Whatever Lord : Monday night prayers 12 August 2019

Sjoe what a week this has been. Coming home after been away for 2 months, you find your place in not such a good state. Lots of maintenance which still need a few weeks to finish that job. It’s rainy season and everything gets wet so quickly and with that it rots. So cutting trees and getting leaves away to make room for sunshine to get in, makes for blistered hands and attacks from thousands of red ants. Well it feels good to do some hard labour again after 6 weeks of doing nothing. It feels good to get into this place again. Home is where your heart is.

This week will be a busy one. Tomorrow school starts, hallelujah for that hahahaa. Anton will go to Grade 8 this year and we are looking forward for a good school experience. Gideon will also start tomorrow, so please keep him and Twans in prayer please.

A Doctor friend from Malaysia will come and visit FGC an conduct some medical outreaches in different village close by. I will go and help, will find out what to do , tomorrow. Good time to learn something new. Please pray for people to be open to receive some meds and also get lots of love from the staff.

Please pray for the following people:

Deon Botha is in lots of pain and he is very weak. They wait to hear what next.

Pray for complete healing of Quinton and Andrea Calitz.

My uncle George in Cape Town is in the hospital with a broken Pelvis. He is doing well and hopefully will be out soon.

A message from Fe in the Philippines:” PRAISE REPORT! My Surgeon sent me a message that my biopsy result showed NO CANCER CELLS found. Thank you LORD!”

Please pray for people in Cambodia. Dengue fever is a real epidemic here.

We are proud to share this article to you about how the Cambodian people raise up from the depths of hell itself to move towards what they are today.

The Quiet Passing of a Monster

Brother Number Two – one of the most feared members of the Khmer Rouge central committee, who brought torment and destruction to his people and country, died quietly in hospital on August 4, 2019.

I remember being out in the refugee camps on the Thai-Cambodian border in the early 1990's. I'd been there before. The camps controlled by the Khmer Rouge were always more tense. Many interactions seemed carefully scripted so as to not anger those in control and put civilians in danger. But on one occasion, I arrived at the camp and it was different. The tension was palpable, conversations were more muted, interactions stilted, any smiles that would normally have been available to us had vanished, a cloud of silence had descended on the 42,000 occupants of the camp. Carefully, and in whispered tones, I asked what was happening only to be told that Nuon Chea (revolutionary name, Brother Number Two) was in the camp.

I had never experienced that sort of power before, that sort of fear. I never saw him (It would never have been allowed) but his mere presence in the sprawling camp was enough to silence thousands. It felt like the angel of death was roaming around and all would do well to stay inside.

Now many years later, after conviction for crimes against humanity and genocide and after years of imprisonment, the frail old Nuon Chea died in a Cambodian hospital being cared for and attended to in his last days. The irony is hard to ignore given his strident policies that would strip the country of hospitals and see the execution of every doctor and nurse that could be identified. The ethical care given to this man in his last days is a testament to the dignity and recovery of the Cambodian people.

He was afforded the decency of legal process and a fair trial – exactly what he denied to so many thousands of Cambodians. Upon conviction he was not executed but imprisoned in humane conditions - unlike the torture and certain death that awaited all those who disagreed with him. His final passing in a soft and comfortable bed contrasts dramatically the countless grotesque deaths he perpetrated on his people. And yet the nature of his passing is a victory for Cambodia and her people.

They have recovered from so much. They have rebuilt systems that, while still imperfect, administer justice, demonstrate a measure of civility, reject revenge, encourage stability and even, on occasion, tend towards compassion. After the torment, the hunting down of all those educated, the mass killings, the destruction of institutions and structures…after all they have been through...the quiet death of Nuon Chea is a victory and a great honour to the Cambodian people who have managed to preserve and rebuild their dignity. In the current international climate of ego-driven policies, shameless self-interest and arrogance displayed by many much wealthier countries that have not suffered anything like the trauma of genocide, Cambodia stands as an example of civility – they are worthy of much admiration.

Brian McConaghy

Founding Director of Ratanak International