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| It’s been a while since my last update. The past few days have been filled with an increasing sense of sadness as I’m counting my final days here in Cambodia (at least for now and the near future!). I can only thank God for all of the experiences that He’s blessed me with. CSI Clinic work It’s
been great working in such a clinic, giving me a taste of the kind of
general practice that I would like to be involved in for the future. The staff has been tremendously helpful, with many of them multi-tasking in different roles – all so that
the clinic can continue to tick over and to serve the medical needs of the people here. Undoubtedly their Christian faith makes a significant difference in their attitude of serving one another tirelessly. The verse in Galatians 6:10 has been resounding in my mind in the last week: ‘Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers’. Monday
last week, I treated one of the CCCC staffworkers for dinner along with
Jessica at the Thmorda Restaurant (Christian owned). Most of the waiters and waitresses are Christians. We
finished dinner just at the closing time (around 9pm ), and while at
the parking area just outside the entrance to the restaurant, one of
the waiters asked the CCCC staffworker if he knew of any doctor who
could help his sick brother. From
the conversation, I could gather that his brother, called Sokmean, had
a neck abscess (boil) that had been operated on but was told by doctors
that they had nothing left to offer him! In fact, Sokmean had been to two different hospitals already in the last 1 month. So Sokmean and family were getting desperate for help. I discovered that the family was also Christian. The
CCCC staffworker quickly volunteered that I was a Christian doctor, and
hearing the ‘plight’ of the patient, I offered them to come to the CSI
clinic to see what we might be able to do, in what sounded to me like a
pretty complicated situation. So
on Tuesday, he got registered in the clinic, and I began to put the
pieces of the story together – it’s like being an investigator of a
crime mystery since there is such poor patient records (if at all
accessible) and patients are seldom told what is really happening to
them. Due to the lack of funds, Sokmean was
practically ignored after his first neck abscess was lanced in the
first hospital (no change in wound dressing, and probably no
antibiotics given), which drove him to leave the hospital as his
conditioned deteriorated (This is a common phenomenon experienced by
the poor in Cambodia ). As things worsened, with a second abscess spreading further down his neck, he was admitted to the second hospital for
another lancing procedure. Though the surgeon managed to remove some pus, they basically said that they had no further options for him. I
thank God that even though Sokmean could have felt that he was left in
limbo, I am confident that God, in his divine providence, had arranged
for me to meet his brother at Thmorda Restaurant so that ongoing and
quality medical attention could be given to him. Without
boring you with more details, suffice to say that Sokmean is now much
better with conservative medical treatment offered. Praise the Lord! I have had the chance to ask one of the CSI clinic staff to pray with Sokmean in Khmer, followed by my own prayer in English. There was also opportunity to just encourage Sokmean to
continue to trust God to heal him. In fact, we just returned from having dinner again at the Thmorda Restaurant. Sokmean’s
brother had insisted that we return to the restaurant so that he could
treat us as a sign of his gratitude for the help given to his family. I thank the Lord for the reminder to encourage him to give thanks primarily to God, and not us, for it really is all His providence and faithfulness to His children’s needs. I am reminded of the words in 2 Corinthians 9:8-15! Campus Crusade for Christ Cambodia The staffworkers here in Phnom Penh
are like my extended family in this country, and it has been a
pleasure, privilege and joy to get to know some of them better, for the
fellowship and encouragement in service to the Lord. The personal sacrifice that each has endured to be and to persevere as a staffworker has been most inspirational. Thank you guys for sharing your lives with us!! I
had the chance to teach some basic resuscitation at one of the
fellowship meetings last week, while Jessica shared her personal
testimony. Jessica was also able to join one of the staffworkers in doing one to one campus evangelism the last few days! Continue to pray for them, as many are under supported in their ministry (each
staffworker is responsible for raising support for their personal budget and campus ministry budget). New apartment mate! I’ve just inherited a new housemate since last week - Timothy. He is a fellow Sarawakian from Sibu who is here for a 7 month missions stint before entering bible college back in Sibu, Sarawak . The timing of his arrival was excellent as I was able to bring both him and Jessica along to the historical sights of Phnom Penh . It’s been a good time just helping him to settle down into this foreign place, culture, language, lifestyle etc etc.. Prayer points · Do continue to pray for Sokmean’s complete healing. · Continue to pray for Piseth with the hole in
his heart that needs repair. His operation is deemed elective, so time is on our side. Pray
that as we seek the options on his surgery and financial support, we
will have the discernment and wisdom to approach this in a way that
would glorify and honour God first and foremost. · Finally, pray for us in our last few days here in Cambodia (we fly out this Wednesday afternoon back to
Malaysia ). Pray for meaningful and encouraging farewells! More
importantly, pray for each of us as we ponder in our hearts what this
experience means, and how that will impact one’s future! Thank you for your partnership with me in the gospel work here in Cambodia ! All of your prayers have meant so much to me. I am reminded that without Him, we can truly do nothing! To God alone be all the glory! David | | |
| Time has flown!! It’s now exactly midway into this trip to Cambodia . Jessica
and I have just returned from a three night visit to Siem Reap, making
the most of the 4 day long weekend due to King Sihamouni’s birthday. Siem Reap We both did the usual tourist itinerary, visiting the various temples on our first day, especially Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Ta Prohm, and Bayon – they call it the mini-circuit. On the second day, we visited the floating village, the cultural village, and the miniature Angkor site. Unfortunately,
this season is not the peak for Siem Reap tourism due to the rainy
season, and we certainly did experience our fair share of rain whilst
there. Yet, we thank God as well for some
sunshine that we did have, though there was simply no chance of
catching any spectacular sunrise or sunset at the various famous sites
due to the heavy cloud cover or rain! Siem
Reap is a city of extreme contrast, and has evolved into such a
touristy destination to the extent that living expenditure is the
highest in the country, and you can the finest hotels as well, easily
within the SEA region. As an example, the Sopha Angkor Resort and Spa charge from USD250 to USD2000 per night. We
discovered some advantages in knowing basic Khmer – the ability to
bargain better, and to be treated with greater warmth by the locals,
especially in restaurants. Yet, we also found a particular disadvantage. The
hostel / guesthouse that we stayed at put us in touch with a tuk tuk
driver who probably knew less English than we would have liked, and he
commonly would give a spiel in Khmer, assuming that I would understand
him, but had to be reminded that I only knew that little of the
language! Overall, it was a pleasant and enjoyable trip to be immersed into the history and culture of Cambodia . Work at CSI Clinic Advocacy has been the big theme the last 2 weeks while working at the CSI Clinic. In
my striving to provide the best quality of care to the patients that
come through our doors, I am beginning to accumulate some experience on
the level of inappropriate care by even so called ‘specialist’ doctors
here. The motto drilled into us trainee doctors back in Australia of trusting NO one has certainly paid off in the care of my patients. There
are times when I wish I had expertise in many other areas of medical
imaging and diagnostics such as ultrasonography and echocardiography as
one just can’t really trust the findings of locally performed scans. Pray for Piseth, a school teacher from the Methodist School . At 23 years of age, this son of a pastor has recently been diagnosed with a hole in his heart. A truly remarkable story of God’s timely providence for it was about 3 weeks ago that two visiting missionary doctors from Singapore came to the school to conduct health checks for the children. On the last day of the clinic, Mr Yeo (principal) opened up the option for some of the teachers to also
be seen by the doctors. Just
as Mr Yeo was about to end the clinic session, Piseth walked in for a
check up, though not for any particular reason for he has been healthy. Yet,
it was then that an incidental heart murmur was heard, which led to
subsequent investigations, and now, my involvement in working out the
best options for treating his heart defect. The bottom line is that he will need an operation at some stage otherwise his heart will start to fail in his early forties. May God be glorified in this young man’s life!! Please continue to pray for Jessica. She is gradually recovering from her cough. Pray too that she will be able to make the most of the remaining two weeks here in Phnom Penh , especially with the needs in the Methodist school, and some ministry experience with the Campus Crusade for Christ. Thanks for all your invaluable prayers! In Christ, David | | |
| It’s now the end of my second day back in Cambodia ! Yet AGAIN! I thank God for the relaxing two and a half weeks in Kuala Lumpur, the time spent with Jessica and her family, catching up with some friends, eating well, catching cheap movies here in Malaysia, including the much anticipated Spiderman 3 – it was awesome! While I was having a great time in KL, I was also really looking forwards to returning to Cambodia . It
is interesting how one’s perspective on a place can change so
dramatically – from being a totally foreign culture and language with
virtually no connection, to now a much more familiar country, relative
ease of communication, and most of all, a place with familiar faces and
shared experiences, friendship and fellowship! An incident to illustrate this point – 2 days prior to arriving in Phnom Penh, I had arranged over email with uncle Stephen for our pick up from the airport. I found out from auntie Jennifer that it was going to be fine. For no particular reason except to see if my Cambodia
sim card had international roaming, I fitted it onto my mobile during
our bus trip from KL central station to the AirAsia airport – only to
receive an SMS that the van to pick us up was going to be unavailable. Of course, we could just take a taxi from the airport with ease, but I thought of asking my friends in Campus Crusade for Christ
Cambodia
, and after sending a few smses, I got confirmation just before our
flight departed that two of my friends from CCCC will be there to pick
us up! Thanks Chenda and Khay!! The last two days for me I would describe as if I were back here, hitting the ground running. My
work in the CSI clinic has been busy, yet, more enjoyable – partly due
to my greater appreciation of what we offer here compared with the
limitations of a mobile clinic, and just my feeling more productive
working instead of ‘slacking off’ the past few weeks. There
currently are two Singaporean medical students on their medical
elective attached to the CSI clinic for this week – another additional
interesting factor to this particular week. Reunions… The last few days back here can be summarized with the word – reunions! It
was great to be back in the Methodist school where I stay, with its own
set of residents, and then there was my meeting up with CSI staff again
on Thursday day time, followed by the CCCC staffworkers last evening,
and today, I had a lovely surprise finding out that the Chhlong missos
are actually around in Phnom Penh this weekend for their monthly team prayer and fasting retreat!! Dave
Kramm happened to drop by at the CSI clinic, and so we managed to
arrange to meet up earlier this evening at one of the shopping centres. In
contrast to my hitting the ground running, Jessica is experiencing the
‘anticipated’ cross cultural ‘shock’, most significantly in the area of
language which certainly handicaps one’s ability to communicate and
thus is associated with a sense of helplessness. Pray for her as she trusts in the Lord to guide her into what she can learn and do to serve Him and His people. Also, pray for her health, as she has just come down with a cold – coughing and sore throat! Tomorrow, we set out for Sihanouk Ville, which is by the seaside. We thank God for 2 other Khmer friends from the CSI clinic who are coming along as well. I’m sure we will be well taken care of! In
my readings, I have been reminded of the great encouraging words that
Paul was given by the Lord, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my
power is made perfect in weakness.” Indeed, despite persecutions or difficulties, His power can be made known in our lives! What comforting words when we feel weak, inadequate, and even useless! More stories to come soon 
Catching the 7:15am GST Express bus at the Central Market (in the background)
 
Beautiful Kampong Som / Sihanouk Ville
     
Our seafood lunch with the group that went - Me, Pouv, Nay, So Cheat, Lyna, and Jessica (L-R). We bought the fresh seafood from the fresh markets and got the restaurant at our guesthouse to cook it for us for a small fee
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| I am now back in Malaysia . The last 4 weeks in Cambodia have truly flown past! Even received a reminder from a friend that he’ll see me in 2 month’s time back in Perth – that is so soon! Well, the mobile clinic with Global Aid Network has been an interesting experience. From a medical viewpoint, it can be very unsatisfying due to the limited options we can offer
patients, the absence of investigations and follow-up, and the sheer numbers we plough through in a day. Being
reduced to the limits of a nurse practitioner unfortunately becomes
part of the game, yet our consolation is that the clinic and doctors
are the draw cards for patients to have the opportunity to hear the
gospel message. As
previously described, we were turned away from entering Ratanakiri,
which is the province in the furthest North East corner of the country. On
hindsight, we thank God that we were instead able to work in a small
village in Kampung Cham, where we were able to partner with the local
churches and the team showing the Jesus Film, which meant at least some
follow up available for those responding to the message, and our team
of only 3 staff assigned to the intercessory / prayer section of the
clinic was amply supported with more resources to share the gospel and
pray with the 200 plus patients we saw in each day. Continue to pray for the many who have indicated a response to the gospel. The follow up is even more crucial that they may truly understand their decision and implications of believing in Jesus. This
particular trip was scheduled to be a relaxing mobile clinic project –
where we did only 3 days of clinic (which was to my great surprise when
I first saw the itinerary), whilst the rest was orientation, traveling
time, and the last 4 days were rest and recreation at Sihanoukville
(aka Kampung Som), and at Phnom Penh
– where we also conducted a few workshops to bless the Campus Crusade
For Christ staff, e.g. on multimedia, project management and first aid. Personally, I thank God for the chance to contribute to the clinic. The
clinic days were fairly exhausting, yet I thank God that only a few
came down with some sickness, nothing serious, and yes, thank God that
the gastro bug hasn’t yet reared its ugly head. I
particularly enjoyed the fellowship with the Campus Crusade for Christ
staff – just about all of whom are first generation Christians, and
thus experience for the most part some significant opposition from
their family on their decision to be a staffworker instead of taking on
much better paying secular jobs. As their ministry is similar to OCF, I identify myself very closely with their work, struggles, joys and experiences. I thank God for the solid fellowship with these brethren in Christ. One of the simple pleasures I had was simply learning more Khmer from
them. It
was funny when the younger sibling of one of the staff initially
thought that I was Korean / Japanese from my appearance, then changed
his mind and decided that I was Khmer from the few phrases I spoke to
him in.. only then to realize that I really wasn’t from his country
after he spoke even more Khmer to me! GAiN has its unique place in Cambodia,
and it is exciting to see the doors that God is opening and the inroads
already achieved to bring about Christian influence and the gospel
through this mobile medical clinic to various parts of Cambodia,
and especially within the ranks of the military people, an often times
neglected group of people by other non government organizations. Due to our work with the military personnel, our mobile clinic was even aired on the news a day or two after on national TV.
Continue to pray that those in GAiN will continue to discern God’s will and wisdom in their future mobile clinics. Thank you once again for your prayers. Som Preah Ong pro tien bo niak (May God bless you)
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| It’s now five days into the mobile clinic expedition with GAiN in partnership with Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC). Thank God that we are generally all well. The first day (on Tuesday) was basically an orientation day, and an introduction to Cambodia, where we visited the killing fields and the Tuol Sleng museum (former Khmer Rouge S21 prison) to expose us to the parts of Cambodian history that have left indelible marks to the people here up until today. We
set off on Wednesday past Kampung Cham, through Kracheh Province (which
is where Chhlong also is) into the neighbouring province to a small
town called Strung Treng (which means small river plant). Accompanying our brigade (much small than the previous in December 2006) of 4 doctors, 3 nurses, and a few GAiN staff from Australia , were several military officers from Phnom Penh that have given us approval to conduct our mobile clinic. The CCC staff that joined us form the current team of translators. It was essentially a whole day’s drive, arriving just before
6pm , after departing just before 8am , and having to endure a flat tyre for one of the 4 vans we traveled in. On Thursday, we conducted our first clinic day. About
120 patients were officially processed through the clinic – getting
triaged, then assessed by the doctors, then towards the pharmacy, and
finally to be shared the gospel and even be prayed for. I
am told that perhaps about 80% of these accepted Christ!! Praise Him,
though follow up is a big problem as there is no local church
established in the area. The plan was to then travel further the next day into Ratanakiri for another 2 full days of clinic. Yet,
God had different plans, for the local military officers were uneasy
about how we directly share the gospel to the patients (and surely such
opposition is also the doing of the enemy), and basically ‘ordered’ us
to return back to Phnom Penh , and cancelled the trip up to Ratanakiri. (It felt like how Paul was redirected in his missionary journey despite planning to visit a certain place). After much prayer and
negotiation, and liaising with the central military personnel in Phnom Penh , we started back tracking towards Phnom Penh . It
wasn’t too long before we were able to organize a different program,
and hence we stayed over in Kampong Cham, so that we were able to do
today’s full day clinic (where we saw nearly 200 patients with about
65% accepting Christ!!), and a half clinic tomorrow, before heading
towards Kampong Som. So the program has changed, but we trust that it is in His Sovereign wisdom and purposes that cannot be thwarted. There
were also several other events that clearly showed the workings of the
enemy in trying to bring about discouragement and to even sow disunity,
but we thank the Lord for His protection and sustenance. Anyway, I personally thank God for the chance to be part of this mobile clinic, tiring as it is when doing a full day clinic. Thank Him for preserving my health; for the abundant fellowship between the team members, etc.. Continue to pray His leading and guidance, and for His name to be glorified through this work! Ephesians 6:10-20 | | |
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