth Sombor District, Kompong Thom Province, Mrs. Morm Khy, a 55-year-old- widow is dreaming to own a cow one day to help her family farm the small plot of land that was left in her possession after a divorce in 1995. The divorce left her only with 1000 square meters of rice land and three young children. Since then, she became the breadwinner of the family and all the heavy burden of caring her children fell on her. To supplement the 72 kg of rice she harvested from her very small plot of land, Morm Khy has to work as farm laborer where she earns a meager wage of 5000 reils or $1.25 per day.
One year later, in 1996 her hope was restored as she joins a Christian community in her village. That group of people provides her a lot of support, even inviting her to be a member of the cow raising group project. Being one of the poorest families in the group, Morn Khy was chosen to be the one of first recipients of the cow gift loan from CHAD. She said that since owning a cow her situation has changed significantly. First and foremost, she benefits from building a good relationship with her neighbors who help her feel that she is not alone and who stood by her side during times of troubles and difficulties. For Morn Khy, owning a cow means she only needs to borrow one cow from her neighbor in order plow her field and transport firewood from the forest to her house. In the same way, she told that owning a cow also gives her the ability and opportunity to help her neighbors by letting them borrow her cow. According to her, she saves 30,000 riels for transporting firewood and about 1,500 riels/day for vegetables she harvest from her garden that has been fertilized by manure from her cow.
Another benefit she mentioned from owning a cow is it affords her to be more productive or keep her busy at home. For instance, with cow manure she started doing compost, clean area surrounding her house, do vegetable gardening--watering, cultivating the soil, and fertilizing it. According to her these works help her overcome her boredom, and also make her to become industrious. She said, “these benefits also enable me to send my 18-year-old youngest son in school till now.” With her smile, she expresses her joy even though she is working hard, Morm Khy said that she would like to say thank you for all the support from my church and the cow raising group that chose me to be first person to receive the cow gift loan from CHAD.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Chan Ran story of healing
by Leng Thy
“The American medical team is very kind to me. They sent me to be hospitalized for months to cure my leg, costing so much money, the amount that I really could not make although I work hard for my whole life.” Chan Ran said while visiting him at Calmette hospital.
Living in a remote village, Pheakdei Village, Takream Commune, Battambang Province, which is about 50 km from Battambang town, Chan Ran, 39 years old, and his 35 years old- wife, Kieng Pha do not even owned a small plot of land or a draft animal to farm to make a living. In order to feed his wife and his four children, Chan Ran work as a laborer to cut trees in the forest that gives a meager income of Riels 5000 ($1.25) per day.
Lying in Calmette hospital bed, he said that his leg was bitten by a poisonous snake on September 2007 while he was walking in the forest to cut trees. Since then, he could not walk any more as his wound turns from bad to worse. Although desperate for help, Chan Ran is not so hopeful to get any help from his relatives or his neighbors who like him are making a living just to survive. He said “with no one to turn to he has given up hope for his healing while his fears about his family survival and future grow each passing of days.”
Hearing a medical team is coming to help the poor people in his village by providing free medical clinics his hopelessness somehow disappeared. He was ready and waiting for the coming day. After coming back from seeing a doctor during the medical mission on October 22, 2007, he was extremely surprised to see June Essing, (team leader of the Rocky Mountain Medical Team) with some church leaders and CHAD staff visit him at his home with an offer to pay for his hospitalization in Phnom Penh. Since he arrived in the hospital his hope that he can walk again someday grows not only because of the treatment he is receiving from the hospital but also because of the love and care, the pastor, church workers, and CHAD staff show to him and his family.
He said “I have stayed in hospital for 84 days so far, and right now I feel that about 70% of my wound is healed. During these days I am spent a lot money for my medicines, accommodation, transportation, and even the food for me and my wife who looks after me. I am very thankful and grateful to the Rocky Mountain team for their great help to me and my family. Please kindly continue to help the poor Cambodians who cannot meet their basic needs” He continues “Now, I understand how God’s love gives me new hope in life.”
“The American medical team is very kind to me. They sent me to be hospitalized for months to cure my leg, costing so much money, the amount that I really could not make although I work hard for my whole life.” Chan Ran said while visiting him at Calmette hospital.
Living in a remote village, Pheakdei Village, Takream Commune, Battambang Province, which is about 50 km from Battambang town, Chan Ran, 39 years old, and his 35 years old- wife, Kieng Pha do not even owned a small plot of land or a draft animal to farm to make a living. In order to feed his wife and his four children, Chan Ran work as a laborer to cut trees in the forest that gives a meager income of Riels 5000 ($1.25) per day.
Lying in Calmette hospital bed, he said that his leg was bitten by a poisonous snake on September 2007 while he was walking in the forest to cut trees. Since then, he could not walk any more as his wound turns from bad to worse. Although desperate for help, Chan Ran is not so hopeful to get any help from his relatives or his neighbors who like him are making a living just to survive. He said “with no one to turn to he has given up hope for his healing while his fears about his family survival and future grow each passing of days.”
Hearing a medical team is coming to help the poor people in his village by providing free medical clinics his hopelessness somehow disappeared. He was ready and waiting for the coming day. After coming back from seeing a doctor during the medical mission on October 22, 2007, he was extremely surprised to see June Essing, (team leader of the Rocky Mountain Medical Team) with some church leaders and CHAD staff visit him at his home with an offer to pay for his hospitalization in Phnom Penh. Since he arrived in the hospital his hope that he can walk again someday grows not only because of the treatment he is receiving from the hospital but also because of the love and care, the pastor, church workers, and CHAD staff show to him and his family.
He said “I have stayed in hospital for 84 days so far, and right now I feel that about 70% of my wound is healed. During these days I am spent a lot money for my medicines, accommodation, transportation, and even the food for me and my wife who looks after me. I am very thankful and grateful to the Rocky Mountain team for their great help to me and my family. Please kindly continue to help the poor Cambodians who cannot meet their basic needs” He continues “Now, I understand how God’s love gives me new hope in life.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)