News

May 17, 2011 This weekend marks the first anniversary of my discovery of breast cancer. It was a rather special weekend. We had a family team arrive from Singapore to come and build 30 houses – this team included Lisa and Sharon and their families – a couple of the people who had given me so much support in Singapore through a difficult time.

Tagged: hospital, Janne Ritskes, Nokor Tep

May 2011 Dear friends and partners, It has been a rather hot few weeks – the weather patterns have changed yet again – for me, I have relief – I have air-conditioning and I have water – both very vital in providing some relief from the relentless heat. For so many of our families, neither option is available so life can be difficult. For others, water is a new resource. One of our strengths in Tabitha is that we are not constrained by conformity where everybody has to do exactly the same thing or have exactly the same type of well.

Tagged: Janne Ritskes

Click here to read Tabitha Singapore's April 2011 Newsletter (pdf).

Tagged: Newsletter

Last week was Khmer New Years and Miriam and I went off to Bangkok for a few days’ holidays with some friends. We took our respective girls to a theme park and as they were riding the rides we talked about Nokor Tep Women’s Hospital and our vision.

Tagged: hospital

On Saturday 19th March I visited Siem Reap for the first time. I was stunned by the huge symmetry of Angkor Wat as we drove from the airport to our hotel. I was rudely awoken by my dad at about 6 o'clock the next morning and walked wearily to breakfast. There we were joined by my grandparents (their first time to Cambodia) and a number of the ‘Margarita’ ladies, a famous (infamous) group of ladies how have lead a large number of Tabitha house builds (and pub crawls) in Cambodia. My mum (Sue Huxley) was one of them. Today we would be visiting the grand opening of the Sue Huxley Sapor School, about 1 and a half hours out of Siem Reap.

Tagged: school building, Sue Huxley

Happy Khmer New Years. Yes, we are fortunate here in Cambodia, we get to celebrate several New Years but for us, this is the best one. Next week, we close for a whole week; everyone goes home to celebrate with family and friends the year that was and the year that is just beginning. Of course with New Year approaching it is also traditional to clean your house in preparation for the celebrations at hand. Tabitha cleaned its house metaphorically. We changed to a new and better system of handling our finances – we went cashless. Now for those of you living in developed countries, this may sound rather ho hum but in a third world country – a cashless system brings about all kinds of emotions - from great fear to happiness.

Tagged: Janne Ritskes

A few weeks ago I was asked a question – are you sure there are 8 people in a family that Tabitha serves? It’s a fair question and one that I thought deserved a fair answer. Over the past two weeks I have made project visit to our projects in Kep/Kampot – Kampong Channang, Pursat and Battambang. It has been an education in so many ways.

Tagged: Janne Ritskes

Click here to read Tabitha Singapore's March 2011 Newsletter (pdf).

Tagged: Newsletter

Dear friends and partners, I want to share with you the beginning of our latest outreach. It’s Nokor Tep Women’s Hospital. I know there are many of you who ask, “Now where did this come from?” I would love to say simply from my own journey with breast cancer but that’s not true – the breast cancer is the catalyst of a turning point of the journey – not the beginning.

Tagged: hospital, Janne Ritskes

It’s been a week of mixed emotions. Pat, our manager in Prey Veng, asked that I come. Pat is one of our senior managers; he has been with us almost from the beginning. Pat’s area is one of our toughest. In the areas we work, the poverty is rather stark. Pat wanted me to see Prek Komdieng, an area we have worked in since 1998. It was always frustrating to visit because, despite a lot of effort, very little has changed.

Tagged: Janne Ritskes, wells and ponds