Hello Everyone,
I wanted to tell you about the incredible organization with which we are working, here in Cambodia. They have a couple different locations around Cambodia and throughout the world.
The location I am at is doing a lot of work around their seven acre property in the hopes to be self sustaining in the near future. They have a fish farm, goats, chickens, ducks, geese, and they are putting in a large garden.
The weather in Cambodia is not ideal for growing crops because of the extreme heat and rainfall so they really try to use every resource to its fullest potential. They have a compost pile that they are mixing into the soil. Our host, Mark also has his own little special project of worms that compost things for him and produce great soil! They filter the water from the fish farm to get the poop and that is what they use to water their garden – fish poop water. So a lot of poop! Poop everywhere. But it doesn’t smell bad at all because they mix hay and shredded coconuts in with everything.
The main focus of the organization is not the property, the garden or even the animals- it is the lives they save from going into the sex industry.
Helping Cambodia is on the prevention side of prostitution. A lot of the families here believe in karma. With that, if you are born into a poor family as a girl you most have done something horrible in your past life and you now have to work to repay your bad karma. There are not a ton of things a young girl can do to earn money, or earn good money at least.
However, there is one market out there where a 10 year old can make somewhere between $100-300. Parents will sell their children to men for a day, night, or a long weekend. It is so hard for them to not justify it. It is so much money to them. They are blinded by a belief in bad karma and money.
Helping Cambodia tries to stop this from happening. They take the girls away from their parents (with their agreement) and provide for all of their needs. They provide them an education and teach them English. If you know English here you will be able to get a job with no problem which means you can provide for your family later. They will take kids of all ages and they never age a child out of the system. They always have a home here.
None of the girls or boys know the Lord coming into Helping Cambodia. Most all of them leave having accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior.
They have three different buildings- two are used as homes for the children. One is for the girls, one is for the boys. They are very nice, set up like a house in Cambodia. They have the same shower and toilet that they might have at home and they learn how to wash all of their own clothing and have house parents for each home. House parents must be Khmer (Cambodian) and must be Christians.
We get to hang out with the kids every night and let me tell ya, they LOVE to have dance parties, play games, and are so talented!
Please be praying for this organization as they are looking for one set of house parents.
Thanks for reading about the organization with which I am partnered this month. And if you are wanting to get involved in any way email me!
Love, Alyssa
