ministry overview video

Here is a new video that has my sweat and tears all over it. As usual, all of the creative design goes to Sam Tolle. I have no idea how to make a video. I did however, write the script and worked with Sam to do the narration.  It’s a short ministry overview for FCOP Cambodia. Enjoy!

broken girls

Broken Girls

Broken Girls: In Cambodia any girl who has been associated with a job in a bar or nightclub is instantly labeled “broken girl” and considered an outcast, a girl that no “respectable” family would associate with.

The last few years have brought global awareness to the problem of trafficking and sex-slaves, conjuring up all kind of mental images of young women being sold into the prostitution ring where they are chained to a bedpost or drugged into compliance. A problem with a simple solution, which is to go in, guns blazing, and rescue the victims. But a deeper look at the underlying battle tells a different story.  In truth, it is not as much a fight against evil pimps and underground networks of traffickers as it is a fight against poverty.

Poverty is the driving force behind most cases of  “sex slavery” in Cambodia, and it is not an imprisonment to a pimp but to destitution.  The girls have made a conscious choice to pursue their current employment. This does not, however, make it a free choice.

The downward spiral: obviously young women don’t set out to be hookers. No little girl dreams about being a prostitute when she grows up.  In most cases a girl will come from a poor, broken family where her chance at education has come and gone. She is in her mid to late teens and has moved to Phnom Penh to work in a garment factory.  She has chosen to make the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of her family. By moving to the city she is laying down her reputation as an innocent child and replacing it with the image of a city girl, unaccountable to the eyes of her parent, elders and community leaders.  Most girls secure a job in a garment factory through a job broker. Their contract requires the first four months of their pay be transferred directly to the broker. After that, they are free to collect their salaries in full, which is a minimum wage of $60 per month, with the opportunity to work overtime and earn up to $85 per month. If a young woman is making $60 a month she will send $40 of it home to her family. In most cases $40 a month is enough to send younger siblings to school, giving them the opportunities that their older sister did not have. That leaves just $20 a month to survive on… $20 per month may be enough to live on in the countryside, but the cost of living in the city is much higher, a concept that is difficult for an uneducated, hungry family to grasp.  At this point in the downward spiral, the temptation of an additional $300+ per month as a prostitute becomes the only option in the mind of an unschooled young woman. Her physical assets are the only think that she has available to market. She is torn by this choice, but in most cases, it is the only choice that she sees. Her sacrifice will cover her daily needs as well as feed, clothe and educate her remaining siblings and free them from the crushing trap of poverty that is their current reality.  And so, the downward spiral claims yet another victim and she is given the title of “broken girl.” She will never again be viewed as a “respectable” citizen.  She cannot return to her home -that would only bring disgrace to her parents. She has given up her life for the ones she loves, in the only way that she knows how.

Guns Blazing: There are dozens of aid organizations working in Cambodia, but they are making little headway in their battle against trafficking. That’s because they are fighting the symptom and not the sickness.  They spend countless time and resources planning out raids on brothels so that they can “rescue” the girls.  Then they enroll them in a job skills course so that they can find employment, but in most cases the “job skill” taught to the girls  is sewing, so that they can get a job in a factory! And they wonder why so many of the girls run away from the program. The girls are thinking of their families. They HAVE to be making money to send home, and if they are enrolled in a job-skills course, who will cover the cost of their younger siblings school fees? Who will buy grandma’s medication? The family has come to depend on her. She MUST work, and so she runs.

FCOP approach: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, or at least that’s what they say, and what FCOP has found to be true.  The most likely victims of sex slavery today are the youth from broken and impoverished homes. These are the children who have lost one or both parents, children whose father is an alcoholic and mother is sick, and children who are being raised by their grandparents or extended family. These are the victims of extreme poverty and illiteracy, and consequentially the ones that are at the highest risk of being “enslaved” in a life of sex work.  These are the children that FCOP opens their doors to. These are the youth that find refuge, love, acceptance, education, a home and a family through the local Foursquare Church.

There are 106 FCOP church orphan homes and over 4,000 FCOP church groups spread all around the Cambodia that act as advocates for the at-risk youth in their communities. These church members have eyes and ears in their communities and they are the best ones to help break the cycle of poverty that is devastating the lives of so many young women. Through local churches, FCOP is reaching out to the poor, the lonely, and the hungry; they are housing the orphaned and abandoned children and employing the single mothers and widows.

In the last few years FCOP has introduced micro-enterprises like incubators for hatching quail, boxes for growing crickets, mushroom huts, and fish farms as a means for additional income for the poor in the communities around the local churches.  When a family can feed, clothe and educate their children, the cycle of extreme poverty which is landing thousands of girls in the sex industry can be broken. The result of this approach is highly successful. This approach also creates a safe and loving “family” to anyone who wants to get out of prostitution.  So while the vast majority of these young women are not able to return to their biological families due to social stigma, each one of them now has a loving and caring church family.

Broken girls in Cambodian culture will always be “broken girls,” but the Church has a different message to send. It is the same message that Jesus had for the woman at the well, and the woman caught in adultery, and for all the men, women and children that society has labeled “broken.”  It’s the message of love, acceptance and relationship. It’s a place to be accepted, no matter where you have come from, what you have done, or what color or nationality you are.  It’s a meal when there isn’t any food on the table, and it’s the neighbor who says, “There is a better way, let me show you.”

It’s a pretty simple message, but it can change a life forever.

_________________________________

The above document is something that I wrote up for FCOP to send to a church in the states. Before I wrote it I dialoged with Pastor Ted Olbrich and spent some time in prayer. One thought that I want to communicate, personally, is that I do recognize that sex trafficking is a problem that should NOT be ignored. I do believe that there is a time and a place for “guns blazing” kind of intervention, and I do support intervention, when it is truly needed and can save the life of a victim.

Little Eugene a.k.a. Ratanakiri

I found a mini Eugene, Oregon in the far corner of Cambodia. It’s a tribal village where the grannies go topless and everyone smokes “greens.” They also have stretched out earlobes from years and years of wearing plugs. Take note Eugene, these people don’t waste money on pipes and plugs. They’ve perfected the system. Their pipes double as their plugs. You never have to worry about where you put your pipe after your last smoke because you store it in your ear when you aren’t using it. Brilliant! They also like tattoos! The Country Fair and Ratanakiri aren’t all that different!

We had quite a time getting to our destination. We started out in a van which broke down and had to be towed by our supply truck. A 10 hour drive turned into 14 and we rode part of the way on top of boxes of rice and milk.

We finally arrived at our guest house which was situated on the edge of a beautiful lake and right on the boarder of “real jungle” land.

After a good nights sleep we headed into the jungle. Destination: two remote Foursquare Churches. Our purpose was to bring medical supplies, medical care, food, encouragement and (if needed and/or wanted) the Good News of Jesus.

The first church was relatively easy to reach. We only had to gas up with a funnel and jug one time, and we only stopped to check two bridges for stability before driving across them. The second day was more challenging. We traveled by SUV, ferry, motorbike and foot when the bridges were too risky to ride across. These are churches that FCOP has been working with for several years but they are so remote that they rarely get visited and there are no medical facilities nearby. While the orphans had priority to the medical care, it was also given free of charge to the communities surrounding the churches.

We traveled by ferry and motorbike, but the food and the majority of the supplies went in little rented boats, along with one staff who fell out 3 times and was was paranoid about crocodiles. He arrived wet but in one piece, much to his relief.

We had three doctors with us, and as many medical supplies as they could pack in the back of a SUV. Multivitamins, anti-parasite pills and Tylenol were the most distributed medications.

Repackaging vitamins and Tylenol.

Doctors treating the needy.

People waiting to see a doctor.

New reading glasses… well in Ratanakiri it might be beading glasses ;) While schooling is becoming available in more and more of the villages, nearly all of the adults are illiterate, and at this point the schooling is still very basic or requires the children to travel for long distances.

The ministry Faith Comes By Hearing has given us solar powered Bibles which were distributed to everyone who wanted to have one. Many of our pastors in the Ratanakiri area use the audio Bibles to prepare for their Sunday service and to study because they have never learned to read, or are just now learning.

I also have to give a big THANK YOU to Gleanings for the Hungry and Feed My Starving Children for the ongoing donations of food. What a blessing that all of our orphans are fed and we have extra to share with people in Ratanakiri.

love my life

In the last four weeks, I’ve been all over, and I’m here to say “I love my life!” This last month has been one long blur of work! Hosting, traveling, writing grants, more hosting, more grants, end-of-the year taxes, mailers, updates, reports, a medical team, sickness and a bunch of wonderful new friends from all over the world, just like a cherry on top! I have such an amazing life. I just have to say that, LOUD and CLEAR! There are days when I want to pack my bags and go running home. I have moments when I think that I can’t take it any longer. Times when the weight of Cambodia’s needy threaten to overwhelm my strength.  There are mornings when the sadness and pain are stifling. Deaths, fires, sickness, poverty, trafficking, child rape, abandonment, abuse, hunger, and the list goes on. These are the stories that come into our office. That is the reality of working in a developing Country.  I have hard days. I want to go home…but honestly, deep down, not really! This place is beautiful too. There’s hope over here. This is a country that was in war for 25 years, and they’ve been at peace for 13. They’re growing, they’re developing. The world is in a recession but Cambodia is thriving on it’s new found peace and education.  The children go to school now, and at night they read to their parents. It’s also the fastest growing Christian Country (conversion wise). There’s room to learn, there’s religious freedom, and there’s room to dream. Poverty is still very real, but it’s coupled with a spirit of “yes we can!” They still have a long ways to go, but there’s a lot to love about life in Cambodia.

The best part of this last month was the 8 days that I hosted a team from my home church, Eugene Faith Center. We went all over the Country, visited 8 church homes and our non-profit rice farm and rice mill. We bumped and bounced and squeezed that team into all kinds of place. After 8 days on the ground they left exhausted but with memories to last a lifetime and promises to be back soon.

Final thought: the glass is half empty or half full. You love it or you hate it. I love my life, stresses and all. When you have stress and pain, take a step back and think about all the amazing people you know, of your friends, family, neighbors (even the grumpy ones) and remember what a gift life really is! Have a great week everyone!

OSHA ?

If you’ve ever lived in the USA then you know that OSHA is “some guy with a clipboard that will shut you down for getting on a ladder that’s over 4 feet” or to use the correct wording, “Occupational Safety and Health Administration.”  Thankfully these guys don’t come to Cambodia, and it’s a good thing! If they didn’t have a heart attack as soon as they landed, they would surely have every building project shut down in a week!

But we are careful. When you have a team come all the way from the USA to serve for two weeks, you have to take care of them!  East Valley Church came to us from Northern CA, and they gave us their all! Thanks to them the Kra Lang Church Orphan Home has a new cafeteria and a fresh coat of paint on nearly every wall (three coats in the boys room!). It’s always fun to watch peoples faces when you tell them, “Cambodia doesn’t have cement trucks, grab a shovel and start mixing” or “you are looking for a paint drop cloth? I think I saw some banana leaves out back, but please don’t pull them off of the trees.” Here’s my favorite one. “A hose for the water? It’s pretty hard to hook a hose up to the well, we usually just use a bucket.“

East Valley did such a good job! Many members on the team had professional experience in construction and remolding but they didn’t let their knowlage get in the way of their hearts to serve. They were amazing. When a retired engineer can carry rocks and mix cement while the Cambodian foreman puts up a structure that isn’t perfectly square, you know that you have a true servant on your team.  Gene, you are a better man than most. Thank you for your servants heart!

Gene took time to teach our guys some tricks for the future. The instruction was well-received and I think that we will see some even finer structures in the next few years.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6.

Thank you East Valley, you guys were AMAZING!

I’m back

I arrived home in Cambodia and had 13 hours to do an unpack-repack stunt befor picking up the East Valley Team (who are AWESOME!) Goodbye fuzzy boots hello flipflop! This post comes to you from Kra Lang, which is another way of saying the middle of no where. This is also the first post that I’ve written on my phone as opposed to a computer, so please have a little grace on any mistakes you might see.
I have to say, I was pretty excited to get back over here once Christmas was over. This jungle of a country has grown on me in the last two years. It’s probably the people, honestly, because I don’t like the geckos or the humidity even an ounce more than I did when I arrived. People make the difference wherever you go in the world.
I had a wonderful Christmas in Molalla with my family, and a good time with dear friends in Eugene. I am blessed beyond measure by the friends and family in my life. Here are a few photos from the last month at home.

my mom and the dentists join forces

You won’t believe it! My mom came all the way to Cambodia to see ME!

Seriously, such a blessing to have my mom over here with me for almost two weeks. And she didn’t just laze around on a tropical beach, she worked! We went out on a dental team for a week and a half and pulled some long hours fixing orphans teeth.

We rand a pretty sweet clinic, with 5 chairs and 4 “units” hooked up to the air compressor and generator. Two Dentists, 3 hygienists, one licensed dental assistant and a whole bunch of posers (such as myself).

My mom left a little bit of her heart with this little girl. She was deaf, and she quickly became my mom’s shadow and personal tour guide to all things Cambodian.

My mom was quickly tagged the “crafts and games lady.” She helped work on a lot of teeth, but her natural gifts of working with children where shining brightly as well. She brought and entire suitcase of crafts and games. The children flocked around her, and cried when they said goodbye to her. With a new group of children every day, she had her work cut out for her.

Many of the children had never seen a dentist and we were putting in 10 to 12 hour work days, so we made sure to take time to have some fun!

In fact, one afternoon Dr. Mike got in the chair and we let the kids work on his teeth! Good times were had by all. On the last day we had a shared meal together, and closed the evening with a dance party. It was a wonderful week!

just another day in the life of cambodia

I have to confess, I’m not feeling at all creative tonight. So, I’m opting out of writing an update. I’m posting photos from the last 2 weeks with short descriptions. Enjoy!

FCOP is always interested in developing new micro enterprise business to help support our pastors and church/orphan homes. This month we are trying our hand at mushrooms. It’s quite a process! I had no idea… until a few weeks ago, that is! In this photo we are filling plastic bags with the perfect mix of soils to support mushroom growth, and we are attaching a small ring cut from a pvc pipe to the end. Finally we seal the soil in the bag with a separate sheet of plastic and three rubber bands

…then it’s into the cooker! The bags of soil have to be sterilized. The guys rigged up these super-steamers to sterilize our bags of dirt! Once the dirt is sterile then you can put the seeds into the dirt. Then the waiting game begins!

Mushrooms aren’t the only micro enterprise business on the drawing board right now. Pastor Petros, the Foursquare Children of Promise president came up with another brilliant idea. Last year he designed, built and distributed hundreds of quail incubators. This year we are moving on to crickets. Yep, the little hopping insects that Cambodians like to cook and eat like pop corn. Yummm!

Here we are, waiting for our little cricket eggs to hatch!

Yummy! Pastor Petros’s son is sharing his snack with me!

This month we also hosted our annual pastors’ conference. This was the first year that the pastors had to pay their own way. When the average monthly income is $52 US dollars, $5 to $15 is a lot of money to come up with!  However, the results were phenomenal. We hosted over 1,000 Cambodian pastors, and every single one of them WANTED to be there.  They weren’t a group of poverty stricken people to feel sorry for. They were the future of Cambodia and proud of it!

Check out the kitchen! It takes a lot of preparation to feed 1,000 pastors.

I like this photo because it tells a story :)  it takes a lot of money to run an event like this… and sometimes you just have to make do with what you already have!

Two days ago I had the joy of hosting a British family. They have four daughters ranging in age from 4 to 15.  Jork (my favorite Cambodian Team leader :) and I took them to visit a rural home, but we had a little trouble along the way.

If you want to create a traffic jam of observers, just have four western girls push a van!

We did get to our destination, eventually, but we had to do some walking, waiting and finally we ended up renting a van. The family was so wonderful. They took it all in stride, and the children were so happy to see us when we finally arrived.  Just another day in the life of Cambodia.

a very special dancer

When Foursquare Children of Promise first began they came under heavy criticism for depriving children of their heritage by bringing them to live in the church. Cambodia has rich history in the arts. The accusation only fueled the founders to preserve the culture. Today FCOP is known for producing some of the the most gifted young dancers in the country.  Both the boys and the girls learn to dance. Like in other cultures, you have some children who take to dancing like a fish to water, and others who take to dancing like a fish on pavement! While dancing is not required of the children, it is encouraged and classes and tutors are made available. Earlier this month FCOP hosted its annual pastors conference with over 1,000 pastors from all over the country coming to the capital for three days of encouragement, fun and rest. Traditional dance performances are preformed each day, and this year there was a special new dancer on stage, a young man named Matae.  Matae is our modern-day Mowgli. He came to live at FCOP as a child after a group of monks found him living in the jungle with some monkeys.  The monks thought that Matae had been “monky-ized” because he had such strange facial features and he could not speak.  Matae has downs syndrome. Now he is in his late teens or early 20s and living in the Phnom Penh church/home.  He is a joy to all who know him.  He shares his hugs and his smiles with everyone. He wants to be a security guard when he grows up, so he spend most of his free time hanging out with the guard, opening and closing the gate for all staff and visitors. A few years after coming to live in the church Matae began to speak. He won’t use full sentences, but he can communicate. He also has his own Rosetta Stone account in the computer lab (he wants to do everything his brothers and sisters do!) and is adding English words to his vocabulary. But perhaps the most interesting thing about Matae is how connected he is to the spiritual world. When he prays he seems to enter into another world, untouchable by anyone else. This boy has actually prayed for and healed sick people. NO joke, you can check out my story if you like. It’s true. Our Matae is a very special boy.

Ever since I came, and probably long before, Matae has been fascinated with dancing. Earlier this year the church/home that Matae lives at started a new dance class for another batch of little ones with eager feet (this has to be done every few years :) and this year Matae started dance lessons too. Then, at the 2011 pastors conference, in front of 1,000+ people our little Mowgli made his debut. He stole the show! As the end of the dance the pastor asked him to come back up on stage and used him as an example of a gifted person that society will writes off because he isn’t smart, or because he can’t talk. Everyone has a purpose in life and something that they can give to others. Maybe it’s only a smile and a huge, maybe it’s a prayer, and maybe it’s a dance.

a great mix!

The highlight from the last two weeks was a visit from my friend Jodi.  Jodi and I backpacked Europe together in 2005, so we are ol’ travel buddies. I had to work for part of her visit, but we managed a few days up at Angkor Wat, and some day visits around Phnom Penh.  Thanks to Jodi’s visit, I took some photos of random, everyday sights that I don’t usually have my camera for. The above photos are from Angkor Wat.

The below photo are taken from the waterfront in Phnom Penh. They are photos of fishing boats on the Tonle Sap River.  Fishing is a family business, as you can see. Some families live on their fishing boats.

This photo was also taken on the waterfront. I love the contrast of the monks and the game of soccer. This is inside the post office. I’m pretty sure that the boxes are from sometime before 1952 when the French colonization ended. Check out the old French architecture in the background. The kido is pretty cute too :)I’m not a fan of monkeys at the park. I had a bad experiences in South Africa and again in Zambia.  End of story.Dance aerobics, also on the waterfront.

This is the Oral Church home. I was here for a day trip hosting the home sponsors. The church is the building on the left, with solar panels on the very top, and the children’s bedrooms are on the right.I got a kick out of their bunk beds. They are from the Swiss Military, and they were designed to go in a field hospital. Each bed can be lifted off of the stand and carried. Thank you Switzerland for your generous donation of bunk beds, even if they are a little funny looking (see the post “swiss bedsheets”).

Staying healthy, inside and out.

swingsets and sweat are good medicine

Last week I installed a playground (Not by myself of course : )

This morning a potential volunteer emailed me with the question “what is your job description?”  Here was my reply.

I write grants, I send a lot of emails, I host teams and potential donors when they come to visit Cambodia, I advise and aid in media development in the international office, I act as “personal secretary” for Pastor Ted and Sou by responding to many of their emails ( such as corresponding with you ;) And, when all of that is finished, I do odd jobs, such as building, painting, organizing and whatever else might need done.

So last week I had an odd job. I spent 3 very hot days helping install a beautiful new play structure for the Phdau Penh Church Orphan home.  I love doing these kinds of odd projects, because it helps me keep a healthy perspective on why I’m here! Emails can get mundane, and writing grants is definitely not on my top ten “to do” list. But, when I can get out to one of the church/orphan homes and interact with the children, my energy is restored.  It makes the fund raising and the paperwork worth it. When you know that what you are doing is making a difference in the lives of children all over the country, your work is light, and even the most dreary of tasks have an element of joy! The physical act of helping someone in need is the best medicine for fighting apathy and depression. So bring on the sunshine, there are lives to change!

fancy flowerpots and desk work

It really is amazing that it took humanity so many years to figure out that clean water is one of the big players in good health. Last week I began to educate myself in the field of water purification systems. It is amazing what is available today, and a lot of international NGOs have developed very affordable ways of making dirty water drinkable!

Here are some photos from the week.
This is a well that needs some attention. We are getting the water sampled because the children are getting sick. Results should be in next week!This is a rather rustic way of harvesting rainwater, but I see it all over Cambodia. This home currently needs a secondary filter, such as a sand filter, ceramic filter or a UV sterilization system. Gravity is a powerful tool!

These are ceramic filters. You can get about 1 liter an hour of bacterial-free drinking water from one of these simple filters.  Basically they are glorified terracotta flowerpots.

These are the plastic water dispensers that the ceramic pots fit into. The entire set-up only cost US$10.  Not a bad deal if you are only making around $50 a month.

Here is a cement rainwater storage tank. This tank will hold three months of drinking water for one family -that is, if they only use it for drinking and cooking.
This is a rain water storage tank for a public school.

In other news… the rainy season is starting. Praise!!!  It’s not the hard, torrential downpours just yet, but the temperatures are dropping, and there are more overcast days.  Yesterday was cloudy all day, and for an Oregon girl that’s as refreshing as a tall glass of home-made strawberry lemon-aid!

Our crickets are almost ready for the fry pan.  This week we are fattening them up on watermelon, I guess.

I have inherited a Cocker Spaniel dog. His name is Bingo, but for some reason the Cambodians don’t/can’t say the hard “b” sound, so his name is pronounced “Dingo.”  He would sleep in my bed with me if I would let him, but I make him sleep in the kitchen.  He cried about it the first night but he seems to be adjusting to my “harsh” style.

Nothing else super exciting to write about, honestly.  This week was a lot of office work and putting together all of the needed items for Pastor Ted’s trip to the USA for the annual Foursquare Convention. This required that I coordinate projects such as having banners made, putting together DVDs, getting business cards printed, blaa blaa blaa… yeah, it’s an office job! And I think that just about sums up my last week! As un-exciting as the office work is, I’m thankful for all that I am learning!  I do love the heart of this ministry, and I am glad that I can be a part of it. The international office is an exciting place to be based out of, because you get to hear all of the stories and see all of the pictures as they come in. In other words, I get to experience Cambodia from the comforts of air conditioned desk! And if you have any questions about water purification systems in developing countries, I’m your girl!

a fun project

how to make pahok

With 75% of the country’s protein intake coming from fish, it is no surprise that the Khmer people have mastered the art of preserving the smelly little things. Pahok is traditional Cambodian fermented fish, and our kids love to eat it.  It can be eaten raw or cooked up into soups or side dishes.  Last month I had some made up in a type of quiche and it was very good, but for the most part I avoid the stuff whenever I can do so without offending!

How to make Pahok:

1. take a large pond and pump out as much of the water as you can before the pump is clogged with mud.

2. find a large net and as many people as you can. Put them in the pond with the fish.

3. catch as many fish as possible!

Hint: when the water gets very low the adults will not want to participate, but the children will be begging for a turn! Be careful not to tell social services about the child labor ;)

4. carry the fish to the kitchen.

5. dump them in a very large pile where everyone can gather around with knives and cutting boards.

6. clean the fish.

Hint: if they are still wiggling around, hit them with a stick!

7. take a break for some grilled fish, there’s plenty!

8. salt the clean fish.

9. pack the sated fish into crocks and store for one year. Yummm!

around the country, around the world

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again; things go in spurts over here! We will have a few weeks of crazy running when I don’t think that there is any possible way we will get everything accomplished, then I will have a few weeks of board-um.

12 days ago the directors of FCOP asked me if I would be willing to go to Oregon for a month to work with donor relations. WHAT? Would I be willing? Heck yes! That was Thursday.  On Friday I picked up a team of two from Canada and headed out for a week of leading a ministry overview tour, literally making a circle around the entire country, minus the tribal provinces, which are too difficult to access in the rainy season. We attended a water baptism. We got a van stuck in the mud and had to take motor bikes to our final destination.  We saw the famous Angkor Wat, and visited our church/home in Anlong Veng (the last town held by the Khmer Rouge until 1998).  We also took a tour of the FCOP rice mill before finally making our way back to the capital, Phnom Penh.  Along with my hilarious and incredibly necessary driver, Khmera, we took our visitors to see 10 of the FCOP church/orphan homes. It was a great trip!  I returned in time to catch up with my emails and board a plane.  I’m writing this blog post from Korea while I wait for my connecting flight to San Francisco. I just finished up a Starbucks Latte and I’m feeling pretty good.

Here are some photos from our trip around the country.

These are the children and pastor from the Chuk church/home. They are CRAZY about soccer. Even the girls play, which is uncommon in Cambodia.

This is the FCOP rice mill where the rice is processed, stored and shipped out to our homes all around the country.This is the Anlong Veng church/home. Gorgeous location, great kids, and clean enough to eat off the floor, which is quite a feat in the middle of the jungle. Angkor Wat. We accidently woke this little guy up from his afternoon nap. He didn’t seem to mind.
An elderly lady we met at a local morning market. 

A mother and her son fishing in the channel between the rice patty and the road.

We saw a lot of different weather. Sometimes a storm can be so beautiful.

yes I’m working!

Last night I was preparing to upload some photos to my blog when I realized that I only had photos of my playing.
FCOP didn’t fly me all the way to Oregon to play, so I very purposefully took some office photos today, in an attempt to balance out all of my playing photos. The last two weeks have been amazing. The weather in Oregon has been perfect, and the work environment (though very busy) has been encouraging and supporting.

I am in the US for one month to work on donor relations for Foursquare Children of Promise. They are letting me do it from my home church, Eugene Faith Center.  I spent the 4th of July with my family and last weekend I went hiking on Saturday and Sunday (I love to hike) and today (in spite of the 8:30am-7:30pm work hours), I ate lunch at one of my favorite restaurants, Cafe Yumm. Yes I’m working a tone, but wow, I am LOVING IT! To me, Oregon is the best place to spend the summer! The weather is perfect! Love my work, love my church, love Eugene, love my family and friends…yep, I’m pretty much loving my life this week!

good to be back in cambodia

While it may appear that I have forgotten about my blog, I am here to prove otherwise. I know that the “I’ve been busy” isn’t really a good reason, but it is all that I have to offer at this point. I was in the US for all of July, and what a blessing that was. It was the mid year energy boost that my body needed to make it to December. PRAISE!

I have to confess, I ate way WAY too much food in my 5 weeks home (left photo). You can’t say no to someone when they want to take the poor missionary out for dinner. The only thing to do is to go along ;)  Don’t get me wrong, I eat very well in Cambodia. Check out this friendly fish I ate for lunch yesterday!

Foursquare Children of Promise had a long list of jobs for me to do  state-side. It was a good month. I put in a lot of hours for them, but the work environment was amazing, and I learned a ton from a very good teacher. Thanks Tony! We were working out of my home-church, Eugene Faith Center, so I got to spend my free time with friends and family.  I returned emotionally and spiritually refreshed, and physically a little heavier ;)

My first week back in Cambodia was a blur, it feels like I’ve been back for a day, and it’s been nine! Grants for Foursquare Foundation are due on August 15th and Pa Thom is in the USA. That means that Kris and I are glued to our desks, eyes glazed over and numbers spinning in our heads. Oh joy!  I will admit, I like the end result, but the process is grueling.

Nothing super exciting to report this week. I’ve been using my new smart phone to take photos, so the quality isn’t as good, but the opportunities are greater. I snapped this one at the bank yesterday. Business as usual in Cambodia. Got to love the monk at the end of the line.

We lost the electricity, which happens all the time over here. However, yesterday we had to use a car battery to start the generator. This is how you keep an international office up and running in Cambodia!

The USA was exactly what I needed, but it’s good to be back!

Gleanings for the Hungry

Yesterday afternoon I (along with my co-worker Sam) had lunch with a very nice man before taking him over to our National Training Center for a tour.  He asked me how it was that I first knew about Foursquare Children of Promise, and I told him that I first heard about FCOP through Gleanings for the Hungry in California.  Gleanings for the Hungry is a fascinating ministry that works with the farmers in California to glean food that would otherwise go to waste, and to send it all over the world to people in need. When I was 20 years old I took my first trip to Gleanings for the Hungry and spent a week volunteering in their soup mix factory.  The soup mix is a dried combination of donated and gleaned vegetables that are packaged into ready to use mixes.  It was through Gleanings that I first heard about the holistic approach to missions that FCOP in Cambodia uses.  Last night at dinner, I was again reminded of Gleanings for the Hungry when one of the bowls contained a delicious mix of salmon and minced vegetables. The canned salmon came to Cambodia and to my dinner table via a west-coast donor who gave to Gleanings, who put the cans of salmon on a shipping container, which came all the way over here, was unloaded at our National Training Center and distributed to our church/orphan homes and to the International office where I am. Gleanings for the Hungry continues to be a key influence in my family. These photos are from earlier this summer when my little brother, Clark, volunteered a week of his summer to clean, dry and package peaches. It’s a bit strange to be on both the sending and the receiving end of a ministry, but I feel very blessed by Gleanings for the Hungry. Some of my family’s dearest friends have come from working with this ministry. Gleanings for the Hungry has invested in me socially, spiritually and now physically :) They aren’t a well-known Non Profit Organization, unless you are working with children in a developing country, that is. You won’t hear about them on the news, or get “please send us money” letters from them in the mail. Gleanings for the Hungry is another example of a non-profit ministry that is showing their faith by what they do.  So three cheers for Gleaning for the Hungry!

Hip Hip Hooray

Hip Hip Hooray

Hip Hip Hooray!

http://gleanings.org/ the photos of Gleanings for the Hungry used in this post are from their webpage

a slice of life

Let’s just start with the boring stuff and get it out of the way so we can move on to more exciting things.

Grants: the most irksome part of my life, and yet the most rewarding in a monetary kind of way -not that I personally get any of the money, but I do get to see it spent which is exciting and motivating. In August we submitted 10 grants to certain foundation, and last week we received the good news, “eight of your grants have made it into round two; diligence.” to translate this sentence into its true meaning it should read, “you have a week and a half to send us massive amounts of unnecessary paperwork and your grants will be eliminated if you don’t do your paperwork perfectly.” So that’s my current reality. Let’s move on before I lose you!

Crickets and mushrooms: One of the grants is for the development of cricket and mushroom micro enterprise sustainable development (what a mouthful).  I’ve blogged about this subject before, so I’ll keep it short.  The guys that I live with at the FCOP International Office are extremely motivated to experiment in sustainable development projects, and perhaps make some extra money on the side.  Last weekend they decided to dig a pond outside of their bedroom. Go figure! Today they stocked it with Tilapia, a type of fish that will be ready to eat in 4 months. Here are some photos from the last few weeks.

I was impressed with how many fish you can raise in a small pond. I had no idea that 3,000 Tilapia could survive in such a small pond… or can they?  Only time will tell :)

This is a lean-to that the guys build off of their room. It has a grass roof and tarp walls to keep it dark inside. They are building a mushroom wall with artificial mushroom logs. They first tried this micro enterprise project in April. The logs produced, but the guys didn’t get the quantity that they were looking for. So, here they go again, round two. Just like the crickets and the incubators, once this project is perfected it will be a good little business for our pastors and orphan homes all around the country.

Here is the cricket hut. The boxes are made from corrugated plastic, like signs. It takes about 3 months to raise a box of crickets, from larva to fully grown little hoppers.

Here’s a cricket box from the inside. A pretty sweet set-up, if you’re a cricket with a short life expectancy.

Let’s move on. This photo has nothing to do with sustainable development. We were having a party, and the BBQ was so hot that one of the guys came up with the brilliant idea to grill in his motor bike helmet.  I applaud him for his critical thinking and his cooking skills.  The BBQ was very good.

Last week I got to get out of the country for a few days. Thailand is our neighboring country, and about 20 years more advanced. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it before this, but with the exception of KFC, Cambodia doesn’t have any western chains. Wait, I take that back, there is also a DQ at the airport, but does that really count?  Anyway, Bangkok Thailand has it all! Sizzlers, Subway, Duncan Donuts, Burger King, A&W, Outback, and my all-time favorite, Starbucks!

I was there for a Foursquare Missionary Connection, but I may have connected more with my special friend, the green mermaid. Mmmmmmm.

Well… this post seems a bit hodgepodge, but I guess it’s accurate of the last two weeks; it’s another slice of my life in Cambodia. Have a great day!

floods of fish

The Cambodians get about 70% of their protein through fish, so believe you me, they know how to catch fish.  It’s not hard to catch a fish in this country, because the fish live in the rice patties. Cambodia is an agrarian culture, and a ridiculously flat country, so in other words, they grow a lot of rice. Fish and rice are the two staples in Cambodia, and because the country is so flat it floods easily (it also has great cell phone reception!). Last week I visited one of our church homes to follow up on a project that was funded by an international donor. The home had two newly constructed fish hatching tanks, and a new pond.

Apparently the pond is in the field behind these tanks, but we have had so much flooding this year, I couldn’t tell the pond from the flooded rice patties.  Just like most all Norwegians own snow skis, and the Dutch own bicycles, many Cambodians own a boat. Flooding is part of life here. Some homes are built on stilts, and when the waters recede, it’s time to plant!

I will say, though, that the flooding is especially bad this year.  I’ve visited this home three times before, and I’ve never seen a boat in the back yard!.  Here is another one of our home, which isn’t faring as well.

Which of these does not belong, besides the water? Um, how about the fish! Can you see them? They are swimming in the church.

Cambodians have been using rudimentary techniques  to catch and grow fish for centuries.  In the dry season a farmer will dig a large hole, then when the the property floods the fish from the rice patties become trapped in the “pond” and can be farmed and eaten later on in the year. Foursquare Children of Promise is helping pastors, caregivers and children perfect these old farming techniques through education and a little extra funding.  It is exciting to watch and to be a small part of! But I must say, the most rewarding part of it all is watching a child’s life change. When you can see the cycle of poverty, neglect and abuse broken in the life of a child, and you can watch them live free and healthy lives in relationship with God and with a loving community, then you know that you’ve found something worth investing yourself in.