We have arrived at Lighthouse ministry in Battambang, Cambodia! Lighthouse was first started by Lukas 9 years ago. Lukas is originally from Switzerland and has lived here for 10 years now. He is accompanied by two other men from Switzerland here, Elias and Samuel. They are our thick german/switz accented, big grinning hosts for the month! We feel at home already.
Lighthouse is operated out of a 3 story building that opens its doors to teenagers. We are residing here with them. It has 3 projects that are designed to bring hope and to help people help themselves instead of creating welfare. Below I have listed the 3 projects as it reads on their website.
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#1 Lighthouse Living:
“Lighthouse Living is intended to assist poor and rural Cambodian youth who wish to further their education but may lack adequate resources to complete their schooling. Our program seeks to assist these Cambodian youth in their education through training in social competence, tracking of the individual youth’s educational progress, sports and athletics, and, of course, student housing in the Lighthouse dorm itself that is within close proximity to the schools students are attending. We provide a network of support and a secure living area for each of our students, selected from the poor, rural areas here in Cambodia, with available mentors to help each student develop both social competence and individual dreams/desires.”
#2 Lighthouse Learning:
“At Lighthouse Learning we provide a safe place for the young people to just ‘hang out’ or, if they choose, an opportunity to invest time into their future. We provide tutoring in a number of 10th, 11th and 12th grade subjects such as: Mathematics, Geometry, Chemistry and Physics. Other subjects provided include Computers, Music, Sewing, Sports and Bible. Each Sunday evening we have a Youth Service, conducted by the youth for the youth. Thanks to our partner organization “Brightstart” for providing teachers for out Centre. We are able to create another place ‘Where Hope is Possible’.”
#3 Lighthouse Serving:
“In Cambodia there are many Non-Government-Organizations (NGOs) working on a wide range of issues from human-trafficking to agricultural projects. Something most NGOs have in common is their reliance on donors outside of Cambodia to pay for the expenses of running their organization’s various projects. It is our belief at Lighthouse that, while well intentioned, this constant influx of foreign aid fosters a sense of victimhood in the Cambodian people it intends to help and causes them to become dependant on their foreign benefactors. This is why we created Lighthouse’s self-sustainability project. The goal of the self-sustainability project is that we here at Lighthouse could break out of this cycle and eventually become a completely domestically funded NGO. We plan to accomplish this goal through business enterprises that directly engage with the communities we work with. Since Lighthouse tends to work with people from rural communities, raising cows and goats for meat is especially well suited for this purpose.”
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While here, we will be leading youth nights, some devotionals, and worship. We will also be helping to add an additional room onto the building. We will be teaching beginner and advanced English classes Mondays through Fridays. Most importantly, we will be building relationships with the youth as we do life with them over the next few weeks.
Some of the youth here are Christians and some are not. You can join us in prayer that before we leave more will come to know Christ as their savior, Amen!
