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! 

December 2008

            	
Dear Friends and Partners, The time is fast approaching when we will celebrate our favorite holiday, Christmas. It’s a time to remember the birth of a child so long ago. A time to remember what the gift of life is all about.
                
The story of Jesus birth is not an easy story to hear. We learn of his mother Mary, a woman pregnant out of wedlock in a time when such things were not looked on with favor. Mary left her home and stayed with her cousin Elizabeth until Joseph married her. Not an easy story at all. And yet – it is the story of so many women – women born into circumstances of which they have no control. One of our women is a woman called Men Kumlok. That is the name she was given. It is also the name she no longer uses. We know her as Srey Peu. Srey Peu was born in Kompong Thom – when she was 14, she was sent away to live with her grandmother here in Phnom Penh. Grandma decided that she should be married and so she arranged a wedding with a man that Srey Peu did not know and never loved. The marriage was an unhappy one and ended when Srey Peu became pregnant with a child her husband didn’t want. Her pregnancy was a short lived and tragic one. The baby was an entopic pregnancy and so she was operated on. It required several blood transfusions – blood that was not tested for the AIDS virus. Several months after the operation, Srey Peu became ill. She had no money for doctors – she lived on the streets. A kind family picked her up and she was happy for a couple of years and then the illness returned. They brought her for tests – and then said, she could no longer live with them but could join a Women’s Association. Srey Peu fell into a deep depression – she didn’t want to do anything. In 1996, she once again became very ill. Once again she was tested and the truth was finally told to her. She had AIDS. It was a time, when AIDS was not yet talked about and people with AIDS were scorned. She no longer wanted to live. She ended up with other women living with AIDS and all of them did little else then take drugs and drink and gamble – they had no desire to do anything else – there was no help. One day a Khmer doctor talked with her about AIDS – he asked her why she wanted to die. He said to her, come, work with me and tell others about AIDS. She agreed and overnight became a celebrity of sorts. Her story was printed in the newspapers and magazines, she appeared on TV. She told others about AIDS – she traveled to other countries and spoke of this illness. In these months of fame, her real family found her and she went home with them.. But they didn’t want her – she slept outside their hut and one night in anger, they beat her and broke her arm. Brokenhearted, she returned to Phnom Penh. Her fame allowed her to get a job with an NGO but it did not last long – she could not stay because people were afraid of her AIDS. She married her husband – a man also ill with AIDS. Together they went from job to job but people were frightened of her. Finally she broke down and cried – and as she was crying, Father Jim found her. He brought her to Maryknoll and she learned how to sew. They gave her support for the house rental and medicines. Her husband and her adopted a baby girl – HIV positive but later healthy. And then 3 years ago, Maryknoll stopped the sewing program, and Srey Peu came to Tabitha. She believed her life was over yet again. Her sewing skills were not very good but she persevered. At first she earned very little money but her skills improved and now she earns $200 a month. Srey Peu came to thank us today – she wanted to say how much she loved her life. She says, I have finally come home – you are my mother and Tabitha are my brothers and sisters. I have life again. Christmas is about hope and love – about reaching out – it’s about acceptance – it’s about home. Srey Peu is just one of so many women that our part of our family. And each of you is part of this family for without each of you, we could not be strong. On behalf of Srey Peu, and all our families, on behalf of Tabitha staff and my personal family, we want to wish each of you a Merry Christmas. May it be a time of homecoming for all of us! Janne