Dreams Do Come True...

Often as I travel across Cambodia people tell me they dream of starting their own business. 81% of Cambodians earn their living through agriculture. The majority of these are poor rice farmers with small plots of land only able to produce enough rice for their family to simply survive. Whenever there is a flood or drought the family is plummeted into a crisis. Many of them dream of having their own business and are willing to work hard, but lack the start-up resources to begin a business and break their families cycle of poverty.

A few weeks ago I heard the story of Mrs. Sem Sam Ath from Chet Phanna, one of our amazing Samaritan’s Purse field staff.

“This year, we might not have enough rice to eat because of the floods affecting our rice field. But we might sell our pig to get enough capital to start a small grocery store in the village to provide for our family.” said the 34 year old, Mrs. Sem Sam Ath. She has two children and is living together with her husband and children in Sang village, in Kampong Chhnang province.

Every year this family provided for their members by cultivating rice and some additional vegetables around their yard. She was looking to start a small store in front of her house in order to earn additional income to provide for her family. Unfortunately she didn’t have enough money to start this enterprise. With Seeds of Hope (a Samaritan’s Purse Project) help she was actively involved in most of the trainings which our field officer provided in her village such as compost making, fish farming, and home garden sessions.

In the last five months, she was selected to benefit from the pig project and she was trained in how to effectively raise pigs. After the training she also was provided with building material to build a pig house and was given two vaccinated piglets.

Since that time we saw her pigs grow really fast and remain healthy. When we first started the pig project, we indicated that over a four month period from the day we distributed the piglet that the pig’s weight should be at least 154lbs. This month her pigs were measured using our calculation and we found that each pig weighed about 198 pounds.

“After I sell these two pigs, I will buy two more piglets to replace the previous ones and with the remaining money I will construct a store in front of my house to sell products to gain more income to provide for my family. Finally, we would like to say a big thank you to Samaritan’s Purse for helping improve both our knowledge and living conditions and for supporting us” said both Mrs. Sem Sam Ath and her husband.

Proud of her village store! 

The end of the story is that this week I was able to visit and see the fulfillment of Mrs. Sem Sam Ath’s dream. Not only was she able to buy 4 more piglets after the sale of the two pigs she raised, but she was able to open her village store.

I share this story with you because I know many of you have helped purchase fish ponds, pigs, chickens and other livelihood projects, but might not have ever seen the outcome of your generosity. Mrs. Sem Sam is a great example of someone who works hard and has taken your helping hand to make her families dreams come true. 

Things I never knew fit in a shoebox!

When Tricia and I came to Cambodia to work with Samaritan’s Purse many people asked us if we ever got to be a part of delivering the Operation Christmas Child shoebox Christmas gifts to children. Most of our work is with relief and development projects and we haven’t been involved with Operation Christmas Child. However, this month I got the amazing privilege of being part of a team working alongside the local church to give the gifts in churches and schools in Pursat province. It was during the distribution of these gifts that I found some surprising gifts that come through Operation Christmas Child.

Giving the gifts was a touching experience. In one village we passed out gifts to the children in the village primary school. At the end of our time at the school one of the teachers grabbed us and ushered us into her classroom. She thanked us for coming that day and showed us her desk drawer. In her drawer were a few odds and ends and three pencils. She told us her class of around 20 had to share these 3 pencils to do their work every day because the students were from poor families and couldn’t afford school supplies. She said her students were excited today because they all received writing pencils and colored pencils in their shoebox gifts. I guess God knew which gifts needed to come to this village. At another location after the gifts were given a mother came to us and thanked us for her 5 year- old son’s gifts. In his gift was a pair of flip-flop shoes. She was very appreciative and went on to tell us this was her son’s first pair of shoes. She wanted to know how someone knew what her son needed. We were able to tell her it is God who knows our every need and desire and only He can fulfill!

While these were all touching stories, they were one’s I was expecting to hear. I had heard many stories like these before. What I wasn’t expecting to hear was the stories of other ways the Operation Christmas Child gifts affected many others involved in the process. I was amazed to hear that things like unity, leadership development and church empowerment came with every shipment of shoebox gifts.

We traveled to the shoebox distribution sites with Sophea Sem. Sophea is a young Cambodian pastor who is the head of the National Leadership Team responsible for distributing nearly 100,000 shoeboxes in Cambodia this year.

As we went from village to village Sophea told me how pastors had a difficult time trusting one another after the affects of years of war. Working together to coordinate the giving of 100,000 shoeboxes across the country had given pastors a reason to work together. Operation Christmas Child has brought pastors together for a unified purpose and mobilized the church to reach children and parents in the target areas.

He said tackling the large task was a great leadership development tool. Dealing with the organization and logistics of handling such a large project had stretched many pastors and leaders and improved their leadership capacity.

Finally he shared how the generous gifts from around the world also facilitated church empowerment in Cambodian communities. When village and provincial leaders saw the generosity and love of Christians around the world working together with the local churches of Cambodia, they have started showing the church more respect and given them opportunity to have a voice in the community. In Pursat province on the final day of our distribution this was evident when the Pursat City Mayor, the Provincial Governor and one of the Secretary’s of State for the Country of Cambodia all attended a ceremony where local church leaders presented 2,000 children with shoebox gifts. During the presentation the gospel was presented and the Secretary of State stood up and declared to the children and families, that while Cambodia is a Buddhist state, they all had the freedom to follow Christ if they chose. This was an amazing declaration for such a high-level government official. Another surprising gift I never thought would fit in a small shoebox.