Thanks for the help! FCOP put out an appeal to fund the meals we are going to be short of supplying. We believe with the cash donations from many individuals, some in-kind food donations from Gleanings for the Hungry and the Butte County Rice Growers, we will make it! We are eternally grateful!! Our staff snd kids are busy distributing our remaining food supplies to the provincial Church/Homes.  

Waterborne illnesses can be rampant throughout Cambodia during the rainy season. We just hope we get some rain soon! It’s been quite dry in Phnom Penh and though we’ve had a few showers we still have not had real wet season rain. The rivers are extremely low. Fortunately, our rice farm is getting some timely rains. We try to use these times to our advantage and for the past ten years we have struggled with sewer problems at our National Training Center. The government finally put in a new sewer line and we got connected but not before we had …  

This lock down has been quite an experience for our church homes. Some facilities constructed above ground fishponds, lined them with plastic, and are filling them with buckets hauled from the trickle that used to be a river. Other homes are doing special gardens or beginning some new livestock projects like frog farming. In Phnom Penh, where the lockdown is more strictly enforced, we have 60 kids from two homes staying in our Training Center. Without being able to leave the property and with no TV or computer linkage, Shanon Hladek has helped our Cambodian staff keep all of the …  

It kind of wrecks your day when the police come and tell you that they are going to tear down the front wall of your refuge home in order to widen the road. That is exactly what happened in Prey Krang, Cambodia. We had our faithful partners from Prairie Harvest Church with us again this month. Leading the team was our good friend Pastor Des Klingspon with twelve other church members all the way from Yorkton, Canada. The church has been partnering with us in supporting this home for more than fifteen years. This year the home they sponsor needed …  

We were blessed to have The Father’s House team from Vacaville, CA with us in December.  They were hard at work in the Kakaoh Church Refuge Center in the Kompong Thom Province.  The team members blessed this home by building a fence, digging a well, and purchasing dirt filling that will help to reduce flooding during the wet season.  Thank you Father’s House for all that you did to love the kids of FCOPI. We ask you to please continue to pray one of the team members, Robert Serna, as he is still in critical condition recovering from heart surgery …  

The one thing that all people notice when they visit any of the Church Refuge Homes we sponsor is the general health of the kids. Their skin tone is better, their hair is shinier, and their bodies less emaciated than their village compatriots. This is primarily due to their diet and medical care. Our kids sure don’t come to us in better health than the neighbors. Many arrive with serious health problems and are restored under the supervision of Dr. Lina our FCOPI staff physician. But, what may be more important, is the healthy diet these children receive from the vegetables, meat, eggs, and nutritional rice. …  

The dry weather has driven down the number of mosquitoes but for some reason greatly magnified one particular, small, low-flying species which carries dengue fever. This is by far the worst epidemic we have seen. FCOP has had over 200 children and staff come down with this very painful and potentially fatal disease in the past two months. There was actually a shortage of IV fluids at one point and only FCOP’s Dr Lina was able to locate some through the grace of God. We are very grateful for Dr. Lina as he has had little rest this month. Hospitals …  

With wells drying up and streams running at a trickle, good drinking water is hard to find. Infrequent rains are gathered with care in large stone jars and kept for drinking. When the rains don’t come it is extremely hard for rural residents with no wells. Lukas and Jenny Graf, from Switzerland have discovered a supply of filters that are actually able to take out HIV virus. Though they are very expensive Lukas was able to have a supply donated and dozens have been installed. “We found many of the sand filters used are actually polluting the water supply,” reports …