Open Arms Cambodia
Empowering and Supporting Cambodian People to Reach their God Given Destiny
Alabaster children
Honestly we get to do the most wonderful things some women and little girls from Alabaster area had the honor to be crowned Daughters of the King last night they did a little course then last night we had the ceremony .
It is such an honor to be with these beautiful girls they touch my heart like I can’t tell you .
Thank you my Jesus, He is so wonderful folks HE LIFT THE LOWLY AND HE HAS DINE GREAT THINGS.
Alabaster
I had just been visiting the Village Chief in the area where Alabaster is situated and I was feeling just so sad , the folks little homes are just about falling down and they have nothing to speak of ,the sex workers and their men friends just walk around like their lives are ok and none of it is ok and they actually dont know how much more there is for them in life.
I thought to myself that I really can’t do this much longer I thought is anything happening are we being effective and we really helping build Gods Kingdom at all as that is why we are here and I said to Jenna I don’t know if I can really keep going here .
We got to the end part of the alley and three little boys from the area that come to the Center each day came running up calling Jenna and pop and I .
Anyway we spoke about the western man that has been living on Alabaster door step as the whole community is concerned and a little frightened.
I said well we need to pray , these little darlings that I could just eat grabbed our hands and in the middle of the alley way with motor bikes whirling past us and business as usual going they started to pray at them top of their voices .
It took me back at the readiness they had to give it to God and that they actually understand that prayer is the way and they were unashamed of their faith in Jesus.
It was one of those moments that you never forget I was so very humbled by these beautiful little one that I repented to God and said let’s get moving I’m willing .
Pastor Robert used to always teach us about how when they were building the temple that you couldn’t hear a noise and it’s the same in people’s lives as the Holy Spirit moves in our hearts we don’t often hear or see then all of a sudden there it is a temple for God to live in it’s our hearts not a building , and the Holy Spirit certainly lives in those boys .
Have a blessed weekend dear friends .
November News
Hi folks we hope that your all going well it’s a long newsletter but it’s been a long time since I sent one..
It has been a whirlwind since Grahame and I got back to Phnom Penh but we always enjoy a challenge .
The family home has shifted after nine years by doing that we have halved the cafe space and relocated Rehoboth to two new but much smaller areas one is above the salon and one at Alabaster they are small rooms but still a nice space to pray in.
You can well imagine what we had collected with the closing of tearoom and the homestay but there is always a great need so we had no problem blessings many people . The new place is half the price of the one we left and is very safe and clean and perfect for the young ones ,we felt they needed a new and safe envoirenemnt as Grahame and I aren’t here as often as we used to be.
Gow the young girl from the Alabaster area is doing so well she is no longer hard to handle she’s so kind and generous and she just smiled the whole time we were moving and by gee the girls all worked hard, Gow is going to be an excellent hairdresser she’s being trained now and Sreyna tells us she is the best trainee that she has ever had .
The cafe will be halved in size and will only take one person to look after it but we will continue with the catering as it is becoming very profitable . The salon just keeps on doing well and so does the training the team have just finished training another six girls they will train 24 this year so it is going well.
Alabaster Children.
These kids are truly going wonderfully they are learning so much in every way , they go to school everyday there marks are good they are getting well mannered and kind to each other they are more quiet and gentle now except when they get excited when a team comes and gives them face painting thanks girls they loved it and when they pray it just touches all our hearts .
Jenna continues to teach them good lifestyle ,English and Computer and of course lots of fun activities , we are hoping next year that one of our team members will teach them dance now that will be cute .
The Children with the most needs have just received uniforms , school books back packs and shoes it was a very exciting time for , Open Arms continues to supplement food and supplies for the most needy in the community and also lunches for before school .
The team were successful in getting three beautiful children into foster care as there mum died on the streets from HIV, these wonderful girls took these kids into our home and looked after them until the right place could be found they dressed them beautiful and sent them off with such excellence their little bags packed so beautifully pop and I did nothing they did it all.
Alabaster Community
We went to visit the village chiefs home yesterday as she is not well and it always hits us the real poverty that some of these guys live in , we are going to start to believe for better housing for them even some repairs and a paint job please pray with us as we step forward into this as really the need is great there little homes would make you cry.
Alabaster Ladies
The women continue to be loved and care by our committed team of women they are going as well as they can be with their current situations , there are as many children as women these days and many babies the team are busy teaching mothering as well as all the other things they do.
We are very excited to tell you all that Mercy Medical and American group of doctors over here will start a monthly clinic in Alabaster starting on 15 th November they have trained an excellent team of Cambodian doctors and they will not only do medical checks but give some teachings on women’s issues , HIV and STDs they will also see people from the community.
Open Arms will now be networking with other organisations to try to get these women drug free and trained and back into good lifestyle , we will provide financial packages that will allow the women to be able to go to teen challenge for the twelve months required and have a little cash of their own , we will also provide a little cash as they train and look after them until they get their first months salary they actually can’t commit to work as they have no money to sustain them until they get paid , we will pay rent , food essentials and just a small amount of cash each week but once they get their wages we will withdraw support and just be encouragement for them until they are on their feet again please support us in Kramer or finances to help these beautiful women.
The key reason that we decided to downscale Open Arms was to give more time for red light district so from next week more of the team will be working over there four days and five nights a week we are hoping that by being there more we can meet more needs.
Sweet Aroma Cafe has been out on hold until Open Arms government standing has been changed and updated but we will go ahead early next year wow can it be November already.
Well folks I hope you enjoyed reading our news thanks you for your love prayers and support .
Grahame , Sandra and Open Arms Family.
Alabaster Kids
Day out for the kids from Alabaster area , please keep these children in your prayers.
March News
Hi folks we hope and pray that you all have a blessed Easter .
Alabaster house is getting so busy we may have to look for a bigger premises. Alabaster is not a huge place and we are getting up to twenty women and six children nightly. One thing I notice us that they are all good mothers they truly love their children and try there best to look after them .
All of these people are homeless and in great need they need love care food and medical attention the medical need is great mostly because of lifestyle lack of money and knowledge but we have hope that it will change for them.
We have hired three new staff they are all just lovely and kind , the transgender boy keeps them laughing all the time he gave $5 of his pay to help the women how lovely and he looks so fresh and clean now and he works very hard.
We are now networking with an organisation to get a team of doctors to come into the red light district every three months to do STD checks and to teach the folks how to stay safe sexually .
The children are truly amazing they are just looking healthy and are full of fun and are very open now to discuss issues with us . They are taught Good Touch Bad Touch weekly and are responding to that , the feeding program is small but we had to start somewhere .
Folks I am unashamedly asking again if you would pray about supporting
Alabaster financially , the cost is rising each day and to care for the people.
The Salon , training and cafe are going ok business is hard these days as there are so many salons and cafe around but we are managing to pay our bills .
We have just started a apprenticeship program and have signed up one young woman , the idea is that they come into training as a student then they come into the salon for the next two years to really learnt the ropes they are paid an income from Open Arms as they train.
So again if anybody would like to support a girl in this we would be very grateful , we are hoping to have four girls and the wage would be $170usd per month we would like to be able to do this ourselves but we can’t at the moment , unfortunately there is no tax deductibility available for any donations to Open Arms Business .
Most of you know sreyna and that she was married on 18 Th March so I thought I would attach a few of the wedding photos , Facebook was flooded with them but if your not on our page you wouldn’t have seen any.
Really it was such a joy to see a young woman from horrible situations come into Christian care and flourish the way she has and we are sure that her and Dim her husband will have a great future together we pray all blessings over the,.
Manny blessings
Grahame , Sandra and the Open Arms Family .