Hope For The Nations

Food for Flood Stricken Families

Villagers receiving food

Today at the CMC(Children Ministry of Cambodia) I was invited to be a part of food distribution for families affected by flooding in the villages near Poipet. 

Each familiy received a 50kg bag of rice, a dozen canned sardines and 6 btls of soya soy. An elderly man had tears in his eyes as he told us his family was running out of food and that this had come at just the right time.

Praise God! 

Note: The funding for the food was supported by Hope for the Nations and the local Pastor is Sambo

Planting Trees in OuDong

Its been a while since my last post so I would like to update you on a couple of things that has happened since September.

I was in Oudong at the beginning of October to help dig holes and fill em with mango trees. It was a unique and satisfying experience knowing the trees will one day provide food, shade and beauty to the community check out the the series of videos below:

Invited over for dinner

Honey's Home

About a month ago I noticed one of the staff looking tired. Her name is Honey and she's the masseuse at Redemption Spa and a mother of 3 kids.

Each passing day she looked more and more ill until another staff member told me how sick she was. I know I shouldn't be throwing money at problems that arise but felt like I wanted to help this woman. Someone explained to me that seeing the doctors would cost between $15-20 per visit and that didn't include medicine. To give you an idea of how much that is worth to her; her monthly salary is $100. What kind of Christian would I be if turn a blind eye when another person is in deperate need of a doctor.

I ended up giving her $24 dollars. $20 for the doctor and medicine and the rest for food. I told her she can go home early since its Friday afternoon and take Saturday off. Sunday is her usual day off, giving her about 2 days to rest.

I left for Phnom Penh that weekend. Upon my return a week later I was happy to see she is well. She felt so touched that she invited over to her simple home for dinner. Check out the video and your will know what I mean.

Road Trip Phnom Penh

road side snacks

Last week, I was fortunate enough get a road to Phnom Penh with a team from New Life Church. Chuck McCaul brings in a team of worshippers to help with Sunday service and to have youth night for the teens on Saturday nights.

I was so blessed to ride to some servant-hearted Chrisitans with with humor very similar to mine. As you watch the video, you can see how we having fun with what Cambodians consider food. In 5 days in Phnom Penh I was able to do the following:

• meet with a short team from my home church
• hang out with Cambodian musicans for some milk tea
• spend 2 days with Kevin Knight at OuDong village teaching English and see first hand how it is like to live reincarnational with the poor
• have a wonderful vegetarian dinner with a young Cambodian fellow with a heart for the youth
• Get my drivers licence(this allows me to drive a vehicle and moto in Cambodia. woot! woot!) FREEDOM!
• extend my visa

The 5 days was a lot of fun and found out I have the gift of teaching kids and young adults.

Youth Night

Football night

Hi friends, thank you for reading my posts and expressing your words of encouragement and excitement at what is happening in Cambodia and especially in Poipet.

Recently I've gotten to know "Pocket Rocket". He's a little guy as you will see and he is one of three boys living next to XP where we teach English. His parents run a busy BBQ stand right ourside the frint door of their home and sometimes I will see the oldest brother helping his parents out.

Why Pocket Rocket? if you watch the videos from youth night you will see he's full of energy and takes off like a rocket chasing after the soccer ball. He's just one example of the youth we are reaching out in the city of Poipet. Andrea from XP shared with me that people from the neighborhood have started to ask why we are teaching the "poor" kids and what motivates us. What a great way to start talking about our faith and the love for our Creator and for our neighbors. Please pray over these kids so that their heart would be open to receive and the mind to absorb all the knowldege and love we try to impart with them every Wednesday and Thursday night. 

Tonight we are taking the boys to play football while the girls stay at the XP to make bead bracelets.

Thisonly allows me to post one video at a time. If you would like to see more follow my Youtube channel for more uploads. Thanks

English Class

Children's English Class

When I started this journey I thought I would just be involved in the business side of things but as it turns out there are other needs in the community of Poipet. 

Last week, we started to have English classes out of the XP building down the street from where Destiny Cafe is. We currently have an adult class on Monday nights and children's class on Wednesday night. Currently these are the numbers that we have and expect it to grow:

• about 20 adults
• about 40 children

On Thursday's night we are planning on having a youth night to watch movies and hang out.

The reward is seeing how eager they are to learn and seeing the fun they are having. Check out the video of the children's class below:

Redemption Spa

Spa Training at Redemption

Hi everyone,

This week was the first of training at Redemption Spa for women working at the karaoke bars. It was good to see them comitted to being there with energy and entusiasm after a long night of working. As you can see they are happy and eager to be here to learn a new trade to better their lives and the lives of their families. Please pray for them

For those who aren't clear as what we are doing at Hope and why we are doing it, below is a simple org chart to explain

CHO(Cambodia Hope Organisation)

• operate multiple ministries throughout Poipet
• Safe Haven and Hope Transformation Center are 2 examples

Hope Tranformation Center(HTC) consist of:

• Safe House for women
• Business for mission- it aims to profit so it can fund CHO's ministries
• Redemption Spa and Destiny Cafe are 2 examples of business operating under HTC
• Provide women in the sex trade a place to stay, counselling and new job training
• A class of women are currently being trained out of Redemption Spa

Any patrons purchasing drinks and foodn at HTC are funding for many much needed ministries that CHO overlook in Poipet. A big shout out to Brenda Janzen who has committed her talents and experience in the Spa industry to teach and train these women.

Safe Haven

Team TEARFUNDUK

One of the main projects CHO is involved is Safe Have which I had a chance to tour yesterday along with a short-term from the UK serving at Safe Haven.

What really impressed me other than the fact there are 11 girls to 2 boys, are their positive attitudes towards manual work and serving. There high spirits and good nature were very infectious and hilarious at times.

Safe Haven aims to rescue children at risk of being trafficked. They are provided a place to live and given a chance to go to school which is located on the land purchased a while ago. In addition to providing a shelfer there is also a playground and cafetaria. There is also some vocational/skills training  provided at computer center, wood working shop and a sewing center.

Since CHO's goal is make their projects self sufficient as possible, located at the back of the property are food ponds, chicken farm, duck farm and fruit farm.

As I was making my way back from the farms I observed how the team was manually shovelling and removing dirt as you will see below. A few of them taught english while a couple worked in the libraries organzing books.

What really struck was how many women with huge hearts are willing to go abroad to serve in this way. Where are the men? There seems to be a 3:1 ratio of women to men for this type of work. That is unacceptable. For Christian men looking for a quality Christian women there isn't a better place to meet them. Caring, servant hearted, God fearing and doesn't mind doing dirty work. Enough said! 

Good job TearFundUK!

Welcome to Poipet Cambodia

Destiny Cafe

Hi everyone, 

I've arrived in Poipet Cambodia last night at 6:30pm and currently staying at the hotel next door. Its a 1 minute commute for me everyday. How many can say that?

The staff here has been really welcoming especially Rosa, a 20 yr old who I will be working closely for the next 6 months to help set up the businesses at Hope. As I tour the facility I can't but get excited by the possibilities here to help transform lives and families. 

There are some real opportunities for indviduals who would like a unique chance to not only to give their time and talents but to be able to plant seedsnow and in time watch it take a life of its own. Knowing you efforts will continue blossom and grow after your inital investment is amazing. We have need in the areas of:

• baker(in Cambodia)
• photographer(in Cambodia)
• graphic designer(remote)

I feel so incredibly blessed by those how have supported me during my fund raising. Opening their wallets, giving their time and most important, words of encouragement that sustained me during times of self doubt.

Here are some photos of Destiny Cafe.

Last Week Before Departure

I can't believe I will be leaving in less than a week from today. I would to thank everyone for their generosity and words of encouraging. This fund raising campaign have spurned my growth in ways I have yet to comprehend and the mission trip haven't even begun.

I am currently still short a few thousands and require a little more help. Please let others know about the cause and appeal for financial support.

Thanks again.

Jim Pham