In-Country Update from Tara Hambrick, Summer 2019 SSM Cambodia Intern

Tara Hambrick is Saving Susan Ministry’s Intern for the Summer of 2019. She is spending a total of 3 weeks at Bileg Solid Rock in Kampong Thom, Cambodia teaching English, helping in the hospital, gathering photos and video content and loving on the children in the orphanage! We are grateful to have her be a part of this ministry. Here’s an update from Tara for the past week and half:

I’ve been here for 11 days now and have mostly gotten settled in. The first few days were incredibly hard, more so than I could have imagined. I would wake up in the middle of the night and just cry while I talked to my parents on the phone. I was exhausted, jet lagged, and alone. I missed my family and the comfort of America so so badly. But then Monday came and I got to work in the hospital, teach little kids English, spend time with the coolest people from the Philippines, and do a devotion with the kids. And suddenly, I didn’t find myself crying anymore. I found myself having fun, being grateful for the opportunities that I know I wouldn’t get in America (I mean I get to run blood tests on my own, with no training). The days aren’t hard anymore and the nights aren’t lonely. I still miss my family and it would be nice to have the commodities of America but I don’t find myself dwelling on those thoughts. I just go out and have fun and love on the people here as best as I can. I’m not sure what the rest of the trip will look like, but I’m hoping I enjoy it as much as I’m enjoying myself now.

Tara

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Saving Susan March 2019 Cambodia Trip

Last week a leadership team from Saving Susan Ministry traveled to Cambodia to seek out additional orphanage partnerships. This team was made up of Board Chairman Steve Malandro, his wife Sondra, Operations Manager Adam Reiley, Tracy and myself. Our purpose was due to the fact that we have placed 85% of the children available in our Cambodia program and we have decided to continue our focus on orphans in Cambodia and Guatemala instead of perusing another country. We have learned the culture, history, laws and regulations over the past 6 years. This is very important in our assessment of whether we can we can support and partner with a Christian orphanage that shares our long term, God-sized vision.