Newsletters
With our regular newsletters, we aim to keep you posted on all the interesting and important news and updates of our programs and various activities. Enjoy reading!
February 2013
Dear friends and partners,
A very happy Chinese New Years to all our Asian friends and partners. This week we are hoping to bring a gift to all of you. It was meant to be a Christmas present, then a 2013 New Years present but now it’s a Chinese New Years gift to all of you. It is our new and refurbished Tabitha Cambodia web site – a web site that gives an overview of what we do, where we do it and our progress for this current program year – it’s about all of you and how you stand with us – it’s about our families and their steps to prosperity.
I would like to share one of these stories. Oy Tien and her husband live in Kep. They have three children and 2 hectares of land. Four years ago, life was extremely difficult - the land lay barren and they lived in a bamboo shack. They got a field pond from us and life changed – they began to grow crops all year round – 3 crops of rice and 3 crops of corn – the rice yield doubled from 2 tons per harvest to four tons per harvest – enough to eat and enough to sell – they began to raise fish for family consumption, raised chickens and ducks and raised pigs – from their incomes they started a small shop which has grown and now includes several tables and chairs for people to eat.
Their income increased to a point where their eldest son could go to high school – he learned about bio gas and so they started a composting project that releases enough gas and energy for all their cooking needs and for all the lights in their house. Their house changed dramatically – first they built a 2 story 12x-5 meter cement home and then recently they added a new addition in the back – toilets and water in abundance.
But the biggest change is in their outlook on life – Oy Tien is so proud of what they have accomplished. They are content in their labors – content in being able to provide for all their children – content in their willingness to share their life with others in the village – a constant source of encouragement to other whose dreams are similar. It is all so very good.
This is the Chinese New Year’s – Year of the Snake – it also happens to be my 65fth birthday in April. As usual my daughter Miriam has started the old refrain – what would I like – as usual I say a hug but that is not satisfactory. The truth is – I have all I want for myself – but as Miriam says – it’s a BIG year mum – its your 65th. So what I want for my birthday is wells and ponds for our families – 650 of them. For the past ten years this has become a norm for Miriam’s birthdays – each year she receives monetary gifts from friends and each year she buys a well – I, on the other hand ask for wells every five years. It is the year of the Snake – perhaps my birthday wish will come true.
How good it is to celebrate a New Years three times in 4 months – Khmer New Years is in April. How good it is to reflect on what we have done. How good it to look forward to achievements and dreams that lie ahead. How good it is that my God allows me this great gift of New Years and birthdays and presents and dreams – of allowing me time for reflection and rejoicing – a time of renewal and thanksgiving. How good it is that all of you stand with all of us here in this Year of the Snake.
Janne
Tabitha Cambodia: www.tabitha-cambodia.org
Tabitha Canada: www.tabitha.ca
Tabitha Australia: www.tabitha.org.au
Tabitha USA: www.tabithausa.org
Tabitha Singapore: www.tabithasingapore.com
Tabitha United Kingdom: www.tabithauk.com
Netherlands: www.stichtingtoetssteen.nl
