Tabitha newsletters
July, 2002
Dear friends and partners, One of our privileges in Tabitha is a constant flow of volunteers and visitors that pass through our doors each month. The questions most asked are why savings? why not loans? why do you pay interest? These questions deserve an answer especially for those of our friends and partners who are unable to come and vsit with us.
Tue, 28 May 2002
Dear friends and partners, What a month this has been - so full of blessings. I ask that you all rejoice with me for last week Canada granted my daughter full citizenship - Miriam Rose Ritskes now has dual citizenship - Cambodian and Canadian. For me, I finally feel that she is safe. If anything should happen to me, it is my sisters in Canada who will look after her - with her citizenship, this has removed any obstacles. Thank you God.
29 Apr 2002
Dear friends and partners, Happy Khmer New Years to everyone! One of the benefits of living in Cambodia is that we get to celebrate New Years several times each year - but Khmer New years is the one where we close for a week and all of our staff and families get together and celebrate with their families. My little family went native - yes, we spent several days on a small farm close to the city - it was very hot - in the 40s or low 100s for those of you in the farenheit scale. Going native meant that I swayed under a tree in a hamock, lazily fishing with a bamboo pole dangling from my hands -surrounded by 20 children from one year to 13 years of age - each one seriously comtemplating my efforts - screaming with delight when I caught a fish - a novelty that did not wear out all afternoon. Cambodians fish with nets - not with a pole like the silly foreigner.
18 Mar 2002
Dear friends and partners, It has been a good month - my family came for a rather short 2 and half weeks - once again I saw things the way others see them and yet I saw more - I saw where people were and how they are now and where they want to go in their development process.
Wed, 06 Feb 2002
Dear friends and partners, The office is still in a bit of an uproar - we are cleaning house. This January has been a month of blessings - almost too many to count. We began the month with a few days of holidays - much needed and much enjoyed. We returned to a shop that still looked like Christmas - time to clean up - the process went relatively smoothly - all the decorations and our 10 trees were quickly dismantled and put away. Then to set up again.
January 2002
Dear Kathy and Laurie,
Yesterday, I went to Prey Veng to look at the latest batch of wells - 30 in the last 2 months - what a joy that was - each well supports five families - our first very noticeable change is that the children look so well - it is because they are clean and their persistent diarrhea is changing to once every couple of weeks rather than every other day - I helped wash some clothes which the kids loved - chance to get the white haired lady all wet - but the most fun for me was to see all the ingenious ways which the water
is being used. There were a variety of mini irrigation schemes
flowing to different homes - some on the ground, some with split
bamboo - some with broken cans - the variety of vegetables is
amazing - from onions and tomatoes to pumpkins, gourds, squash,
string beans and cabbages.
13 Dec 2001
Dear friends and partners, Merry Christmas and our wishes for a Happy New Year to each and everyone of you. For us at Tabitha Cambodia, Christmas is a special time of year for it is at the foundation of who we are and what we do. Christmas is all about grace and love - the type of grace and love that is given unconditionally. For us, it is about God's gift of love through His son Jesus Christ - it is a gift that dosen't make sense; it's a gift that is given freely; it is a gift given not because we asked for or deserved it - but was given out of love.
12 Nov 2001
Dear friends and partners, Each year, we gather together as Tabitha staff to talk about our work - how we are doing, what we would like to be doing - what is our impact - we talk about each other's families and we talk about how we have grown. This year, I asked them to write down some of these thoughts - I thought you would like to hear their own words - the English is simple and uncomplicated but the depth and meaning of the words is clear. The following is just a few excerpts from the many:
September 25, 2001
Dear friends and partners, Two weeks ago on Monday, September 10, we gathered together as a staff for our annual meeting. Phat and Pon talked of how their areas in Prey Veng were flooded again and that the waters continue to rise. Vonn spoke of how the floods and bad weather are preventing large numbers of her families from being able to fish or farm in Kompong Som. Siem Reap staff spoke of how the flooding had come with very high winds and a very rapid unrush of water - Sarouen and Mari spoke of families who had lost their homes and possesions as the waters came too fast to save much. Pon from Takeo province spoke of different problems, she spoke of the drought that is preventing so many from planting rice.
05 Sep 2001
Dear friends and partners, I write to you this morning so that you will hear the news from me and not through the grapevine. It has been a difficult couple of days for me - Canada has once again rejected my daughter, Miriam Rose. The first time Canada rejected her was when I first adopted her - she tested positive for the HIV virus so she was considered a "defiled" child - I couldn't get a visitor's visa so my little girl lost out on knowing her extended family - I lost out on the support I needed while she was so young and fragile and my extended family lost their rights to know this new addition to our family. This loss for her first two years caused much pain and sorrow - it was reversed when in December of 2000, she finally reverted and tested negative for the HIV virus.
