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| May 2008 |
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This month we celebrated Mother's Day — I still think of it as a bit of an anomaly because every day should be Mother's Day — Miriam is coming to an age where she likes to take this day quite seriously so I ended up with a very big diamond ring and pendant - very valuable at a cost of $6.50 cents but precious in its intent. As I enjoyed her outpouring of love, I thought of our many mothers in our projects — of other mothers in the world. |
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| April 2008 |
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Happy Khmer New Years - next week is a big week for all of us in Cambodia - we celebrate Khmer New years - a time when all Cambodians return to their birth homes, to family and friends - its a time of renewal - a time of reflection - a time of remembering those who passed on with special ceremonies - a time of eating and playing - a time of new clothes and new dreams - its a time of rest with a week long holiday. Well almost, April 17 is Pol Pot day – a day now being remembered – so what is new is celebrated and what is past is remembered. |
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| February 2008 |
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Happy Valentines Day – my office smells of flowers given by staff. Makes me feel guilty that I didn't buy them all flowers for they are people close to my heart – people who enhance and fill my life with so very much. |
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| December 2007 |
| All of us at Tabitha Cambodia want to wish each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. It is the season of hope and faith for many – for us – our faith in a child born so long ago – brings the message of understanding and life – a child born into the meanness of poverty – despised by many – eventually killed by those who found Him too different – a man who lives again so that we can all live. Christmas – our foundation. |
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| November 2007 |
| Someone asked me last month – do you realize the impact that you have. I am rather humble about that – yes, I do know. I went to Singapore in the beginning of the month. I went to talk with several schools who give us phenomenal support and the week ended with a Tabitha Silk Fair – it was an amazing week in so many ways – we sold 94k in 3 days – children would walk up to me at the schools and want to shake my hand – a number of parents shared the change in their children who had come housebuilding. As the week progressed I began to understand that perhaps all of you do not understand the impact that you have. Today I would like to try and express that impact. |
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| October 2007 |
| The new program year has started very well. It's a peak season for house building teams – it is also our busy season for orders. The rains are in full spate – causing havoc for so many of our families. The staff, as usual, does so much in very difficult circumstances. |
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| September 2007 |
| This month is the beginning of our new fiscal and program year. It is also the month of our annual report for what we have done in the past year. It has been a very good year. We have worked with 33,958 families with 271,664 dependents. 2025 volunteers came from all over the world and built 611 houses – unbelievable! We were able to install 997 wells – bringing hope to so very many people. |
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| June 2007 |
| I am sitting here this morning feeling a bit self satisfied. Two years ago, at our annual staff meeting, Tina (who is a man) was one of our new staff. His attitude at the meeting left a bit to be desired. When I asked what problems people were having, his statement was rather blunt - the people are lazy. My older staff knew better than to use that word around me. I turned on him and asked him how he knew the people were lazy - did he ask them if they were lazy - was he there all the time to see if they were lazy - I mean what did he really know! The discussion moved rapidly to what is our biggest barrier to our work and just as rapidly came the answer from those who had learned before Tina - we are often the biggest barrier to development. Our attitudes and our prejudices affect how we work with people. I made it clear to one and all that using the word lazy to describe people - means that we are the ones that are lazy - we are lazy in our thinking; we are lazy in our answers. I expected each and every staff person to do what they said they could do without using the people as an excuse for not doing - anyone who couldn't do this - well, Tabitha was not the place for them to be. |
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| May 2007 |
| Miriam and I have returned from our month long journey through Canada. Both of us are recovering from jet lag and culture shock. Our first 3 weeks in Canada were a shock as each morning we woke to a carpet of snow on the ground. April is not supposed to be like that. We ate and ate – everyone brought out their best and we enjoyed each morsel. We traveled far, talked with many and made new friends. Best of all was reuniting with family – a family reunion on the only warm day we had – 110 relatives and close friends. As Miriam says, it was our amazing day. |
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| February 2007 |
| It seems like so very long ago, in 1994 that I answered a call from my God to start Tabitha Cambodia. That call was not an easy one, it meant giving up all that I had in so very many ways. It meant going against worldly wisdom - going against voices that urged me to be more rationale in my approach to life. Instead I believed that my God would keep His promises – which were that I would never be in need, that the family I gave up would be enhanced with one of my own and that I would have a place to call home. |
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| January 2007 |
| Happy New Years to each and every one of you. It's a very good beginning for us this year as we begin our work after being closed for holidays. We came back to being able to work freely as there are enough funds to meet everyone's needs. What a blessings you have brought to so many here. |
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| December
2006 |
| Holiday time is fast approaching and the season of hope and joy is near. Christmas is why Tabitha started – my faith in the birth of a child so long ago. It’s a story of faith and of hope. This season for us is marked with sadness and distrust. We had an attempted armed robbery by people we trusted a few weeks ago. Last week our advisor to the Prime Minster’s cabinet, a very good personal friend, died unexpectedly. Then news of some very good friends deciding to leave Cambodia left its mark. |
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| November
2006 |
| It's a difficult letter I write today – it's a letter dedicated to Som – one of our longest serving staff – a man who is suffering from heart failure. It is time to pay a tribute to Som, and to Marianne and to Dara and to so many who have helped us and been a part of us and have traveled on. |
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| October
2006 |
| Last
month, the newsletter dwelled on the
sadness poverty and the question that
was asked was who will hear them when
they cry? I said that you and I will
hear them. We have just finished our
annual report and I would like to share
some of the ways we heard these people
cry. |
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| September
2006 |
| Last
Friday, when our managers were in from
the provinces, they came to me with
some pictures that were very sad. Heng
was most disturbed as he showed me
a picture of a 2 week old baby born
with severe abnormalities. |
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| August
2006 |
| Two
weeks ago, all our development staff
spent a few days together looking and
evaluating and learning from our newest
programs. They came back with a story
that made us stop and think and evaluate
all that we do. |
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| July
2006 |
| This
morning I want share a special day
that I experienced yesterday. I went
to see our newest project area, Kompong
Thom with Srei and Apo who is our staff
there. Srei has come a long way over
the years that we have been together. |
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| June
2006 |
| It
has been 2 months since I have written
and what an amazing two months they
have been. My trip to Australia was
phenomenal - Miriam and I met so many
people in so many different settings.
We saw the beauty of the country, the
beauty of its diversity - the beauty
of the people. How privileged we are
to be able to call so many of them
friends. |
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| March
2006 |
| It
seems like only yesterday that I wrote
you - so much has happened and I want
to share some of these happenings with
all of you. |
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| February
2006 |
| Happy
2006 to each and every one of you.
Seems like the greetings are a bit
late - this year I had my sister and
her husband visiting for the month
of January - a rare occasion - one
that I and Miriam celebrated with thankfulness.
One of the questions they asked is
how do we decide on where to work -
a question often asked by many of you.
Let me share how the process worked
to open up in our newest province of
Svay Rieng this January. |
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| December
2004 |
| We've
had an unusual number of events the
past few weeks - I thought I'd just
share one of the most poignant ones
that I experienced. Several weeks ago,
I traveled with the staff to meet 2
groups of families in one of our new
districts - Kirivon. Now Kirivon is
one of those places that I do not rush
to visit as the roads are a bit bone
jarring to say the least. The request
had been presented in August - it took
me 3 months to find the time to come.
Srei, Tharry, Phon, Cheiring and Pow
were all delighted - actually Cheiring
and Pow were a bit nervous - they are
relatively new staff and I have a reputation
of asking the hard questions. |
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| November
2004 |
| It
has been a very busy few weeks. October
was our tenth anniversary month and
so we celebrated. Of course, we didn't
do it the normal way by having a big
party - instead we decided to build
as many houses as we could for as many
families as we could. The result was
9 volunteer teams came with 183 people
and they built 62 houses. This averages
to 2 houses per day - what a month!
The teams brought their own brand of
excitement and of grace which was infectious
and so we were all excited and were
surrounded with grace. What a way to
celebrate! |
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| August
2004 |
| It
seems like so long since I have talked
with all of you. Partly, it is a result
of being in Canada for the month of
July. Miriam and I left on the first
of July and returned at the end of
the month. We travelled to see family
and to meet up with 12 of our adopted
children and their families. What a
privilege it was to see these young
people again - to be allowed to enjoy
their personalities and their strengthening
friendships. It is so very good. |
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| June
2004 |
| One
of the best parts of my job is the
privilege of visiting the project sites.
These visits are about having time
to talk one on one with all the development
staff and seeing what they have done.
Nari often accompanies me on these
visits so that we are both up to date
on what is happening. On our first
site visit we went with Srei, Tharry,
Pon and Heng to our new project in
Kampot province. There was lots of
time to talk with each of them and
time to talk with all of us and even
some time to meditate for the roads
to Kampot vary in degrees of horribleness
- on a scale of 1-10 - with 10 being
the best - we started on a 6 and rapidly
decreased to a 2 - I am a seasoned
traveller - but this time, even I was
beginning to fade with the bouncing
and jouncing and the terrible snail's
pace we kept up for hours at a time. |
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| May
2004 |
| One
of the best parts of my job is the
privilege of visiting the project sites.
These visits are about having time
to talk one on one with all the development
staff and seeing what they have done.
Nari often accompanies me on these
visits so that we are both up to date
on what is happening. On our first
visit we went with Srei, Tharry, Pon
and Heng to our new project in Kampot
province. There was lots of time to
talk with each of them and time to
talk with all of us and even some time
to meditate for the roads to Kampot
vary in degrees of horribleness - on
a scale of 1-10 - with 10 being the
best - we started on a 6 and rapidly
decreased to a 2 - I am a seasoned
traveller - but this time, even I was
beginning to fade with the bouncing
and jouncing and the terrible snail's
pace we kept for hours at a time. |
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| April
2004 |
| Happy
Khmer New Year to each and every one
of you. Its been an extra-ordinary
month but it seems that each new month,
each new day is extra-ordinary. This
month we closed all our shops and all
our work down in order to celebrate
the holiday - it is the first time
that we have been able to do so since
we opened Tabitha in 1994. It was a
gift given to us by all of you - our
support base is becoming strong enough
to bear the closure for a few days
- giving all of us a much needed break. |
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