Floods

This weekend is one I hope I don't forget for a a long time. It started on Friday when we were inundated with food and clothes donated. we spent the whole day organising it into food parcels. Everyone pitched in to help.

On Saturday we got up at 5:30am to get a tuktuk to ABC Driving school to meet the coach that was going to take us to Prey Veng. When we arrived there were piles of bags of clothes, food parcels and sacks of rice being loaded onto the buses. (These had been donated by listener to a local radio station who had organised this trip) We then went down to school to collect the 387 (to be precise!) food bags we had put together.

We were struggling to fit all the food and people in! 31 people came from the HOPE community. This was students, teachers (Khmer and expat) parents, friends and family. I was overwhelmed by how many people wanted to help.
As we drove to Prey Veng all along the roadside we could see evidenced of the massive flooding.

We arrived at the meting point which was at the side of the road about 2 half hours out of Phnom Penh where a rather small looking boat was tethered. We were told that both buses loads and their passengers were going to go on this boat!

As the boat was loaded with all the food and passengers from the other bus it went further into the water so, after some discussion we managed to hire another boat to take us.This did cost more but we felt we needed to be safe especially was we didn't know what the water currents were like.
We travelled about an hour on this boat and all e could see for miles was water with the tops of trees poking through or small islands.

When we arrived at the island hundreds of people had come from the little islands to get the food. As we docked there was a burst of applause. My first reaction when I saw all those people was we don't have enough for them and a little worried that we were going to get mobbed! However it was very well organised and even on this deserted island there was a PA system!!! The local official gave a speech about the are and how it was affected. I think there were 1,000 families affected and 300 who had been badly affected were selected for the aid.  Each group was then invited to give a speech. Graeme McKenzie and Chak (the student who organised this)  gave a speech and said we were a Christian school and we wanted to give this as a way of expressing Gods love to them. We were sorry it was so little and we knew it would not solve their problems but we wanted them to know we cared and hoped that soon they would get their life back to normal.

Then all the chiefs got a pile of bags and calmly everything was doled out to the people whose names were on the list. We also ran an impromptu clinic with a Doctor who had come with the radio station and our school nurse. When I stopped counting there were 292 people who had taken tickets to see the doctor. We only had time to see some of them. One boat load of people travelled 4 hours only to find there was no food left. They got some clothes but it was heartbreaking to see how patiently they accepted their lot. Many people needed antibiotics but we ran out or didn't have the right ones.
One family we talked to had been living on their roof for the last month and had lost their rice fields and farm animals. they were so appreciative of the small food parcel and clothes that they got.

If you sent a donation here are some of the people you helped. This lady could not stop saying thank you.

This lady was not one of the lucky ones she will have to wait.

A very tired team arrived back at Phnom Penh sometime after 6:30. Sometimes when I do things like this I think was it worth it because we seemed to do so little to help. There were so many other people who needed help but we could not help but as I thought about it I remembered the verse in the bible which says For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink...‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters,^f you were doing it to me!’
God knows the heart and desire behind the gesture and says it is like we are doing it for him.

Urgent Help Needed!!

Cambodia has experienced its worst floods for 10 years. Several provinces have been severely flooded, causing major damage to crops, property and transportation routes as well as loss of life.

Some of our Cambodian staff know people or have family who are directly affected by the floods. In Prey Veng, several isolated are now facing a huge crisis. Their roads and crops are completely submerged under water which is four or five metres high. These people are now completely stranded and they are suffering from starvation. ABC Cambodia Radio is collecting food and emergency aid to give to the flood victims.

On Friday the Cambodia Daily newspaper interviewed a group of 15 people, including children, who had been stranded on high land for three weeks in the badly affected south-eastern province of Prey Veng.

Hom Tey, a 35-year-old mother of five, said no government officials had visited.

“My family has only two kilos of rice left,” she said. “No one has offered aid to our families, no one sees our problem.”

Another villager said her five-hectare crop of rice had been destroyed.

“Next year I will have no rice to eat,” said 48-year-old Nhorn Nheam. “Normally when we harvest the rice we pay back the rent to the landowner, but I don't know how I can pay it back.”

 Cambodia Daily  here

One of our student at school has sent out a letter asking for help and we are making a collection of things on friday.
They urgently need:

• bottled water
• dry food
• canned food
• mosquito nets
• clothing
• torches

We are as a family going to buy some of the things they need and it was so lovely seing the children empty out their pocket money to buy things for the families.
 Last week we as a school were learning about Micah 6:13 "What the Lord requires of you is to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly before your God."

This is love in action

If you want to help these families in huge need contact us with how much you are willing to donate and we will buy the things from the list for friday or we will make contact with agencies we know who are woking in that area and give them the supplies or finances they need to help these families back on their feet.

For more details of floods see here

A Sneaky Peak of our House to be....

Patio of new house

This week the most amazing thing happened and has demonstrated to us again of how good God is in every area of our lives. We have been driving round and round searching for just the right house. We felt God had said he was going to provide us a house with a garden but none of the houses we saw with gardens were anywhere near our budget. The other ones we saw were either not suitable or didn't have gardens. I had begun to think maybe I need to pray about if I am wanting something or that God will provide.A lovely friend of ours said she had a few houses to show us one was really beautiful but probably too expensive as it was not far above our budget we decided to go and look. When I walked in I fell in love with its charm and thought this is so perfect but on discussion with the landlady she was not prepared to come down.I dragged Colin and the children along and they all liked it too.

So we prayed and thought we just need a miracle...maybe a slight change in our financial income and a change of heart from the landlady. The next day I got a message to say my friend was urgently trying to get hold of me, when I rang her she said the landlady had agreed to rent it for the price we had said and then we had a message to say someone wanted to sponsor us. (Just so you know I jumped around the classroom screaming ...the pupils had gone home) We could not believe it. Today we were further blessed and amazed, the landladies mother said she had persuaded her daughter to lower the rent just for us not anyone else because she felt God speaking to her that she should do that!!!!(She is a Christian)

Now can you agree with me that God is so amazing?! Also from nearly every window I can see green plants and my room is wooden and the dining room table looks like something from Habitat. God doesn't just do the minimum he wants to lavishly bless anyone who calls on His name not because of what we have done but just because he loves us. Sometimes it is not what we expect or could imagine. 

So we move in 3 weeks! Which means some pretty swift packing!

Here are some pictures before we have moved in so not all our things:

Patio again

Patio yet again

Sitting Room

Dining Room

Lucia's Bedroom (downstairs with aircon)

Kitchen as seen when coming down the cliff-like stairs

Ewan's Bedroom

Upstairs (where Jamie is going to sleep in a room we will create)

View from Veranda into house

Decisions

Decisions...decisions...we have been house hunting for several weeks now and our contract ends at the end of the month. We don't have to move but feel it would be better for all of us if we move and get settled before the end of term rather than have to move in a rush.
We have trawled around all the areas, and got our lovely friend Jun to ring up landlords (he also has been looking around) but either they were too small, too expensive (the most common reason) or not available any more.I was really hoping to get a garden/yard but these houses were all way over our budget.Today though we saw a house which is similar to the one we have now but arranged slightly differently.

Here is my Estate Agent Description:(italics are my obsevations)

House at far right end -front not in view

This large family end of terrace town house is situated on a quite street overlooking open fields on two sides.
It has a compact (very small) enclosed covered courtyard (4.5x4.5m) at the front with large folding doors opening onto a well proportioned lounge with windows along one side and a double height ceiling. An open corridor on the left  leading  to the rest of the house.(4.5x 9m)

Ground Floor
Bedroom 1 (3.5x 4)complete with en suite shower and toilet. (and windows to the lounge!!)
The corridor opens onto a character dining room with two Roman type pillars and a sink with a marble surround and WC number 2! (quirky or weird esp the sink jutting out randomly)(4.5x4.5)
Stairs to upper floors


Galley kitchen with fitted tiled units (very poky)
Main kitchen, spacious and very airy! (if you like having part of the roof missing!!! and holes in the top of the walls to let air and other things in :))with fitted units and fitted hob backs onto fields. Door to outside passageway. (5mx4m)

Floor 1 this is a mezzanine level

Bedroom 2 (3x 4.5m) en suite WC/ shower and looks over banana field,. Has a small built in desk.

Den (3.5 x 4.5) open area by stairs with WC/shower. Windows overlooking fields

Bedroom 3 (4.5x 4.5) Windows overlooking fields and the lounge!

Floor 2
Kitchenette/office complete with sink! with a balcony and window overlooking fields

Open office area with WC and windows overlooking fields.

Bedroom 4 (3.5x 3.5) window, built in shelves and WC/shower wet room (ie no door!!)

Family room (4.5x 9m) large airy room with windows on two sides and small balcony at the front of the house. Double height ceiling

Floor 3 mezzanine level
Bedroom 5- (3x 4.5m) window overlooking fields

Bedroom 6- (3.5x3.5m) window overlooking fields and built in shelves

Bedroom 7 (4.5x 4.5m)WC/shower. Windows overlooking fields and family room! (can keep kids in order from above!!!)

Roof Top Patio full length roof patio complete with low walls and decorative railing. Views over fields and a few houses. has a lovely breeze and would make a nice rooftop retreat. (sure railing is safe is but!!! .Fortunately only one side and could be covered with potted plants to keep children from climbing! The rest is cement walls and there is a factory the other side of the field but not too loud)

To explain

We didn't set out to find the biggest house but the way houses are here are designed is often rather random. Houses which take up more land (small villa style with garden) are often $200 to $400 more per month than the town houses or Ptayah wen (thin houses) These thin houses are often designed to house several families which explains the extra kitchen and all the en suite bathrooms! Its not extravagance like we would think of in the west but a necessity when you have extended family all living in the same house. All the houses so far in our budget have been the thin houses which sadly do not have any gardens.
So we need to decide whether to go for this amazing house with all this space inside but no outside space or keep looking in the hope we will find something in our price range with a garden/yard.
We have all looked round the house and the children really liked it but Lucia wistfully said "I did want a beautiful garden".
So in the next few days we need to make our mind up...pray we will have wisdom to know what to do.

What do YOU think we should do... any ideas????? :)