Sitting in the airport waiting to board my flight home. The time is Cambodia was life changing. New friendships were made, lives were changed and there is no turning back. Thanks for your prayers. Here are a few pics from some of the team to show you a bit more of what it was like.
Posts Tagged ‘cambodia’
Jun
19
2015
19
2015
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Tags: cambodia, do justice, jesus, justice, missionary, phnom penh, steps of justiceMar
07
2015
07
2015
I have been in the Kingdom of Cambodia for 5 days now and am once again astonished by the beauty of this country. The people, the landscape and the culture. This is the dry season, and its coming into the hot season, way hot. So amongst the beauty there is this layer of death that continues to settle on everything. Dust, rice fields that are drying up and broken people. On the outside all these things seem fine, but when you look closer you see that they need some lovin.
Yesterday I met with my good friends who work with a children at risk NGO in Phnom Penh. They told me about a young girl who lives in the community they work in. Turns out she was taken from her mom and dad by her auntie. Thinking she was being trafficked they went with the mom to the Province to find her.
Our friends left in the middle of the night and drove almost 12 hours to the Province where she was. After talking to a few people they found the girl. Turns out her aunt took her to the Province because she saw how bad she had it in Phnom Penh. She wasn’t going to school, she was malnourished and she was getting beat by her dad who is a heavy drinker.
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They found out that the situation she was in was a good situation, minus the fact that she was taken from her mom and her town. She didn’t want to go back, but saw how much her friends with the ministry loved her, and so she went back to be with them. She held their hands on the way home and fell asleep in the car ride home. It breaks my heart as I even type this story. This girls life was not good, but people loved her, believed in her and wanted to help.
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The other day they just did her placement test for school, she has never been to school. Her placement test puts her in grade 3, she is 14 years old. The school is a good private school. They are also talking to the dad about being a better father and working with the mom to make sure the child is protected.
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There is so much brokenness in our world, and it is Gods hope that we, His kids would respond and bring healing in Jesus name. Caring for the sick, visiting those in prison, feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty and preaching the good news to the poor. This call is a privilege that we all carry and its up to us what we do with it.
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Peace.
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Tags: cambodia, jesus, mission, missions, poverty, sex, traffickingMar
05
2015
05
2015
I spent the past 2 days with my friend Brett from Rock Foundation Cambodia. Brett Started Rock Foundation Cambodia around the same time we started Steps of Justice. The NGO has done a lot of great things for the poor, including building homes for a displaced community just outside of Phnom Penh.
A few years ago I came to Cambodia and met Mouen and his family. They lived and worked at the garbage dump village just outside of Phnom Penh. It was a brutal situation, and they only make $1- $2 a day.
A few months before I met Mouen he had fallen 20 meters (60 feet) out of a tree near his home. He was paralyzed from the waste down and almost died. While Mouen was in the hospital his wife gave birth to their baby and a short while after he got released from the hospital his baby passed away from high fever. It seemed as though everything was going wrong for this man and his family.
Last summer our friend Wade came with us to Cambodia. While here he taught Brett from Rock Foundation Cambodia how to make soap. Then, Brett taught Mouen how to make soap. He rented them a house, bought all the material and Moen started making soap.
Today Mouen makes soap for Rock Foundation Cambodia to support his family. He can’t pick garbage anymore because he is paralyzed, but he has a great job now, outside of the dump and can make good money for his family.
I can proudly say that I just bought the first 6 bars. I am also bringing a bunch home with me so that you can purchase some. If you wanna support Moen and his family hit me up and I’ll get you soap. The soap is 3 bars for $10 (plus shipping). The soap comes in coffee cream vanilla, cinnamon and jasmine, green tea and lavender n lemon grass.
To see more about the soap check out Rock Soap here. You can order through them and I will ship it or you can order through me at the below address.
Shoot me a message at phil@stepsofjustice.org
A Picture of Moen with his family, just before their baby passed away.
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Tags: cambodia, jesus, missions, ngo, non profit, soapMar
02
2015
02
2015
Over the next 6 days that Im in Cambodia I will be posting on things that I see involving poverty and trafficking. Cambodia is a beautiful country, filled with wonders and overflows with the heart of Jesus. But, because sin is in the world it is also filled with the horror of extreme poverty and human trafficking. Here are some of those things that desperately need the love and justice of Jesus.
It is 8am in Phnom Penh and most of the city is already at work, including the young girl that waved at me from the bar I was passing on my way to the cafe. 8am and the bars are already open, and not only for drinking, but for the selling of girls for sex. As I drove by I caught this girls eye. She waved at me like she had been taught and most likely prayed that I wouldn’t stop, but would just wave back and drive on by. 8 hours in Cambodia (5 of those sleeping) and my heart is already broken.
This is not the life that this girl dreamed of when she was a child. Working for sex under the watchful eye of her pimp early in the morning. Somewhere along the way her dream of life was stolen from her. Maybe by an uncle or friend, but most likely from a family member, as usually is the case. Was she tricked into this, or did she voluntarily go thinking that this is the only way she can make money for her family? Either way, she is stuck and needs to be set free.
Cambodia is filled with NGO’s fighting for girls like this. Fighting to give them a new life, filled with opportunity, dignity and hope. But, its not enough. There needs to be more ministries fighting for these girls. With over 50,000 sex slaves working in this country a few NGO’s is not sufficient, there needs to be more.
