Rice Farm to Support Orphans

We really have been busy at the rice farm! Why such an obsession on this? I have been in Cambodia for 21 years, through multiple global crises; terror, war, earthquakes, tsunamis, nuclear disasters, hurricanes and floods. People naturally focus on the current hot spot with their sympathy and giving. It is understandably hard to maintain a focus on, "Orphan Support in Cambodia" for two decades. That is why FCOP is so grateful for the faithful giving over the years from so many. But the truth is the focus does shift, pastors do change, and our support is in decline. Cambodian's need to support their own orphans, but in a Karmic culture (you deserve your fate as payback), where the average church member lives at a lower standard of living than the orphans we ask them to help, it is understandable why Cambodian support is difficult. Every year our local giving increases as Cambodians learn that giving is the best way out of poverty, but it does not make up for the decline in our external support. I believe God gave me a plan.We have 1000 acres of rice-land under development. It is a slow process but one day I see the farm providing much of the USD $2,000,000 that we need every year for survival of FCOP's ability to care for children in need. One of the key factors is drying and storage for multiple crops. Currently we are in the process of constructing 1300 tons of drying and storage facilities at the new rice land. This includes about 12 miles of all-weather road construction. The storage site will be quite impressive when it is done. Some may call it excessive, but it does us no good to raise the rice if we can't store it. Inflationary pressure from Chinese immigration has forced up prices on everything. We really do need some additional help.[nggallery id=1756]