It's been a month that we've tried hard to explore opportunities for improving our holistic ministries in order to help our churches and communities.  Brother Minea attended different training courses so as to gain outside experience and technical knowledge in agricultural fields like pig raising, fish ponds and plantations (such as the ‘FOOD GARDEN').  Moreover, we also put together our former experiences in order to devise some new plans for the whole picture, instead of handling individual churches' requests for development projects.  After months of discussion and assessment, we decided to start with a new approach.  Nevertheless, whatever ways we use, we need to seek God's continuous guidance and blessings.

We have usually relied on outside funding to operate the schemes in the past, and we might spend as much as $700 to start in a village where more than 40 families participated.  However, owing to their capacity, ability and mentality, it is not easy for a local committee to supervise, especially due to their ‘relational' culture.  Thus, some of our projects ended with deficits, and some of the villagers were frustrated because of their failures.  Therefore, we decided to launch projects by a ‘church based' approach, especially in cooperation with our childcare centers, which also have been experiencing insufficient funds for operation as inflation keeps going higher and higher.  We are now focusing on the pilot project at Kaoh Ksachtunlea East where our House of Joy is located.  Though the land area is not large, we can start on a small scale and spend relatively little capital, as compared with our former projects.  If this pilot project is successful, they may be able to apply for local charity funds to continue, instead of relying on outside funding for the long run.

Another main focus is ‘Capacity building' of the church/childcare centre.  As before, we designed the policy and tried to foresee the problems beforehand.  For example, we set a repayment scale if the piglet died before the completion of the scheme, and set procedures to follow for various possible problems.  I think this is the common way of doing a ‘control system' approach.  However, we might de-motivate them in the beginning and hinder their capacity development during the process.  Therefore, we now are just setting the agreement about profit sharing and the time frame to complete the project.  The bright hope of the future motivates them to work out everything, even if problems may arise along the way. We are changing from a ‘provider' role to a ‘supporting' position.

The centre-in-charge, Brother Gideon, is very excited about the scheme.  When brother Minea talked with him about the requirements to start, such as digging a big hole for the fish pond and building a fenced area for the pigs, he called us after just a few days and asked us when we could buy the pigs and fish to begin.  In addition, the local development committee members (3 people) are very positive about discussing the details.  I could see they are really committed to the scheme in order to improve the situation of the church and the centre.  Later, we will visit them regularly, and Minea will train them about the technical skills of farming to upgrade their capacity.

1.  The wisdom and strength to work with the churches and centers for the holistic development projects.

2.  The law and order in Phnom Penh because many thefts, robberies and traffic accidents occur.  Thieves once tried to sneak into our boys' dorm to steal motorcycles (unsuccessfully), and at our land in Phnom Penh Thmei, they even stole the water pots. 

3.  The coming election on July 27; our churches will change the service schedule to Saturday.  May God grant peace during the election process.

4. The two overseas teams in July as they help in some building work and physiotherapy training.

Psalm 127:1

Davis Lam

Cambodia Mail Address: P.O Box 602, Phnom Penh, Cambodia