Back in Cambodia

Internet is unreliable in Cambodia and it can be very difficult for Rhonda to keep a connection long enough to get a blog post up. So she sent this post to me via email and I am posting it for her. ~ Christina

Upon our arrival back to Cambodia, we’ve found the inflation that is hitting Cambodia has gotten worse. As an example…the cost of a kilo of flour has actually doubled. Not almost doubled…but EXACTLY doubled. So this has put incredible pressure upon a nation that is wracked with poverty already. In response to this, crime is on the increase at an alarming rate and much of it is targeted against foreign businesses and ministries, including churches. On our street…which is about 3 blocks long, there were 3 break ins last week alone. There was a woman robbed at gunpoint one street over the week before we returned to Cambodia.

This has caused us to have to hire a guard which has increased our payroll but also…it is weird. Just think about having someone walking around your house while you are inside in your nightgown in the evening or morning. Very strange but I guess I will get used to it. The guard position is being filled by a Christian couple known by other missionaries for a long, long time. They also do gardening work for other foreigners. So they are coming at 6 PM and staying until 8 AM. Until dark and after awakening, they are also caring for our courtyard. The filth and dirtiness of our life here is hard for me to take so I am trying to focus on how much neater and cleaner the courtyard will now be that we have someone who is focusing on it. The couple does sleep at night outside on Cambodian mats under mosquito netting. But should the dog awaken them by barking…someone is there. Also, thieves know who does and who does not have guards. Just the fact that someone is arriving every night is a deterrent.

We have been called about Doberman puppies for sale and are trying to decide if we should buy one. They are $600!!! So far there are only two left. Our Shar Pei was stolen because staff didn’t keep her inside the gate while we were gone and our other dog is getting quite old. But $600 is a lot of money when we are trying to adjust our food budget to deal with inflation.

Today is homeschool co op. So many families, mainly the SBC ones, are gone on year long furloughs. So our numbers are down to the point that we don’t really have enough moms to have classes for all the age divisions. But the first Thursday of every month, we are going to a hotel on the outskirts of town and swimming. My Littles got to swim so much in the States and they really love it. So that has been something they have been looking forward to all week. It is the rainy season though and so I am praying that it doesn’t rain us out.

 

T Shirt painting day at the provincial orphanage

Today was a visit out to a provincial orphanage.  We took with us a team from the United States.  Mark was real ambitious…at the time, I thought he was just nuts…but he wanted to try to paint T shirts with the children out there.  They hadn’t ever had the chance to do anything like this before and why don’t we try? 

It actually went just fine!  We had the orphanage staff write the children’s names on the inside back collar.  Then the children patiently lined up.  The fact that they were being patient was amazing itself!  They are usually so, so excited that you can’t control them.  We had five different stations where a worker sat with orange and yellow paint.  They dipped their hands in the paint and put the handprints in a circular pattern in the center of the shirt and it made it look like a sunshine.  It was so very cute!!!

The nannies brought the bed babies also and we dipped their little feet in the paint.  Most of the babies acted like it was some terrifying medical procedure or something but the resulting t shirt was adorable.

After t shirts, the team spread out all over the orphanage to love on all the kids and to chase them through the buildings or swing them to dizzying heights on the swing set.

We gathered again about a half hour later and the visiting team did a few songs and a funny skit.  The Bykota Kids also sang a song in both English and Khmer and then we enjoyed passing out some fruit to all the children.  We were pretty tired but the smiling faces always make it worth it.

Mark and Danielle are both sick with an infection of the pharynx…spelling???  Anyway, now we have those two on meds, Peter has a bad ear infection, Lizzy is still on two types of medicines, Visoth and Seth are on daily meds also.  It feels an awful lot like a medical clinic around here three times a day!

Lizzy didn’t go with us to the orphanage.  I am concerned with too many children that may make her even sicker.  I left her home with Nanny Nun who was also watching Sammy.

This week is school in the morning each day, ANOTHER shot clinic on Wednesday, a medical evaluation on a child from one of the provincial orphanages that we are trying to arrange and then the big Joyce Meyers Festival of Fellowship this weekend.  So it will be a busy, busy week.

Until next time we are,

Breathing in, Breathing out,

Rhonda

 

Update on Soldier Boy and Lizzy and everything else

We were so blessed to get a phone call from Steven yesterday.  He is now only 4 time zones away from us.  It still seems like the other side of the world though.

 He only had 15 minutes and there was a long line behind him.  Dad, myself, Kati, Dani, Isaac, and Chantal all got a chance to say hello before he had to go.  The temperature where he was yesterday was 137 degrees.  Hard to believe how anyone can live in those temps.  He sounded in good spirits.  He misses his wife, Dany which is understandable.

Lizzy is doing better.  Since she is no longer dehydrated, she seems almost like a different baby.  Her face actually appears plumper, she has more energy, she is less fussy, and she has more of an appetite.  In the short time we have had her, she has gone from a little froggy type of scoot across the floor to up-on-all-fours for an out and out crawl.  Life is going to be busy from this point on.  Our house is NOT baby proof and she is showing us that every day.

Her second round of antibiotics is finished but her lungs are still full.  The doctor is not immediately doing a third round because she is quite sure that Lizzy has Cystic Fibrosis and will always be somewhat congested in her lungs.  I had a retired medical professional come over on Tuesday night and she showed me how to do chest percussion therapy to break up the mucus.  We have to do this 3 times a day and it is a nosy time of day because Lizzy screams to high heaven while we are doing it.  She hates it!  But the doctor assured me that the full blown war cry that Lizzy puts on is good for her too.  We may possibly lose a bit of our hearing but as long as it helps her, we are doing it.

The care of Lizzy has to be watched very carefully.  She must have a good, clean environment and over at BH there are so many children eager to hold and touch her and that is not what she needs.  So she is living at the Center with our family.  We aren’t equipped for a baby or at least we weren’t…but we have been very blessed.  Her diet must be closely monitored as well.  And of course, there is the 3X a day percussion therapy and her medicines that she must have 3 times a day. 

A visiting medical team happily carried over for us a pack n play.  So we have a bed for her.  Another ministry upon hearing of her arrival went through their supply of children’s clothes and found a few things. We couldn’t keep anything she arrived in because she was covered from head to toe with scabies.  The donated clothes combined with our small amount we had on hand from Grandma Marthalee and so she has a basic wardrobe.  We went out and found a junior chair of sorts to use as a high chair and we have had word that another family is sending us a car seat for her to use while in the van. 

We also want to thank Heather in Malaysia for her gift that covered her initial blood work and lab tests.  Please be in prayer that we can find some way to do the actual diagnostic test for CF.  We are hoping to be able to do it here and then have it couried over to Thailand or Vietnam so we can be positive of what we are dealing with.

We are in the process of apply for her passport.  The estimated cost of Lizzy’s passport so she would be free to travel to other countries in either an emergency or for testing/medical care is going to be around $300. 

School is doing very well.  Most of the Bykota Kids are in their fourth book now.  Dany, Bee, and Visoth need some special attention.  Our system is working WONDERFULLY with the other 10 students but these 3 that need special attention is one area that we aren’t doing well with.  So your prayers for us to have wisdom in how to proceed would be appreciated.

I must go now and get on with the day’s activities.  On top of everything that normally happens, we are preparing for a trip out to a provincial orphanage tomorrow where we will paint tee shirts with the children.  This will be one of those things that either will turn out to be a WONDERFUL memory  and lots of fun or it will be one of those “What were we thinking????” moments.

Breathing in, breathing out,

Rhonda

 

A new arrival at Bykota House

We had been paying special attention to a little one at a provincial orphanage because we were picking up on the intuition that things were not right.  Because of the health issues, we have been granted the blessing of her coming to Bykota House to live.

Her name is said VeeCheeKaw.  It means November because that is the month she was born in.  We have named her Elizabeth and we are calling her Lizzie.

 She has had an infant evaluation, many of the findings are pending but we would ask for everyone to send prayers upwards for her health because there are many serious problems.  She is 8 1/2 months old but weighs only 6.4 kilos which translates to only 14 lbs.  We have her on intense nutritional support and she is on antibiotics as well as being treated for scabies from head to foot.

That brings our total in Bykota House to 16 wonderful blessings!  We so appreciate your prayers and love for them all.

Breathing in, breathing out,

Rhonda

 

Desk delivery day

Saturday, June 23rd, was a busy, busy day here.  We had the day planned that we were going to be getting up early and going to Kompong Spue province to deliver some milk and hugs to the provincial orphanage there.  But on Friday night, the carpenter who is building the desks for our new school called and said he was ready to deliver them.

So Saturday morning started out with all the carpenters in and out of the house as they brought the desk’s pieces in and then assembled them in the rooms.  The Benz kids and the Bykota kids were all collectively anxious about when we were going to go to the orphanage.  They are always excited and look forward to it.  But we had to not only wait for the desk work to be finished, we had to wait also for the new tuk tuk which was having a little bit of work done on it.

So finally about 11 30, the desks are finished and paid for.  (I will try to post a picture of them.) Also, the tuk tuk guy called and our work was done and the tuk tuk was ready to be picked up.  We went and got it but by then it was time for lunch.  So we all sit down to eat and then get cleaned up, get the soy milks loaded, and  get all the children loaded.  We are off! 

We find the children at the orphanage ready and anxious for our arrival.  This time most of them met us at the gate.  That always scares us because they get so excited that they don’t watch out and it would be so easy to run over one of them. 

We immediately have children crawling all over us and we enjoy our time out there tremendously.  The Bykota kids sing some songs while TR accompanies them on the guitar and even Seth sung a solo.  “Savior, He can move the mountains.  My God is mighty to save, He is mighty to save.”  We pass out a soy milk to each and every child and then pull the van over to the kitchen and unload another month or six weeks worth.

We were happy to find some of the children missing as some adoptions to families in France have been completed and the little ones now have Forever Families.

We came home…hot, dirty, and exhausted.  Showers were enjoyed all around and we sat back to enjoy the evening and rest.  But it wasn’t to be that way…a young couple that we know called us and wanted to finalize the sale of the small motorcycle that we had been talking to them about.  So Mark had to run out quickly to get cash and then we enjoyed visiting with them and becoming new owners of a much-needed moto.  What a day…and this was our DAY OFF.  LOL

 Breathing in, Breathing out,

Rhonda

PS  I know that this post is only getting posted on July 5th.  But I thought it was posted on Sunday June 24th.  But today when I went to the blog to check…it was saved as a DRAFT instead of being posted.  So, I just went ahead and posted it anyway.  Sigh…me and computers and internet…