Meet Vuthy!
A 35 year old ruthless Uno Enthusiast
Vuthy grew up desperate to leave Kampot and his family. As soon as he was able, he moved to the capital, Phnom Penh, where he became a tuk tuk driver. He was deemed a go-to driver for a YWAM (Youth With A Mission) group who ended up being the first people to introduce him to Jesus! During this time, he was in a solid relationship with an American woman and actually planned on moving to the US with her (and had the means to) until he dedicated his life to Christ and had these plans flipped upside down. As he grew in his faith, he realized he couldn’t love God and hate his family, so he made the hard decision to stay in Cambodia, breaking things off with his girlfriend and returning to Kampot as the first Christian in this village of 2800.
He sold his things in order to create enough funds to build a school, a church and the house my team is currently staying in! Since then, he has been completely transforming this community and has also been blessed with an amazing wife and baby boy!
My team and I are so grateful for Vuthy and his leadership. Here are some of the amazing ministries we’ve been able to partner with him in:
- Bong Duom Thom Coconut Oil: Kampot is known as “the land of the coconuts” yet Vuthy’s family was the first to harness this abundance and make a company from it! Their products range from cooking oil to ‘tiger bomb’ (icy hot), all made from coconuts and other natural ingredients. They focus on employing the elderly and people freed from sex trafficking and are aiming to start selling in stores around the US soon!
- Soccer Ministry: the heart behind this ministry is outreach to high school aged kids. Drugs are very easy access and becoming more and more prevalent. They started a ‘light of hope’ team that plays competitively at a boujee turf field every Sunday and they are GOOD.
- Light of Hope School: government schools aren’t really a thing here so if a family can’t afford the private schools then the kids usually end up working at a super young age. Light of Hope is a school that offers free English education to the underprivileged families!
- Light of Hope Church: each Sunday! While we are here, my team will lead worship, share our testimonies, and preach. The crowd is approximately 54% people who have already chosen to follow Jesus, and 46% people who were a) reached out to in our community visits b) heard through relatives or c) are there for a good time and live music.
- Teaching in the Buddhist Schools: Though they are private, there isn’t much order or curriculum. My teammates and I go to the night school and help teach the alphabet, words, and pronunciation.
As he continues to find more and more ways to serve this community, he is finding they are running out of space for all of the ideas on this small property! They are currently constructing plans to build a large Youth Development Center across the street that will serve as a safe gathering space for the whole community. Prayer for the finances to come through would be SO appreciated as this program begins to take off 🙂
