Children of Cambodia

On our way back from Cambodia we happened to be in the same truck load as some other trekkers, one of them had the saddest story ever.

She traveled alone but some friends she met up with had asked for a taxi driver to take them someplace. The taxi driver misunderstood and took them to a building that had a bunch of cages inside of it. Inside of the cages where children. Perfectly normal children that the owners rented out by the hour. So your imagination does need to work anymore, these children were molested for money. The only people that could afford such atrosityies would not come from Cambodia.

It is enough to make me want to throw up. The lady said that their parents were poor village parents and were given a promise that their children would be given a good education and bring them money as well.

I guess all I can say at this point is please pray. Cambodia is a desperately poor country which makes the government also desperately poor and open to corruption big time. These people who are running this operation I talked about above could easily be paying off the government.

One encouraging thing is when we arrived in Cambodia we were met with several billboards that acknowledged the problem but made it very clear anyone caught would be placed in prison in Cambodia and in their own country.

I could go on about the other children we met. Ones that lived out on the street by themselves, ones that worked half the day trying to sell fruit to foreigners so they could go to school in the afternoon. Makes you want to buy everything from all of them.

But I implore each of you reading this. Please lift the children of Cambodia up to our heavenly Father. He sees the sparrow fall and He feels the pain of each of these children. He also has the power to change it but is waiting to hear from us.

More pics from the past...

Kenny's family, this picture is for you. All packed up for Pak. Quite the pair!
This is back a couple weeks on the way to the bus station when Buck left us. boo hoo

On the boat on the way to the border. Four our trip....very fun. We were inside most of the time but for the last part we went up top with the other foreigners.

Such an awesome trip together. :)

Enjoying the sun and a shake. :) So relaxing. :)
Beautiful sunsets. Don't ask about the sunrise. :)
"You buy a skirt today???" So many little kids out by the water wanting to sell skirts, fruit, bracelets, etc etc
so so hot when we were not by the water. too hot to smile. :)
One evening Linds and I went to a massage called "seeing Hands massage." It's a fundraiser for the blind and all the people who give the massages are blind. I don't remember most of it 'cause I fell asleep!!
Playing with some of the CAmbodian kids in the water.
A 15 day old baby boy and his sister on the street with their mom.
Randy with a wonderful Asian fruit shake! :)
Brothers .... on a cycle pulled little carriage thing in Cambodia.
This is the baby that was so unresponsive and the mother said she didn't have enough milk to fead it. I just wanted to take it home with me.
We spent some time playing games with the kids by the river in Cambodia. So many children that beg for food each day...they crave love and attention and thought playing games and getting a balloon was the greatest!!!
A little beggar girl that we gave our food to.

Wright Dee picked up a mat that I was going to carry to the truck and when I told him that I would carry it he took off running like a boy and I couldn't catch him!! He thought it was the funneist ever!!!
Sorry this is sideways . : (
Here's one of the little cuties at the Karen village. We didn't pass out UMAD packs here, we just had church services with them.

trips to the Karen

Preparing our food in a Karen village.




On the Burma side by the river.... Randy, Rach, Linds and Michael
This little monkey was so spoiled. When it was time for me to go he clung to me and cried and cried and then when I finally got away from him he got so mad at me and acted like he hated me. :(
Maria found a package that was from her mom Dorothy!! :)

I found a package that was from my fam!! :)


These boys are all excited about the things they received.



We went by boat over the boarder into Burma to a refuge camp and gave most of the kids there UMAD bags. We didn't know how many kids would be there and God really multiplied because we were able to give one to ever child from 6-16 except for one 16 yr old boy.
Some of the kids at one of the hostels we gave packages to.

Playing games with the kids. They hardly knew what games were and May taught them some and they had such a blast. :)




Hey there everybody again. HEre are some pics for you to look at.

Hey everyone!
Paula says that we need to post something new....and I agree....so here I am rambling because I can't put pictures on here at this computer in a muggy internet cafe.
We are in Cambodia... It's Chinese new year celebration this weekend so there is very much traffic. We visited the "killing fields" today as well as the prison where they kept and tortured people. It was so very saddening. No wonder this country is so poverty stricken and 50% of the population is under 15. So many beggars and crippled people.
Tomorrow Randy and Michael head on back to Bangkok and then Tuesday they fly home.
We"ll be here in cambodia for several more days before heading back to chiang mai.
BYE BYE!!!

Some More Happy Boys

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One evening after church service .
Randy turned 21 Wednesday so we had a little party and here are his birthday presents. :) The shirt is the Karen traditional shirt that many still wear ... it's all hand weaved.
Linds and Rach riding on the back of the truck. We had a very very full truck load!!!
One day we helped level some ground for a new hostel. Hard work with many breaks . :)
Eating in one of the villages. The Karen always eat on the floor.

Matt with a little Karen child at one of the church services. Everyone sits on the floor.


This is our good friend and guide and driver Wright Dee and positive Matt.

The difference is made:)

We're back.

The UMAD team has just finished its first trip. We visited 4 hostels in 5 days. We are giving the packs to the Karen, a minority tribe here in Thailand (they also live in Burma). The hostels are kind of like a boarding school. Since most of the Karen live far back in small mountain villages, they send their children out to larger towns for an education. The children live at these hostels with a hostel father and mother and possibly other staff; during the day they attend school.

One great part of the trip was that we were immersed in Karen culture; we saw how they live. The days were nice, sunny and warm; but as soon as the sun went down the temperature dropped, and the nights and mornings were rather friged. Every morning we got a nice, very COLD, shower. Kenny summed it up best, "It (the shower) is all about the end result." The cold water almost knocks the breath out of you, but afterward you feel invigorated.

We passed out close to 500 bags on the trip. The children were so very respectful and gracious to receive them. We were able to attend 3 church services on the trip and at each place we sang and spoke abit.

Thanks for your prayers; we had a wonderful trip. We saw many needs, maybe when we get back home we can share them with you all and maybe we can help to fill the needs.


Michael
For UMAD team

Leaving for a trip

WE are about ready to leave for a trip to the outback. 8 of us are going from chiang mai to the hill country to hand out the packs that we put together. Sorry I don't have the greatest pics in the world up yet but when we get back we will hopefully have more cool pictures to put up. Thanks all for the yarps. WE will also be having time to share with the children as we pass them out and some of them come from Buddhist villages. THanks all for looking and have a happy time back in the states.