Immanuel Children's Village

We had a fabulous time Thursday at Immanuel Children's Village, about an hour outside of Phnom Penh. The 120 children there seemed radiantly happy, and we were excited to see the great work being done. The highlight of our visit was presenting the children with a parachute game we brought. They all gathered around to watch as the lucky first 20 children took the handles of the parachute and waved it in the air to keep the balls from rolling off the edges. Their laughter was jubilant, and I hope you will watch the video posted below.

The Immanuel Children's Village is part of COS (Community Outreach Service), which, like the Methodist School of Cambodia, was founded by the Singapore Methodist Church. Children may come to COSI (COS-Immanuel) between ages 6 and 12, though exceptions may be made to keep siblings together and the youngest resident now is 4. Most of the children are orphans, but some have one or two parents who have left their children and gone to the city to find work. The children attend the local public school, which goes to grade 9. The chidren may then move into a Youth Hostel, which is near a high school. COSI 's objective is for each child to become a good citizen of the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Cambodia. Furthermore, COSI endeavors to ensure that each child can find sustainable employment after leaving the program. COSI's integration program prepares children for life after high school in accordance with each child's abilities and interests.

The children have some type of farming chore each day. COSI raises pigs to produce income, and grows rice and vegetables to help feed the children. There is a major emphasis, though, on providing the children with education and spiritual formation guidance. After school tutoring is provided, in part, because the school is not of a high quality. Teachers are paid little money and sometimes don't even show up for classes.

The story of COSI's founding is very inspirational. One missionary from Singapore came to Cambodia in 1998. She worked with children but felt she had little lasting impact on their lives. She had a dream of founding a home for 12 children (one child for each of Jesus' disciples). Now, her dream has come to fruition tenfold, as COSI now has 120 children. The setting is rural, and she started COSI in a remote area with no roads and no power. Now, there are roads, but a generator is still required for power. As for the roads, I don't think I have every been on such a long, extremely bumpy dirt road in my life! But, the reward of being at COSI more than compensated for the rough travel there.

We visited the Youth Hostel after leaving COSI, and bought crafts that the residents had made. The dorm rooms looked cheerful, and the residents were proud to show us where they live. COS also sponsors a women's center, where poor young women learn skills such as sewing, hairdressing, and cooking that will help them find employment.

COS welcomes work teams. Many come from Singapore, which is only 2 hours away by plane. Medical and dental teams come and serve the outlying village as well as COSI, and other teams or individuals come to teach English or to provide maintenance assistance. We saw some lovely artwork painted on the library wall by a talented volunteer.

As you can tell from reading this, our time there was a blessing.