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!
August 2008
Dear friends and partners, This is the month that marks the end of another program year. With endings come evaluations – what have we done and how well is it done. Last week, we took a couple of our partners with us to see. We went to Chantrear District in Svay Reing. Our first stop was to see a village where we have just begun. Once again, it was painful to see how some people live. Houses that measure less than 2 meters square made of thatch that provides very little shelter and housing children that know nothing of a safe home or full bellies.
Then Ponluck took us to another village where we have worked for the past two years. There we met a family headed by Pok Rouen, a man in his late 60’s, his wife, his son and his wife and their three children. Pok Rouen is a man who has lived through much in his life. When Tabitha began to work with him in July of 2006, he had little except for a thatch home and a couple of small fields. When we met last week, he was a man who stood proud. Over the past two years, Pok and his family rebuilt their lives. He proudly showed us his pond, where he raises fish, and grows vegetables. All around his home were more vegetables, chickens, ducks, pigs and his very own water buffalo. He showed us his rice field and the well which pumps abundant water to all. His income when we met was an average of .25 cents per day – today – his average daily income from his vegetables only is $1.50 – he gets $1000 every 6 months from his fish, $400 every 3 months from his chickens and ducks, $1500 every 3 months from his pigs- $200 from his bananas every 2 months and on and on – he eats well everyday. But what really struck me the most as he posed with his family in front of his new house – which they built – was his sense of quiet dignity and contentment. He spoke quietly as he told me, I teach all my neighbors to save and to change – I want to teach everyone how it can be good. 9 of his neighbors now raise chickens and ducks, they have pigs and they all have a water buffalo. It cannot get any better. Then we traveled to Prey Veng and met Ban – Ban started with Tabitha in February of 2003 – he was a motor bike driver and earned $1.25 a day. His house was a small thatched hut and his small piece of land was barren. Over the past 5 years, Ban saved – he began with 2 pigs which he sold to buy more – over the years to was able to get a well and changed his land to a fish pond – he raises 1000 fish and sells them every six months for $1500. Ban bought another piece of land across the road and there he started a piggery – he raises 16 pigs every 3 months and makes $2000 profit after he pays his expenses and buys more piglets. Ban has built a house of tin, he has built a toilet that even we westerners can use, and he has built a cement wall around his house – Ban grows vegetables and sugar cane. He no longer drives his motorbike – his land and his home is where he spends his days with his 3 children and his wife. I asked Ban how much he sold his sugar cane for – oh, he said, I don’t sell it – I give it my neighbors for free – I want to teach them all how to save and to have a good life like mine. Again, his quiet dignity and his desire to help others improve their lives - touched me deeply. You and all of us at Tabitha - we reach out to help others. There is no greater success than when those we touch – reach out to touch others. I thank my God that He has touched all of us – I pray that all of us with quiet pride and dignity – understand what we have done. Janne
