It all keeps changing ...

Before the team came out to Cambodia one of the key messages we as leaders tried to communicate to everyone else was to expect that plans might change on a daily basis.  This really is not because things are not planned well but life overall here is so very different to that we experience in the UK.  There are factors outside everyone's control which can affect what is possible to do on a day to day basis and even hour to hour.  For myself, returning to Poipet after three years, I see really significant changes which have taken place here in the bigger picture, and many of them are for the better and so I will try and share my own reflection of what I have noted over the past few days.  Firstly, some of CHO's own programmes have changed significantly and some have ceased completely.  At first this might be puzzling to the casual observer, but you soon realise that what is happening here is part of a much greater plan.  Having the privilege to lead a team here again was always going to be different with our combined set of skills this time ranging across six major areas: teaching, training pastors, IT, healthcare, catering and photography.  Could we really deliver something useful in the time available? Would CHO be able to take input from from us in so many areas?

So let's start by the return visit to the Safe Haven school site.  Gone is the accommodation for some students.  All now arrive on a daily basis from both the surrounding countryside and Poipet itself which is about 15 minutes away by road.  Some children arrive independently by bicycle and many on motorcycle, dropped of by parents.  The 'ideal' is for children to live in a family home in the villages and where this is not possible, fostering and accommodation is now provided by another partner charity.  On the school site new classrooms have appeared and ground is already marked out for next year's new classroom as the school expands upwards into providing secondary education.  The school perimeter has gained significant earthworks to attempt to protect it from flooding during the rainy season which was particularly difficult in 2013 and this is evidenced by the absence of the chicken farm which had to be closed (and the chickens sold) due to flooding.  Perversely even the fish-ponds are having to be restocked as most escaped during flooding last year.  Around the grounds grass now grows where the earth was once bare, trees have sprung up – bananas and papaya abound, together with many other unidentified species.  Flowering azaleas and hibiscus shrubs also abound and birds and butterflies are now noticeable where there were once few. From the ubiquitous sparrow to Matt's sighting of what was most probably a white egret.  There is still more to come; CHO's vision is for university level facilities at Safe Haven in years to come and there is plenty of space to do this.

Returning to the new CHO office in Poipet much has changed in three years.  CHO is perhaps less now in terms of a large physical presence of staff and “church” meeting in its own building.   That is now self-functioning as a stand alone church nearby.  However CHO remains at the centre of a large network of village churches (maybe up to 40) some more than one hour's drive away.  The “School on a Mat” programme has grown from 6 to about 15 locations and two classes co-locate on each site each day.  The numbers of children attending these has significantly grown, evidenced by the fact that Sue visited a school on a mat with over 90 children present today.

The business enterprises which previously operated out of CHO e.g. clothing manufacture, embroidery and silk-screen printed goods have now moved on as a stand-along organisation.  CHO's vocational training programmes and micro-loans however still play a major role in supporting and starting up agricultural, sewing, retail and maintenance businesses in the community. Overall CHO is clearly achieving its aim in being a smaller organisation at the centre and grown hugely in the community.

The day for us usually starts at 7 am with breakfast, morning devotions at 7.30 am.  Whilst the rest of the team have been out and about each day – often we only see each other at mealtimes and for our daily team debriefing, catch up on each other's activities and prayer time – I have been between Safe Haven school and and the office.  At Safe Haven we looked at IT provision in the computer room both in terms of hardware, what is included in the curriculum, oh... and then there is the electricity supply to cope with (it should be 220 volts but by the afternoon can be down to 180 volts and computers really don't like this!)

Back at the CHO office, my time has been divided between planning a new website strategy with key IT staff and also enabling different streams of the organisation to come together and become self-sufficient IT wise rather relying on outside help.  I have also been involved in looking at options for a data collection tool on tablets and phones for field surveys and assessments for oral and general medical health.

Changing fast certainly, but all clearly part of a bigger plan.

Graham