News

Today is the last day of our program year and what a year it has been. We had so many goals – so much we wanted to do. We had so many dreams we wanted to achieve – dreams that each of you made happen. Let me share some of our highlights.

Tagged: Janne Ritskes

Today is a hard day – today I cried. I didn’t cry when I was diagnosed with breast cancer – I didn’t cry throughout the treatments – crying doesn’t help. But one of the results from my journey with cancer is the almost unbearable awareness of the pain of the women of Cambodia. This morning my managers are all here and they presented me with a list of stories of women suffering from illness who are living in their communities.

Tagged: Hospital, Janne Ritskes, Nokor Tep

Yesterday I visited one of our new project areas – Preah Vihear – infamous for its border clashes with Thailand. It was quite a trip. We left very early in the morning – our first hour was in darkness – little traffic but good speed. When the sun finally arose – we were met with great beauty – first, early floods in a number of areas and then several hundreds of miles of rice fields – in all my 18 years here – I have never seen rice fields in August. Srie and I marveled at the life it represented – at the hope and dreams – at the unusual changes in weather that made this happen.

Tagged: Janne Ritskes

I received a report today – it’s from one of my managers and a family she works with. People are always asking me how this all works. This report tells how it works but it’s in their words – not mine. The English is not terrific and the grammar not the best but I do believe that they express themselves better than I ever could. Let me share this with you.

Tagged: Janne Ritskes

It is the time of year when we begin our detailed planning and budgets for our next program year beginning in September. The planning process always begins with the development staff spending 4 days together in several of our project areas followed by two days of meetings in Phnom Penh. This year the staff went to Banteay Meanchaey, Battambang and Pursat projects. The purpose is to see the innovations taking place, to discuss better ways of doing our work and to discuss expansion for the upcoming program year. As usual, the time spent together is very much enjoyed.

Tagged: Janne Ritskes

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

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

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