Today has been another exciting one!
We have been suffering with the ‘Delhi belly’ – a casually drunk iced tea at a shop we think was the donor of our stomach bug – but nothing took away from the thrills of the day.
Solar electricity was installed this morning with many, many onlookers, both villagers and officialdom. We were surprised to have the village chief present all morning and even more surprised (and delighted!) to have the commune chief also. (Many villages constitute a commune; many communes make up a district, and many districts constitute a province.)
We were even happier to see them all in the library looking over the latest additions we had brought in, including of course the books that Margaret had just delivered.
Another thrill for us was one of the men from the solar company asked us many questions about our work in the village. He was very impressed by what he saw and seemed quite distracted from the work at hand!
|
In a corner of the library building hung a rudimentary light fitting, school director Mr Hon flicked a switch and voila! there for the very first time was electric light in Khvein village!
|
Whilst the solar system was being installed we went to the market and bought a 50 kg sack of rice and went to the home of a family where father and mother both have HIV/AIDS rendering them very weak and incapable of work. They have three children, two of whom attend the Khvein school. In such a situation as theirs, there may be a temptation for them to let the children find ways of earning money by selling, etc. We believe that the long-term future is best served by getting an education so to meet this ‘tension’ we visited them with the gift of rice (enough for 3 weeks) and told them that we would supply them with a sack every month but on condition their children were at school. The children are S***** in grade 6 and her sister N**** in Grade 1 and then there’s a pre-schooler. When we saw N**** at school she could barely stand, such was her exhaustion from hunger. Poor child! Today’s price of rice is US$35; just three years ago we were buying rice here for $17.
They also have a grandmother who is caring for three orphaned boys, R*** (11 years old) in grade 4, Ra***** (8 years old) in grade 2, and C***** (6 years old) in grade 1 but presently seriously ill in hospital. They too would dearly need a regular bag of rice.
Another child in need of help is 16 years old R******. A year 10 student at Hun Sen High School in Siem Reap. R****** lives a very difficult life being very poor in a community of poor people. She lives with her ‘auntie and uncle’ but they are old and she has to look after them, that means she is the breadwinner. R******* has a brother 12 and a sister 4 who have to be looked after as well. What a responsibility for a 16 year old girl! She lives from day to day a hand to mouth existence and usually does not eat until night time. Despite this she is a very positive girl and is an absolute treasure to us this visit, being in constant attendance on Margaret and acting as Margaret’s translator. We have known R***** for some years and seen her grow, having first met her and the family when she was in the primary school. She has learned English well from the tourists and latterly through attending a private English High School but dropped out because of lack of funds.
Yesterday we took her to the New York International School and enrolled her, paying three months’ fees and arranging for reports on her progress to be e-mailed to us and we would be paying the school fees direct to the school.
We have high hopes for R***** and believe that financial support of her education is money well spent.
So there we have a number of children who need help and would benefit from having sponsors.
Earlier this week we found that an additional 96 children had enrolled at school who needed uniforms – this was not in our budget.
Then today, an American lady staying at our hotel with her three children was speaking with Margaret and asked if she might visit the school today. She had brought a suitcase of her childrens’ toys and books with the intention of donating them to a school or orphanage in Cambodia. So we escorted her to the village this afternoon (several kilometres from town) and they spent all afternoon there. She was visibly moved by experiencing firsthand the school, the children and what is happening there and gave Margaret US$500! – that’s exactly the amount we needed to give the tailor to make the extra uniforms! We showed her our record book where it was noted down and she was pleased that her contribution had met the need exactly.
On a personal level, we are tired, Margaret especially, with the heat and the amount of work we’re getting through. Nonetheless, we’re so jubilant that this trip is the best yet. We can so much see that our relationship with the village is maturing and that God is gradually revealing himself here.
**** To protect the children we have not shown their real names.