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Empowering and Supporting Cambodian People to Reach their God Given Destiny
Our Vision. To see Cambodia young people reach their full potential Body, Soul and Spirit by empowering and equipping them with the love, knowledge and the training needed. Our Mission Statement. We as the directors of Open Arms are committed to providing a loving and caring. Christian environment for all those in our care; we will provide good food and medical care and a high standard of education. Training. Our vocational training centers will provide the young people of Cambodian with a high standard of training in all areas of their chosen field Our Vision.
Hi folks,
Open arms training center is busy busy busy with ten new students starting last week there are now 52 young people involved in the program.
The Tea Room is enjoying rapid growth in the number of girls and women training in both the housekeeping and cooking programs and of course the best part is that the girls are being employed. Open arms has a book now with the names of people waiting for the girls to finish particularly the housekeeping wonderful isn’t it.
On a business side the Tea Room is rapidly growing recently it was a part of a survey for the restaurants that serve this type of food in Cambodia we got the best review the ladies that did the survey said it was better than raffles, the girls were so excited and really they do such a wonderful job it’s not only the cooking but their attitude and service is always so good.
Folks I need to explain that whilst Open arms has three businesses they are used as a tool for the training, it is very beneficial for the young people to actually be a part of a business but with the prices that you can charge in Phnom Penh there is never any profit but it help pay the rent and wages.
The salon training is always pumping and there has been a huge breakthrough for some of the girls that we train, some of them have hard lives and the opportunity for counseling has come up and been very successful. I am in Australia at the moment and the assistant pastor of New Life Fellowship Cambodia has taken over my Chosen and Precious mornings and I hear she is doing a wonderful job.
The staff of the salon had the privilege to train 100 girls in make up on Saturday International Justice Mission was having an awareness day on how not to be caught up into prostitution and how to keep yourself safe from trafficking safety And the staff went along they had a great time,
The tailor shop is battling a little the business side is slowly growing but that is not the focus and we are finding it hard to find boys to train so prayer there would be good, Mon is going well and his skill is growing.
The Open Arms kids are doing a great job as usual as you know they run Open Arms when we are away. As Open Arms is growing so rapidly we made the decision that we needed an older woman to assist the young ones in their leadership and to take a bit of the work load from me.
Deakson who has worked with us for six years was the obvious choice she has always worked as home help and became mum when I come to Australia. When asked if she would like to take the new position she jumped at it she amazing it’s like watching a flower open she is leading with such wisdom and I can see that she is a support to not only the Open arms kids and staff but also the trainees.
Well folks Grahame and I have just celebrated out tenth anniversary working in Cambodia and we would like to take this opportunity to say thank you all so much for your love support and prayers its has been an amazing journey and we would not have missed one moment of it we feel so privileged to have been able to be a part of something this wonderful bless you all.
Thank you everybody for your birthday wishes the kids and pop are planning a Barbie with some friends and I having trouble not controlling it hahaha those of you who know me wouldn’t believe that hahahaha again.
It’s a beautiful day here Suzy (Naroth) the young one who looks after the Tea Room is getting married tomorrow she is the first of the Open Arms girls. Two of our kids are bridesmaids so you can imagine the excitement.
Its times like this that you really appreciate the work that God has done in the lives of these kids , Suzy has been with us for four years and her and I often laugh about the beginning when she was a rebellious kid.
Suzy came out of awful difficulties and when I look at where she had come I can only say wow LOOK WHAT THE LORD HAS DONE.
She is marrying Terry who is a top boy they met here at Open Arms two years , we were laughing this morning about Poppa having the father talk with Terry poor guy pop was tough on him but he’s been good to Suzy.
On a sad note Suzy’s father died this week so it’s been up and down for her but we are keeping her busy so folks please pray for her.
We had a hen’s night on Monday night and the girls made her a paper wedding dress I am attaching pictures.
Grahame and I will stand as her parents tomorrow what an honor.
I will get around to writing a proper newsletter soon. Again thank you so much for your love, prayers and Support.
Sandra xxx
Hi folks it’s me again with more news about the Housekeeping and Cooking course it’s very exciting for the girls and us of course.
Open Arms has had so many people requesting a place in the course that we have had to have a good look at the situation and see how we can get more girls trained quickly but thoroughly as the demand is there for employment.
We have come up with this plan we are hiring two of the girls that are being trained now, it sounds silly but we have found this a very successful way of getting good employees they might not know too much at the beginning but they sure learn quickly and again its employment for a young one.
The course at the moment is three months with Housekeeping in the morning and Cooking in the afternoon four days a week. We will change this to two separate courses and the students will study their chosen field all day for six weeks we feel we can adequately train them in this period as there will be two trainers instead of one it all means that we can double our intake of students and half the time.
So folks please pray for us I had just about finished the training manual so now it’s back to the drawing board.
Open Arms businesses are all Social Enterprises which means all profits made go back into the community and folks Open arms is looking for somebody that might be prepared to sponsor a cappuccino machine
Lots of Love
Grahame, sandra and the kids xx
Open Arms Cambodia
More encouragement for our trainers in the Tea Room, the lady that hired one of the graduates is so impressed with her that she told a friend and that friend is willing to wait for another girl to graduate how good is that, Thank you jesus.
The older ladies are still going well and really they delight me, it seems like every day are on a discovery tour and they are giving the young ones a run for their money .
Today they started to learn how to do an English breakfast so we got this photo. Enjoy thnaks so much for your love , encouragement and prayers
Vanda the second girl that graduated on Friday is now employed and on top money can this get more exciting for me yes, we have been here for ten years and have helped many young people but I have had this secret desire to help some older people guess what we started two new students in the Tea Room and they are both 51. Well I don’t know who was more excited them or me they love that I am fat and Older and kept hugging me, they said they thought that they would never learn anything new at their age and now they are learning to cook western food. This culture is very different and I was a little concerned that they wouldn’t like eighteen and twenty year old young people teaching them but they are getting on like a house on fire the giggling and talking has been so loud that I actually had to tell them to settle down. Must admit that I am feeling the most blessed woman in the world but on a personal note my blood pressure is not good so some prayer would be appreciated. Bless you all and thanks so much for your love and support. Sandra x