Speak out for those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the destitute. Speak out, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy. - P

So the week is over...and I have a good story to tell!

On Thursday one of our counselors came to me with a story of a little 1 year old boy she noticed while doing a home visit to one of our very poor communities surrounding our center, many of our girls live there...

She found him alone. When she asked about him the girls told her that he was abandoned a couple months ago. His father is in jail and his mother works in the brothels and had run off on him. Amazingly though, the girls from our center take turns having him in their tiny, poor little homes!

They pass him around with care. Feeding him with what they have and washing him when they can. He lives permanently with an old woman who can only afford to fill his little bottle with water and sweetened condensed milk! As you can imagine, his growth has been stunted...

The counselor asked me if she could bring in the boy and have me look him over. Well, of course, i said!!!

He was very flaccid. Short torso. Enlarged lymph glands. Chest infection. Bug bites. Bruising. Look liked a 6 months old...not a one year old! Everyone said he didn't have a name...he was known just as the baby...

I spoke to my boss, Ruth, about him. After a quick discussion she and her husband decided to take him home with them for the weekend. He will be fed and bathed and loved!! Then after contacting the father in jail for legal rights we will have him placed in a Khmer home with loving parents. We are in contact with a woman who runs an adoption agency with families who can't have children.

Shortly after I did my assessment we had our regular friday worship time. The little boy was passed around from mommy to mommy. Some women who saw that he was going to be cared for by Ruth and Samuel, started to cry. I was amazed at their love for this little boy and i publicly in church thanked them for their compassion. I told them that their actions have not gone un noticed! That jesus sees and is pleased...that when Jesus spoke about feeding and clothing him when he was sick or hungry...that this is what he meant.

I was so happy!
As I stood outside the center with the girls and laughed together while I held the little boy, we all decided he needed a name. A little girl; dirty, poor, and full of head lice (!) looked at the little boy. She said very matter of factly that his name will be RATANAK!! And she told me b/c it means treasure! Oh how precious!

So, Brian and The Ratanak Foundation should be very pleased to know that we now have our own little Ratanak; our own little treasure...

I think God has answered my prayers; For a happy story. For a hopeful glimpse...