FCOP Update -- June 2005

Dear Friends and family,

Soapbox time! Giddy-up Spud! I harnessed my dog to the box. “Drag it out here! Good boy! OK, up we go”!

“Why don’t you do something about child trafficking and sexual exploitation in Cambodia?” I get asked this frequently. The short answer is, “We are, in fact, with over 3000 separated children in church/homes, we are probably the most successful group in the country!” I usually get this look of total unbelief followed by this question, “Well, how come I never heard about it?” I’ve got a short answer for that one too, “It’s because we really want to DO something about it.” Times and seasons, nothing is more luring in the NGO (Non-Government-Organization) community that the latest ‘hot item’. Right now ‘child trafficking’ is sizzling; it is where all the money is, NGO word processors are in overdrive! Organizations that never even thought of children before are coming up with new programs, putting on new spins, like port prostitutes flocking to an arriving ship, they run for the money. I have a personal theory, the genuine affect an organization has in resolving this malignancy is directly related to their core values and inversely proportional to the hype and blow spewing from their mouths. We work daily rescuing children, but we don’t talk about it. Why? Because we want to be effective! If you do not understand why, you do not understand Cambodia. And since we choose to continue to do something about this problem that is all I have to say about child trafficking in Cambodia. What is going to change this nation is ONLY a fundamental shift in values. That means Christ, and almost every grant out there prohibits religious conversions, yet Christian organizations seek after them like thirsty men for water. They wind up with a self inflicted case of paralysis. Personally, I’d rather die of thirst. “Back Spud”, I’m done.

Last year there were huge accolades over a book written about a small child prostitute rescue effort in Cambodia. The author was the darling of talk show circuits and churches in America for months. It involved between 12-18 girls, no one knows their outcome. Street talk is that after some “token justice” most criminals were released, and the girls were caught and returned, most beaten, some killed. I don’t know the truth, but the book came across like this effort was the salvation of Cambodia, that the “sexual tourism industry was shut down”. This perception is simply false, but it sold books and made money. What really happened was more like a cyst was lanced and the infection scattered all over the body. What is the truth? Well, yesterday, the year after this ‘hyped up’ effort took place, and the results of a larger raid were revealed, the US State Department downgraded Cambodia from tier two to tier three (the lowest you can go) on its annual global anti-trafficking list. If you want to read about it tap onto: http://www.missionreports.com/human_trafficking

Food distribution is controversial, the old “Teach a hungry man how to fish thing”, but if people are really hungry they don’t wan to sit along side the river bank dangling their line in the water, they want to eat. So, we do both, with emphasis on training and micro-enterprise development. But take a look at this distribution of raisins in a poor slum. http://www.missionreports.com/raisins_2005/ The interesting thing about this particular event is that several mothers offered to sell us their children and at least one “nice lady” approached the “Westerners” and wanted to know if we wanted sex with a five-year-old? It makes me sick, but as I said before, the answer is not in criminal prosecution, but in “Gospel Lift”. We have seen the economic and social atmosphere rise in every community where a church is planted. It drives humanists crazy, but it is still the truth.

The former “hot item”, now fallen from the pedestal, was women’s rights. Well were still working on that one too. The general view of Cambodian men is that wives are ‘baby factories’ who take care of the home. After mom has six kids she decides, ‘no more’, and that means no ‘you-know-what’. Also, when mom is pregnant, about 50% of her early married years, there is no ‘you-know-what’, as that may harm the baby. Husbands get frustrated, abuse their wives, go down to the local ‘institution’, and bring home H.I.V. to the entire family. This is not immune to the Christian community. The problem is that in Cambodia no one, especially women, want to talk about ‘you-know-what’, so the cycle continues. Passing out condoms is the world’s solution. We’ll “Ma Sou”, my wife, is not shy about such things, and she started with the District Supervisors wives, and it has taken hold, already seminars are taking place throughout the provinces as wives realize that rather than being victims of abuse, that they can be proactive, and like most relational problems, we are all co-conspirators. Through humorous drama, lively discussion, and some sobbing testimony these women learned that they can do something about this. http://www.missionreports.com/womans_conference2005/index.html

Peter and I attended The International Convention of the Foursquare Church in Chicago, Illinois, USA. This was Peter’s first trip to America. He met global church leaders, visited my family farm, met my Mom and two sons, their wives and two of my grandchildren, saw pigs and dairy cows being raised commercially, and thoroughly enjoyed the rural Midwest. Chicago was a bit overwhelming for him, and he missed Asian food. After 12 days he was “homesick” http://www.missionreports.com/chicago_convention05/index.html Foursquare Cambodia received a pleasant surprise from the Foursquare Foundation in having four of our five grant requests approved. This will really help propel the church to further growth. Thank you!

Rains are still slow getting going on a consistent basis. Please! Take a second right now and pray for adequate rain for a good crop in Cambodia. Thank you! We’ve had a lot of help from Glad Tidings Church, The Butte County, CA, Rice Growers Asc., Gleanings for the Hungry, and the National Raisin Board. We’ve received 8 containers of rice, soup mix, dried fruit and raisins.

http://www.missionreports.com/rice_donation05/index.html also see: http://www.missionreports.com/soup/

The rice mill is humming away, spewing forth 9-10 tons a day of milled rice. It is a life saver, as most of our homes have been “borrowing rice” from local merchants, at exorbitant rates, this is payback time. The big expense is diesel fuel as it costs us about $80 per day. The good news is that LP gas is ½ the price of diesel. The bad news is that there are no industrial size LP Gas engines available in Cambodia. So, when Peter and I went convention, we bought a 100hp LP Gas tractor for $2800, a 1000 gallon LP gas tank, and have them in the water and on the way. See pictures in Convention site above.

Teams continue to contribute to the development of the church. Northwest Medical Mission sent a medical team to Poipet (the Sodom of Cambodia). Ryan Taggart hosted them and they saw about 1200 people in 5 &1/2 days. “There were a lot of HIV/AIDS patients, TB, and general infections along with dehydration and malnutrition”, according to Ryan. Thank you NW Medical Teams! http://www.missionreports.com/nw_medical_poipet/

Anna Blake hosted a construction group from Household of faith Community Church to refurbish our first Church/Orphan home built in 1999. http://www.missionreports.com/talam_may05/ They worked hard on rebuilding the cafeteria building, painting and building a fence. These projects are in high demand and any church group can participate in one. They preach louder than any sermon! If your church is interested contact Anna.fmi@online.com.kh

Lots of pictures this month! We’ll stop with the words. If you want a general website for the work here: http://www.missionreports..com/cambodia

Blessings!

Ted, Sou and Hannah Olbrich,

Anna Blake

Ryan Taggart

Cambodia

Archive:

See May 2005 update

See April 2005 update

See March 2005 update

See February 2005 update

See January 2005 Update

See December 2004 Update

See November 2004 Update

See October 2004 Update

See September 2004 Update

See August 2004 Update

See March 2004 Update

See July 2004 Update