Day 5. Today was the last day of our adventure here, there was still quite a bit of work that needed to be done and we wondered whether we could finish or not, of course we had no choice, it had to be completed today. So we got to work finishing the painting, setting up of computers, scrubbing the floors, putting up the whiteboard, bulletin boards etc...
At 5:30 pm we were finished, it was a wonderful feeling, we could finally see the finished product of our hard work, sweat and more sweat.

Yes, it was well worth it and as we drove away from the school I felt good – a feeling of contentment knowing that we had helped to change the future of these children, and the many other children who would attend this school. I felt good because not only did we give material goods and help to improve their physical lives, but we had also taken time with the children, taken time to share God's love and the message of his salvation, we have given them hope for the future. Yes, I felt good and actually I still feel quite good.

Well, I'm going to go take swim in the pool and maybe have a beer, tomorrow we head back to Phnom Pehn.

Thank you to all of you for your prayers and support, a big thanks to the EO's of Singapore (Entrepreneur Organization) who helped sponsor this project.

A before and after shot:


Me, relieved that the work is finally over:


Yasu, exhausted but working till the end:


Hikaru and Yasu, communicating with pictures:


Have a good night.

Until next post…

Day 4 - another early start. Today Family Care Cambodia hosted an English camp for about 120 elementary school students, our team helped as instructors and teachers. It was lots of fun and we saw such desire and ambition in the children that attended. One of the prizes we gave to each child were the "Tsuru's" that the children at our home made, the children here liked them a lot.
Each classroom had a certain English activity such as, learning how to introduce oneself, animal names in English, telling the time in English, colors in English etc... The children were divided into groups and each group had about 30 minutes in each activity. This went on all morning till 12:30 where we gave each child a special gift package and a nice snack.

Us at 6:00 am


The English Camp:


In the afternoon some of us took a bit of a rest since we've been working everyday non-stop since we've arrived in Cambodia. While some of us continued the work on the classroom. I, again, was in a room surrounded by computers till the setting of the sun. I was finally stopped by the power cut which I found out was from one of the workmen who decided to cut the wire bringing electricity to the school, he had cut a live wire right in half with a big pair of scissors. For dinner I got invited to eat with some of the sponsors of this project, a group of business men from Singapore. During the meal we were able to see a Cambodian traditional dance troupe perform, which was quite fun.




And that is the post for today, I'm exhausted and tomorrow we must finish up this project so I will go to bed.

Kari, Mia and Tia, I love you!

until next post...

Today is Day 3 of our Siem Reap trip. It began with a nice breakfast, good devotions and off we went. From 10:30 our show team performed again for the morning set of students. In Cambodia most schools have 2 or 3 sets, which means that a batch of students come for the morning to study then go home at lunch, after lunch the next batch of students arrive for school.

I was out all morning hunting for a CD-ROM for the computers which were donated for the school, they were donated from a bank which means they ran off a network and had no need for CD-ROMs. The computers are the compact version of the DELL Optiplex GX110, they hold laptop CD-ROMs and they don't sell those here. So we had to get a normal IDE CD-ROM and do it the way you see in the picture at the bottom of this post. Took all morning to find a CD-ROM, and then we had software problems. But thank the Lord we got it all working and so tomorrow we will start the setup of the computers.

For the rest of the team this day consisted of performing, organizing games and activities for the children, distributing books, helping with the sanding and painting of the walls and putting together the chairs and desks to be used for the new classroom.

This post would not be complete with out mentioning the visit we made to a boarding school for the deaf and blind. This school is run by a French NGO but there is 1 girl here that is sponsored by Family Care Cambodia. This girl made my day, this little girl who comes from an extremely poor family and was found begging on one of the big lakes here, this tiny girl who when they first met her a year ago looked so skinny with her hair a light brown color from lack of nutrition (actually it was more like orange) her skin pasty and cracking all over. This girl who when she saw Andre and Mary came running up them and hugged them crying tears of joy, giving kisses and hugs, so much love in her eyes so much life, this girl who has nothing but who loves with everything that is in her. When I met her I cried, I have 2 daughters of my own, I cried. This little girl who had seen so much pain, suffering and poverty, this girl who is deaf had the most beautiful smile and so much love to give. I, who came to this country to give to the children of this land have received so much in return.

Enjoy the pictures from this day, and pray for the children of this land.

The morning activities:



Andre and Mary with the little girl from the story above:


Paul distributing some donated shampoo to the children at the school for the deaf and blind:


This was my lunch, the meal cost 2 USD and the coffee 50 cents:


The ceiling of the classroom being put up:


Me troubleshooting the computers:


I was almost unable to update the blog today due to network problems here, but the Lord came through. Stay tuned and keep sending in those prayers.

Until next post...

Day 2 of our Siem Reap adventure, got up at 5 had breakfast and by 7 we were off to the school to start our days work. I'll try to give you a basic rundown of what we are trying to accomplish here.
Family Care Cambodia has been working with this school for over a year now, doing performances, sponsoring some of the students tuition, donating educational material etc... This year they sponsored the building of a new building to be used as the Director's and the school's main office. By doing this they opened up a room in one of the schools buildings to be used as another classroom. This classroom will be setup with computers and will be used as a computer class as well as an English Language Classroom.
We, Activate Family Circle, are here to help with the construction, perform for the children, distribute our books as well as to help organize and man the English Day that "Family Care Cambodia" will be hosting here.

So now that I've stated our mission, here are today's pictures.

Here are the famous "Matsuoka's" at the hotel where we are staying:


Me:


The "office" building that was sponsored by "Family Care Cambodia":


The school building where our project is taking place, its the room on the far left:


Our team sanding and puddying, brings back memories:




Our performances and the children mezmorized by the colorful books:


Yes it was truly a satisfying day. Thank you for your prayers, please keep them coming.

until next post...

Our adventure to Siem Reap has begun. We left at 8:00 this morning had a good 5 hour trip. One thing we needed to do before our departure was to fill the fuel tank, this job was done by Luke and Hikaru as seen in this picture:


For the kids, the homes dogs:


An unusual site, these ducks crossed without fear:


Cambodian housing:


a 1000 year old bridge, amazing:


Many uses for vehicles here:



Part of our team went out to meet the director of the school where we will be doing one of our projects here, this specific project entails the building new sections of the school. It seems our job will be pudding and sanding the walls to prepare for painting. For dinner we went to a cute small Japanese style restaurant, the place was nice and the food was very good, the price very very reasonable. Most everything on the menu was 1 USD per item. I ate the fried rice which had a good serving of rice and sweet sour chicken and vegetable fry. The price? 1 USD, amazing!



Well that ends our traveling day, big work begins from tomorrow so we will get rested up and ready. Thank you for your prayers, they are what sustain us and give us the strength to keep
going, we kindly request that you continue to support us through your prayers and words of
encouragement.

Until next post...

Today we visited the Phnom Pehn National Pediatric Hospital. We went to the childrens wing. This is one of the best hospitals in Cambodia yet its still heart breaking to see the children on hard wooden beds in the halls because of a lack of rooms. We performed in the main entrance where the children, with their parents holding their IV packs, crowded around to see the performance. We had magic, balloons and then Yuriko introduced the origami Tsuru "Japanese Storks" which our kids in Japan made for the children of Cambodia, we also introduced and distributed the small picture cards to the children as well, these small items brought smiles and laugther to the children, the parents were deeply touched. It is often the smallest acts of love and kindness that brings joy to children, for they are moved not by the expense or size of the item, but by the love they feel and the beauty they see. Afterwards we went room to room making balloons, distributing books, Tsuru, small pictures, and words of prayer for the childrens healing. I have 2 children of my own and seeing the children here at this hospital brought tears to my eyes and a deep pain in my heart. I'm not an emotional person, but I was sincerely moved by what I saw. Parents began imediately to read the books to their children, while the children found a joyful alternative to their pain.

Some pictures of the day:





In the afternoon we sorted through many boxes of donated clothes to be brought Siem Reap with us tomorrow. We will be there from tomorrow till the 31st doing a big project there. Hopefully they have internet access where I am staying and if so I will keep this blog updated, if not then you know why, but can rest assured that we are staying busy and doing all we can. Please keep us in your prayers.