God's love restores family

When his father died in the small Cambodian community of Kandal Kraom, grief overcame 14-year-old Sok’s mother. She tried drowning her anguish with alcohol, which soon overpowered her life. Ashamed of how his mother behaved, Sok avoided his friends and rejected anyone’s efforts to help. Shocked neighbors often saw him gambling. On the rare occasions when he bothered to walk three miles to school, he disrupted the class in any way he could.

Both Sok and his mother hid behind a veil of loneliness and depression. And then they met Mrs. Try Sokha, who worked with Food for the Hungry’s Child Sponsorship program. She visited Sok and his mother regularly, praying with them and sharing the love of God through her own gentle and selfless actions. When she invited Sok to attend Sunday school, he was hesitant, but Food for the Hungry workers continued to visit.

 

Both Sok and his mother eventually began to allow God’s healing power to restore their lives. Today, Sok regularly attends church, recently won a drawing contest, and enjoys helping with chores. Where he once disrupted others in his class and neighborhood, Sok now basks in the newfound admiration of his friends and neighbor.

What We Do

Community Agriculture, Sanitation and Savings Education: Trains village peer-volunteers in basic sanitation, health, agriculture, and animal husbandry. Volunteers then teach their neighbors and work together toward a collective savings account and training in hygiene and health.

Children of Hope: Enables families and communities to overcome fatalistic views that devalue education and offer little incentive to unite or solve problems, introduces biblical worldview, teaches proper health and nutrition practices facilitates microenterprise programs.

Teams: Partners with North American individuals and churches to offer hands-on assistance in community development projects.

Hunger Corps: Partners with North American and local churches to provide long-term staff to walk alongside Cambodians in their journey toward physical and spiritual transformation.

Food for the Hungry began its work in Cambodia in 1991. Through various development programs and outreaches, we help families and communities build a foundation for a sustainable future, both economically and spiritually.

More than one-third of Cambodians live below the poverty line. Subsistence farming employs 70 percent, with the Mekong River providing fertile rice fields. Issues for Cambodians include millions of unexploded landmines that kill and maim civilians, HIV/AIDS, water-borne diseases, and lack of infrastructure, all conspiring to reduce life expectancy to only 52 years.

Food for the Hungry works in the far north of the country, which focuses on supporting village leaders in their efforts to develop a holistic development plan specifically tailored to each of their own villages, then providing expertise for agriculture, sanitation, education, child development, and church development that empowers these villages to achieve a brighter future.