The rice crop has been replanted, and 200 acres of the remaining Jasmine rice has been harvested and replanted. It all goes to underline the importance of the development of our dike and reservoir construction and expansion of our “Rice Farm Production Enterprise”. FCOP has perfected tillage in flooded rice fields and reseeding into mud. The video here is not a converted 19th century steam boat but a $X$ tractor with steel paddle wheels and a leveling harrow (see video). We have a matching grant for one-half of the needed $1,500,000 and are searching for the other half. Any Ideas? We …  

Acid rain is crazy aggressive. It goes through cheap roofing sheets in three years, good galvanized sheets in 7 years, the best you can buy, triple-coated, in 10 years. Quarter inch steel railings rust through, even with frequent painting in about 7 years. It is hard on concrete, play equipment and about everything else. It come’s courtesy of Chinese coal fired electric generation, with yellow tinted clouds of sulfur laden solution being mixed with rain. All we can do is repair constantly and seek to go to higher grade materials like stainless steel, and ceramic coated concrete roof tiles. It is more expensive, …  

We went on our own! For the first time FCOP hosted it’s own, no foreign staff, dental team in Preah Vihear Province. Some of the team did some needed repairs. It was a great success and really gave FCOP a lot of favor in a town where a rogue pastor ran off with a new wife. Hey! We’re not perfect. We want to thank Dr. Mike Callan of Clinton, Iowa for funding this great success.  

FCOP is recognized as one of the leading Christian groups in the country and we have a good relationship with Bhuddist’s. Thus, when the Laotian Minister of Interior came to Cambodia to find out how to foster good relations between the faiths Mak Sou was called to sit in long, boring, but hopefully fruitful meetings on how to bring this about. Jesus loves the Buddha. “Put that in your theological pipe and smoke it!”  

I (Ted) had a small part in putting them together. Lukas, a Swiss chemist, and Jenny our staff member, met here in Cambodia and have been married for about three years. They haven’t given up on Cambodia. They brought a team and helped us give new life to the Kampot Church/Home. Everywhere Lukas goes he leaves clean water behind, and Jenny, and experienced Team Leader in her own right, worked under the direction of the newest member of our foreign staff, Joshua Dunlap, in completing a successful project. The Swiss team finished up at our Kompot Home! Such a great time …  

For FCOP it was a “Loaves and Fishes” moment of multiplication. In April we were told that there would be no “Manna Pak” rice nutrition meals available to us for at least two months due to the North African drought. Then in late May our rice was flooded and we lost half a crop. Talk about feeling doomed! We couldn’t have been flatter if we’d been run over by a steamroller! Then Lou Binninger, found us a load of nutrition rice from one his sources, 40 tons of rice came in from Butte County Rice Growers, and a load of …  

It smells kind of fishy! The most expensive component of feeding 2500 orphaned & separated children and the widows caring for them, is dietary protein. Our best and most reasonable source is fish, and the majority of our homes have fishponds. There are several different varieties that do well in our ponds, unfortunately the best, Tilapia, require the highest degree of management. The most difficult aspect of rearing them is keeping the water cool enough under the hot Cambodian sky and still get the to a harvest weight by the end of March when many of the ponds dry up. …  

A single draft horse can pull a load up to 8,000 pounds. The two trained horses in tandem can actually pull 32,000 pounds, which is a load four times as heavy as either of the horses could pull by themselves. Draft horses can teach us a lesson which involves not only teamwork but coordinated and trained collaboration.This is a reason we have learned well at FCOP. Teams are essential to us, and it’s not really about work or money although both are needed. Want to bring a team to Cambodia? Check out this video as why you should come and what …