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.

A volunteer's reflection: No prejudice

by Lukas Meier
Individual Volunteer from Switzerland

When I came to Cambodia, I made ​up my mind to look at things without prejudice. As simple as the idea sounds, it has proved difficult to implement.

I first discovered this while I was staying with a Cambodian farming family in Takeo Province in the southern part of the country.

On a walk through the village, my host family showed me some local innovations.

First, we visited a small mushroom farm. I was surprised by its simplicity and functionality. At the farm, wet straw is burned and used as substrate, and simple straw bundles are used for weather protection.

In Switzerland, I was told: "Mushrooms are very demanding. It takes about large investments.” But in Cambodia I learned they simply use the leftovers of the rice harvest to create their mushroom farms — impressive!

On the way to the second farm, we ran through a dense forest. It was musty and dirty. Along the trail there were some very simple houses. My Swiss mentality was startled by the picture I saw — undisguised poverty, dirty and unsanitary. So much for keeping an open mind, as I had promised myself.

We came out of the woods and walked between some fish ponds for a fish farm. We welcomed two young men who showed us the farm. Numerous pools and ponds are supplied with water by means of a pump. The whole construction is very simple but just as functional. Some fish are sold to other farmers and others are raised entirely on-site then sold at market.

Back at our farm, I tried to collect my thoughts. I was fascinated by how the people I met could do such great things with such simple ideas and small budgets, made ​possible by the willingness to learn and to follow an idea through to success.

I also see once again that my prejudices hinder me from seeing the entire picture. And I try one more time to get used to my prejudices.

Lukas is volunteering in Cambodia with the CHAD program for 6 months. When he returns to Switzerland he will enroll in university where he plans to continue his agricultural studies.

Keine Vorurteile

Als ich nach Kambodscha kam, nahm ich mir vor, die Dinge ohne Vorurteile zu betrachten.
So einfach der Gedanke auch klingt, so schwer ist er umzusetzen.

Auf einem Spaziergang durch das Dorf zeigte mir meine Gastfamilie die lokalen Innovationen.

Zuerst besuchten wir eine kleine Pilzfarm.Ich war von der Einfachheit und der Funktionalität überrascht. Nasses Stroh wird verbrannt und dient als Substrat, einfache Strohbündel dienen als Wetterschutz.

In der Schweiz wurde mir gesagt:”Pilze sind sehr anspruchsvoll, es braucht darum grosse Investitionen.” In Kambodscha wird aus den Resten der Reisernte eine Pilzfarm – beeindruckend!

Auf dem Weg zur zweiten Farm gingen wir durch einen dichten Wald, es war muffig und schmutzig.

Entlang dem Pfad standen einige sehr einfache Häuser. Mein ordentlicher Schweizercharakter störte sich augenblicklich an diesem Bild – so viel zum Thema “Vorurteile”.

Wir traten aus dem Wald heraus und gingen zwischen einigen Fischtümpeln zur einer Fischfarm. Uns empfingen zwei junge Männer. Sie zeigten uns die Farm. Mittels einer Pumpe werden die zahlreichen Becken und Weiher mit Wasser versorgt. Die ganze Konstruktion ist sehr einfach gehalten, aber völlig funktional. Die Fische werden zum einen an andere Farmer verkauft und zum anderen selbst aufgezogen und verkauft.

Wieder zurück auf unserer Farm, versuche ich meine Gedanken zu ordnen. Es ist faszinierend, mit wie einfachen Ideen und wenig Mitteln grossartige Projekte möglich warden. Ermöglicht werden sie durch die Bereitschaft zu lernen und den Willen, eine Idee bis zum Erfolg zu bringen.

Ich erkenne wieder, dass meine Vorurteile mir nur im Weg stehen. Und ich versuche ein weiteres Mal, mir meine Vorurteile abzugewöhnen.

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.