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News : Cambodia

Tragedy strikes Peah’s family

Tragedy strikes Peah’s family – 1 Jul 2011

Tragedy has struck the family of Peah, the young boy featured in Tearfund Ireland’s autumn 2008 film (view film here). Over the past few year’s Peah life has been transformed after being fostered into this loving family. Now he has lost his foster father.

In the frantic traffic of Phnom Penh, Cambodia his foster father came off his motorbike on his way to collect Peah from school. He suffered what appeared to be minor injuries and got back on his bike and went home. Later that evening he started vomiting blood. His family rushed him to hospital but tragically he died in the hospital four hours later.

Peah and all his family are in a state of shock and grieving his loss. Tearfund and our local partner Little Conquerors are also sad at the loss of this wonderful man. We will continue to support this family Please pray for the family during this difficult time.

Rescued from the streets

Peah was abandoned on the streets of Phnom Penh, Cambodia when he was only 6 years old. Fortunately Chendai, who works with Tearfund’s partner Little Conquerors found him. We were were able to place him with a loving foster family who raised him as their own son. Little Conqueror’s supports foster families by providing social work assistance, helping to pay school fees and helping the parents establish small business to sustain themselves.

Give to our Forgotten Children Fund today

  • €22 per month can support two children in foster families
  • €86 can pay for school fees and books for four families for one year
  • €125 can pay for a social worker who places children in a foster family

Download a Standing Order Form to give regularly
Give online here

Christmas Appeal - Give Hope

Christmas Appeal - Give Hope – 10 Dec 2010

Red ants and snails. When hunger gripped Mol and Tol Tuch and their children in Cambodia, these were the options left available to them. In their village, that we visited last year, one in five children were dying from malnutrition.

‘I was shocked when I saw Mol and Tol’s children eat,’ says Ralph, who recently visited Cambodia. ‘It was as if they hadn’t seen food for a long time and would not see it again. There was something disturbingly “urgent” about the way they chewed and swallowed – as if their lives depended on it.’

A small amount of money can make such a huge difference in a country like Cambodia.

A gift of just €34 can provide a family with two pigs and five chickens, providing food and income for the future.

Mol and Tol have a field. They depend on this for survival. But the rice harvest enables them to grow enough food to feed themselves and their four children for just six months of the year. Then the food runs out.

Tearfund’s partner, the Wholistic Development Organisation (WDO), has begun working in villages across the region to tackle the problem of chronic hunger. Because of their support, things have changed in Mol’s village. ‘They (WDO) came here and helped us. This village was one of the poorest in the area. The work has changed tremendously the way people live.’

Tearfund has enabled its partner, WDO, to loan chickens and pigs to needy families. Mol and Tol are already breeding theirs. They will eventually give back the adult animals, keep the offspring and start a business selling chickens and pigs. Alongside this, WDO has provided crop seedlings – and trained families like Mol and Tol’s to use their land in the dry season, growing watermelons and vegetables.

‘They have helped our family completely’ Mol smiles broadly. ‘This is the outcome,’ he says, pointing to his field full of crops – a contradiction in a country where fields normally lie bare in the dry season. ‘You have helped us to thing of the future. You have given us hope,’ he says.

Could you give just €34 this Christmas? Donate here

Saving for the future

To cope with the uncertainty of the harvest a ‘rice bank’ has also been built. It is a secure shed on stilts used to store rice. In Mol’s village fifty families have already joined the scheme. The church runs the initiative – they were the only ones the villagers trusted to manage it.

‘I took my 20kg of rice to the rice bank’ explains Mol. ‘Then when I was lacking food, the rice bank loaned me 100kg. It really helped us. It is much cheaper than most other ways of getting rice.’

Because of the work of Tearfund’s partner WDO, the Tuch family now always have two meals a day. During the next five years, Tearfund’s partner WDO is on track to reach and mobilise every church in Cambodia to support its community and ensure people have enough to eat.

How your support can transform a community

  • €124 can provide 30 families with seeds so they can grow up to eight different crops, which means they don’t just rely on one food group
  • €61 can provide agricultural training for eight church volunteers, helping nearly 200 orphaned children to farm their own food
  • €34 can provide a family like Mol’s with two pigs and five chickens, providing food and income for the future

Irish-funded health centre opened; Cambodian PM says thanks – 23 Jul 2010

A new TB/AIDS respite care centre was built in July in Poipet, Cambodia with funding from employees of ESB in Ireland. At a ceremony to open a new TB/AIDS health centre, Tearfund was presented with a gold medal and certificate of appreciation by the governor of Banteay Meanchey province on behalf of the Cambodian Prime Minister, Hun Sen. The recognition reflects the growing influence of Tearfund partners working in Cambodia to tackle poverty.

Poipet City, in north-west Cambodia, is an epicentre for HIV/AIDS due to its thriving sex trade and human trafficking industry. Tearfund’s local partner, Cambodian Hope Organisation has been supporting people living with HIV for many years. However they realized that the local hospital facilities were inadequate for people with HIV and tuberculosis (TB). TB was spreading to immune-compromised patients and causing a high death rate. The new facility allows the isolation and improved care of highly infectious patients.

David Crooks, Tearfund’s Country Representative for Cambodia, said the timing of the recognition was important: ‘This growing influence comes at a time when the government is tightening up its control of civil society and will hopefully demonstrate to the government the validity of civil society groups and the church.’

Would you like to see our work in Cambodia in Spring 2011? Deadline for application 30th August. Apply today.
Find out more about our work in Cambodia here.

An unwanted gift - Christmas Appeal

An unwanted gift - Christmas Appeal – 23 Nov 2009

Happy Christmas! There are two children who I’ve spent time with over the past year. One is my nephew Noah, who has just celebrated his second birthday this week. And the other is Peah –whom I met in Cambodia in February.

Noah couldn’t be more loved or wanted. My sister and brother-in-law have albums of photos of almost his every waking hour! My parents love showing him off to all their friends!

In contrast, Peah had a very different start to life. He was an unwanted gift. There are more than 100 million children around the world without a family, living in the harshest circumstances. But there is hope. Tearfund’s amazing church partners reach children like Peah every day, and place them in loving families.

Can we count on you for a Christmas gift of €32, €86 or €125? Donate here

Help us to support Little Conquerors in Cambodia and IMCAREs in India to continue their work next year. Tearfund’s church partners work tirelessly to address immediate needs, while also dealing with the underlying issues that cause children to be vulnerable, that means our work is sustainable and has a lasting impact.

Little Conquerors, Cambodia – €27,300 to fully fund this project in 2010

The Little Conquerors project helps children with disabilities to reach their God-given potential in all areas of their lives: physically, emotionally, spiritually, educationally and socially. This ensures these children get vital physiotherapy, specialised equipment and access to basic education. Read more about their work here

IMCARES, India – €29,500 to fully fund this project in 2010

IMCares works with local churches to care for vulnerable people, including children orphaned by AIDS, in the poorest slums of Mumbai. They provide food, clothing and education, and search for loving foster families to take in the orphaned children. IMCares also supports AIDS-affected families with counselling, home visits, nutritional support and other material help, and helps teach children in the slums about the reality of HIV and AIDS.Read more about their work here

A quiet miracle in Cambodia

A quiet miracle in Cambodia – 16 May 2009

I was in Cambodia in February and witnessed the quiet miracle that is taking place. Hidden from the gaze of the world, small vibrant churches are springing up.

During the genocide, almost 2 million people were killed, the country was devastated and the tiny handful of Christians in this Buddhist country were almost wiped out. But now, less than 30 years later, there are an estimated 270,000 Christians (two per cent of the population) and the country is beginning to develop.

I spent a week visiting church leaders and our Christian partners to find out how this miraculous transformation had come about.

“The village of Pun Lu is extremely poor but things are changing now because of these Christians” the village chief, Eng Keng, a Buddhist, explained to me. “At first we were very suspicious of people in our village who were Christians. We thought they had abandoned the religion and traditions of their ancestors. However they are now helping to improve our village and we are working together in peace.”

The local church in this community supported by Tearfund has been demonstrating faith in action. The local pastor Jam Rahn has encouraged her church to work with their neighbours to improve their school, ensure all the households have clean water and that the people affected by disability and HIV are being looked after. As a result, the church is thriving. “Many of our Buddhist neighbours now want to know more about our faith”, says Pastor Rahn.

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