
This June a group of us with Steps of Justice are going to share the love of Jesus with the wonderful people of Cambodia. This will be our 7th time going over to Phnom Penh, Cambodia and as always we cannot wait. One of the communities that we will be working with are a group from the UofN and YWAM Cambodia. Below is their story told by Tim and Melanie Chan:
“We are from a project under UofN Cambodia called Children at Risk. We have been working in a community of former slum dwellers for the past 8 years. All of these families used to live in slums in Phnom Penh but were moved out by the government in 2007-2008 to a village 20 kilometers outside the city. Most of the families received a simple 4mx10m block home, but 58 families rented elsewhere or lived in the market waiting for their share.
In 2011 the government gave plots of land to 11 families from the market (these were mostly widows and the poorest of families) and have continued to give more smaller plots of land to the other 47. We have known most of the families in the market since 2005 and have done home church with them every Monday when they lived in the market. We still have home church now in their new homes.
In July of 2011 our friends from Steps of Justice and Mission Adventures New Zealand brought a team our way. They ended up changing their plans and built our first home for a family with 3 boys. It was such an amazing experience that our church back home in the USA raised money for 7 more homes, then a church in Hong Kong came and raised money for 4 more and a Mission Adventures and Steps of Justice team last summer built 4 more…so a total of 16 houses to date. This year the Steps of Justice team is coming to build another home at the end of June.
The 11 families who first received homes were so filled with awe that everyone helped build each other’s homes (even the 65 year old women carried wood and rocks and concrete!), cooked meals for those who helped, held prayer meetings in their homes for the other homeless families, etc…they ended up calling their road “Street of Hope.”
So yes, Steps of Justice is heading to Cambodia this June and needs to raise $2000 to build this home and we would love you to be involved. Here is how we are going to do it. With each $20 donation that you give, up to $100, you get a Prayer and Action guide. So, if you give $40 you get 2 Prayer Guides, $60 you get 3, and so on up to $100.
For those of you who want to give a little more, with each $100 donation you get a do justice’ t-shirt (super soft, black and in crew or v-neck). All you have to do is put in your shirt size and what cut you want. We believe we can get this house sponsored by the end of the weekend. Tell your friends, your church, your school or your family. Each gift is tax deductible (minus the cost of the shirt or prayer guide).
So, to do all this go to the donate page of Steps of Justice, or follow the link here.
Thanks so much. Below are some pictures of the homes and the Street of Hope.
Please Re-post, tweet, facebook and share, lets change some lives.
Surely the people of Cambodia are capable of building houses. Send them the money! They can build a lot more with what it costs to fly all of you over there. What you are doing is profoundly insulting as well as self-indulgent.
Hello Real Justice person. Thanks for your comment. I do agree that the Cambodians are capable at building, that is why we hire workers for the house, so that we can provide work for them, not take it away. We also work with long term Cambodian locals to see community development happen. In addition, the trip is not so that we can save Cambodia, they don’t need saving any more than the rest of us living life without faith in Jesus, but the trip is also so that we can see the world, have our hearts changed and be transformed in the way we think and act.
Your judgement that what we are doing is insulting comes out of what? I am sorry you got that impression. Do you have any Cambodian friends? We have a lot and we love visiting them as we learn a ton from them and it makes us better people
Thanks again for your comment.