Widow and 8 kids

Widow, Chie Thaan

In the fading sunlight at O Ta Saeng, we met this lady Chie Thaan, with 8 kids. Just recently widowed, she suddenly finds herself completely unable to feed her family. The oldest son Saran, lives with Esther in her hostel in Baray. He is 18 years old, and in first year of High School. He wants so much to continue to continue schooling but now sees that as an impossibility as he has to go out to work.

We watched that agonizing session where Esther and the pastors counselled her to let 5 of her children go to the "orphanage" where they can be looked after. She finally relented after many tears. Even so it wasn't certain then the orphanage could take them.

As it turned out, The HIS orphanage (Kingdom Kids) in Takhmau, Kandal province, managed to take 5 of the children into their care. The children appear to be happy and comfortable there as they are together and have each other for company. The youngest is with the mother.

Saran continues to live with Esther at her SOLAR hostel. I have committed a love gift of US$20 for him every month to see him through his school. He earns some pocket money at SOLAR by helping to look after the plants.

The younger brother Saron, 16 years old, needs to be able to attend some vocational training. He is apparently very good with his hands, so Esther is trying to find support for him to go for electrician training. This is a 7 month training programme in Phnom Penh. The total cost of training, hostel board/lodging is approximately US$ 835. Praying someone can donate this.

O Ta Saeng revisited

When we embarked on the school project at O Ta Saeng we were suffering from a bit of donor fatigue. It was our third school building project after Chhom Trach and Ta Peuv. Fortunately we were able to team up with The Alor Star Methodist Church who not only helped with our school building fund but also went on to build a church at O Ta Saeng. This ended up as a perfect example of not only how school and church building efforts can work together, but two churches that hardly know each other can trust each other enough to work hand in hand to advance His Kingdom.

We have followed up at O Ta Saeng through the donation of a swing and see-saw playground set. Unfortunately the construction was not up to standard and we have left instructions for the contractor to redo the installation. But it is a good start and the kids are clearly delighted with the playground.
We are also putting in place a plan to incentivize the students through the provision of annual prizes for the top 5 students in each class. Unfortunately we didn't go quite prepared this trip so we had to make do by awarding a stuffed toy to the best student in each class. We will prepare a series of gifts/awards for next year, but the presentation this year was nonetheless a good opportunity to make a point to the students that they should strive to do well.

But the school still suffers from a lack of teachers. The government could only provide one teacher. One was drawn from the community and another from the local high school. Currently despite having a maximum capacity of 6 sessions, the school only holds 4 classes - Grades 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Church@OTa Saeng

One of the preconditions we had when we entered into the school building project was that this had to be in association with some sort of gospel mission. In the villages we worked with, there was invariably some cell group or house church already in the community.

At O Ta Saeng, we were very fortunate that even as we were partnering Alor Star Wesley Methodist Church in building the school, the ASWMC was already planning to build their church at O Ta Saeng.

During the previous trip, at the commissioning of the school, the foundations of the church was just beginning to be laid. Now we were overjoyed to see the church take shape. The building is almost complete.

Praise God.

O Ta Saeng School

We had a great opportunity to visit the school at O Ta Saeng. Since the commissioning of the school in August, the school has already started 4 classes - 2 x Grade 1 classes in the afternoon, and 1 x Grade 2 and 1 x Grade 3 in the morning. Each class takes about 35 students at the moment. It is expected that by the same time next year, the school will be full.

Two teachers were taking classes that morning. The Dy Principle of the school, Lene has been teaching for 0ver 10 years. She has Grade 9 + 1 year of teacher training. She lives about 5 km from school and rides a motorbike in daily. She shared that she was quite content biking the distance in to school, as there were now more students in school. Apparently last year, before the school was built, 2 children had fallen into the river on the way to school and drowned.

The other teacher Bomary, is younger, but with similar qualifications. She lives only about a km away. Both appear quite happy and well adjusted.


One of the difficulties they face is the shortage of resources. The children have textbooks issued by the government, but no exercise books and writing material. More about this later.

O Ta Saeng School commissioning

My apologies for being so slow in posting my updates. Things just kinda snowballed after we got back from Cambodia.

So the exams are over now and I've finished marking the exam scripts...so I have a bit more breathing space now. Also looking forward to our next trip to Baray.

The school at O Ta Saeng was completed on schedule. We had a bit of an opening ceremony. It was also good meeting up with Ps Lee Peng Chiat from Alor Star methodist Church. I felt especially satisfied that we were able to build this school in collaboration with Alor Star despite our not having known each other before...and having done so in faith and trust.

In the end the inflation bumped up the cost of the school almost 50%, but by God's grace we had just about enough funds to pay for everything.

Commissioning of the school

So the school should be complete soon. My trip there is pretty much confirmed for 4-7 August. We'll be meeting with the contingent from Alor Star Methodist Church. I believe there will be a kind of handing over of school keys to the village leaders/school principal.

Jhon Sim will be accompanying me. It is a nice time to go as JetStar Asia has got a special on the flight to PP. But I think it's going to be all wet and muddy as it is the rainy season. Still I think it will a great trip.

We will also be exploring other options to help the villagers...perhaps a school for another village or a scholarship scheme to help deserving students further their education in the high school/college/university.

Projected completion

Received confirmation that the school should be completed by end July/early August. Esther had suggested we meet in Baray on 9 August for the school opening, but this is probably not workable, 10 August being my wedding anniversary and also coincides with the beginning of the semester.

I am however planning to bring a small group of NTU (Nanyang Technological University) engineering students to recce the villages to do some student special projects with the villages. I will probably target to go up sometime mid semester for the opening.

Inflation

Inflation has caught up with us in Cambodia, and the costs for construction has jumped about 25%. We now have a bill of USD28,900. Fortunately God as usual, has provided for this inflation ahead of time, so we should be able to meet out commitments.

Praise Him from whom all blessings flow.

We on the way....!

						USD
75 sets of tables and chairs (joint ) USD20 each,						$1,500.00
3 tables for the teachers USd20 each						$60.00
3 toilets/bathrooms						$1,300.00
3 classrooms						$18,600.00
One Drill well						$1,200.00
TOTAL						$22,660.00

This is the budget for the school building. The constribution of Mt Carmel to this endeavour will be USD $12,660.

Thank God for His faithfulness in providing. We are so overjoyed to be able to begin building.

His floodgates

I am almost at a loss for words.

God has opened His floodgates of blessing. Since last week, there has been an overwhelming level of support for this school in O Ta Saeng, and through the generosity of His people, the target of USD10,000 has been more than 50% exceeded. We have received a total of $22,800 (~USD15,724).

And I am sitting here completely overwhelmed by emotion as I reflect upon His goodness and faithfulness.

For those who were intending to donate but have not done so, please do not send any cheques now. We have already exceeded our target, and I do not want to accumulate any excess funds. The present monies will be used to build the school, and any excess funds will be utilized to purchase educational materials and any other support the students need.

There will definitely be other needs that will arise though the year, and I will keep everyone informed through this blog as these needs become clear. As a matter of principle, any fund raising done through this project will be 100% needs specific.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. And my heartfelt thanks to all who have contributed.

And to all, God's richest blessings for 2008.

O Ta Saeng

We have visited O Ta Saeng twice. The first time was in March 2007 after the commissioning of the Ta Peuv village school. The second time, during the most recent trip in November.

O Ta Saeng is a sizeable village of about 175 families with 177 children. It lay significantly south of Ta Prot and Chhom Trach, but within the Kpg Cham province. Once again we were faced with long stretches of pot-holed muddy tracks, this time with a narrow, rickety wooden bridge.

The village had made a request for a 3 class-room school as the parents had been very concerned about their young children traveling the 2kms to the nearest school. Those who do make the long commute are often too tired to really attend school. The track to the school is often flooded and treacherous and they have lost a few children already. The proposed school is also intended to support an adjacent village Neang Leung with about 80 families.

It is anticipated the proposed school will cost approximate USD15-18K to construct and outfit in addition to the introduction of a bore-hole well. The villagers had already set aside a piece of land measuring approximately 20 x 80m.

I have to confess to have been more than a bit reluctant to commit. Not because O Ta Saeng was undeserving of the support, but because I (being of little faith) wasn't confident about raising the required sum. We had already raised approximately USD20K for the last 2 schools and I was worried about donor fatigue. I could see a target of about USD5-10K being reached, but USD18K was a little bit off the scale. I had a discussion with Esther about this and proposed that if we can find another church to co-sponsor the school, that would make the target more realizable. She agreed. We departed Cambodia on that understanding, and left it in God's hands.

What an absolutely joy it was to receive her typically cryptic email on 12/12 about a member of the Alor Star Methodist church who pledged USD10K for the school. Plus the news that the village headman had accepted Christ!

So God has made His position quite clear. And the ball, without doubt, has been place firmly back in my court.

November 2007

Since 2005, we have identified 2 remote villages in the Baray district that were badly in need of schools. These villages are characterized by being fairly isolated and accessible only through badly maintained dirt tracks. Young children do not attend school because they are too young to make the arduous journey by foot to the nearest school, often kilometers away. Because they do not start school appropriately, the children remain illiterate and innumerate. When they become old enough, they are already very far behind and find it difficult to cope with school. Often they will just default from schooling and remain uneducated.

The Cambodia Build-a-School project seeks to coordinate resources to allow such remote needy villages to build a school within the vicinity of the village. These schools will be relatively simple schools catering only to the lower primary classes. It is anticipated that when the children get to Primary 3, they should be able to move to the nearest larger school in the nearby villages. The village will take ownership and undertake to maintain the school. The teachers will be supplied by the Department of Education. In all these villages, our expectation is that the local pastor (Cambodia Methodist Services) must be prepared to minister to the village with the intent of establishing a church within the village.

The first of these villages was a small and very poor village, Chhom Trach. By the grace of God we were able to raise enough money to enable the building of a 2 classroom school, as well as to provide the village with a bore well in the compound of the school. We have since returned to Chhom Trach twice after commissioning the school. On the recent trip in November, we were able to witness the school in session. There are 2 teachers catering to approximately 122 students of Primary 1 and 2 levels. Three classes are in operation with 38, 40, and 44 students respectively. By next year it is anticipated that the school will be maximally utilized with 4 classes (2 classes x 2 sessions) in operation.

The second village we were able to minister to, is Ta Peuv, consisting of approximately 200 families with about 500 children. Once again, by God's grace, in 2006/7, we managed to raise more than US$10K to build a 2 classroom brick school complete with toilets and furniture, plus a bore well in the school compound for the village. As a gesture of their commitment to the school every family from the village contributed 3 fence poles to be planted for the school fence. We reciprocated this gesture by contributing to the purchase of barbed wire for the fence. During the November trip, we observed the students in class and were able to meet with the village committee. Currently 2 classes are in session (1 class x 2 sessions), as the school only started in October 2007. It is anticipated that in 2008, when the present class is promoted to Primary 2, another 2 classes will come into session.

We have also evaluated the needs of a third village, O Ta Saeng, just across the border in Kampong Cham. This is a village with 175 families and 177 children (92 girls). The village leadership has committed a plot of land (~20x80m) for a proposed 3 classroom school. The anticipated need is relatively large as the school is expected to also support a neighbouring village, Neang Leung, with ~80 families. The estimated cost for building this school is approximately USD15-18K.

We praise God, as the latest news is that the village headman has just accepted Christ. Furthermore, recent visitors from Alor Star Wesley church, who were celebrating their 47th wedding anniversary have pledged a sum of USD10K to co-sponsor the building of the church. God is great!