Communities educating the next generation

This has been my favorite start to the Cambodian school year yet! When I began working with the Samaritan’s Purse education team I had no idea how schools worked in Cambodia. It was a whole new learning experience for me. Two and a half years later after a lot of hard work and lots of help from people from Cambodia, Australia, New Zealand and America we’re able to work alongside communities and the Ministry of Education in improving the quality of education.

Let the parade begin!

The reason this year is my favorite is because I’ve had the opportunity to enjoy being part of activities led by communities, encouraging children to excel in school. In one community last week I was part of an enrolment campaign. This was no ordinary campaign. We had 17 iron buffalos (rice tractors), loaded down with dozens of students, musicians and community leaders, parading through 4 villages encouraging families to enroll their children in school. There was traditional music and dancing with encouraging messages about attending school. In another village, where Samaritan’s Purse recently constructed a new primary school, the community made neckties for every child in the primary school. The community wanted the children to value education and dream for the future. They made the neckties to symbolize the success students will enjoy if they finish their education.

I’m also excited because Samaritan’s Purse will be implementing education projects in a number of schools, helping children learn to read and write in their own language and empowering community leaders with tools to better manage the school system. These projects are the result of experiments with tablets, mobile apps created by organizations like World Education, hard work by Samaritan’s Purse staff and Education Symposiums with Cambodian government officials, Australian/New Zealand educators and Samaritan’s  Purse staff. 

We Can Read We Can Write Campaign!

From all of those experiments and ideas from symposiums the ones that look the most promising are those that capitalize on the values and resources of the village community.  In my learning journey I’ve realized that the most valuable resources are not those that come from foreigners from developed countries. While those resources are helpful, the most important resources are already in communities.  Whether it’s been from my teaching experience in the US or my time here in Cambodia there are some things I’ve found to be true.

•        Children have dreams for their future!
•        Parents have dreams for their children!
•        Communities want the best for the families of the community.
•        Every community has valuable resources to make children’s and parent’s dreams a reality.
•        Resources and assistance from the outside are valuable IF they align with community values and resources, but are worthless if they do not.

Village Chief on the right is watching me closely (and laughing),
making sure I don't have a wreck

Taking a break to play Rock, Paper, Scissors

I’m having the time of my life because the projects I’m involved in are serving communities who are learning to use their available resources to recognize their  dreams. While it may sound counterintuitive when you are trying to see communities transformed, servanthood is the best model. 

Jesus’ model of servant leadership applies in every corner in society. Just glad to be serving Him in this capacity in Cambodia!

Raven's Leadership Spotlight

 Last week marks the 3rd annual year to launch our Raven's Hope International Team to the USA. Every year as I am mentoring the girls in preparation for their journey, I don't always know how to describe what they will feel when they arrive. Every Raven experiences those first few days differently. Imagine the first time you left your home state and experienced a new culture of people, a new environment, and new foods. Or, imagine for a moment the first time you left the USA and entered a foreign country. However, there is one thing I do know. The Raven's come back with changed lives from their experience at RHI. Changed Lives! That is what I love the most. Seeing them go and return to Cambodia with a clear vision and a dream on how they can individually impact their country for Christ.

Raven's Hope International 2015 Team

I would like to take a moment to "Leadership Spotlight" one particular Raven from our 2013 team. Her name is Chantrea Chap. She is currently a program coordinator at an organization called Nummanna Auxillary for Community Enrichment located in the Samnong 12 area of Phnom Penh. After returning from RHI, Chantrea took her vision and dream into action and started a new program at NaCE called My Home.

My Home provides English language education

 "My Home teaches underprivileged children both, the Khmer and English languages. In Cambodia, poor children getting the opportunity to learn English language is rare. They will be offered more and better jobs if they are able to speak English well. This helps them break the cycle of poverty and gives them the chance to help their families and this nation", Chantrea shares.

Chantrea (left) and My Home team

The purpose of My Home is to empower disadvantaged children by teaching them Khmer and English languages, life skills, and caring for them holistically. This will afford them greater opportunities in life and lead them and their families to Christ. Chantrea shares that "My Home has a strong relationship with the Celebrating Church where I worship. With their prayer and support we are able to hold on Sundays a separate meeting, through which we present the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the children and their families. As Cambodia is a Buddhist nation, most of the children’s families are either Buddhist or they follow religions like the ancestral spirits".

 “AT MY HOME, NOT ONLY DO WE TEACH THEM ENGLISH, BUT WE PRESENT THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST TO THESE CHILDREN AND THEIR FAMILIES.”

To learn more about My Home please email Chantrea at myhomeministries@yahoo.com.  Or visit them on FaceBook at My Home Ministries.

                                                 Blessings, Tricia

Your gift makes the work of the Hester family in Cambodia possible, and we work hard to maximize each dollar entrusted to us. We are grateful for the generous support of many individuals and organizations that share our commitment to informed, responsible and effective service in Cambodia. To partner with us in 2015   Please Click Here

Being Dehydrated: You’d be surprised what you might learn.

It’s hot season in Cambodia. Tricia and I have to constantly watch to make sure we are staying hydrated and especially keeping an eye on the boys. Unlike people in the countryside, we have access to clean drinking water. We get dehydrated simply because of the constant heat, conditions and sometimes just overdoing it. During our time in Cambodia we’ve seen the terrible effects that the lack of clean water and dehydration have on children and families in rural villages.

We’ve shared stories of how the groups we work with, like Samaritan’s Purse and New Life Fellowship, work in rural villages providing water access and clean water. And as some who have been to Cambodia know, we have our own solutions to staying hydrated here in the capital city. Aside from drinking plain water, we drink plenty of the famous Royal-D!

We’ve gotten pretty good at spotting dehydration 

in the boys. They come home from an active day at school sometimes with the classic symptoms of sluggishness, sunken in eyes, having a headache, etc. And though it isn’t pleasant to mention, urine color is a great indicator. In developed countries you don’t talk about things like that much, but here it’s a different story. I was laughing a few weeks ago when I went to Reece’s basketball game and in the school restroom there were “pee charts” on the wall above the toilets in the gym reminding kids they may be dehydrated if their urine was certain colors. That’s just one of the fun things you’ll find when your living in a new place. And oh yeah, how could I forget irritability! We have nights where we are all argumentative with each other and then somebody wises up and we all sit down and have a glass of water, with Royal-D of course.

Recently though I recognized a symptom I hadn’t recognized before. Sometimes when you’re dehydrated you can actually start craving food. This isn’t a symptom you would normally associate with dehydration. Instead of interpreting your body’s signals as thirst, the signal is interpreted as hunger. I’ve realized often when I feel hungry at a certain time in the day that my body is actually prompting me to rehydrate, but instead I start eating!

When I realized this I was surprised not just on a physical level, but on a spiritual level as well.  One of the interesting things is that our nonphysical selves also thirst.  In the same way, we don’t always recognize the true need of our spiritual self. We may misunderstand spiritually what we need, and we may try to satisfy our needs with possessions, foods, or relationships that do not satisfy and that may bring dangerous side effects. I immediately thought of how often I have tried to satisfy my spiritual thirst with a number of different activities or things that never seem to satisfy me.

It’s no wonder the writers of the old and new testaments make so many spiritual references to thirst.

“O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water.” Psalms 63:1

It’s also interesting that Paul speaks of God’s love for us in a way that you would describe satisfying thirst.


“God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” Romans 5:5

I’ve seen the terrible effects of physical dehydration in Cambodia. But, today I see even worse widespread effects of spiritual thirst being misunderstood all over the world.  The effects are pretty obvious. We are misreading the symptoms! Jesus has pointed the way to the answer, an overflowing fountain running over with the water of life.

“Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. “ John 7:37

Have you been trying to satisfy the wrong need lately?

Your gift makes the work of the Hester family in Cambodia possible, and we work hard to maximize each dollar entrusted to us. We are grateful for the generous support of many individuals and organizations that share our commitment to informed, responsible and effective service in Cambodia. To partner with us in 2015   Please Click Here

The Power of Hope – Search for Significance Part II

“Let your hopes, not your hurts, shape your future.” Robert H. Schuller

I recently visited a village that has continually inspired me during my time here in Cambodia. You may remember I wrote about it the first time discussing my Search for Significance.

During that visit the primary school principal and community invited our group to work with them planting flowers and trees to landscape where Samaritan’s Purse is working with the community to construct a new primary school for Bos Thom village. 

I was very touched by the experience because what I saw was Cambodians and foreigners, young and old, working side by side. It was a beautiful partnership where everyone was investing in one goal: a better future for the children of the village.

Principal Min showing students how to plant flowers

During the visit I was especially touched when I watched the principal. He was working harder than anyone! What a picture of servant leadership! Then I noticed something else that was really special. He was going from student to student helping them plant their flower or tree and then gently teaching them how to do it correctly. Although I couldn’t understand all of his words I could see and hear the care in his voice and touch. When I saw him working so diligently with the students I realized in the simplest of tasks of planting flowers he was trying to instill hope for the future in the children.

Later I was talking with Sophea Ngath, the program manager from Samaritan’s Purse. She told me the first time she asked the village leaders about their hopes and dreams for the future they were very reluctant. They replied they were afraid to dream. They were afraid their dreams and hopes for the children were too big and that they would fail to accomplish them. But after Sophea's encouragement they said no matter how difficult the situation in the village they would begin to discuss their hopes for the future and begin to develop a plan. Sophea helped them with developing their plan and the community began working towards their dream.

Little did they know, Samaritan’s Purse was working to help them see those dreams become a reality. In January Samaritan’s Purse started working with the community to construct a new primary school building. The primary school building is only part of the communities dream and they are working diligently on the rest of the plan!

On a repeat visit Sophea said the village leaders told her how excited they were. When they started dreaming and planning they expected it would take a very long time to even get started. But once they started putting action to their hopes and dreams, they've been shocked at how partnering together, we've all seen in a few months what they thought would take 5 to 10 years to happen!

A young boy sitting in front of the new primary school
under construction where he'll be a student soon.

Reflecting on my observations of Principal Min and his imparting of vision and hope to the children and community, even in the smallest act of planting flowers and trees. And, reflecting on the experience of the village leaders, I realize hope is a powerful component of a significant life. It’s not just that we should have hope for ourselves and our own future, but that we should encourage and envision others with hope.

The work I am involved with requires project management, logical frameworks and strategic planning. Those are all great road maps. But, the fuel that drives the car down the road, or even the fuel that drives the explorer who drew the map in the first place is, a hope and a dream. Without hope we’ll either fail to develop a worthwhile plan that changes things, fail to inspire others, or even worse we’ll never even try to make things better.

“What gives me the most hope every day is God's grace; knowing that his grace is going to give me the strength for whatever I face, knowing that nothing is a surprise to God.” Rick Warren

I now ask myself “How am I inspiring hope in the lives of others in what I am doing today? Especially, Hope in Christ! How can I help them plan and act in moving forward to see those hopes and dreams fulfilled?

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." Romans 15:13