Carrying Companions as God Carries Me

Hi! 

Can you believe that it is August already??? For it being such a strange year it seems like it’s suddenly going by quite quickly! This year has come with all kinds of new things for me; a new house in a neighborhood that I love, a new golden retriever puppy who keeps my days busy and keeps me on my feet and lots of new opportunities for saying goodbye as many non-Cambodian  friends have found themselves leaving Cambodia, as well as meeting lots of new people (Valor, my puppy, has opened up an entire new community of dog lovers for me to be part of!)

By far the biggest new thing this year is the beginning of Carrying Companions!  It’s hard for me to grasp the reality that I have really, truly started a brand new ministry project and that it has been active for 6 months already- God’s grace and favor during this has been absolutely incredible and I love, love, love every minute that I get to be with a Cambodian who has a disability or their family members

Currently we have 2 full time staff and one part time and we are working with 7 clients ranging in age from 2 years to 28 years.  There are 2 things that I have discovered I enjoy the most; the first is being part of “firsts” with people like when a few of our clients rode alone on Cambodian public transportation for the first time or when our 26 year old friend was able to write the first 5 letters of the Cambodian alphabet for the first time! The second thing I enjoy the most is when family members experience a sense of hope or relief like when we sit with and listen to a mom whose 12 year old son has cerebral palsy and she has kept him with her his whole life (despite urging from everyone around her to send him to an institution for unwanted children) as she tells us how alone she has felt and is able to release some of her burden through tears because she can see that now she is not alone anymore! 

On a personal note, I have been completely overcome with gratitude and humility (so many times) as I realize again and again the immense privilege I grew up with.  It’s true that my family situation was rough and I’m not denying that but, as far as being a child and young woman with a disability I was given a chance at everything and anything I could have ever dreamed! New York City public school system gave me free access to mobility training from the time I was 5 until 16 so that I could get around the city independently.  I had a paraprofessional in the classroom with me until 6th grade to help make learning accommodations.  Medicaid gave me eye exams and glasses.  At school I had adaptive physical education classes where I learned sports with other visually impaired students and we learned volleyball and tennis with balloons, hockey and basketball with equipment that had beepers and we ran track with sighted friends as our guides.  

There was absolutely nothing that was off limits.

And, learning about the situations of people with disabilities here and in other less developed countries both completely breaks my heart and moves me with intense passion to help them access the BEST of what is available.  

We are going to need LOTS of companions to carry us as we continue to move forward!  Right now, our working monthly budget is $900 and we have $700 in monthly sponsorship.  In order to continue growing we will need monthly sponsorship of $2,500 by the end of this year.  

I would be honored and grateful if you feel led to invest on a monthly basis from your finances into what God is doing through Carrying Companions! 

Another way you can partner with us is by becoming an advocate… We need to grow our network of people who know our name and YOU can help us do that! I’m asking for 7 people who can commit to share about Carrying Companions through your social media platforms and with your friends and relatives in person.  This would mean that you would be available for me to send emails to you with photos, facts and stories that you can share with your own communities and that you would be willing to make our needs known along with me.  

I know that this ministry cannot grow out of my own efforts, but it will go as far as God wants it to go- and I believe He wants the very best for His sons and daughters who already struggle through so many obstacles.  So, here we are in the very beginning stages of growth seeking people who will come alongside us with prayers, finances and advocacy.  I’m looking forward to hearing from you as you ask Him how He might allow you to go on this adventure with us!

You can invest financially anytime through:

IOM- Tell them it's for Carrying Companions! It'll be tax deductible

CashApp- It's always so fun hearing that coin drop notification sound!

PayPal- last but not least because every $ adds up!

Let me know if you have any questions or if you've decided to become a financial partner or an advocate (or maybe even BOTH)

Persevering to Receive a Good Gift

I’ve always loved to read and I used to write a lot more than I do lately... I believe that literacy (the ability to read and write) is one of the very good gifts God had in mind for my life. 

As a child, I remember watching tv shows such as Reading Rainbow and Wishbone whose entire themes were based around engaging children in stories. I loved participating in any program that had a reward of receiving a free book. And, to this day I can still vividly remember getting my first library card at nine years old; the first book I ever checked out from the library was Matilda and I devoured it. 

As an adult I’m the person who reads the entire instruction manual that comes with anything I purchase.  I want to know every tasty detail offered for each option at a restaurant and will spend quite a lot of time reading the menu.  And, at hotels, museums, zoos or any other attraction I can be relied upon to know the specifics of every service included and what will cost extra. 

Literacy is important to me.  One reason is because it enhances my experiences.  As a person with limited sight I’ve never been able to rely on pictures or gestures to help me understand the world around me.  Words often provide details that I would miss out on if they weren’t there.  I love it that God gave us the Bible- such a wonderfully descriptive book to discover who He is, how He does things and what He has for us!

Another reason that literacy is important to me is probably because it’s one of the gifts that I had to persevere for in order to be able to receive.  There were meetings when I was 4 years old (and earlier but I don’t remember those) in which professionals told my Mom that my visual disability would stop me from reading and writing. That it would be too much to expect me to manage literacy plus navigating the world around me. They said I could become Braille literate but that Braille had limitations and we shouldn’t expect too much.  My Mom, very unprofessionally, told those guys that I would learn both. 

As I went to school it took me longer than the other kids to recognize what each letter looked like, I remember going to a special one on one class for an hour every day where we worked with flash cards, magnetic letters and wikki stix.  

It took me longer to learn how to write each letter, I remember the bold lined paper and felt tip markers.  

It took me longer to learn how to make my letters fit in the appropriate spaces, I remember my first grade teacher tearing up my worksheets in front of the class because I wrote the words too big on the lines that were printed there.  

It took me longer to learn how to see whole words and not just letters next to each other, I remember reading my first book in print (Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?) when I was almost 7. 
There were many tears when I was a kid watching my friends learn faster than me...

It took a long time ... and I did it.  

I’m full of gratitude towards the adults who didn’t quit.  If there's someone in your life who is taking longer than expected to get to where God is calling them don't give up.  Recognize and encourage every small step in the right direction.  

It took me almost 8 years of life in Cambodia to build the courage to begin to learn to read and write Khmer.   I’ve heard many with perfect vision say that they began to learn to read and write Khmer only to quit because it is so difficult.  And they weren’t kidding, it is sooo difficult!  Based on Sanskrit, the writing looks nothing like the Roman alphabet and has more than 100 individual characters used to build words- the most in the world! 

With a one on one teacher for less than 3 hours each week God has been asking me to receive the very good gift of learning literacy in a second language... 

It’s taking a long time to recognize each letter, I still  have to practice as I get ច, ថ, ជ and ផ confused quite often.  

It’s taking a long time to learn how to write each letter, my teacher very creatively has used parts of English letters that I already know how to write as stepping stones to help me learn to write the Khmer ones.   

It’s taking a long time to follow instructions to write my letters bigger and not smaller so that “tall” words like ប្អូន can be read clearly even though they don’t fit into one college ruled line in my notebook. 

It’s taking a long time to recognize whole words, there are usually only spaces in between sentences and not each word. 
There are sometimes tears as this adult watches some friends learn faster than her...

It’s taking a long time... and I’m doing it!

The letters on the left are from my very first time trying to write Khmer letters- Jan. 2018.

The ones on the right I wrote just before posting this blog.

Literacy is important to me and I love sharing this good gift with those God puts in my life. I share it through conversations about words and stories, through inspiring Cambodians towards literacy by showing them the gift God gave me in their own language and by speaking about and showing them that sometimes we need to persevere to receive the good gifts God has for us.

Is there something good God has for you and it's taking longer than you expected to receive it...? Or, longer than others expected...?  Learning a new skill? Breaking a bad habit? Maybe creating healthy routines with your finances or eating or sleeping or time with God...? Maybe your family needs a new home or you need a new job... And, maybe you’ve become discouraged and maybe you’ve stopped trying...

God hasn’t quit. He doesn't measure time the way people do and He's never late.  

As long as you’re willing to persevere He’ll be there and He’ll send the right people to encourage and teach you.  Sometimes, like when I was a kid, He’ll surround you with people and circumstances that will push you forward.  And other times, like me learning Khmer literacy, you’ll need to have the courage to ask someone to be part of the process. 

It might take longer than expected but if it's God's calling and you're willing to persevere you can move forward... slow movement is still movement.