I'm happy to introduce 14-year old Vilay to you. He really is one of my favorite kids in the world. One of the "big kids" at our Prek Eng 2 home, Vilay is gentle and kind, and takes a great deal of responsibility for the younger children. He's such a big help, and all of the kids look up to him. I pray that some day Vilay will join the staff of Asia's Hope.

Pray for Vilay as you read this bio, submitted by Savorn Ou, our Cambodian director.

His father was killed when he was working as a guard at a prison. His mother remarried a new husband, unfortunately, her new husband committed suicide when he laid down on the train tracks and was run over by a train. Vilay and his brother Veasna went to live with their uncle. His uncle took Vilay and his brother to live in Phnom Penh.  He did not have enough time to go to school because he had to work clearing grass around the house. He was also responsible for guarding their house at night. Sometimes he scavenged for recyclable materials to get some money to feed himself. He had to work so hard all the time. He never had new clothes to wear. If he got ill, he could never buy medicine to take.

Vilay now lives at Prek Eng 2 near Phnom Penh, Cambodia, which is sponsored by Central Vineyard Church in Columbus, Ohio.

Now that he is living in the orphanage, he has a good school to go to, enough food to eat, toys to play with, new friends, and time to do homework. He has the opportunity to study English and computers. Even though he has gotten sick, he has kind orphanage parents that take him to the hospital and take care of him. 

He attends Asia’s Hope Christian School. His favorite subjects are English and Math. His favorite food is fried pork with ginger. He enjoys Game Boy and hopes to become a pastor.

If you're interested in receiving a bio and updates for a child like Vilay, you can sign up today to become a supplemental sponsor!

I can't tell you how excited I was to receive the DVD for our Cambodian Christmas program! Savorn and our staff did a fantastic job putting together this video.

I know it's a little long, and doesn't have chapter breaks, but I highly recommend taking some time to watch some of this this with your friends, church and family!

Asia's Hope Cambodia Christmas Program 2006 from John McCollum on Vimeo.

Asia's Hope now provides comprehensive care for almost 500 kids in Cambodia and Thailand. Now that we've reached a certain scale -- 16 orphan homes -- it could be tempting to evaluate the ministry in terms of statistics more than stories.

And God knows I have a lot of statistics I have to review on a daily basis -- donations, expenses, projections, exchange rates, salaries, rents -- the list goes on and on. But the real measure of our ministry can't be charted on a spreadsheet. Our children are our greatest treasure, and each one has a compelling and often heartbreaking story.

Whenever I get overwhelmed by the "business end" of the ministry, I take some time to look over the bios -- the personal stories -- of our kids. I'm often moved to tears, and I'm always moved to thankfulness; I'm thankful to our supporters for their generosity, and to our Father God who has given us the opportunity to act as conduits of his mercy and love to these precious children.

So, I've decided to share with you on a more regular basis some of the blessings I receive in reading the stories of these amazing kids. I'll try to post at least one bio a week. 

Here's an excerpt from the biography we have on file for Rarot, a beautiful nine-year-old girl who lives in our Battambang 1 orphan home in Battambang, Cambodia. I always look forward to seeing Rarot's wonderful smile every time I visit Cambodia. It's amazing to think about the suffering this now-happy little girl once endured...

Rarot's father contracted malaria. Her mother sold their land in order to get money to pay for his treatment, but he still was not able to recover. Without a home, her mother sent the children to live with their grandmother and went to Thailand to find work, but she has never sent word home. They lived in a poor shanty. Every day she took care of her two sisters, washed clothes, cooked and went to catch crabs, snails and fish to make stew. Many times they did not have enough food to eat. For nighttime they didn’t have blankets or mosquito nets. The roof leaked when it rained, and their clothes were often wet. She could not attend school, and lived a miserable existence of extreme poverty.

In 2007, Rarot came to live at home 1 in Battambang, Cambodia, sponsored by Westview Bible Church in Montreal. She is very healthy and happy to be living at the orphan home. She has a lot of friends, a lot of good food to eat, and good clothes to wear.

Rarot's favorite subject is Math, and she would like to become a doctor when she grows up.

If you're interested in receiving a bio and updates for a child like Rarot, you can sign up today to become a supplemental sponsor!

One of my jobs as Executive Director is to present the ministry of Asia's Hope to potential partners and donors. I've put together this presentation that I usually run as a .pdf on my laptop.

Occasionally, people tell me, "I'd like to tell my pastor (or boss, or friend, or parent) about Asia's Hope. Can you send me some information I can use?" So I thought I'd make this presentation available online and also as a downloadable .pdf.

So, now you have it. You want to present Asia's Hope? You interested in finding out what we're up to? Here's a great place to start!

"I'm afraid that this baby will die." Those were the words we heard from Tutu Bee (pictured above), our Thailand national director.

In a destitute hilltribe village -- three hours from our Early Child Center in Doi Saket, Thailand -- a 6 month old child was in a desperate situation. The mother, suffering from severe mental illness, had tried to kill the baby on a number of occasions. The father contacted Asia's Hope, pleading for help.

At first, it looked like we would be unable to help. Asia's Hope runs on budgets with absolutely no slack -- there simply wasn't money to support this child.

But God made a way, and moved in the hearts of ministry advisors Mike and Debbie Flinchum to personallysupport this baby, and yesterday, we accepted this baby into our care. 

Unfortunately, this girl's story is not unlike that of many other children in Cambodia and Thailand. Many children have no family members that are able or willing to care for them. Many of these orphaned children face lives of misery and despair. Many others simply die.

Asia's Hope is committed to providing care for these children, but in many cases, we simply can't. Please consider helping us provide for these kids by making a generous donation this Thanksgiving and Christmas season.

May God bless you and your family, and may God bless the 90 staff and nearly 500 kids at the 16 Asia's Hope orphan homes in Cambodia and Thailand.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Do you have five friends who might be willing to sign up for Asia's Hope supplemental sponsorship program? Would you be willing to ask?

Sponsorships cost US$35 per month, and sponsors receive a picture and biography of a child from an Asia's Hope orphan home, and periodic updates on their child and their home. Sponsorships play a vital role in helping to underwrite a portion of the costs to run our 16 orphan homes in Cambodia and Thailand.

If you think you have five (or more) friends who might be interested in sponsoring, you can hook them up in two ways:

1. You can send them a link to the sponsorship program portion of the web site and encourage them to get involved.
2. You can contact me via email, and I'll send you five (or more) biographies, which you can show to your friends, encouraging them to sign up on the Asia's Hope web site.

Asia's Hope is -- and always has been -- a grassroots movement. We need everyone's help to support these children. Let me know if you're up for this challenge!

You can’t unrape a child.

You can, however, prevent the abuse of children by providing permanent, loving families for kids at high risk of sexual exploitation and trafficking.

Human trafficking is an unspeakable horror; the sale of children into sex slavery is a tragedy of  genocidal proportions. Thankfully, this once-hidden scourge is now widely discussed in churches, on college campuses and across a wide spectrum of media.

Given the scope and complexity of the problem, it’s often difficult to know where to start. Is there anything we can do today beyond “raising awareness” and mitigating the damage already done to those who have already suffered this horrific injustice?

At Asia’s Hope, we’re working to defend and rescue the children at the highest risk of sexual and economic exploitation — orphans, whose parents have died or abandoned them, and whose extended family cannot provide care.

Asia’s Hope orphan homes are real families with real moms and dads. These children receive food, medical care, clothing, shelter, and education and a loving, secure environment — safe from the imminent threats posed to them on the street.

You, your church, your business, your family — you can help us engage suffering and unleash hope for children at high risk of sexual and economic exploitation. 

• You can sign up as a supplemental sponsor http://www.asiashope.org/sponsor
• You can help underwrite the costs of our expensive, but essential projects http://www.asiashope.org/current-funding-needs/
• You can spread the word by reposting this article
• You can make a donation by PayPal or credit card http://www.asiashope.org/support/ 

Remember, you can’t unrape a child. But you can prevent that abuse from happening by partnering with Asia’s Hope.

Thank you, and God bless you. 

John McCollum, Executive Director

john@asiashope.org

It’s a beautiful night in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. There’s a slight breeze – welcome after another blazing hot day – a perfect evening for dinner or drinks at a street-level café like the one gracing our little hotel just a few blocks north of bustling Sisowath Quay.

Andy and I spent our last afternoon and evening in Asia playing with kids, splitting our time more-or-less evenly between our four local orphan homes. We ate a late dinner at Prek Eng 4 courtesy of Ravi and his wife, and returned to pack for tomorrow’s long, long journey. After stuffing our suitcases far past their normal carrying capacity, we retired to the hotel’s restaurant for a drink and some peoplewatching. 

The scene that played out was one I’d witnessed countless times before, but it seemed more poignant having just said goodbye to about 90 of the sweetest kids in the world. As we sat sipping our drinks and munching aimlessly on the ever-present sugared peanuts, we watched a seemingly endless stream of ugly, paunchy, past-prime white in Khakis and polo shirts guys ogle, then grope, then leave with beautiful, slim, young Khmer women in tight blouses and miniskirts.

I see prostitutes every day in Asia. I get propositioned on a regular basis. But it’s still a bit shocking to see The Trade up close. As in “at the next table” up close.

I wanted to scream.

I also wanted to punch each of the guys, or at least flash him an obscene hand gesture. I settled on simply glaring at them, but I was dying to grab one by the shirt and sneer, “She hates you, don’t you know that? She’s doing this because her family is destitute. She’s laughing at your stupid jokes and pretending to find you attractive, but your rolls of fat and the thought of your foul nakedness disgusts her. You’re going to pay her, but you it could never compensate for what you’ll take from her. With every filthy thrust, you destroy another piece of her waning sense of humanity. You’re no better than a common rapist. You’re a modern-day slaver and you’re exactly what’s wrong with this country.”

Of course I didn’t say any of that. But it’s all true.

I don’t believe that my anger and disgust are based on prudery or a sense of my own personal moral superiority. It’s just that I can’t look at the girls in the restaurant without thinking of the girls at our orphan homes, many of which would have had a very good chance of becoming one of Cambodia’s 60,000+ prostitutes, 25,000 of which are minors – some as young as 6 or 7 years old.

I can’t tell you how thankful I am that God has allowed Asia’s Hope to engage the horror of human trafficking in Cambodia and Thailand by providing loving homes for children at risk for sexual and economic exploitation. I pray that God will give us the money we need to rescue many more children.

In short, I pray that we have the resources to reach children on the brink of the abyss before these dirtballs do.