Mom grew up in a Buddhist household and suffered early on from depression and a lack of purpose, twice attempting to take her own life. But, after hearing the gospel at a Christian youth programme, she committed her life to follow Christ and to help others come to know Him. Events like the VCJF training help teach and remind her of this purpose, she says—“to go and share the gospel and make disciples.” 

Before the VCJF training, she says, Mom focused only on sharing the gospel, without following up and discipling new believers. “[I] didn’t care about whether [the new believers] grew up [in their faith] or shared” with others, she admits. A reality for many Christians who never learn that they have a role to play in discipling others.

Lessons from the training have helped Mom realise the importance of multiplication—training disciples so that “they go and share the gospel, too.” She wants to help new believers mature in their faith, growing beyond the infant stages of their Christian walk. She draws an analogy from her own experience as a mother: We expect physical babies to eventually grow physically and intellectually, so shouldn’t we expect similar spiritual growth from new born Christians? 

Since spiritual growth requires spiritual discipline, the VCJF training focuses heavily on Bible study and prayer, practices that Mom sees as vital to effective ministry. Referencing John 15, she says, “If we want to bear fruit, we must connect with God.” The training has taught her to incorporate prayer and study of the Word both in her own life and in her ministry. 

The VCJF training has also equipped her with a clear plan for her outreaches, she says. 
She and her fellow OM workers make monthly visits to eight different villages where they have established contact, bouncing along rutted roads and bringing Bible lessons, praise songs and English classes. She also organises a Bible study in a nearby slum area, where she prays and fellowships with the women who attend.  Her goal: that they would ultimately “share the gospel to other people” and “train the people like we train them.” 

This vision has found fulfilment in at least two people she has discipled: a mother, Sangmao, and her son, Dorn, a former high-ranking Buddhist monk. During one of the village outreaches, Mom met Sangmao and began studying the Bible with her, paving the way for her to become a believer. Sangmao’s son also eventually made the decision to follow Christ after he saw the transformation in his mother’s life. Today, both Sangmao and Dorn participate alongside Mom in the VCJF training and engage in outreach to communities near their village.  

Mom knows there are many others who still need to hear about Christ and who need further discipleship. She wants to help people—in her family, community and nation—discover the truth that has so radically transformed her own life: “God called you, and God has a plan for you.”

Evidence of Buddhism infiltrates nearly every aspect of Cambodian society, but for many people, religion is less about rituals and more about superstition and following tradition, said Sokhem*, a teacher at a non-profit school. 

When it comes to Christianity, Cambodians are likely to whisper in Khmer about the foreigners’ religion. “I know how they make fun of God,” Sokhem said, “but I don’t mind because I was like them, too.”

Before 2014, Sokhem was not a Christian. He grew up in a remote province, steeped in Buddhist tradition, but “I feared God,” he recalled. “I knew there was a God who existed in the world, but I didn’t know who could forgive my sins, who could carry me to eternal life. I didn’t think about that; just, yes, there is a God.”

After Sokhem married, his wife encouraged him to pursue higher education. In order to afford tuition, Sokhem also took a job at a restaurant run by a Christian woman. At that job, Sokhem attended a weekly Bible study. “I didn’t realise who Jesus was yet,” he said. “But the boss encouraged us to study, to learn, to get to know Jesus, so step by step, I felt in touch with God and that God wanted me to connect to Him.”

The restaurant owner also gave Sokhem a Bible, a gift he accepted but didn’t understand. “She knew that I was not a Christian,” he explained. Eventually, Sokhem opened God’s Word and began to read Proverbs. “Proverbs has a lot of advice that God tells us to do and [how] to live. …It feels like more than people, more than wise men, more than our knowledge can do,” he noted.

Sokhem continued to read the Bible when he had time. Everything he read was new. “God started to build me up stronger,” he said.

Then, one day, the pastor who taught the weekly Bible study approached him: “Sokhem, if you want to accept Christ, tell me.”

“In my mind, the answer was already yes,” Sokhem recalled. “I was so surprised [because] the teacher knew my heart.”

Sokhem told the pastor he wanted to give his life to Jesus, and he was baptised later at a celebratory picnic. Still, he had doubts about the authenticity of his new faith.

“How can I become a Christian?” he wondered. “I know nothing yet.”

Then he heard God speak: “Sokhem, it’s not about the knowledge you have. It’s not about what you know. It’s about [the fact that] your sin is forgiven.”

“Yes, it’s this. My sin is forgiven,” Sokhem confirmed.

In the beginning, Sokhem’s family pushed back against his decision. “It was very hard for me to become a Christian,” he shared. “My wife doesn’t believe. She doesn’t rely on God; she depends on herself. …Step by step, until now, God is working with her.”

His relatives in the province asked what was wrong with him. “Why do you believe [in God]? It’s not our religion. Why do you do this?”

“My mother-in-law, my father, my mother—they don’t believe in Christ. It’s me alone,” Sokhem said. “But I keep telling them the gospel.”

After graduating with a university degree, Sokhem spent two years working at an acclaimed international school. During that time, he dreamed about a job where he could serve the Lord completely. “I wanted to be with kids who were broken, who had no father, no mother, who were poor, who didn’t have proper education,” he said.

Sokhem quit his job at the international school and began teaching children from the slums on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. Now, he connects with his students daily and prays for them. He also travels regularly to another province to share God’s Word. “My vision is a church where I can teach English, a church where I can preach the gospel, a church where I can have my people come together and worship Him alone, not other gods. I want to see this in my community. Holy Spirit, help me.”

*Name changed for security

Nicole James is a world traveller and writer for OM International, based in the US. She’s passionate about partnering with believers to communicate the ways God is working across the globe. In her free time, you’ll find her biking, paddle boarding or curling up with coffee and a good book.

Why did you come to Cambodia?

Joelma: I started my ministry at OM Brazil, and there I heard about the ministry in Cambodia. This is a country that is 95 per cent Buddhist, so God started burdening me and talking in my heart about the need for more people to show His light here.

What have you learned while working in Cambodia?

Joelma: I have learned to be patient with myself because learning another language and learning another culture takes time. The culture is totally different than my culture, but there are good things in the culture that we can compare with the Bible. For example, the way they honour their parents here in Cambodia is a good thing. I have learned a lot from the way they respect older people and each other. The people are very hospitable, and they try to help me. They encourage me and help me with Khmer classes, so I can better learn the language.

What ministry opportunities do you have?

Joelma: I started giving guitar classes to help the children understand a little more English. I use a lot of worship songs, and I teach Bible verses in the songs. The children sing, and this message stays in their hearts. I also give craft classes to them, and I teach them more principles from the Bible—not only to show Jesus but also to teach them how to live well with their parents and in their environment.

What cultural differences have you experienced?

​​​​​​​Joelma: I’m Brazilian, and Brazilian people like to touch a lot. It’s very common in Brazil for people to touch men and women and children; we always kiss each other and hug each other. Here, people keep their distance and bow to each other. This was a little difficult for me, but I’m already getting used to it. God is very good to me because he gave me the children, and children here like to hug you a lot.

How does Buddhism affect people’s lives?

​​​​​​​Joelma: The Buddhist view in Cambodia is very different than the Christian view. Their worldview is not that people go to heaven or hell, but for them, life is only a cycle. The goal of a Buddhist is to live well on earth in order to have good karma. They don’t want to live forever in heaven [with God]; they want to disappear. They think Christianity is a religion for foreigners. They respect different religions, but they don’t want to believe in Christ because they think they will have trouble with their gods.

How would you encourage Latinos to engage the least reached?

​​​​​​​Joelma: Latin America is almost all Christian. Today we have about two billion people who don’t know Jesus yet. Here in Cambodia, we have 14,000 villages without a church. I encourage Latin Americans to see the countries unreached by the gospel. Many people who have a calling to missions give up because the church doesn’t support them financially, but God provides. Don’t give up, persist in what God is calling you to do, and go! Just believe and go.

Nicole James is a world traveller and writer for OM International, based in the US. She’s passionate about partnering with believers to communicate the ways God is working across the globe. In her free time, you’ll find her biking, paddle boarding or curling up with coffee and a good book.

“Her husband beat her,” Danya* a staff member of OM MTI whispered in explanation. “She’s come here looking for safety and rest.” OM MTI’s desire is to bring freedom to children, women and families who are caught up in poverty and oppression by providing counselling, social work care, community preventative training and more.

With an estimate that more than half of Cambodians live below the poverty line of 1.90 USD per day, countless children and women throughout the country continue to be sexually and physically assaulted, as well as trafficked for sexual or economic exploitation. OM MTI Cambodia is a presence of Christ in a place that is dark. Abuse, alcohol, drugs, gangs and poverty are the daily realities for many in the slums. Many arrive at OM MTI looking for food, safety, conversation, advise and help.

As the afternoon goes on, the staff continue to engage the timid woman on their couch. Her children are drawn in to play with a few toys, and are soon munching on various snacks provided. Their mother herself eats some food, and then engages in a muted conversation with one of OM MTI’s social workers. By early evening, the woman has decided to return home, not ready to stay at a women’s shelter and leave her abusive husband yet. But before they leave, OM MTI staff gift her a sack of rice to take home with her.

“Many women come [to OM MTI]. Sometimes they want help getting out of a bad situation, sometimes they just need a place to rest,” Danya explained. “People know that we provide a safe place for them and if they are ready to get help, then we will give it.”

Please pray for the situation in Cambodia and for the work OM MTI Cambodia is doing in the slums. 

*Name changed for security reasons

The list could go on, said Tanja, the new social worker supervisor for the OM Mercy Teams International (MTI) office in Cambodia. To counter this brokenness, OM works with communities in four nearby slums, providing informal counselling, parenting classes, and, on a case-by-case basis, money for medical treatment or housing assistance.

Tanja, who worked as a psychiatric nurse in her home country before moving to Cambodia, said sometimes the most basic medical knowledge can have dramatic effects. For example, she heard that people in the slums did not drink a lot of water and constantly had kidney problems. “In one of the programmes, I asked the parents if they often had pain in their back, gave them advice to drink and explained why,” she recalled. “The next week, I asked who did it. Two or three women did, and [their pain] was over.”

Another client had diabetes, so Tanja explained “what’s happening with your blood sugar when you’re active, when you’re eating, when you’re resting—and suddenly it opened their eyes. It’s sometimes so basic what you can do.”

“But also, for me, it’s a very important thing to share the gospel, to really be the hands and feet of Jesus,” she emphasised. “It’s helping them and standing next to them and supporting them.”

Improving family relationships

With one pant leg pulled up, exposing a still-healing wound, Kov Domw, 47, leaned against the doorway of his simple tin house and shared the difference OM MTI had made in his life.

“I had a relationship problem with my children. They didn’t listen to me or obey me. I forced [my son] to go to school. He went but didn’t study, and this made me angry,” Kov explained via a translator.

“I tried to solve the problem by myself. I tried to drink alcohol, so I could sleep and not think about this problem,” he continued.

Kov’s wife and children collected and sold rubbish—one of the most common ways people in the slums earn a minimal amount of money—but Kov, a construction worker in a nearby luxury apartment development, carried the main burden of providing for his family.

When he was waylaid with an injury, OM stepped in, providing money for his hospital visit, enrolling his children in the family sponsorship programme to supplement their educational costs and inviting Kov to the parenting classes at the office.

Although Kov was still waiting for his leg to heal completely before returning to construction, he said that the situation in his family had improved. “We listen to each other, and my children obey me better than before,” he said. “Before I used violence, and I was very strict with them. But now I have changed. I try to …understand their feelings, and I use sweet words with them.”

Caring for widows

A few metres down a ramshackle wooden pier used as a walkway, Srey Sina waited in front of her house. Patchwork sheets of blue and silver sheet metal were plastered around a handful of wooden support beams, the reinforced living space elevated above the murky black swamp water surrounding the slum. But Srey beamed as she sat on the rickety wooden ladder leading up to her open door.

The sole caretaker for her two young children and a niece, she talked through a translator about what happened after her husband passed away. “My children were very small. …We worked to collect the rubbish. After that, I got sick. I have high blood pressure and diabetes. I have another illness, too.”

At her lowest point, she encountered OM MTI. “MTI was very kind. They came and visited me and invited me to the office. They did counselling for me; afterwards, they supported my children [to go] to school,” she said.

OM MTI also invited Srey to join their parenting skills class. “Before I didn’t know how to talk with my children,” she shared. “After I joined the parenting programme, …the situation in my family has changed. My children listen to me. We talk, and we understand each other.”

Since Srey was impacted by OM MTI’s ministry, she has also recognised the work they do in the community. “MTI has not only helped my family, but they work around here, too,” she noted. “When the people here have problems, they go to MTI… because MTI works with the real poor families.”

In addition to meeting physical needs, OM MTI reaches out spiritually. Through OM MTI’s ministry, Srey started a relationship with Jesus. “I believe in God, so I …pray for MTI to stay in Cambodia for a long time.”

“The staff have the heart to love the poor,” she added. “They always come and listen to their problems. They try to solve the problems of the poor people, and they train people how to communicate with their children.”

Sharing the gospel

Mom Som, a senior social worker who has worked with OM MTI for 10 years, intimately understands the needs the organisation addresses: she grew up in the same slums where she now serves.

By the age of six, Mom was responsible for her family. Her mother became ill after Mom’s father died, so Mom collected and sold rubbish to earn money. She suffered domestic violence and almost became a victim of human trafficking. In a moment of panic, she prayed to God and was miraculous rescued. After she became a believer, Mom prayed that God would change her area.

“In Cambodia, many people don’t know how to talk with their children when the children do wrong—they just beat them. Me, too. When I …did something wrong, my mom beat me. But in our parenting programme, we [teach] the parents how to pray for the children, how to communicate in a good way. We change how they discipline the children,” she explained.

“MTI is a place to share the gospel with the person who is suffering. We not only share the gospel, we would like to see their lives change… Every day, clients and children come here. [They learn] skills, they learn English, but more importantly, they hear about Jesus, and God can transform their lives. I believe the Word of God can change their lives, like [it changed] my life.”

According to OM Team Leader Johan, the OM MTI workers have often prayed for very sick people and seen God miraculously heal them. Several people in the slums have become believers through OM MTI’s programmes. Recently, the workers have been evaluating how their work can focus even more on Jesus. “Now we are moving to reach out and share the gospel first,” he said. “We will use more study programmes or more videos or plays… to share in a way the people can understand.”

“We ask people sometimes if they know who Jesus is. [They say,] ‘Who is that? Is that a car?’ They have no idea who Jesus is. So we really need to reach out to them in a way that they never forget the name of Jesus.”

Nicole James is a world traveller and writer for OM International. She’s passionate about partnering with fields to communicate the ways God is working across the globe.

Enter OM Mercy Teams International (MTI). With a base in Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital, and a kindergarten in Kampong Speu, a province two hours away, OM seeks to provide practical aid and training to poor people in Cambodia and to share Jesus with the predominately Buddhist population. Although Western volunteers lead and disciple the team, Cambodian staff fill critical roles, such as counselling, teaching, training, coaching, developing curriculum, administering the office and maintaining the grounds. They enjoy it, too.

Across the board, Cambodian staff said they worked there because they wanted to. OM not only provides them a place to develop professionally and spiritually, it also gives them an opportunity to pour into their own communities.

“It’s a blessing that we see the people, who were first themselves in our programme, are now able to reach out to their own people,” said Team Leader Johan.

Phnom Penh

Ork Seyha, one of OM MTI’s newest staff members, first encountered the organisation as a young child. “I came here and listened to MTI staff share the gospel, and they gave me an Operation Christmas Child shoebox gift containing a New Testament,” he recalled. At the time, although he heard about Jesus, he did not believe; his parents worried that the Christian organisation would “curse him” and “put him into the water” [baptism].

After high school, Seyha returned to OM to study computer skills under Chheuy Dara, who developed the IT curriculum. Seyha also took a low-level job as a cleaner and gardener. When he returned at age 20 for English lessons, Seyha discovered a newfound love for study—which led to a promotion at his job—and eventually, he experienced God. “After I tried to know more and pray, then I felt God’s love. When I pray, He always answers me,” Seyha shared. “I think He wants to use me, and He always teaches me new things and gives love to me.”

In early 2017, Seyha began working at OM MTI teaching English and computer skills, as well as coaching football. Nine months in, he loved the job: “I like teaching and I like working in a group, and I like to learn more about God.”

Seyha has seen OM MTI develop and vary its academic offerings, which are important for the community, he affirmed: “In Cambodia, if we do not have knowledge, we cannot develop our country.”

He has also experienced the transforming power of the gospel. “I was born in a Buddhist family. It’s only me [who] believes in Jesus, and sometimes it’s difficult for me. But I try, and I trust in Jesus, and I want to share His love and bring the students [to God].”

‘We are always sharing God’s love’

Dara, who has been working at OM MTI since 2011 as a computer teacher and football coach, said, “Everything I have learnt [is] from God. …I need to give back to God. I want to serve God. All the children who come to study here, they are poor like me. They don’t have the opportunity to study English and computer outside of school. When I see them smile, I’m very happy.”

Computers are fairly new to Cambodia, whose technological acumen was wiped out under Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1979. Dara, who developed—and constantly updates—the computer curriculum for OM MTI said computer literacy was very important to students’ ability to pursue higher education and employment.

In addition to children’s computer classes, Dara also teaches Excel, PowerPoint, Internet, email, research and Photoshop to adults—and computer repairing to a few individuals he selects as assistants. For example, when Seyha showed up several years ago, Dara immediately approached him. “He came here; he was so smart. I wanted to disciple him also,” Dara remembered. “I taught him computer repair … and also Bible verses. After that, he knew more and more and had a heart like me—he wanted to serve the children here.”

That theme extends across all disciplines at OM MTI, he explained. “Any time we start work, we are always sharing God’s love with them. Every time we teach English, Khmer, computers, mathematics, we always show God’s Word to them. They also hear the gospel and believe in the gospel. Many people believe in God [through] MTI.”

Bible study and answered prayers

Through daily devotions and prayer, Seyha, Dara and other OM MTI staff continually learn more about God’s Word. “We have every morning a devotion time for an hour with our staff, and we tell about the Bible and about the stories we tell them,” Johan said. “We can see they have not much knowledge from the Bible. Sometimes we have to go back first to tell the story before we can share something about the story with them… . So we see there is a need to have more Bible study.”

Dara also mentioned that the multiple visitors and short-term teams cycling through the office, who share gospel presentations and personal testimonies, have helped him grow spiritually. Another beneficial discipleship tool was the Alpha course, a series of questions exploring the Christian faith. “The Alpha course taught us about God, and the Holy Spirit touched us and [taught us] what we should do to share the gospel,” Dara described.

Johan, too, said Alpha was a successful tool for discipling the staff and others. “When we reach out to the people in the slums, or we ask them to come to our [office], we share about the gospel, we share about how Jesus will help them and how Jesus has died for their sins, that they do not have to be afraid of the spirits like they are here in the Buddhist areas, but that they can trust Jesus and Jesus will take care of them. And so people are thinking about that and changing.”

Even the OM MTI staff, who are Christians, have expressed fear of spirits. “We try to tell them … to not be afraid; they can pray before they sleep,” Johan said. “When we pray together with our staff, we see that prayers are heard. Also the staff see that. They learn to look back and see that God really heard their prayers.”

“Work at MTI is different than other jobs I have experienced before because MTI is really merciful to our staff,” Dara expressed. “We have love; we work like a family.”

Kampong Speu

OM MTI’s satellite outreach—a kindergarten in the Kampong Speu province—offers fewer programmes than the base in Phnom Penh but reaches a more remote population. Kosal Phann, who started volunteering as a teacher at the kindergarten in 2017, first attended adult English classes there in 2006.

“This area is Buddhist; they are very active here,” he explained. “When I was a kid [my family] didn’t want me to go to church because they think God is the foreigner’s God.”

In fact, Kosal did encounter some problems when he began studying English classes (the kindergarten also houses a church on Sundays), but his teacher and pastor, “always encouraged me and told me about God,” he said. “I started to fall in love with God.” In 2009, he started to believe that Jesus was the way to salvation.

Kosal, who grew up in Kampong Speu, said he understands the situation of local children. “Families here need to keep their kids to stay home or work. They don’t want their kids to study.”

However, Kosal wants the village children to have the opportunity for a better life. “I want to see all the kids around here get more education. Also, I want to see the kids know God more,” he stated. “We believe the Word of God can change our lives.”

As Cambodians living in a country struggling to rebuild itself after genocide and civil war, OM MTI staff understand the difference the gospel makes. “My country, Cambodia, we would change if we believed in God,” Dara said.

Nicole James is a world traveller and writer for OM International. She’s passionate about partnering with believers to communicate the ways God is working across the globe.

**https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/cb.html

Around 13:20, people from several nearby slums start arriving—many mothers with their children, but also a few fathers and grandparents. The adults slip off their flip flops before padding onto the tarp. First, they gather in one corner to press their thumbs onto a bright red inkpad and put their individual marks next to their names, a way for the illiterate adults to register and sign for their monthly aid. Meanwhile, the children race around the walled complex, chasing each other, climbing the play structure and shrieking with laughter before finding a spot to sit in the dappled shade under the courtyard’s scattered trees.

Kiry*, 14, breaks away from the children to add his thumbprint to the growing registration list. He and his 12-year-old sister, Champei*, attend OM’s Family Sponsorship Programme alone, as their elderly grandmother—their sole caretaker—can no longer manage the long walk from their home in the slums.

After a brief gospel presentation given by a visiting short-term team from Singapore and a lesson on parenting, OM Team Leader Johan hands out envelopes containing monthly school fees for the children. While the rice helps the 34 families enrolled in the programme physically survive, the school fees provide for their children’s futures.

“Our family sponsorship goal is to provide education for students who don’t have money.  [The caretakers] don’t have the ability to support the kids, but we don’t want them to stop studying,” notes Phearun, an OM MTI worker who oversees the Family Sponsorship Programme.

Kiry accepts the envelopes for his and Champei’s tuition, and when the time comes to leave, he hoists the 11kg rice bag onto his wiry shoulders.

Life in the slums

Sturdy silver sheet metal wraps around the upper half of the four wooden stilts supporting Kiry and Champei’s grandmother’s house. In front of their home a dusty path parallels the toilets for a nearby construction site. Beer bottle caps, loose playing cards and used condoms litter the dirt—tokens of the addictions and abuse that run rampant in the slums.

Their grandmother, sitting on the stairs to her simple home, explains that Kiry and Champei have nowhere else to live. Their mother and father divorced when the children were six and four, respectively, and ran away to start new lives with other spouses. Before their mother left, she discovered she was HIV positive; Kiry and Champei were, too.

Although the grandmother has no way to support her grandchildren, she is adamant that Kiry and Champei not go into a care centre for children infected with HIV, the OM MTI workers report. The family can get medicine for free from the government, but they have to pay for the children’s blood tests. To cover the tests, as well as other basic living expenses, Kiry and Champei collect, sort and sell rubbish, earning less than 2.50 USD per day. They also take other odd jobs—like selling vegetables at the market or collecting gambling money to pay out to winners—to help earn income.

If not for OM’s sponsorship, school would be out of the question.

When OM enrols students into the Family Sponsorship Programme, workers, including Phearun, visit the children’s homes and get to know the families. Upon first visiting Kiry and Champei at their grandmother’s house, “we observed that her house is old and broken. …When the [rain]water comes, she cannot stay,” Phearun remembers. “So we decide to build a new house, a bit higher.”

New hope

“We also tell them about Jesus,” Phearun shares. “Even though you don’t have hope in your life, you don’t have parents and you don’t have anyone to support you, you have God, who always protects you, who helps you.”

A few months ago, Kiry was riding his bike home, when he was hit by a high school student speeding on his moped. Kiry crashed, and his bicycle handlebar pinned his stomach to the ground, causing severe internal damage. At the hospital, doctors operated just above his belly button, removing part of his intestines.

OM MTI workers went to the hospital to pray for him. After Kiry returned home, he announced, “When I was sick, I prayed to God, and I feel like God touched my sickness, so I became better.”

Since the accident, Kiry has passed his sixth grade exams and enrolled in grade seven at the local high school. “He still keeps on praying to God and [has given] his life to God as well,” Phearun says.

Now, at Kiry’s house, pale pink lace curtains flutter from an open window, behind which a pink mosquito net drapes over the thin woven mat covering the elevated floor. Rebuilt for Kiry, Champei and their grandmother in April 2017 by OM, the simple structure provides not only a home for the small family but also acts as a symbol of hope. Despite the family’s problems, they know they are not alone.

OM in Cambodia seeks to build community and share truth with each family they support. At the monthly family sponsorship meetings, OM encourages interaction between workers, parents and children through communal singing, Bible reading, praying and eating simple refreshments like fruit or cake. “We also want all the family sponsorship [members] and children to know about Jesus,” Phearun emphasises. “We would like to make disciples and mentor them to make other disciples.”

Nicole James is a world traveller and writer for OM International. She’s passionate about partnering with believers to communicate the ways God is working across the globe

During work days, the spacious VillageWorks warehouse hums with the near-constant buzz of sewing machines. Bent over their tables, the employees focus on turning brightly patterned fabric into wallets, purses and other useful knick-knacks to sell at Fair Trade shops in Cambodia and abroad.

At the end of the work day, twice a week, two or three OM MTI workers host an hour of combined English and Bible studies. One of the workers starts the lesson with prayer, then the group often sings “Give Thanks” in English, the song’s chorus written in fading blue marker on the top left of the room’s large whiteboard. The lesson consists of an OM MTI worker reading from the Bible in English, phrase by phrase, which the VillageWorks employees slowly repeat. Then he or she writes vocabulary words on the board while another OM MTI worker, usually Dara, reads the same passage out loud in Khmer.

The difference between this company and other sprawling production factories in Cambodia (besides the size) is that all VillageWorks employees have polio. While working, the artisans barely exhibit their disabilities—a few sit in wheelchairs parked behind their workstations; one woman eases her foot brace into a sandal. It’s the effort that many exert to move, shuffling slowly across the room or propelling themselves forward using the backs of chairs and tables as handholds, that most clearly shows the disease’s effects.

Still, the fact that they have jobs makes a difference, said Project Director Anak. VillageWorks was started in 1997 by a missionary from Malaysia and subsequently supported by the Girls’ Brigade Singapore. In 2006, Cambodian staff took over the project. “I feel it is my mission to help my people have a sustainable income,” Anak stated.

Through the Bible lessons, some of the employees have accepted Christ; seven people were baptised in 2017, OM reported. OM MTI supports the new believers and follows up with them. “They are like counsellors for them,” Anak added.

“I’m not forcing them to be Christians,” she clarified. “Some are not, but we want to tell them the good [news].”

Sok Lai, 33, who has been at VillageWorks since 2008, said she has enjoyed learning about the Bible from OM MTI workers Dara, Phearun and others. She first heard about Jesus from a colleague at a previous job and started attending church then, but she has enjoyed the environment at VillageWorks—“it feels like a family”—and the spiritual input she has received there. “I hope the gospel can be spread to other people,” she said. “I want to share more as well.”

Mei Pum, 31, has worked at the factory for three years—her first job. The opportunity changed her life by providing new knowledge and skills, she reported. She also learned about Jesus from OM MTI’s English lessons. “I started to believe in Jesus when [the OM MTI workers] came to teach the Bible here,” she shared. “When I pray to God, He always answers me.”

Mei’s new faith has been built up by others at the warehouse who also believe in Jesus, and she has learnt new Scriptures from the English lessons provided by OM. Having an income has allowed Mei to purchase clothing and other necessities; knowing Jesus has made her happy and given her peace, she said.

For Dara and other OM MTI workers who volunteer to teach English through the Bible, the trip to VillageWorks requires extending their regular office hours, which begin at 7:00. “Sometimes, I’m really tired because I go [there], and I need to work there until night time, but I’m really happy because I can serve my people and share the glory of God with them,” Dara described.

Dara also recognised the difficulty of learning about Jesus in a Buddhist country. “The [employees at VillageWorks] don’t have opportunity to hear about God. If OM didn’t go, they would only go to work, and after work, go back home. …Their family practices the Buddhist faith, and they will follow it,” he continued. “But if we go, we are the light; we show the way to them.”

“We’re not pushing them,” Dara stressed. “They must feel free, but after they believe that God is really true, they go and get baptised also.”

Nicole James is a world traveller and writer for OM International. She’s passionate about partnering with believers to communicate the ways God is working across the globe

Mercy Teams International works among the poor and needy in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, helping to meet their physical needs by distributing food, school materials, school uniforms, giving money to cover school or medical fees, and for more than 30 families, raising funds to build new homes. These families have few resources available to them. Issues with drugs, alcohol or gang violence often keep at least one of the parents or older children from contributing to the family’s financial needs.

While Sam and his younger brother crawl and scramble across a bamboo structure below their house that serves as both a place to sit and lie down, his mother and grandmother share about their situation. “We feed our whole family on 2.5 USD a day,” Paula states simply. “On the 20th [every month] we must pay 25 USD rent for the land our house is built on. This is difficult to do.” Paula and her husband collect plastic bottles and beer bottles to sell for income. On a good day, they can earn about 4-5 USD, but when it rains the couple can’t work. Their house has no toilet, because the landlord won’t allow them to build one, and no running water, so they buy it from a neighbor for another 5 USD a month.

“I have nothing, except Jesus,” Paula says. “I will believe and follow God until I die because when I am sick, God heals me; and through other people God helped us to build a new house when [ours] fell down.” The dichotomy of this 38-year-old’s life is that she literally has nothing, and thought the sorrow of not being able to feed her children sometimes is in her eyes, there is also a joy that flashes across her face when she smiles.

Mercy Teams International desires to see Paula and her family, and others just like them, not just fed and sheltered, but discipled deeper in their faith, so that no matter how fierce the winds blow, they will have a deep foundation on Christ’s love.

Currently MTI is looking for people who are passionate about serving the physical and spiritual needs of the poor and marginalised in Cambodia. This could be as part of the social work team, in a role that walks along-side these communities to provide counselling and care.

*names changed for security reasons

“Good morning, teacher,” the 22 boys and girls chime in unison when class starts. Ada moves promptly into a review of the homework before adding new vocabulary to the white board. The lesson gives the students time to learn a new word or sentence together, before each student repeats it individually. Ada works her way through the students, correcting mispronunciations and encouraging hesitant speakers. The children laugh and giggle, not seeming to be able to control their joy.

Many of the students attend government schools and have only two hours a week of English and French lessons. “English is the way we can go anywhere,” 14-year-old Keatmentkea explains. “It's like having only one hand: If one hand is English and the other knowledge, then without English you are missing a hand; and it prevents you from going anywhere or doing anything.”

For the past several years MTI has offered English classes twice a day, five days a week. Government schools don’t have enough teachers or classrooms to house everyone at the same time, so students alternate every other month between having morning and afternoon lessons at school. This allows for students to attend MTI’s classes during their free mornings or afternoons.

“My grandchildren must go to school,” Prakvana says firmly but with a smile. “People from my generation cannot read so well, but I want a better life for my grandchildren, so they must get an education.”

“I cannot read difficult words, but still every night I read with my children because a good education will give them a better life than I had,” Soun, a mother of six, says.

These children attend the English classes instead of doing chores at home, playing with friends or getting involved in drugs, alcohol or gang violence—prevalent in the community. They are hungry to learn, convinced that a firm grasp of English will open doors to better paying jobs. “I want to work as a staff member in a company one day,” says eight-year-old Sasma.

OM MTI aims to change the lives of their students, and through them their entire families, by providing free English classes. Classes also provide open doors for students to hear about God's love from OM MTI staff.

“Teaching people English, or computer skills, or motorbike repair skills is not enough,” insists Alan, a board member of OM MTI. “The most important thing is transformation in their lives, and that only comes through Jesus.”

OM MTI needs more qualified English teachers to share the love of Christ with the children and meet their need for supplementary English lessons. For more information, visit our website here.

Cambodia still bears the scars of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime that took many lives in the late 1970s. Once a thriving financial hub with much promise, the country was left literally in shambles after the Khmer Rouge soldiers fled the Vietnamese invasion.

Two million people were forced to move to the countryside to take up work in agriculture, and many intellectuals, city-dwellers, minorities and party members suspected of being traitors were brutally killed.

A Khmer Rouge slogan stated: "Study is not important. What's important is work and revolution." As a result, public schools and pagodas were turned into prisons, stables and warehouses. Many people still live mired in poverty in spite of the progress the country has made, and corruption is still rampant in society. Education is taken lightly by most, and few resources are made available for public libraries.

With a desire to raise the next generation of national leaders, Joseph and his wife have spent the past eight years running a children’s home and youth live-in centre in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. Thirty-five children and youth currently receive lodging, food and education from the day of their arrival until they marry, as long as they meet the passing grade criteria.

In the mornings, they participate in extramural activities, including English and computer lessons, and in the afternoons they attend the local school. They live and learn in an orderly Christian community where biblical values are imparted, and where they are required to study hard for their future.

“OM Cambodia's emphasis on education for children and youth comes with the long-term objective of raising the next generation of Cambodian leaders who will influence lives for Christ,” said Joseph. “We hope that some of these children will rise into positions of influence and affect godly change in this nation. After all, who is best equipped to reach the nation of Cambodia but the Cambodians themselves?”

According to the Understanding Children’s Work 2008 project paper* organised by the International Labour Organization, the United Nationals Children’s Fund and the World Bank, about 49 per cent of children are declared to be involved in work activities in Cambodia, one of the highest rates in South-East Asia. And 24 per cent of children who work and go to school at the same time reside in urban areas, while this number goes up to 45 per cent in rural areas.    

“It is our belief that education offers the best opportunity to break this expectation and cycle of child labour in rural areas,” says Colin Wharton at MTI headquarters. “Preschool education starting at early ages (sometimes as low as three years of age) will certainly catch teachable moments, which will impact hugely on the likelihood that a young child will continue to both remain in education, but also to succeed in later schooling.”

MTI’s preschool in Kampong Speu Province provides early childhood education, opportunities for social interaction and skills development, safety education and Christian values. Children age 3-6 from farming families in the lower-income bracket attend MTI's preschool, while upper primary school children and teenagers are the secondary focus of the church youth group.

Some of the 12-18-year-olds are unable to complete further education due to demands to assist the family farming business. These children, teenagers and youth are given the opportunity to learn a foreign language (English is not offered at local schools), social interaction through team-building games, activities and Christian values.

An Out of the Comfort Zone (OCZ) Cambodia team spent three days in Kampong Speu, teaching English to children and youth at MTI Cambodia's church plant and helping organise lessons at the preschool, including storytelling, crafts, outdoor games and singing sessions. They also visited MTI's Dorcas Women's Sewing Group, where rural women with young children are provided an alternative means of employment. This visit was a highlight for many in the team.

The OCZ Cambodia team also helped paint the interior of a community centre in Doem Sleng slum in Phnom Penh. Chong Cia Ling, 25, from Malaysia said, "It made me realise that we not only want to bring people to God, but we should bring God to people."

*“Child labour as a response to shocks: evidence from Cambodian villages”; L. Guarcello; I. Kovrova; F. C. Rosati; January 2008

Raised in a Buddhist family in Kampong Saom-Shihanoukville, Vannak ran away from home as a teenager to escape his father’s alcoholism. During the next few years, Vannak’s parents became Christians and prayed daily for Vannak’s salvation. When Vannak returned home four and a half years later, they asked him what he wanted to do. “I want to study English,” Vannak replied. Introducing him to their pastor a few weeks later, Vannak’s parents asked their pastor if he had any work for their son. “No, I just want Vannak to study the Bible,” the pastor replied.

Vannak started studying at a Bible college, and it was during this time that he came to faith. “When I saw the movie The Passion of the Christ, I broke down in tears and confessed my sins to God,” said Vannak. “I saw Jesus’ love, and started to serve. During my studies, I taught Sunday school and led Bible studies for youth at our church. I told my pastor to send me wherever he wanted me to serve [the] Lord.” 

Upon graduation in 2007, Vannak’s pastor put him in contact with Pastor Lee from Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. Since then, he has been serving as assistant pastor of World Vision Church, an OM church plant. In 2008, Vannak married Sek Nary from OM Cambodia, and together they have a four-year-old daughter.

“I spent 10 days on Doulos when it was in Cambodia and have prayed that God would send me into world missions ever since. I really love to serve!” added Vannak.

Praise God for raising up Christian workers in Cambodia and for preparing Vannak and his wife, Nary, for world missions. Pray that finances for their flight and monthly expenses would be covered, and for wisdom as they seek to serve God wherever needed. Pray that Nary’s siblings would come to believe in Jesus through the testimony of her life and experiences.

One of the two buildings MTI rents is required by the landlord. Can the work fit on one property? Johan reckons it can with a bit of manoeuvring and Do-It-Yourself skills. Fortunately the landlord says yes to chopping down a large tree, so this week a concrete pad was laid for a new workshop near the front gates.

The Motor Mechanic class of the Vocational Training Centre (VTC) has scarcely missed a beat as it has all happened so quickly. And with a bit of shuffling, the VTC Computer Class will find a fit in the 'White House', MTI Cambodia's base.

This is only one part of what happens in MTI's work in Phnom Penh. Their biggest work is 'Project Freedom' in the nearby slum. This work includes seminars on parenting, overcoming anger, keeping oneself safe, and much more. Each aspect has an impact on many lives.

‘I love you’

One formerly violent husband and father reported last year that the power of the new teaching received had changed his life. “It is very shameful to think of what I have done to my family in the past,” he said. “I used my power to control all of them by shouting and beating them. After I received the training of 'Building Peaceful Families' I started to set my strong commitment again and will not (again) hurt my wife or children physically or emotionally.”

He started to practice all these things in his family every day. “When I talk of these things to my wife and children they are very happy and especially like the words ‘I love you.’ Thanks a lot to the trainers and MTI. I hope Cambodia can become a peaceful place after people have received this training course.”

Kindergarten

Two hours south in the poverty stricken province of Kampong Speu, MTI also runs a kindergarten for children, thus enabling the mothers to earn wages in the rice fields without fear of their little ones harming themselves while they are at work. A small sewing initiative there also provides self-employment opportunities for a group of women. In that same MTI building, the Christian locals have begun a church and English classes.

Praise God for the impact MTI is having on the lives of people in Cambodia. Pray that wisdom as the Vocational Training Centre, Project Freedom and kindergarten continue to develop amidst leadership changes.

For more information, please contact info@mercyteams.net

Johan, a skilled mechanical engineer, had run his own business for a time before taking a well-paid position in another company. Lenie was a trained hairdresser who had also contributed nine years to driving a taxi for people with special needs. Although the couple were active in their church, their desire to serve the Lord full time never went away. Johan and Lenie decided to quit their jobs in their 50s, knowing they would be without an income and have to trust the Lord for support. The couple joined OM's ship MV Doulos in January 2004.

Johan and Lenie loved the ship ministry and they were excited to be part of it during the next years. Visits to Southeast Asian ports opened their eyes to the world's physical and spiritual needs. When Doulos was in Cambodia in 2006, they took part in a "faith trip" that especially spoke to their hearts.

"We took soya milk with us and prayed about where we should stop our vehicle," relates Johan. "When we saw a group of children on the street we stopped and a translator helped us talk with them. A pastor of a nearby church joined us, and we found out that he had children that needed milk."

Johan had a deep desire to help people living in poor places, and Cambodia was one of the poorest he'd ever seen. In the capital city alone, up to 15,000 children were on the streets every day, collecting rubbish to earn money for their families. Drugs were sold openly and violence in the home, sexual exploitation and trafficking of children were part of everyday life.

The compulsion grew in Johan to use his technical skills to improve the lives of some of the children and youth he had met. Later on, he shared his idea of a vocational training centre with the leaders of Mercy Teams International (MTI), a relief and development arm of OM in the East Asia Pacific area. They had a ministry in Cambodia focused on at-risk children, and encouraged the Crezees to join them.

When Doulos reached the end of its ministry in Singapore, OM showed their support for the Crezees and MTI Cambodia by donating two of the ship's vans, plus lots of useful equipment and supplies. Johan and Lenie moved to Phnom Penh in March 2010 and started their project in a building next door to MTI.

Lenie admits she was a reluctant partner, to begin with. "I didn't think I was ready for Cambodia. Living on the ship was so much easier! But God came to me and helped me understand that the things I thought were important really weren't, and that the idea of living in that country was worse in my mind than the actual reality. We have Cambodian neighbours now and feel very safe. And I've seen how special it is for people when I do simple things, like just making them a meal.  

MTI decided that offering computer training to children would fill an obvious gap in the educational system. The first class started with 12 students, using 10 computers donated from Doulos. Today the centre has 30 computers and runs four classes a day, each with 25 or 30 students. Classes are free for children unable to afford private tuition at other schools, and the basic skills they learn definitely improve their chances for the future. Best of all, boys and girls are exposed to the good news of Jesus Christ.

Motorbike mechanics

From the beginning the vision was to provide a technical training centre, teaching motorbike and car mechanics to young people and later adding a welding course. After building a workshop in the garden next door, the Crezees were needed on Logos Hope for a time so their Cambodian ministry continued with another Dutch couple taking their place. In December 2012, the centre found a local teacher to start the motorbike course. With a third of Cambodians living below the poverty line and 53 per cent under the age of 24, practical vocational skills training is essential to long-term development. And since motorbikes and mototaxis jam the roads of the capital, Johan knew their training would fill a gap. By the end of the basic mechanics and maintenance course the students could start their own small businesses.

"Many people come to Phnom Penh from the countryside, looking for work," Johan explains. "Some of the students are so eager to receive training that they sleep in the courtyard or live in makeshift places outside the school grounds. Others come from surrounding slums. Our next project will be an automotive workshop. We also want to provide some kind of dormitory for the boys."

In May this year, when the lease on the property they rented expired, the landlord told them he could not renew the contract because he wanted to build an apartment block. To Johan and Lenie's delight, however, the owner agreed to a six month extension. Pray with them as they look for another property, big enough for classrooms, workshops and sleeping accommodation. Their hope is that it will still be close enough to MTI's "white house" for staff to continue sharing devotional times and oversight responsibility.

Johan acknowledges that the project doesn't attract big donors, but each dollar stretches a long way in Cambodia. "Every time we wonder where the equipment and money will come from. But it comes! God always provides."

For the Crezees there is no turning back. They say they want to be in missions for the rest of their lives and invite others to experience the joy alongside them. "We need the right kind of volunteers," they add, "people with technical skills but also people who will really care for the students."

Why not take a look at MTI's website, mercyteams.net, and consider how you could fit in? The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

When Mom, from Cambodia, looks into the eyes of a sexually-abused girl and reassures her that God hears, God knows and God cares, her words are like a healing salve applied to an open wound. Immediately, her young client understands there's something different about this social worker and there's something different about her message.



How does she know God hears my prayers? How does she know God knows my story? And most importantly, does God really care about me? These are the critical questions Mom and the other trained social workers and counsellors tackle every day at Project Freedom, a ministry of Mercy Teams International (MTI)*, located in Chbar Ampou, Cambodia.

Project Freedom professionals come alongside young men and women, boys and girls as they walk the road to recovery after the trauma of physical and sexual abuse, domestic violence or addiction. In the face of extreme poverty, hope and healing can be elusive companions without the knowledge of God’s unfailing love.



When people are lonely or hopeless, they need someone to be there to walk with them.

Mom knows first-hand the dangers of being a young girl from a poor village with few options for education, employment and financial stability. After Mom’s father died, Mom’s mother unknowingly signed documents she was unable to read that sold her daughter into prostitution in exchange for 50 US dollars and the promise of gainful employment for Mom. A well-dressed woman then carried Mom away and began to teach her how to put on make-up, clean her fingernails and take care of her skin.

Thankfully, before Mom’s first day of work, her mother used the 50 US dollars she was given to find her. Her mother also contacted the police and sought help from a nearby non-governmental organisation. The NGO responded with shelter and protection for Mom for the next two years.

During this ordeal, Mom would often recite Bible verses she’d learnt as a child from the foreigners who served in her village. She remembers, "I had so many questions. I thought that Jesus was only the god of westerners, but the more I thought about Him, the more I hoped for Him. I prayed that God would let me serve Him with my life."

Today, Mom serves faithfully as a supervisor for the social workers at Project Freedom. A native of Phnom Penh, her leadership brings hope to the daily lives of children and families caught in the labyrinth of sexual or physical abuse and poverty.

Mom recalls, "I know what it’s like to have nothing and no one to help…I’ve realised the importance of providing emotional support, even though it isn’t tangible. When people are lonely or hopeless, they need someone to be there to walk with them." 

*MTI is OM’s mercy-focused arm in South East Asia

Project Freedom in Phnom Penh reaches out to child victims of sexual and physical abuse, by providing counselling and psycho-therapeutic resources. Project Freedom works in cooperation with local village communities, schools, government departments and other NGOs. When this project began 10 years ago, all training was done by expatriates, and the Khmer workers filled in as support staff. Many of those original Khmer support staff are now senior social workers and trainers.

“Mom, one of our Khmer staff, is a wonderful example of this new and exciting trend,” said Dawn, co-founder of MTI. “Not too many years ago she was living in a slum, but through hard work, training, experience and dedication, she has proven to be a capable leader.

"In early September, Mom was promoted to senior social worker and is supervising our team in Phnom Penh. We are so excited to be part of this transformation and to see the local staff in our various projects equipped with the skills they need to be effective leaders among their own people—leaders who will have a far-reaching and long-lasting impact on their families, neighbourhoods, communities and the nation as a whole.”

*MTI is OM’s mercy arm in South East Asia

One day before the Easter celebration, the MTI Cambodia team went into the slums to invite parents and children to the event. The team was encouraged to find 250 people gathered in front of their gate the following day! After people settled down on mats and chairs, the programme of songs, Cambodian games, a sermon and dance began. They also enjoyed snacks and soya milk, as well as Play-Doh for the children.

“I cannot live without God anymore!” sighed a pregnant widow with four children, meaning it from her heart. “Despite the obvious spiritual growth in the community, the need for discipleship is great,” reported Erik from MTI Cambodia. “Still so many people need to be discipled so as to understand the gospel in a deeper way.”

Praise God for the great partnership between MTI and the local churches in Phnom Penh, as well as for the spiritual growth amongst slum dwellers. Pray that those who are hungry for God’s truth would grow in their faith as they come to a deeper understanding of His unconditional love.