Part of the vision of Tabitha Cambodia is to reach out to the very poorest throughout every province in Cambodia. During our annual staff meetings in July, Pat, our manager in Prey Veng, asked for permission to open in Svay Rieng this program year. We had all heard stories of the poverty of this province so the staff gave him unanimous support to investigate the possibilities.

Pat - like all my staff - knows that he needs the support of other staff members to convince me and to receive my permission to open in a new area. In December I was invited by Pat and his staff, Pon Luck and Choeun, as well as Srei, Heng and Nari, to please come and see the work in Prey Veng. I knew in my heart it was going to be one of those days.

I was taken to the village of Prek Sneu - an area which I had seen two years before. Back then the poverty had been hurtful to see - people full of despair - no income, no food, pain and suffering etched in the faces of young and old.

This time, there was no pain - the faces were etched in joy and anticipation of what they wanted to show me. A team of house builders from our local international school had come and built houses there two years ago. We had put in three wells and the families had put in another two wells. One after another showed me their work. For the first time in remembered history, all the families had grown three crops of rice; half the families were raising pigs, while others raised ducks; all had chickens; they had formed groups of five families and each group had set aside a quarter hectare to grow vegetables; but most remarkable of all was that each family had made their own private fish pond and they were all raising fish - 1,500 in one pond, 2,000 in another, 1,300 in another. Fish is cheap during the rainy season but becomes very expensive during the dry season - the water from the wells keeps the water level up in the ponds.

I laughed at their joy. I asked them how much income they made each day. The average was 10,000 riels a day - about US$2.50. They had all the food they needed. What was wonderful to see was that the men folk were all home, working hard to make a better life. Their smiles were something to see.

After our visit, tthe staff took me to Mesang District, which is on the border with the province of Svay Rieng. Here we met the village chief. As we walked through his village, the poverty was hurtful to see. The houses were decrepit, the children were malnourished and dirty, the women had downcast eyes, and the men - well, the men had all left to find work on the Thai border. Then we saw a car with its trunk open and women and children gathered around it. In the trunk were gifts of clothes and pretty hair bands - enticement to allow the children to be taken away to work on the border. We were deeply offended by what we saw.

"This", said Pat, "is where we have our new district in Prey Veng, where there are more than 2,000 families living in poverty." Then he pointed to a line of trees in the distance - "And that, he said, "is Svay Rieng and there are even more families there living in poverty. Please, may we start there?"

I looked back at the car and the torn expressions of need and despair on the faces of the mothers as they struggled to say "no" - to keep their children. I said, "Yes."

Pon Luck was appointed the new manager in Svay Rieng and, rather than take his annual holidays, he and Pat went and opened our newest province. In less than six weeks Pon Luck has enrolled 200 families in our programs.

In two years I hope to write another newsletter about the changes in the lives of these families.

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