Cockroaches!!

You know you’re definitely in Cambodia: When a random person takes a photo of you and half an hour later your face is on a souvenir plate getting sold back to you... When the attendants at the supermaket are pointing at your behind for a good 10 seconds and you finally figure out they're saying "excuse me, there's a cockroach on your butt… When you order fried rice for dinner and it comes as just that. Plain rice. Fried in oil… I LOVE it!!

This country is just so beautiful in the strangest of ways. The past month God has just been opening my eyes afresh to his goodness and his amazing love for this nation. Friends of mine (that many of you will know) Louise and Glen Andrews were able to come visit at the end of April, and I had the pleasure of showing them around the city.
I took them to see the S-21 Tuol Sleng Museum and the Killing Fields, where many Cambodianswere kept and killed during the Khmer Rouge Regime. It was actually such a blessing to be there again after 6 years and just have my heart broken again for this country…
Many people still have no idea what went on during that time and yet Cambodians are still very much living the effects of it day in and day out. BUT never have I been so convinced of and humbled by God’s amazing grace and his restoration for the broken.

So now a brief overview of the last month…
Asian Outreach HIV/Aids project: Together with a local nurse and counsellor, went out to a district over the other side of the Mekong River, to make home visits for as many of their 49 patients as we could see that week. It was great to see their faces light up when we arrived! The majority of them are women who have been infected by their husbands and now must fend for themselves, with often no income or help for their children. Just the fact that someone is there to care for them, laugh with them, listen to them, and encourage them is an amazing thing to be apart of.
Healing Home: Our neighbours set up and run a home primarily for those that are ill and have no money or way to get to hospital. They provide a bed, meals, basic medication and medical care. There is also room for girls who have been rescued or run away from the sex trafficking industry, for pregnant mothers, children with poor or no families and even those just searching for the Lord. At the time I joined, there were 2 paraplegics and we did the daily wound care for chronic bed sores. I was told that these had appeared when they were in hospital and had not been treated until they became bigger and deeper than our fists… What an amazing privilege to be able to freely pray for each residents healing and restoration. These are exciting times!
Destiny Rescue Children’s Centre: This is a home/school set up essentially for the children of rubbish dump workers and recycling collectors. Many of them are ridden with scabies, lice, and sores. After battling through a million of the little munchkins hanging off me left right and centre, we treated them with scabies lotion, fungal cream, and multivitamins. One word – CUTE!
Aim for Asia, Agape: Meeting with the directors, Don and Bridget Brewster, was such a great insight into the ministries working against the sex industry in Cambodia. Driving out to the area is intimidating enough in itself. Only 2 years prior it was the most popular and well-known area for child trafficking. The building now taken over by Agape for their ministry and medical clinics was once one of the holding houses for girls that were sold/taken for the industry. My heart just broke being there amongst it and feeling the oppression and incredible evil that had gone on. There are now classes for the children of the community to come and learn English, written Khmer, and catch-up classes so they can return to school. There is a free gym aimed mainly at the men/boys who make business from these young girls. Although a slow and dangerous project, they have seen at least 2 men give up their well paying career and begin to change their hearts. The medical clinics are just basic help for those who cant afford to see a Doctor, but people hear and now travel from the province to line up for hours and see the nurse.

I can barely portray in this newsletter the things God is doing in my heart and in my life, but I hope that you are blessed and challenged by the things that I share. It doesn’t matter where we are, he is Lord and he is able to restore all brokenness, all pain and all fear.
I am now coming to the end of my time here but will update again when that arrives. Bless you all. Any questions, comments or hellos are always welcome!!

Love Hannah