​Hi everyone!

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Welcome to my blog page :)  I'll try my best to keep this up to date as much as possible

with what I'm up to day-to-day.  

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This is my beautiful new home!  (well, the view from my balcony anyway!) I was so

blessed to find it - totally chosen by God for me!!  I found it on my very first day here

and had put down a deposit and everything before lunch!  I wasn't sure if I should

take it as I had no idea where the organisation I would be working was or anything.  One

phone call to my friend and I decided to take it.  Turns out it's right between work 

and two of my closest friends.  

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Goes to show how God answers prayer for the small stuff and gives us favour - I had

prayed for what I wanted and asked God to help me find a place quickly - didn't think

it would be that fast!  Bonus was that it met everything on the list I'd made, including

being close to a swimming pool!  Yay! No more waiting til the street floods! :p

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                            My first visitors!  Andrea and Sophy!  (ok, this is exciting cos I lived in a hotel

                                                                                                                                            for a year without anywhere to hang out, cook or have guests - so awesome         

                                                                                                                                            to have my own place!)

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This is Sak Saum's Phnom Penh shop (above) in the building where I'm working.  

To the right is me with Theavy, Sak Saum's National Director.

I'm so enjoying being a part of the team here - what a beautiful family to be a part of!  

It's something special to see girls renewed and strengthened, living a life of hope, purpose and fulfillment. 



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March

I went shopping today for a sewing machine and fabric for a small project.  

There are heaps of cool places to shop and this was the one I found.  So much

fun going through everything to find a piece of hidden treasure!  

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I decided to brave the traffic this year and buy a moto to get around.  However, Phnom Penh is not the safest or easiest place to learn how to drive one.  I tell ya -This driving on the opposite side of the road thing is not so easy!!  Technically you can drive on any side of the road here though as road rules are more of a suggestion than a regulation so I’m doing fine if I forget sometimes ;)
(FYI - footpaths are also an acceptable place to drive)

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My first day driving the moto was a little overwhelming.  Wedding season here is in full swing.  There are marquees blocking off street everywhere.   Can’t fit your guests into your house? No problem! - just put your marquee on the road!  

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  ​     This one is rather elaborate but  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            has the traditional style and the

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            ever popular pink and yellow

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            colour scheme

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​So,  this particular day, I decided I would be brave and drive home from work.  The easy way (where I can just take the quiet street) was blocked by road works so I had to go on the main street.  Then when I got to my street I had to navigate through the middle of a half set up wedding marquee, past a guy on a ladder literally  walking himself across the street (like stilts).  Then I had to drive over a plank to get over the flooded drain water outside my house that was created by the road works.  By the time I got in the gate I think I'd been holding my breath for half the trip.  But on the bright side I'll be ready to join the circus any time ;)

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​April
As for my work here, at the moment I am focusing my time on creating designs for a sleepwear and lingerie line that Sak Saum is hopefully going to be releasing soon!  The garments will be produced by current staff members to begin and then once we have the line established, our aim is to open up employment and training opportunities to more girls.  Once we have the job creation part of the project more established, we can begin outreach to local areas where girls are trapped in prostitution with no other choices or opportunities for work.  We're currently looking at joining another ministry based in Phnom Penh to do outreach in a local slum area where few services are focused and where street prostitution is common.  We are aware of the importance of having positions ready to offer the girls when we start outreach so as not to create an unfair expectation that we can’t fulfill.   Can’t wait to get to this point in time though!   

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I feel so blessed that this opportunity has been opened up to me as design is something that I’ve been interested in for so long but would never have had the opportunity to pursue back home.  I got to do the fun bit of shopping for fabric and now have filled my office space with different colours, prints and lace that we’ll be using – it’s a bit messy in here now though– my usual style!!  



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All of the fabric and fabric and accessories have been bought locally.  This both supports local businesses and reduces travelling or transport costs that would be incurred by sourcing fabrics from other countries.  It also means that local staff members can take on the role of sourcing fabrics without needing a passport or to arrange international travel.  I’ve been really surprised by how many beautiful fabrics we have access to here and sometimes it’s hard not to buy them all!!

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I found one lovely couple who I bought quite a lot of fabric from but when I needed to pay them I knew I was short of cash and would need to go to the ATM.  I was doing my best to explain (in Khmer) that I needed to go to the bank and would come back for the fabric shortly.  The husband was so kind, he offered to  take me to the bank so that I didn’t have to get a motorbike taxi.  I was  slightly concerned that it could be a bad move to get a stranger to take me to the ATM (!!) and knew that if I did get robbed it was my own stupid fault for being too trusting but I decided to trust and it all went fine!  I’ll make sure I’m more prepared next time though!



So I've been keeping myself busy drawing patterns and cutting and sewing different designs.  Figuring out the machines and the fabrics is always fun but it's so encouraging to see each piece come together.  Our plan is to start training the first 1-2 girls in the next month or so and expand on the range from there.  



























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May

A rainy afternoon in Phnom Penh for the start of the wet season - out with Andrea to do some shopping and we got stuck in the rain.  Thankfully she has a truck so we were well sheltered and could watch the street activity  whilst staying dry.  

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                 always love to see the locals having a bit of fun :)                             ...this poor street seller wasn't so lucky though :(



and this was just half an hour of rain!  I got home and this was what my street looked like..

























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I got a great surprise when a friend of mine had bought tickets to a charity concert where Nick Vujicic was speaking in Phnom Penh.  I went with a friend and some of Sak Saum staff to see him speak and came away feeling so inspired and encouraged.  The crowd was 95% local people and they were really receptive of him and enjoyed what he shared.  I was surprised to learn that a number of people already knew who he was through his youtube clips.  The girl sitting next to me had even given a presentation on him to her class.  It was so encouraging to see his message of hope, belief in yourself and acceptance of others, brought to this community where people with disabilities or visible differences are often seen as worthless.  There was a visible impact on the teenage population in the audience as well as he shared about bullying and encouraged everyone to think about their perception of themselves and others and their actions towards others.  

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       Nick vujicic and interpreter                                                                                     children's dancing & singing performance during the concert



June

Sopheap

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Yesterday we started outreach in Phnom Penh.  I joined Andrea, Sophy and their co-worker to go to a slum area that they had found on an earlier outreach trip.  We arrived at a small wooden building that fronted the street. As Sophy asked for the girl who they had previously met, kids started coming up to us to investigate who these strange people were in their village.  Andrea pulled out a bag of balloons (smart girl!) which made the kids' eyes light up. There were just enough balloons for each kid - except for one clever little fella who decided that he could get two by sticking one up his shirt :)      

 

The girl who we had hope to meet with was sleeping but another girl came out and invited us into her room to talk with her.  We went into the building and could see that the house was on stilts and went back from the street to reveal bedrooms to the side.  The girl, Sopheap*, led us into her small room and welcomed us to sit with her.  As she was telling us about herself, she thanked us for coming to see her and said that she'd never had visitors before.  I was saddened by this but touched that she was so visibly pleased to have us there.  Without asking her to, she shared with us a past that was so full of heart ache and pain, from having to support herself from a young age after her parents death to being in a violent marriage and having to support her three children with little income.  She told us of how she once had a small business selling sugar cane drinks, with a press that was donated to her by an organisation but after her husband sold the press to get money for himself, she was left with no form of income for herself or her children.  She cried as she shared that her children were now in the care of an organisation as she had not been able to care for them and earn a living at the same time.  As we talked to her about  her experiences, she shared with us that she felt hopeless and had no aspirations or hopes for the future.  She had been supporting herself through prostitution and was struggling to even meet her rent payments of 7000 riel (about $1.75) per day.  She explained that most of her clients were violent and abusive and many times she would not be paid anything.   Andrea held and comforted her as she poured out all of the grief that she was holding onto and we spoke to her what God put on our hearts of her value and worth.  

 

As we talked to her about her experience in different jobs it became clear that she had a lot of different skills. We were able to affirm her as she showed us shoes that she used to carve when she worked at a factory and sewing and embroidery that she could do. We arranged to meet with her again next week and by the time we left she was much happier and really keen for us to come back and visit.

 

I was really touched by the experience of meeting her and really felt that God highlighted her to us for a reason.  Her story was definitely one of the most painful and heartbreaking I had heard and I was reminded of His heart to reach the lost and wounded 'The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed' Psalm 34:18  I'm looking forward to meeting with her again and seeing what else is in store for next week's outreach and who knows what might be beyond that.

 

* name changed for confidentiality purposes - I chose the name Sopheap, meaning 'gentle' as a reflection of her gentle spirit and sweet nature.