Saturday, May 21, 2011
Monday, May 2, 2011
Newsletter from our dear friend Kerri
Blessings and love from Kerri and kids in Cambodia. My plan for a monthly letter has been foiled again. I guess when you are so busy DOING ministry you don't have much time to write about it.
In March we continued working with Srey Nite and Baby Boaz in addition to our other clients at the clinic. We met Srey Nite when she was 5 months pregnant. Her boyfriend had left her because she was expecting. He had a wife and now a new girlfriend... she said she wanted to give the baby up...She went through the process to relinquish Boaz to Water of Life but backed out at the last minute. In Feb when he was 2 months old she went back to work. She had no money to buy formula so she bought sweetened condensed milk to feed him. Boaz did not thrive. He was being watched by a neighbor. We did not really hear from them in Feb but in March I went to do a home visit. Boaz was very very sick. He could not lift his head. He was now 3 months old. We were all trying to put our heads together to help this young family. Water of Life new girls home came to the rescue. Srey Nite and Boaz moved in so that we could watch the mother. We were not sure if she was stimulating Boaz properly. She quit her job and we found that she was very affectionate and Boaz improved much but weight gain was slow because we were rebuilding the mothers milk supply.
Right in the middle of April a (percieved) family crisis came up and Nite did relinquish Boaz to us for 6 months. She went to the province to visit her family and then now is back in the city trying to get her life together. It kind of turned out to be a manipulation by her family who was trying to marry her off to a local boy. We are working with her very closely to see what kind of training Nite would be open to doing so that she can have a better income to support her young son. The father of this boy is drug addicted and has fathered so many children and is no help to Nite at all. Her family has turned their back to her as long as Boaz is in her life due to the shame of her unwed mother status and also because they fear that Boaz will grow up like his father. God provided a great godly American family who is loving Boaz for these 6 months while Nite trains and gets a job... we are all praying that she will do what is necessary to be a great mom to him. She also recieved Christ this month and is deep in the word asking lots of questions...
Nite has a friend. Turns out the friend is another girlfriend of this guy who is so busy around town. Srey Na is 19 and around 37 weeks pregnant. She had no prenatal care and did not even realize she was pregnant until about 31 weeks (7.5 months). Nite wanted Na get the same opportunity that had. Last week I went with Nite out to a terrible slum where I waded through sewer water to meet this young girl. She decided to join us at Water of Life girls home too. She is planning to give her baby up for adoption but we will see what happens when she gives birth. Her family does not know she is pregnant and she is planning to conceal this from them. Of course we are praying that she will receive Christ and own up to her mistakes with her family then make a good decision about the future of the baby that is not hidden in shame.
Last month I told you we sent the woman to the hospital with pre eclampsia (very high blood pressure). She was only 7 months pregnant. We lost this little family for a while (could not find them at the hosptial) and assumed that the baby had died. Imagine our suprise when this woman showed up at clinic with a 1.1 kilo baby (2.4 pounds). The tiniest baby I have ever seen. The baby should have never been discharged from the hospital but despite a serious lung illiness baby Channy is now 2 kilos (almost 5 pounds). We are awed at God's faithfulness to us at the clinic and the way he continues to bless and protect us.
Noah is still having some vision problems from the accident with the plastic bb... he has a small cataract forming on his eye which makes his vision not as good as before...
Noni did get her visa for Cambodia ...Praise the Lord but the fighting on the Cambodia Thai border continues. There have even been Thai bombs launched on the Cambodian side away from the fighting displacing thousands of Khmer families. They are reporting no civilian causalities but I find it hard to believe... If its true its just the merciful hand of God.
Chenda and Noah both had chicken pox. Noah got a few of his spots infected and has run some high fevers. Kam and Hayden have both been a bit dizzy headachy and Kam had fever too.
We enjoyed 4 nights at the beach as part of a lovely Christmas love offering from the ladies at Summit church. It was so refreshing and wonderful to get away.
The week after our get away was a week off school as it is a big Khmer holiday... we slept in and watched lots of family movies. Most stores in the city were closed as everyone visits the province or countryside during the holiday. Lots of spiritual warfare during that time. We serve an awesome God!
I want to explain a bit about Water of Life ministries. There are so many different projects going on... the first project Water of Life started was a fine arts training center which became a boys home as well. Boys age 15-25 live there for training and schooling. Some kids are orphans some kids come from poor families who just need a place to live while they study. The boys are involved in school and ministry and also learning the Word. That house is also the Water of Life offices and hosts many foreigners who come to stay either short or long terms... the foreigners pay rent for their rooms which helps us house and feed the boys who we serve.
Holly is a godly Bible college grad who has lived in Cambodia about 3 years much of that time at the Water of Life house. She felt God calling her to start a womens home. In March that home began. It has one staff person, Srey Own, who is Khmer and Holly... and a fluctuating number of young women from US who are here for short or long term ministry. They also currently have about 8 Khmer girls who are getting training a place to live and learning the Word of God. Some of the girls who live there are Christians but some are not. The Value Life clinic, which is my main focus of ministry, and is also a Water of Life ministry, has placed the 2 girls in Holly's house and they are sponored for this month and one of them for next month but if anyone wants to sponsor a girl the sponsorship is $50 per month for room and board and a small amount of pocket money for the girls to buy personal items.
I know many of you noticed the Srey part of many girls names. Srey means girl. So Srey Nite is her name but we often just call her Nite... Most Cambodian names can be either girl or boy names but the girl version of the name will simply have Srey in front of it!
God continues to bless and teach me... this past month after more than 5 years of being told NO Chenda got a 130 approval! That is the document that says the US agrees she is my legal daughter. I am in the process of applying for a visa for her and applying for a 130 for Noah. If we were to get those close enough together I plan to go to US sometime before Feb 2012 and naturalize both kids as Americans. They would then be US citizens. Please pray that this works out. I feel God confirming His call to me to remain here for now but having the option to go home for visits would be very nice. If Noah's paperwork gets held up Chenda and I will go to Haiwaii where they have very quick processing times and all of Chenda's paperwork (passport, social security and certificate of citizenship) can be done in 2 weeks. Regular processing times are 3-5 months and that is just too long to be away from Noah in Cambodia.
I am linking you all to the March and April albums on facebook if you have not had a chance to take a look at the photos...
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.157961100923604.47792.100001291453424&l=44d1efe594
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.165658893487158.50667.100001291453424&l=8664b57833
In March we continued working with Srey Nite and Baby Boaz in addition to our other clients at the clinic. We met Srey Nite when she was 5 months pregnant. Her boyfriend had left her because she was expecting. He had a wife and now a new girlfriend... she said she wanted to give the baby up...She went through the process to relinquish Boaz to Water of Life but backed out at the last minute. In Feb when he was 2 months old she went back to work. She had no money to buy formula so she bought sweetened condensed milk to feed him. Boaz did not thrive. He was being watched by a neighbor. We did not really hear from them in Feb but in March I went to do a home visit. Boaz was very very sick. He could not lift his head. He was now 3 months old. We were all trying to put our heads together to help this young family. Water of Life new girls home came to the rescue. Srey Nite and Boaz moved in so that we could watch the mother. We were not sure if she was stimulating Boaz properly. She quit her job and we found that she was very affectionate and Boaz improved much but weight gain was slow because we were rebuilding the mothers milk supply.
Right in the middle of April a (percieved) family crisis came up and Nite did relinquish Boaz to us for 6 months. She went to the province to visit her family and then now is back in the city trying to get her life together. It kind of turned out to be a manipulation by her family who was trying to marry her off to a local boy. We are working with her very closely to see what kind of training Nite would be open to doing so that she can have a better income to support her young son. The father of this boy is drug addicted and has fathered so many children and is no help to Nite at all. Her family has turned their back to her as long as Boaz is in her life due to the shame of her unwed mother status and also because they fear that Boaz will grow up like his father. God provided a great godly American family who is loving Boaz for these 6 months while Nite trains and gets a job... we are all praying that she will do what is necessary to be a great mom to him. She also recieved Christ this month and is deep in the word asking lots of questions...
Nite has a friend. Turns out the friend is another girlfriend of this guy who is so busy around town. Srey Na is 19 and around 37 weeks pregnant. She had no prenatal care and did not even realize she was pregnant until about 31 weeks (7.5 months). Nite wanted Na get the same opportunity that had. Last week I went with Nite out to a terrible slum where I waded through sewer water to meet this young girl. She decided to join us at Water of Life girls home too. She is planning to give her baby up for adoption but we will see what happens when she gives birth. Her family does not know she is pregnant and she is planning to conceal this from them. Of course we are praying that she will receive Christ and own up to her mistakes with her family then make a good decision about the future of the baby that is not hidden in shame.
Last month I told you we sent the woman to the hospital with pre eclampsia (very high blood pressure). She was only 7 months pregnant. We lost this little family for a while (could not find them at the hosptial) and assumed that the baby had died. Imagine our suprise when this woman showed up at clinic with a 1.1 kilo baby (2.4 pounds). The tiniest baby I have ever seen. The baby should have never been discharged from the hospital but despite a serious lung illiness baby Channy is now 2 kilos (almost 5 pounds). We are awed at God's faithfulness to us at the clinic and the way he continues to bless and protect us.
Noah is still having some vision problems from the accident with the plastic bb... he has a small cataract forming on his eye which makes his vision not as good as before...
Noni did get her visa for Cambodia ...Praise the Lord but the fighting on the Cambodia Thai border continues. There have even been Thai bombs launched on the Cambodian side away from the fighting displacing thousands of Khmer families. They are reporting no civilian causalities but I find it hard to believe... If its true its just the merciful hand of God.
Chenda and Noah both had chicken pox. Noah got a few of his spots infected and has run some high fevers. Kam and Hayden have both been a bit dizzy headachy and Kam had fever too.
We enjoyed 4 nights at the beach as part of a lovely Christmas love offering from the ladies at Summit church. It was so refreshing and wonderful to get away.
The week after our get away was a week off school as it is a big Khmer holiday... we slept in and watched lots of family movies. Most stores in the city were closed as everyone visits the province or countryside during the holiday. Lots of spiritual warfare during that time. We serve an awesome God!
I want to explain a bit about Water of Life ministries. There are so many different projects going on... the first project Water of Life started was a fine arts training center which became a boys home as well. Boys age 15-25 live there for training and schooling. Some kids are orphans some kids come from poor families who just need a place to live while they study. The boys are involved in school and ministry and also learning the Word. That house is also the Water of Life offices and hosts many foreigners who come to stay either short or long terms... the foreigners pay rent for their rooms which helps us house and feed the boys who we serve.
Holly is a godly Bible college grad who has lived in Cambodia about 3 years much of that time at the Water of Life house. She felt God calling her to start a womens home. In March that home began. It has one staff person, Srey Own, who is Khmer and Holly... and a fluctuating number of young women from US who are here for short or long term ministry. They also currently have about 8 Khmer girls who are getting training a place to live and learning the Word of God. Some of the girls who live there are Christians but some are not. The Value Life clinic, which is my main focus of ministry, and is also a Water of Life ministry, has placed the 2 girls in Holly's house and they are sponored for this month and one of them for next month but if anyone wants to sponsor a girl the sponsorship is $50 per month for room and board and a small amount of pocket money for the girls to buy personal items.
I know many of you noticed the Srey part of many girls names. Srey means girl. So Srey Nite is her name but we often just call her Nite... Most Cambodian names can be either girl or boy names but the girl version of the name will simply have Srey in front of it!
God continues to bless and teach me... this past month after more than 5 years of being told NO Chenda got a 130 approval! That is the document that says the US agrees she is my legal daughter. I am in the process of applying for a visa for her and applying for a 130 for Noah. If we were to get those close enough together I plan to go to US sometime before Feb 2012 and naturalize both kids as Americans. They would then be US citizens. Please pray that this works out. I feel God confirming His call to me to remain here for now but having the option to go home for visits would be very nice. If Noah's paperwork gets held up Chenda and I will go to Haiwaii where they have very quick processing times and all of Chenda's paperwork (passport, social security and certificate of citizenship) can be done in 2 weeks. Regular processing times are 3-5 months and that is just too long to be away from Noah in Cambodia.
I am linking you all to the March and April albums on facebook if you have not had a chance to take a look at the photos...
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.157961100923604.47792.100001291453424&l=44d1efe594
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.165658893487158.50667.100001291453424&l=8664b57833
Friday, April 29, 2011
Kerri visiting a slum of some of the women
Baby Channy
Up to 2 kilos!
One of our clients lives here this is her whole living space.
Cooking area outside
The baby is 5 months old
Each division is a different person's home.
New baby blessed with new clothes...
Beautiful butterfly gift (the outside is a blanket)
This mom gave birth 5 days ago...
Sweet sleep
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Clinic day 19 April 2011
1.9 kilos 4 pounds! Even though she was sick last week! Praise the Lord!
Little Channy is bigger than my hands now... but not much!
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Little Boaz new home for now
Friday, April 8, 2011
Monday, April 4, 2011
Srey Nite and baby Boaz
She delivered a baby boy who seemed healthy and when he was 2 months old she went back to work. She started asking about giving him up for adoption. She went so far as to be interviewed by the Water of Life staff about the process. When we asked her about his name she said he did not have one. He was 2 months old... we named Boaz. She agreed to place him the following day and appear to the local authorities to make her desires known. The next day she had changed her mind. About 1 month later the Boaz, now 3 months old, was sickly.
He had been being baby sat by a neighbor and spending way too much time hanging in a hammock instead of being held.... Weeks passed by. The midwives and the field staff had tried and tried to come up with a solution for Boaz...Many hours were spent with this little family praying and trying to figure out what to do... Finally we took them both to a new house Water of Life girls house for observation. Srey Nite agreed to quit her job...
Boaz was not gaining weight, was not strong, was not holding his head up and so forth. We committed to a month of watching this family closely to see if she was feeding him properly and stimulating him properly. She is a good little mom but he has required some supplimental feeding in addition to breastfeeding. Srey Nite's family has disowned her because of this out of wedlock pregnancy. Nite continues to struggle with if she can keep Boaz or not.
She has spent nearly a month at Water of Life girls. TODAY Sunday April the 3rd so close to the Easter season has given her life to Jesus. Please pray for her. Please pray for us as we minister to her. Please pray for her mother's heart to be touched and allow Srey Nite and Boaz to come visit and be part of the family even through this difficult time. Srey Nite's parents and her whole family really need to know Jesus. God is so faithful. All this is not possible outside the love and prayers and gifts to Water of Life.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Value Life Nov10 2010
Midwifery Intern program
5 new students were enrolled October in our intern program. They’re all from different provinces of Cambodia and very eager to learn. This internship is so much more than just studying midwifery, they all live at Kaleb (a NGO who partnered with us to develop and train quality Cambodian midwifes). They also receive English classes, computer training and value teaching. 3 of the girls, Linda, Channe and Pauline come from strong Buddhist families. Bora and SoTe are from Christian families. I’ve been teaching now for 2 mnths and next week they’ll start to join in on clinic days. Please pray for them, for the work of the Holy Spirit in their hearts and their studies which is overwhelming as they are not really used to study. Please let me know if some of you would like to be more involved with this program to sponsor and pray for a specific student.
Theary enrolled in International University beginning October after she successfully completed her 9 month internship with me. We have shared before that she has also come to belief in Jesus during this time and it is so encouraging to see how she is growing in her faith. She is now the only Christian in her family and such a strong witness. I asked her what is her family saying about her conversion and she said they are happy for her because they see that she is now at peace and happy. There is so much fear in their religion that the change when they become Christian is very obvious. We’ve went to her village to start building relationship in order to start a clinic there once Theary is finished with her studies. Her family is very influential and their house is full of portraits of monks from their family. Please pray for her and her family.
Value Life Clinic
Wow! The clinic is bursting out of its seams! More woman every Saturday and with the more patients there are more staff too. We have Jenny, a nurse practitioner from UK, Victoria, nurse from Sweden who is doing all the baby and children check-ups. Then in the pre natal room there is faithful Emily and now also Erica from Finland. Marianne still translates together with Phil and Janet from Singapore helps out with Admin. And of course we all are waiting for Kerri to return from USA. Theary is doing prenatal exams now independently. We are in the process of employing a Khmer midwife, please pray for this. It is not easy to find someone; many have qualifications but shockingly little knowledge or practical experience.
Jason from Water of Life is coming every Sat morning to share the Word with the women, we see how they start to listen more as they also get to know him. Davee from our Malaysian partners also come and visit individually with the woman while they wait for their check-ups.
Then on Tuesdays we do follow up clinic and after wards I do family visitations with Marcus and Ivan who is partnering with us to start bible studies in the homes of families open to the gospel. Praise the Lord for this; this is the purpose why we do all this. Pray for these two men, for open doors, open hearts, guidance, protection and favor with the people.
We have opened another room at the clinic and Vanessa (Ivan’s wife) has started skills training with some of the women. They are doing simple needle work projects, and get paid a small amount for the hours they put in and their babies can be with them. Please pray for Vanessa and also Mom from Water of Life as they teach and share. The women are so thankful for this, many of them sit for hours at home doing crafts for the temples and paid not even 25cents (U$). Sreymau was one of the 1st moms that came to our clinic 2 ½ yrs ago, she worked on the garbage dump and usually very angry and stressed. It was so wonderful to see her sitting with Vanessa and the other moms, so peaceful and then she showed me so proudly what she was stitching.
Cambodia Struggles With Maternal Deaths
| | |
| Original report from Phnom Penh 24 March 2009 | |
Vorn Yeoun was ready to give birth, Mith Saron said in a recent interview, but the hospital attendants refused to admit her without a $25 delivery fee. It was around 10 pm, so Mith Saron promised to pay the next morning. Still an attendant asked for $1.25 to call in a team of doctors. Mith Saron did not have that much money.
The attendant, who said he was poor too, did not call the doctors. By morning, Mith Saron, said, Vorn Yeoun and her unborn child were dead.
For all its development over the past few years, Cambodia has been unable to lower its maternal death rate. Its death rate was higher in 2005 than in 1997.
“Five women per day die giving life,” Douglas Broderick, UN resident coordinator, told members of the National Assembly last week. The figure has remained the same since 2000, he said.
Cambodia had 473 deaths for every 100,000 live births in 2005, an increase from 437 in 100,000 in 1997, according to the most recent government figures.
The increasing number of deaths is above the average for developing countries, and, Broderick said, is the highest number in Southeast Asia.
But not all maternal deaths are the fault of doctors or hospitals, said Nhiek Bun Chop, head of Battambang province’s health department. Some women ignore prenatal care, making their pregnancies more difficult, sometimes dying as a result, he said.
Krouy Leang Sim, undersecretary of state for the Ministry of Health, said the government is trying to make sure every woman is able to deliver at health centers, which improve odds for survival.
The ministry is setting up a national network of houses, where women who are expecting to give birth but live far from medical centers can stay.
Still, some health officials say Cambodia will not meet its development goals, if the pace of improvement for women giving birth does not increase.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)