Cambodia Connection Introduction
» Cambodia Connection » Keep Them Safe
Since 2002 St. Andrew's has been committed to the people of Kompong Tralach in Cambodia - committed prayerfully and financially. This partnership, facilitated by World Vision, has proved to be extremely fruitful. Huge sums of money have been given, two trips have been made, and all of us find ourselves better informed about a part of the world which, previously, we had known only through negative news headlines.
At Harvest 2006 we came to the point of taking our commitment to the next level. We still support the people of the Tralach region but our focus has sharpened to one particular aspect of the work being done there.
The project that World Vision has asked us to back is Community Care for Orphans and Vulnerable Children.
This project will provide high intensity support for 100 families (usually foster families) in which there are children who are particularly at risk. Often these children have lost one or both parents and as a result have had to drop out of school to support family income. Unfortunately, that is often the beginning of a decline that can lead to the children gravitating towards the cities and, once there, into intolerable exploitation. Tragically, many of these children end up ensnared in the sex industry, vulnerable to abuse, violence and diseases, including HIV/Aids.
We see this as our opportunity to fund this project and thereby to prevent children being lost in this way - an "upstream" initiative which seeks to prevent harm from happening, rather than pick up the pieces once the damage has been done. Of course, we can't directly provide the loving family care these children need when they are half a world away from where we live, so we need our partners in the villages of Kompong Tralach who are willing to open their hearts and their homes.
Working together with our neighbours in Kompong Tralach:
The first pledges and gifts poured into the project at our Harvest Thanksgiving Service in October 2006 - over £6,000 came in on that day, and hundreds more pounds followed in the subsequent weeks. Praise God for the generous hearts of his people!
We have a limited number of copies of the full document in which the project
is detailed. Contact the Church
Office if you would like to read this.