Make a difference this Christmas !

As most of you are now inundated with advertisements and suggestions to purchase on this upcoming Christmas season I would just like to put out an alternative Christmas scenario for you. A way for you to make a huge impact on a family in need this year. Please just spend a few moments reading about how you can make a huge difference.

As most of you know I have been engaging with a community in Cambodia that was forcibly evicted from their land by a corrupt government in partnership with a development company. The link to their eviction is HERE.

After their eviction in January 2009 they were unceremoniously dumped 20 kms west of Phnom Penh with nothing as everything was destroyed by the bulldozers you witnessed in the video. Since then they were evicted again and dumped 38kms north of Phnom Penh where they are currently located. I was onsite the day of their first eviction and it forever changed me as it was the most emotional day of my life witnessing this tragedy.

Leakhena my fiancée and myself have been working with this community the last year and have plans on moving there in February this year.

The lack of proper housing as you can see here or on our facebook page—Manna4Life--is one of their greatest needs . Proper housing will improve not only their situation but will keep them protected from more health issues by being out of the elements and able to stay dry. Most homes now are just a few sticks put together with any type of tarp material they can find whether it be a rug ,plastic sheeting,a bed sheet or anything to defend against the torrential rain here in Cambodia. We have been able to raise enough funding to provide 31 new homes in the community by the generosity of people like yourself but there are 70 more families in dire need also. Each home costs $570 U.S. dollars to build, this includes the hiring of the workers from the community and food and refreshments during the building. This provides much needed financial assistance to the families also as they are in need of work also and barely get by each day.

We are grateful to have joined with Norval Presbyterian church in Georgetown, Ontario in setting up a Canadahelps page in order for people to donate this Christmas season. Every dollar received through Canadahelps will go directly towards the building of homes for this community. I have also set-up a Causes page on Facebook called Manna4Life where you can follow along on the progress of this community and our work there. One of the things I always say is that we are building not homes but HOPE in this community. Just the small amount we have done so far has built a spirit of hope and a real sense of community. We all work together on the homes as a community with the whole community coming out in force to shave the bamboo for the flooring and building the palm leaf walls for all the homes. Here are a couple of the finished homes.

If you feel led to prayer for this community we know God answers each and every prayer and trust me it gives us and the community great comfort knowing our brothers and sisters are reaching out to Him on our behalf.

For the price of a new ipad or iphone you can substantially change a families life and health this Christmas season and beyond.If you feel led to help in a financial way by organizing a fundraising drive ,getting this message to your friends and co-workers, getting your sports group together etc or having your family donate this Christmas please click here and VISIT THIS GIVING PAGE on Canadahelps. A canadian tax e-receipt will be sent to you automatically. Make sure you print off a copy for your files. Or you can donate through Paypal (no tax receipts) through my blog page HERE.

My blog page which you are probably on now includes stories from this community that I am sure will touch your heart and you will get a better understanding of the people you are helping and learn to love them like I do.

The other project we need funding for is to purchase land for a farm that is connected to the community. We are looking for 50 groups or individuals to donate $100 a month for a one year commitment or the equivalent...this comes to $60,000 which is enough to purchase 5 hectares of land where we will start with chicken coops, then pig raising, fish farming and then agriculture...this will provide jobs for the community and a much needed food source. The community itself will be raising $ 5000 dollars towards the cost of the first chicken coop and 2000 chickens by the homeowners putting in $2 a month for 2 years in order to purchase a share in the farm. They are investing a lot when you consider how poor they are in monetary funds. The farm will be run as a co-op with a committee selected from the community to run it. All the proceeds from the farm will be re-directed to the community to different job producing projects voted on by the community. These can include water filtration for better health, bathroom facilities in each home, garbage collection, job training programs, schooling etc.

Thank you so much for considering helping and God bless you and your family this Christmas season.

Kevin and Leakhena

P.S. If you need anymore information please feel free to contact me at kknight45@hotmail.com and feel free to share this link with anyone you feel might be moved to help this community.

September 2011 - Many reasons for thanksgiving

Hi folks - I need to start off this month thanking everyone who makes it possible for me to be here and share God's love with the poor. The joy I get to see in the faces and attitudes of the poor as hope invades their misery is a blessing from God and He has made that possible through all your prayers and support.

Months go by quickly here as there is seemingly endless tasks before me and visions that go beyond my own imagination and surely must be His.

The month started with a crash...another motorcycle crash for me and severe burns from the motor to my right leg. There were some third degree burns from the motor and it resulted in another trip to Bumrungrad hospital for surgery to my leg. I am healing fine but it will be a couple of more weeks at least partly because of my stubbornness to do what the doctor ordered (feet up and bed rest). You will see in the rest of the newsletter why I didn't heed his orders.

Before flying to Bangkok I received a call from ICC another missions group and they wanted to know if they could build a home at the village as the village they wanted to build a home for was flooded. This was unexpected but welcomed as we have a close relationship with ICC and work together with similar visions. It was hard to get around and build the home as I was in extreme pain but it was worth it see another home for another family completed.

After flying back from Thailand and the operation it was a blessing to be able to facilitate a young girl named Srey Mouv who had a hairlip to receive surgery at a local childrens hospital to repair her mouth. As I went to visit the family in the hospital with Leakhena I was overwhelmed with emotion for this little girl. You see her family had the opportunity three other times for this operation but because of foreigners coming to the village in missions groups etc and after seeing the young girl would often dig into there pockets and give money to the girl's parents. The parents actually didnt want the girl to have the operation because she was providing food for the family table. In our generosity and with good intentions we can actually hurt the people we are trying to help. I think I have mentioned it before but please if possible read the book "When helping hurts" - it has been a real blessing to me to follow most of its guidelines in engaging with this community I love so dearly. I walked out of the hospital and started weeping because I knew the difference that the operation would have on her future and was able to be here and help facilitate but more importantly witness God's love for this precious girl. Knowing how precious not just this one little girl but the whole community is in God's eyes was just overwhelming to me of the abundance of God's love and Grace for us all. Leakhena and I prayed with the family in the hospital room and I was able to pray of God's love for this beautiful girl before the surgeon's hands had made her beautiful in the eyes of the world.The family was beeming and couldn't take their eyes of their beautiful daughter and she was also a big hit at the village upon her return.

That's the first half of the month....the second half saw my good brother Dennis from Australia return with two friends Greg and Grant to build more homes in the community. It was Grant's first trip to southeast asia and he grew to love the village also and I believe is looking forward to his next trip back. Through the generosity of these men and some folks back in Australia we were able to build first 15 then more funding came in and we were able to build a total of 18 more homes bringing the total this month to 19 homes for the community. I have enclosed a couple of before and after pics of the housing.

I can't tell you how much this affects this community which has been abused for the last two years without any sign of hope. There is excitement today for the future of the community and they are well aware and thank Preah En ...God...for the blessings being bestowed upon the community. We take every opportunity to deflect any thanks to us and direct it to the ONE who is providing it all. Leakhena is engaging with the women of the village and is loved deeply already and is able to share her testimony and that the love we share for the community is God's love and heart for them.

I will be sending out another blog this week and will be providing people an opportunity to help this community. With the Christmas season approaching I can't think of a better gift this year than giving to Christ by helping those He puts first in His upside down Kingdom.

God bless and thank you again for joining me in sharing God's love in Cambodia.

Kevin