On October 10-14, a 14-member team of adults and children from Church of All Nations (CAN) in Hong Kong traveled to Cambodia to serve with CWEF at the Child Rescue Organization (CRO) in Krang Lovea. The team took one day to learn about the culture and history of Cambodia in Phnom Penh, then they traveled to CRO to facilitate team building activities alongside the older students at CRO.
The theme for the devotions and activities focused on 1 Corinthians 12:12, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.” The goal of the devotions was to illustrate even with diversity of culture, experiences and skills, we are all members of one body with Christ as our head.
Although there have been multiple teams from Hong Kong have visited CRO each year since 2010, this visit was the first in a few ways. Not only was this the first time Church of All Nations visited CRO, but this was also the first time CWEF hosted a team with younger children at CRO. The CAN team included six children between the ages of 4-14, and both parents and their children told CWEF it was a positive experience for all.
As CWEF strives to connect our work to our organizational values, the work with CRO has expanded beyond just visits with teams. Over the past few visits, CWEF staff Danay Mao and the teams have facilitated a number of empowerment lessons with the high school students. During this visit, the goal for the CRO high school students was to identify issues in the Krang Lovea community through a community mapping exercise.
After the CRO students identified and discussed which issues were most important to them and the community, they began planning how they can take steps towards solve the issues. Over the next few months, Danay will continue to work with and encourage the students as they make positive changes and inspire others in their community and beyond.
In the future, both CWEF and CAN hope to continue the relationship with CRO to be able to support the body of believers impact the whole community.
