Make.A.Difference

A brighter Christmas for 423 needy families in Philipines!

2011-11-02T11:46:00.002+08:00

Thank You!

Dear Frens,

Thank you so much, to so many of our friends, for stepping forward to pledge food hampers for the poor in Montalban and Tagaytay, Philipines.

We targeted to contribute 300 food hampers and we managed to get a total of 423 hampers!

Apart from contributions of $6,770 we also received 300 packets of gummie bears and 300 bars of chocolate for the hampers :)

It gives me great joy to continue doing this work, just in knowing that there are so many friends amongst us who care enough to help strangers and are truely appreciative of the blessings received in our lives.

On behalf of the poor I would like to say special thanks to Alice, Puay Hoon, Steffen, Declan, Jackie, Tara, Ranmali, Emily, Peter, Jae, Raj, Lyn, Auntie M, Theresa, Susan, Julie, Regina, May Yan, Corinne & Friends, Raj, Cheryl and to Esther and Amelia from ICPE for making all this possible.

And as always, all Glory goes to God! \o/\0/\0/

May the good Lord bless you all and may you and your families continue to enjoy abundance in your lives as we usher in Christmas and more importantly the spirit of charity that Christmas brings.

Bringing Food to the Poor this Christmas!

2011-10-21T10:14:00.001+08:00

Dear Frens,

Christmas is round the corner again, how have your year been?

Mine has been good. I have had several personal successes through the course of this year and of course as life would have it some big awful challenges as well.

I realise that whenever we take 2 steps forward, we often face issues that pull us one step back at the same time. It is like this that we always have God with us and it keeps us grounded to the fact that we need him.

All in all, with God by our side, we will always come out ahead and be able to count the many blessings we received.

This year for Christmas, I feel called to bring you a project in Philippines that will bring food, prayer and hope to the poorest of the poor. I have friends on mission who will be able to buy and pack food packages for the poor at a dump site village of Montalban.

As many of us will enjoy Christmas comfortably, I feel pain in my heart that there are people especially children who have to live with trash, scavenge for things at dump sites to keep alive.

I feel it would be a wonderful and meaningful Christmas for us, friends of Project Kyrie to share our blessings with them. Each food hamper will cost about $16 and there are hundreds of people in this poor village in need of our blessing. We target for to support them with 300 food packages.

If you would like to join me, we will put our money together and contribute as many food packs as we can to make this Christmas alot brighter, alot more meaningful, alot more joyful as we bring the face of Christ and the face of humanity into the homes of people who have so little.

God Bless,
Mill

Man's value before God is estimated by the dispositions of his heart, its uprightness, its good-will, its charity, and not by keenness of intellect or extent - Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774 - 1824)

Let's Leverage to Help the Poor and the Needy!

2011-06-23T18:43:00.000+08:00

Dear Frens,

My day started like this:

10am - class

Things to do today - organise the pick up of 31 sets of computers and monitors for distribution to the needy given by Informatics Campus.

11am - Transport by volunteer still not confirmed for pick up today at 4pm

12pm - Transport still not confirmed but volunteer trying his best. Pray.

3pm - Call from volunteer's friend to pick up computers on his behalf with a van instead of his lorry. Trouble... Van is not large enough to transport all the computers. Problem!

3.05pm - Rack my brain whilst having a late lunch after class. Remembered a friend who runs an ambulance service. Try, call for help!

3.30pm - one van and two ambulances race to pick up 31 computers and 2 lap tops.

5pm - work done

10 computers arrives for local sg families
10 computers goes off to start of a new day care centre
11computers on its way to JB orphanage and homes
2 laptops sent to stat a computer class in kupang Indonesia ( need 8 more!)

Moral of the story:
Be who you are
Be where you are
Be available when you can
And this would make a world of difference to the those in need!

Many thanks to all who have come so generously and willingly to help the poor. Special thanks to informatics for the computers, medic network for taking time out to rescue computers for the poor, also to Chris Bek, Samuel, Eric and all his helpers.

God Bless,
Mill

* we are born to love, we live to love and we will die to love still more - St Joseph Cafasso (1811-1860)

With God All is Possible!

2011-03-21T17:53:00.001+08:00

What can God do with an old 10yr old van that we alone can't?

This is a short testimony how a little old van that was heading towards the scrap yard gets a new lease of life!

Few months ago, whilst I was at West Mall with 15mins to spare before a movie, whilst gaping at some cakes, a good friend with the Canossians said 'hi' to me. Before long, she was asking me if I wanted an old van to export to a 3rd world country for the poor. Of cos I said 'Yes'! . I reckon it's my job to just say 'YES' and God's job to find a home for it.

And of cos HE did!

This is what the van is now :)

We are like the old van aren't we? When we are touched by God, we transform.

An obsolete old van touched by God is now a new life-saving ambulance that will last many more years and save many many lives!

Friends, if each of us avail ourselves to say 'Yes' to helping the poor, God will do the rest. What we can't do ourselves we have but to ask around and there is always one of us who can always do something wonderful for His Glory.

Many thanks to the Canossian Sisters, Budi, Christopher and all involved to make this project a success \o/\o/\o/

God Bless,
Mill

Simply delicious!

2011-03-21T17:08:00.000+08:00

Much Thanks to Woh Hup for contributing the sugar free bird's nest for the aged at the Gift of Love Home for our Chinese New Year celebrations with them.

The resident's enjoyed the special afternoon very much. Much thanks also to Praise@Work for providing much love, other tea items, song items and games.

Christmas Party for the Kachin Children @ The New Generation School in KL

2011-03-21T16:09:00.001+08:00

Party Happy Meals donated by Peter Twang

Clothings donated by Children of Nanyang Primary School

Books from Cannosaville

Christmas ended meaningfully for year 2010 as friends of Project Kyrie came together to bless kids who have little.

Helping others and making others happy need not be a big ordeal. Things easily come together when we have the same heart to reach out to bless others with our lives and our resources.

A meaningful, fun-filled Christmas Party was under way when friends said 'Yes' to driving up to KL to visit a school for Kachin ( Burmese) children.

With one 'Yes' everything else easily fell into place. We have at times, to be the one who opens the door and allow opportunites for others to do good and allow blessings to flow.

In this case, we managed to send children's books, clothes and an opportunity to have a fried chicken happy meal for 100 kids. Many have not had the opportunity to eat a happy meal before. So thats a call for celebration!

Many thanks to the Cannossians for the books, to Nanyang Primary School for the clothings and to Peter Twang for sponsoring the Happy Meals. Many thanks also to the Angels who said 'Yes' and drove all these things up to KL plus organised the Happy Meals!

Partnering KKCH medical social work dept to make the world a better place to live in

2010-11-24T21:42:00.003+08:00

Dear friends,

I have been so busy lately that I haven't been able to say our thank-yous fast enough to all our friends in project kyrie who have been doing wonderful things with us.

Today, I would like to dedicate this page to friends who have been helping the needy and sick children in Singapore. We have worked together many times with KK children's hospital medical social work dept through the year without mentioning even once to friends who follow this blog.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Chia Yi, Joy, Peter Twang and Budi Soehardi for fulfilling a child's last wish to have an expensive game set.

This child could not have her wish fulfilled by the make-a-wish foundation because she fell out of the qualifying age group. When the medical social workers from KKCH came to us with this request, friends of project kyrie supported this cause quickly without hesitation and a child had her last wish fulfilled. Her illness has since taken her away from us but I am sure we have given her some joy to take with her to heaven.

Thank you also to Agnes Koh for having given her entire hello kitty collection to make many KKCH needy children smile when pain was abound. Thanks also to Betty Ng & friends, Chooi Peng and many more who gave baby clothes and baby cots when help in getting these items were requested .

Most recent was the love extended by Peter Twang, Jerry Yong and Linda for supporting without hesitation the funds and gifts needed for a last minute children's party for needy sick children at KKCH. Becuse of your kindness, they enjoyed party food, balloons, games and beautiful cartoon backpacks to take home with them.

I have probably missed out many others who have given their time and love for the children and families of these children. Do forgive me. I pray that whatever each has done to make even a moment of a sick and needy child's life better in anyway that our Father will bless you all with the same heart of generosity that you have so generously extended to them.

Last but not the least, I am in awe of the love the KKCH medical social workers have for their ill and needy children. They have spared no efforts to make a difference in the lives of the patients they serve.

Together with you, serving the poor,

Mill

Giving Hope and Rebuilding Lives

2010-08-11T12:28:00.001+08:00

Dear Frens,

It is with much thanks to everyone for contributing so generously to help Sohpeak from my last email. Your time to tell friends about it, your prayers and the contributions that came in for this project.

The money is now in Cambodia with the Don Bosco sisters and we will be working with sisters there to ensure your contribution is maximised ad spent according to plan. Sisters will as usual acknowledge all monies received as soon as they can.

It is truely with God's grace that we not only managed to help repair Sohpeak's house but also help another family in a similar plight.

This family has 7 children. The mother works as construction worker, the father is sick with a lung problem.
Their house also floods when it rains. They recently borrowed 20$ to buy some sand, just simply sand, because when it rains, the inside of the house becomes completely muddy, just as you would be on a muddy road.

The Don Bosco Sisters have also said that the ground floor is built with red bricks without mortar and it's dark and black because of the smoke and soot form the kitchen. The roof is also leaking badly as it has many holes.

The father though sick, is eager to fix the house himself if we supply him, the materials. Two weekends ago, our friend Audrey flew to Phom Penh, she visited the house and this is what she assessed:

1. ground floor is covered in sand. There is no concrete base under. All the furniture sits on sand.
2. Staircase going upstairs is narrow and unsteady.
3. walls dividing the rooms upstairs are breaking/ rotting away
4. exterior wooden walls of the upper house are very old. Possibly from 15 yrs ago when the house was first built.
5. furniture is old and rundown; the upper rooms have no furniture - clothes are hanged on a rope or pole; bedding is worn out.

Thank you to all for blessing these families with a warm and dry home to live in.

May the generosity of all who contributed to this project in any way be filled with the Lord's Spirit and may your hearts be filled with the same warmth of love from God as you have so kindly extended to our poorer brothers and sisters in Christ.

God Bless,
Mill

Love thy neighbour as you love yourself!

2010-06-03T16:17:00.006+08:00

Dear Frens,

We have an opportunity today to help a needy Cambodian student called Sopeak from Don Bosco, to help re-build her house which is falling apart. The minimum amount required is about USD$500 as the other half has been sponsored by another friend.

Sopheak was a student in the Food & Home Management class at Don Bosco.

By God's grace, she has chosen to be a nun & is now a formande. Her father met with 3 accidents in a year (2006 or 07) andnow now he's got TB.

Sopheak's house is 3h30' by car. Their house need to be repaired and partially rebuilt. It's now partly made of bricks to prevent the rain from ruining the wood wall. Their house is 13mx5m=65m2. For the labor of the cement work it's about $200 ($3 per square meter). Then there is the cost of the new materials, the carpentery work and the removal of the old house. Her father can't help much as he is very sick now.

Their own savings can be used to fill up their compound with red soil to raise the level of the ground by 50cm which helps to prevent the flood during this raining season.

Frens, if you feel called to help this family, to help them rebuild their house, give them hope, help them a little with their dad's medical expenses, do let me know. I will consolidate all our funds and work with the Don Bosco sisters to ensure that the money is used for the said purpose.

Let's free Sopeak's mind from worries of her family so she can focus on the committing her life to the Gloryof God! \o/\o/\o/

Yours In Christ,
Mill

ps - If we raise more than what is needed for the house we will help the dad with cost of some medicine and food for the young kids and perhaps help another family who is living in the same situation and need basic shelter.

'Neither genius, fame, nor love show the greatness of the soul.'
Only kindness can do that.
- Jean Baptiste Henri Lacordaire

Partnering ONE Singapore to take a step closer to eradicating poverty!

2010-05-26T19:32:00.016+08:00

Thank you, ONE Singapore for your dedication to raising public awareness and striving to make poverty history!

Our heartfelt thanks to One Singapore's dedicated team for organising this charity warehouse sale in collaboration with food distributor, FoodXervices where Project Kyrie's poor families have received with gratitude much needed food packages for the month.

Frens of project kyrie, do support ONE Singapore in all their events and efforts to make a STOP to poverty. Their next food drive is on 16th October 2010, so keep that date on your radar and participate in the warehouse sales that they will be organising again.

Together we all CAN make a difference!

Thanks again Vernetta, Michael, Judy and all at ONE Singapore on behalf of the poor!

Partnering Nanyang Primary School to reach out to the poor

2010-05-22T16:45:00.012+08:00

Dear Frens,

I have stayed beside Nanyang Primary School for years. The school is truely a gem in our society. I would be so proud to enrol my children there and would not hesitate to recommend this school to any of my friends.

Every Chinese New Year, the children would go house to house to give their neighbours hearty Chinese New Year well wishes. This little act of awareness by the school and teachers have brought so much joy to the neighbourhood especially to our family as Chinese New Year would not seem like Chinese New Year if we do not see the ernest little faces coming by, to wish us a wonderful and properous Chinese New Year! In fact, my mum have also taken to preparing little goodie bags of sweets and cookies for our little guests every year.

It is not surprising then when one of the parents introduced Project Kyrie to the school outreach team, we hit it off immediately, finding ways to help the needy around us.

In the past year, we have assisted 80 Nanyang Primary School teachers to spend a day, twice a year, befriending and giving tuition to the needy children in the community.

This Chinese New Year that just passed, the teachers and children have taken a step further and collected thousands of canned food and rice for the poor.

With this we managed to provide food rations to poor families supported by Project Kyrie for 6 months. Rations have also been distributed to families in Queenstown supported by Beyond Services and families in Toa Payoh supported by HSR.

This act of kindness and effort of the children have given hope and joy to many struggling families. We are very thankful to the children for having learnt the virtue of sharing and helping others at such a young age, to their parents for encouraging the children and to the teachers and principal of Nanyang Primary for their continuous effort in moulding the children to become good and caring leaders in our society.

Much thanks also go to - Nanyang Plastics for sponsoring the hundreds of plastic bags used in distributing the food rations to the poor. To Laura and Ynez for spending an afternoon helping us to pack and sort the food rations. To Yvonne Goh for assisting in transporting the food rations to our storage. Thank you to many others not mentioned but you know who you are for making this project successful and possible! \o/\o/\o/
God Bless,
Mill

An Ultrasound Probe for the Canossian Medical Centre in Ukraine

2010-02-11T12:39:00.013+08:00

"Dearest millicent,
Thank you for the great help your friends gave to get the ultrasound probe. The cost of the probe was 45000.00 hyrivna that was 3930.00 euro with the exchange value at that time.From M. Natalina we received 3472.00 euro. So all the money you sent was spent for it. Thankyou. Here Iam enclosing the photo . Once more thankyou to you and to your friend Joseph. We remember you all in our prayers. "

With Gratitude,
SR. Elizabeth N.

Dear Frens,

I wish to thank Joseph Tan & his friends - Albert Foo, Soong Hee Sang, Adeline Koh, Francis Chan and Janice Koh, Liana and Joseph Santoso, Tan Chek Khiaw and Augustine Tan for raising the funds and buy this ultrasound probe for use to help the needy with medical equipment in Ukraine.

Young children in Ukraine lose their mothers to minor illnesses that can be prevented from escalating into fatalities. Friends, the effort and resources you have generously put out, will save more lives than you will ever know!

It is wonderful for me to see friends of Project Kyrie going into action. Friends like Joseph being called to help the needy in Ukraine by using his own network of friends to reach out to the poor as far as Ukraine. This is indeed the essence of Project Kyrie's outreach.

I hope more friends who want to continue supporting this clinic for the poor in Ukraine, will continue to come forward to pledge their resources. Every year there are costs to be maintained for licenses, doctor and medical technician salaries, medicines etc.

It doesn't matter where we help as long as the help goes to people who need us. We are all indeed blessed if we are in the position to give that help, don't you think?

All Glory to God, our Father, as we remain, his instruments of love \O/\O/\O/

Sharing what we have this Christmas will give hope to those who need us!

2009-12-06T08:08:00.019+08:00

Dear frens,

It’s 4.30am, I woke up reviewing my day yesterday and can’t get back to sleep because I felt so inspired to write to you, to thank you for the years of support for allowing me to successfully bring appeals of humanitarian aid right into your offices, your homes, amidst your busy schedules and on your weekends.

Yesterday, when the opportunity presented itself, I tried a new way of raising funds for the poor. Many were involved. I spent an entire day doing up a slideshow which I think nobody really looked at. We also made exhibition boards the day before, laminated them plus a host of other logistic arrangements like getting permissions from organizers to put up a booth to organizing items we could sell to raise these funds for people in Kenya who have almost nothing.

For this, I also had to inconvenience 2 friends to try to find something last minute for me to sell. Believe it or not, one of them, I had to text him at Mt Tabor during his holidays and he had to text his office staff to set it up for us so we could collect it within hours of the same day. Not forgetting another wonderful set of people who had to drop their plans for the day to race across our island to pick up generously donated chocolates within another 2 hours for us to be ready for yesterday’s sale event.

So yesterday, the day started at 6am and ended at 6pm. We made $1,100 selling chocolates 2@$10. It was hard work. Many were happy at $1,100 but I asked myself what can we buy for $1,100?

We could get 50 or 60 mattresses for the homeless and destitute in Kenya and many will be able to close their eyes in a comfortable bed, forget their troubles for awhile whilst they sleep. I know it would be almost heaven for them to have these necessities that we take for granted in our lives. Many of us jump into our thousands of dollar mattresses quite unhappy every night don’t we? I know I have had my share of those nights.

I want to do more for people who live amongst trash. It is impossible for me to understand how that feels like. Just being in our HDB rubbish shack the other day for a few minutes, I was going to puke needless to say I would surely die if I had to live in one with no hope of escaping from it.. I have to do more for them and I know, we as a whole can do more.

I was thinking of all this now at 4.30am and it dawned upon me what a great gift God has given me…He has made way for his Holy Spirit to constantly work beside me –He gently inspires me to help the poor, He inspires my pen to write and His gift of a group of like-minded friends like you whom I can write to share my passion in helping those who have very little.

I have not done an overseas project for at least a year now, largely concentrating on the poor in Singapore.

So now friends, for this Christmas I bring before you the poor in Kenya, Africa.

For many years, I have seen and heard of the extreme poverty in Africa but it seems so far away and it was not within my reach to help the sick, the hungry, the child and the homeless.

I now know of a trusted catholic priest on the ground that I can work our projects with, to help these poverty stricken brothers and sisters of ours.

So friends would you like to join me to make this Christmas really count for something in the lives of another?

To give a homeless person perhaps a shelter over his head, a hot meal to a child or simple soap to be clean and smelling fresh this Christmas?

If funds allow we can also work towards education of children in poverty and creating lifeline opportunities for work for women with HIV, rejected by their families.

Many of us through the year have made great mental and physical sacrifices to be at the jobs we dislike and even if we love our jobs we have had to sacrifice precious time we would have had with our kids, our wives, our husbands, our parents, our friends to make money so our love ones can have a better life.

Would you like to make all these Sacrifices count for something?

We can make a real difference if together we can build a school or even repair one.

I am envisioning a fund of $10,000 to $20,000 to help the African homeless, destitute, street kids, HIV adults and children build better lives through us in year 2010.

If you feel called to join me in this project, do email me or text me. We are working with Father Conor Donnelly, an Opus Dei priest on the ground in Kenya.

I can as usual consolidate and send our funds to him. If your contribution is large and you would like to send it directly to him that is also ok. I will undertake to ensure that we do the extra mile with these funds sent over. Acknowledgement receipts from Fr. Conor Donnelly for your contributions can arranged if required.

Here's wishing everyone, Merry Christmas and may blessings of the holiday season be upon you.
May the Lord always bless you bountifully for what you are to others in ways big or small.

God Bless,
mill

A blessed year of love and sharing

2009-12-02T11:14:00.016+08:00

Dear Frens,

The year 2009 is almost coming to an end. As I look back and review the year that has so quickly gone by, I am filled with awe that we have managed to do quite abit over the year through our Lord's Providence.

We have much to be proud about as friends of Project Kyrie have chosen to do good for the less fortunate brothers and sisters, bit by bit, person by person, project after project throughout the year.

Standing together in our belief that we can make a good difference by doing what we can, when we can, we have dear friends, fed many people through the year and have also given yet others hope and support by being there with our resources, our contacts, our recycled furniture, appliances and most of all our precious time.

I have stopped working for over a year now, anticipating that I would be bored to wits end and return to the workforce to occupy my time but I find myself as busy as ever.

Although, co-ordinating distribution of food, goods and assistance for the poor doesn't pay in money but I find my life now blessed and filled with the riches of knowing so many wonderful people with pure hearts of gold.

For the year gone by, we wish to thank businesses like Woh Hup, Angliss, Nanric, The Garden Slugs, Delhi Restaurant, CreativeEateries, Hup Lee Fried Bee Hoon, Ivisual, Salvation Army, Melwani, Gap International, Bike Haus, One Singapore an many others who have partnered us and given their generous support to help the poor.

Kyrie Kitchen has also been a success with no little effort to many big hearted donors and individuals who cook, drive and distribute the food to the poor.
Here we wish to thank Grace Seah, Jenny, Mable Yong,Margaret Goh, Celine, Radia, Valerie Yeo, Lucy Teo, Susan Lee, June Chan, Sumi Bharvani, Vandy Kapoor, Shenaz, Stella, Julie, Clifford Tan, Mark Foo & friends, James, Raja, Walter & Manya from UK, Dom, Nick Aw, Shaun Chan, Joseph Tan, Sally Tan, Tara Melwani, Alina Sim, Benson Leaow, William Ngang, Julianna Foo, Debbie See, Joanne Goh, Jacinta Kong, Sammy Lee, Felicia Cheng, Pey Woan, Anthony Wong, Sweet Woon & Kok Hiang, Susanna Kang, Corinne Cheok, Mok Sauk Soo, Iris Lim, Philip Wee, Emily Tan, Stephanie Salay, Dr Priscilla Lee and last but not least Rosalind Tan for heading the cooking team and Paul Raj for his limitless love for the poor in distributing food rations and extending support to individual families who need our help in Singapore.
There are many many others who have done so much for the poor and is not mentioned here. We wish them and their families abundant blessings for Christmas and the year ahead.
Here's Wishing Everyone a Truely Blessed Christmas and a Fantastic New Year!

God Bless,
Mill

Project Kyrie Partners Standard Chartered to Recycle Office Furniture for the Poor

2009-10-19T22:05:00.005+08:00

We wish to thank Standard Chartered Bank for partnering us to support education for the poor in their donation of 3o training chairs and a sofa set.

Project Kyrie has allocated this donation for use at FMM House, where Philipino maids are trained in a variety of new skills to build up life giving opportunities when they return home after working in Singapore.

When furniture is recycled for the poor, the time and labour of man also lives on to serve and profit in the goodness of human kind.

God hath given to man a short time here upon earth, and yet uponthis short time eternity depends.
-- Jeremy Taylor

2009-08-25T20:08:00.006+08:00

Dear Frens,

Yes, we made it past the 1st month! We have fed 700 people twice in August 09! \o/\o/\o/

Kyrie Kitchen aims to serve delicious hot home-cook meals that money cannot buy.

This project is wonderful, not only because the poor had food but it has allowed me to witness the solidarity of love & humanity that so many people have in their hearts for the poor.

The amount of individual effort it has taken to feed these 1400 people in this August '09 is truely inspiring to me.

We have cooks waking up as early as 5.30am, volunteers coming in just to pack the food in between running their own personal errands.

So many individuals took the effort to take time off their busy schedules to personally buy rice, fruits, pepper, oil and lug it to my house. Many also supported with their business connections and friends to supply food items and ingredients.

Even market uncles and aunties whom my mother patronised for years jumped in the bandwagon to contribute their share to the poor where they can.

Others shared their business kitchens to donate their own share of food to bless the poor. Charity groups like blessing in a bag, willing hearts, kitchen agape, St Ignatius's St. Vincent de Paul & Salvation Army sent in their resources to give clothes to the migrant workers and offered help and equipment in setting up the kitchen.

Still others, rush from work in their office outfits and leather shoes with their cars, MPVs and vans that they kindly begged, borrowed or stole from their friends to transport the food and fruits.

Many, many friends who have not been able to join us operationally have made generous personal contributions to fund the effort. Last but the least, the prayer support we have received from friends all over the world which we cannot do without.

It's so heartening to know that so many people will give so selflessly to people whom they do not know.

Let's pray, that these acts of kindness will have the effect of having others pass it forward, making this world a better place to live in.

God Bless,
Mill
Charity can be recognized as an authentic expression of humanity and as an element of fundamental importance in human relations, including those of a public nature. Only in truth does charity shine forth, only in truth can charity be authentically lived. - Pope Benedict XVI

2009-08-06T13:53:00.006+08:00

Kyrie Kitchen will be launched on 6 August 2009!

Dear frens,

God has blessed Kyrie Kitchen with abundance and mercy!
We wish to thank all friends of Project Kyrie for responding with boundless generosity!

Everything we needed for the launch, we have received to the finest detail.

Because of you, we are able to launch Kyrie Kitchen to serve the poor and the hungry today.

This is indeed a concerted effort of Project Kyrie’s community of friends. A solidarity of love, care and concern for the poor who live amongst us.

On behalf of the poor...

1) Thank you so much for providing the resources and equipment to set up the kitchen in just a few days.

2) Thank you for your monthly pledges of rice, chicken, vegetable, pepper, salt, sauces, peas, fruits and other food items. Every bag of rice, every plate of food served will go a long way in helping the poor.

3) Thank you for contributing to other ingredients for which we had to buy.

4) Thank you for volunteering to prepare, cook, pack, drive and distribute the food.

5) Thank you to restaurants and individuals for adding more meals to our effort so that we will not need to turn away the hungry.

6) Thank you to all, for taking time and effort to contact your network of friends to join in this mission.This is the vision of Project Kyrie coming alive.

7) Thank you also to friends for collaborating with us to distribute used clothes and brand new Croc s sandals.

And.... How does 200 hot meals become 1700 meals within a week?

My 73 year old mother stepped up and said ‘yes’ to feeding the poor and the hungry.

Her desire and courage was only for 200 packs of hot meals twice a month.

A tidal wave of kindness for the poor have swept through this project. Before my mother cooks her 1st hot meal today, we have received monthly pledges from restaurants and individuals to provide vegetable curries and nasi lemak.
A total of 500 extra meals. 200 + 500 = 700 hot meals

One of the locations, we will be serving tomorrow is the blue star dormitory, where 5000 low-waged and under privileged foreign immigrants are living.

Usually many will be turned away hungry when the hot meals run out. A kind and wonderful donor has stepped up to provide 1000 packets of Maggie
noodles meal, every time we distribute food for the poor for a year. These would be given to sustain the hungry who would otherwise be turned away without food. So that’s a total of 700 + 1000 = 1700 meals!

\o/\o/\o/ Praise God! He has multiplied our 5 loaves and 2 fishes! He is indeed a God of love, mercy and faithfulness!

Last but not least, we need your continuous support to allow this mission to grow and continue in the years to come.

Today's Schedule

9am to 3.30pm - Food Preparation

3.30pm to 5.30pm - Packing and Washing Up

5.30pm - Cars Arrive

6.00pm - Convoy leaves for the different

Locations

Locations for food distribution to the poor:

Jobless foreign migrant workers @Desker Road
Dustbin and trash collectors atWoodlands
Blue Star Dormitory @ Jurong, 3 Kian Teck Rd

Project Kyrie Social Enterprise - Let's create jobs and vote with our money!

2009-07-22T18:34:00.006+08:00

Dear Frens,

To help the Emmanuel Christian Home to create a viable revenue stream, we are offering car wash & wax for just $25!!

If you want your car to 'sparkle' not only like new but also with goodness and love :) Pls make an appointment as often as you can to get your washed & waxed with them at Ponggol.

Pls help also by sending this car wash & wax offer to as many friends as possible.

Mobile, door to door car wash & wax is also available. We can drive to your condominium or office building to do a complete wash & wax for the same $25, if you have at least 15 to 20 cars for us to provide this service to.

Mobile - door to door service
CALL : 96956267

God Bless,

Mill

When we have the heart, God will find a way!

2009-07-21T12:17:00.013+08:00

2 friends who blessed others with their resources today!
* Thien Tat Awnings & Co, HUB distributors Services

Job Done! 15ft by 9ft shade - Fits perfectly into the truck!

We wish to Thank Mr Leow, Steven and Christian Tew for rising unhesitantly to the occasion in helping our less priviledged brothers and sisters. Their skills and their kindness is indeed inspiring.

Today, I witnessed the core values and vision of Project Kyrie coming into life yet again. We do not need to leave our jobs in order to do charity and good works for our neighbours. We need to be exactly where we are and say 'Yes' when our skills, our connections or our resources for the poor are needed.

Today an almost impossible task was made possible so that Emmanual Christian Home can have a gigantic shade to conduct their activites. It would have been easiest to just throw away the shade then to recycle and bless others with this useful shelter.

Praise God indeed for creating this community of friends in Project Kyrie. Friends who stand together in solidarity for the poor.

We, who take this road as many have before us, will experience a joy unsurpassed.

If no poor could be found in the world, men ought to go in search of them, and dig them up from underground, the slums or the ghetto, to do them good, and to be merciful to them. - Saint Camillus de Lellis (1550-1641)

God Bless,
Mill

Blessings In A Pot! A testimony of God's mercy & faithfulness!

2009-07-20T18:32:00.008+08:00

Dear Frens,

good news, Good News, GOOD NEWS!

Kyrie Soup Kitchen is born!

Some of you may know that my father has recently passed away and my mum was devastated. Just 3 weeks ago she was saying that her life is over and she wants God to take her home.

She kept in prayer, she held on to our Lord, and many friends have been praying for her and with her.

Few days ago, she just came to me and said she will devote her excellent cooking skills to feed the poor!

This is indeed a testimony of God's Power, Mercy and Faithfulness. God has delivered her from darkness in an instant!

Thank you very much to all my friends at Praise@Work for their healing prayers, also to the Canossian and Don Bosco sisters and all other friends who have kept my family in prayers during our trial.

Kyrie Soup Kitchen will target to serve their 1st meal on 6th August 2009. If you have the desire to feed the poor please join us in this effort to feed the poor and to bring glory to God \o/\o/\o/

We need volunteers for cooking, cutting vegetables, packing of food, drivers with car boots or vans, food distributors, monthly rice, vegetables, sauces, meats and a large fridge and anything that can be used to set up this outdoor kitchen at my house.

We will for a start cook about 60 to 80 kg of rice for about a total of 400 people. We are located opposite the church of Ignatius along King's Rd. All are welcomed to help :)

To contact me, my hp is 96956267 .

Prayer is indeed exhaling the spirit of man and inhaling the spirit of God!
- Edwin Keith

God Bless,
Mill

Helping others get a second chance!

2009-06-04T21:08:00.007+08:00

Dear Frens,

I recently came to know a friend Kryst whilst distributing the many denim jeans we had to the poor.

He has been helping brothers who have fallen into crime. He assimilates these men back into society by helping them get a job and housing them till they get back on their feet again.

He is at present housing about 15 men and is moving from his HDB flat to a new rented house in Punggol so that he is able to help more people with a larger place.

Frens, I feel giving someone a second chance is indeed a worthy cause. Many a times we ourselves wish we can be given a second chance at doing things right...right?

They have seeked help from us to help them set up their new home.
Let's bond together and do our best to help them. What better way for us to show that we have God in our hearts than to help our neighbours?

As Martin Luther says:

What is it to serve God and to do His will? Nothing else than to
show mercy to our neighbour. For it is our neighbour who needs our
service; God in heaven needs it not.

-- Martin Luther

So pls call me or text me at 96956267 if you or anyone you know have any of the furniture items below:

Items needed
1) 10 single wardrobe(cupboards (2door)
2) 6 double decker beds
3) 2 single beds
4) 1 double bed (queen)
5) 12 single mattress
6) 1 long dinning table with chairs
7) Freezer
8) 20 Pillows & blankets
9) Dryer
10) Microwave Oven
11) small oven

We are also looking for sponsors who would like to sponsor 6 months of food rations to them. Pls feel free to sponsor any food item you like for either 1 month or 6 months per person.

I can personally accompany them to buy the food items to ensure that the money is used accordingly.

Monthly Consumption for 20 people for lunch and dinner:

1) Chicken - 24 units @ $5.50 each - $132 per mth - $792 for 6 mths

2) Pork, beef - 16Kg @ $10 a kg - $160 per mth - $960 for 6 mths

3) fish - 160 fillets @ $10 for 20pcs - $80 per mth - $480 for 6 mths

2) Rice - 75kg @ - $$110 per mth - $660 for 6 mths

3) Condense milk - 90 cans $0.60 - $55.00 per mth - $330

4) Coffee & Tea

5) Milo - 1 can 3 days @ $10 each - $100 per mth - $600

6) Breakfast spread eg butter/margarine,jam,peanut butter

7) Eggs - 1 tray a day @$4.00each - $120 per mth - $720 for 6 mths

8) Can food eg luncheon meat, corn beef, stew pork, sardine

Thanks and God Bless,
Mill

2009-05-07T18:18:00.003+08:00

Dear frens,

Working to assist the poor makes me realise more acutely that I have never been hungry a day in my life..

I feel so blessed that every meal I have had in my life, have been a time for celebration with friends, a time for celebration with love ones & family.

People who know me will know that eating is always a joyous time for me. What they don't know is, the more I enjoy my food, the more I feel a pain in my heart when I see people go hungry.

Some people have so little that even feeding themselves & their kids have become a problem. This is especially true these days, when people hold huge debts to banks and have lost their jobs.

Mother Theresa have always been an inspiration to me. She fed millions of people who had nothing. She also did it with nothing but faith and a desire in her heart to feed all who came to her.

When Willing Hearts approached Project Kyrie for a refrigerated container to feeze food,I felt compelled take this project to our network of friends.

I could see Willing Hearts enlarging their mission to cook & feed for more than 1200 people a day. I saw a way for us to make the difference to those who are now hungry and struggling in our midst. With a refrigerator, a huge 20 foot one, more food could be collected & stored, less food would be wasted.

It is indeed God's grace & mercy that we have a good friend, who with an angelic force of swiftness found, organised & donated this refriegerated 20 ft container in just one day..

I wish to give special thanks for the generous & quick response of Kek Beng, Wllie Goh & friends for making this new outreach possible. It is without doubt that many will be less hungry today because of our brother's great spirit of generosity & solidarity with our less fortunate brothers & sisters.

I am so awed that when God moves, you see the Power of God's love rippling through the hearts of men.

God Bless,
Mill

2009-04-22T12:45:00.009+08:00

Project Kyrie could not have done it without you!

Dear Frens,

Since I started exploring more deeply into mission work in 2004, I believe it's a journey which many will find difficult to turn back from.

When the heart is willing, God will show so much, of not only what is needed for his Kingdom but also provide a world of opportunities to keep us contributing. I can attest that, it is truely in giving that we gain.

I am deeply grateful to all friends of Project Kyrie. Without your constant support for the poor, we will not be able to help people who need our assistance near or far.

Our network of friends have been growing year to year, the quickness and generosity of donors who respond to the various calls of needs presented to us, friends of Project Kyrie, fills me with a grateful heart. My walk in doing mission will continue as long as friends of Project Kyrie find it a good way to make a difference in the lives of others, as and when they can, when a request for help comes in to us.

As Scott Adams say : there's no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a riple with no logical end. It is along this line of thinking that we hope to bring not only opportunities, comfort and love to the poor but also make the world a slightly kinder place for those who are having a hard time.

You will see from the updates of our activities we have since the end of 2008, been reaching out to the poor amongst us in Singapore. Activities include distributing of food and goods surpluses in Singapore to NGOs and individuals who need them for the work they do here and abroad. We have become a distribution portal for some retailers and businesses. We wish to thank these businesses for their constant support of clothes, food, toys and household items.

Quite by accident, Project Kyrie has also started Kyrie Home Projects. We came across a few local families with nothing or very little in their flats. Requests to provide used furniture went out to our network of friends and the result has been amazing! God is good. We have now managed not only to create empty flats of poor families into comfortable homes but have also partnered NGOs to furnish their centres to help the under priviledged with our excesses.

So thank you, one and all for your trust, participation and generosity. We truely could not have done so much or continue to do more without you!

God Bless,
mill

Partnering Beyond Services in making a child's dream come true!

2009-03-08T12:46:00.015+08:00

Dear Frens,

Thank you for spending a whole Saturday making a child happy.

I believe the happy smile of this child when he comes home to a clean house and seeing his favourite cartoon on the wall is worth more than a thousand prayers and praises to God.

May God bless you all abundantly for all your love and effort!

Special thanks to artists Shannon, Cheney, Debbie and Mark Foo for the paints. Also many thanks to Paul Raj and friends for cleaning the whole home so thoroughly.

Partnering Local Retailers to bring blessing to the poor

2009-01-23T16:15:00.014+08:00

Local Retailers with Big Hearts!

We wish thank two big fashion retailers for blessing the poor with 3 container load of jeans and tops! That amounts to approximately 40,000 pieces of clothing.

Our friends in retail, could have simply sold the goods but they CHOSE to bless people who have close to nothing.

It warms my heart knowing that these gifts generate more that just warmth of clothing for the poor. I have witnessed the bonding of friends with a common mission, the joy that comes from giving, new friendships made and the endless growth of opportunities and resources that is coming through to help more of our under priviledged brothers and sisters.

The goods have been sent either hand-carried by individuals or sent by sponsored containers to so many countries and so many places.

I am indeed awed at the numbers of God's selfless angels who have spent time and great effort to bring these gift of love to strangers across lands.

These 40,000 pieces of clothing will touch the hearts of those who will receive it, shirt by shirt, jean by jean in Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Philipines, Malaysia and even some to the really poor in Singapore.

Special thanks to JRS, the Canossians, FCAP (pilots) , 5Cs (cabin crew), St Vincent de Paul( St Anthony's Church), Pastor Robert Liu, World Federation of Catholic Medical Association, Kek Beng & his men at SH Cogent Logistics, Low Siew Kiang (Firefly Mission), Tara Melwani, Julia Wong (GAP Int'l )..and all friends who participated.

God Bless and Thank You everyone for your hardwork and contribution for this humantarian effort.

Yours in Christ,
mill

Cold Disaster Relief Operation in Thailand

2009-01-18T15:10:00.014+08:00

Thank you everyone, for making this possible!

Thank you for sharing your blessings with the poor ....We have collected 530 blankets in total. Know that the joyful light of 530 hearts is possible all because of you.

Remember Jesus said "In truth I tell you, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me." - matt 25:40

What a wonderful way to start our 2009 dear friends..with God in our hearts and a helping hand to those who have little! \o/\o/\o/

God Bless,

Mill

Cargo of 400 blankets arriving at a remote village-Poo Kat, on Sunday 18th Jan 09.The village is deep in the mountains without electrical power supply.

Elderly lady broke into tears, grateful that somebody came. The elderly's granddaughter standing by, watching.

One of the Hmong homes. This is a picture of the bed that sleeps 3 people.

Distribution of blankets to the poor...

Remember there's no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a riple with no logical end.-- Scott Adams

Dear Frens,

Thank you to all for responding to my sms on 'Lets hit the ground running... to help the remote hill villages in Thailand hit by the sudden extreme cold weather.

Temperatures dropped to 2 deg c in northern parts of the country.
The small villagers located on the mountains have report temperature reaching as low as minus 3 degrees in one mountain.

In 2 days, we managed to pull together funds to buy about 400 blankets @ $5 each ($2000). I will still be consolidating funds for anyone who would still like to contribute for the next 2 days. Do keep the blankets coming in for the hill tribes around Phetchabun; Thailand.

Let's pray everyone, before we jump into our warm beds tonight that somehow, some way these 400 blankets will bring warmth, life and hope to those who use it. Let's also thank God for all the blessings we have right here, right now, that we have so often taken for granted.

May God's peace and blessings be upon you for all the kindness you have shown so unhesitatingly for the poor.

Many thanks Shayli, Chris Emma Lee, Susie, Kathleen Lee, Brandon Ong, Katherine Chua, Pamela Kwan, Rebecca Soh, YM Wong, Jennifer Chan, Arthur Kang, Tan Guek Hong, Christopher Wong, Jocelyn Wong, Sarah Raman, Paul Raj, Peter Twang, Alice Fu , Nicholas Lim, Robert Tay, Kazim Reza, Sharoniel,Paula Marcondez,Shan Ng, Julie Ng,Aloysius Wong, and some anonymous angels

Partner link http://www.radion-international.org/

Project Kyrie Partners Radion International

2009-01-18T12:08:00.011+08:00

Dear frens,

Thank you for everyone's generous contribution towards securing the freight of this 40ft container of hope and love to people who have been almost been forgotten.

This 40ft container will be filled with food staples and clothing for the street kids, hmong refugees and mountain tribes in Phetchabun; Thailand.

Most of us are too busy with our daily work and families to be on the ground to take care and give opportunities to the poor. Thus when friends who are willing to offer their lives to people who will otherwise be forgotten, our support from where we are, is indispensable.

It is only when we stand together as a community of friends with the same vision to assist our unprivileged brothers and sisters that we will make a difference so large that it cannot be ignored.

Goodness will only beget Goodness, Kindness will always beget Kindness. The ripples of blessings we consistently send out, I believe will cumulate into waves of blessings to all, through which the greatness of God's love and mercy will be seen in full Glory.

Special thanks Aloysius Wong, Dinesh, Mark Thong, Judy Flemming,Ng Chay Hua, Christopher Wong for responding so quickly and generously to funding this container to the poor in Thailand.

The total cost of shipment is estimated at $3,000. We have now secured the cost for the leg of shipment from Singapore to BKK. Pls email or contact me if you feel called to support this shipment as I am still consoldating the funds.

Many friends are also ready to contribute clothes and food to be put into the container on the word GO!

Below are the details of this shipment:

A) Items needed:

1 ) Dry/Canned food items (Staples or meat items with at least 3 months towards expiry date)

2 ) Used clothes, blankets, jackets (Washed and in good condition)

3 ) Hygiene Items (Toothbrush, toothpaste, soap)

4 ) Medical/Pharmaceutical items (first aid kits/gloves/masks/bandages)

5 ) New Stationary/Educational Materials (Drawing blocks, coloring books, coloring pencils/crayons)

6 ) Electronics/Technology Items (Solar Panels, Water filtration systems, torch lights, batteries)

7 ) Foam sleeping mattresses

8 ) Baby clothes/Nursery Items (Feeding bottles, etc etc)

B) Guidelines

Pls pack into generic boxes or bags to minimise sorting and label it!

Pls ensure items donated are in good condition as the container is very costly.

Where possible indicate you are from Project Kyrie

If you are intending to buy alot of dry food it would be more prudent to give cash so that the goods can be bought cheaper from Thailand. Receipts and acknowledgements will be given by Radion Intenational if handed through Project Kyrie

Most importantly, we need connections with distributors or manufacturers who can give food staples, children's items and clothings for free.

Please note that we will NOT BE COLLECTING TOYS, as thisis a humanitarian relief shipment for only necessities.

Note some of the items which are not relevant for shipment may be sold off to raise funds for food and other necessary items to be purchased in Thailand for the poor.

C) Time lines and drop off location

Shipment is targeted to leave in 3rd week of Feb 09

6-7 Feb(Sat & Sun), 0900-1800 Collection Drive @ 1 Centralised Location ( Location TBC)

Thank you and God Bless Everyone!

Mill

Sharing our blessings this Christmas!

2008-12-22T16:47:00.025+08:00

Dear Frens,

There is undoubtedly no Christmas if we do not bring the joy of Christ to at least one person we know during the season where we celebrate his coming.

Thank you so much for all who responded so generously to the call for a scrumptious Christmas dinner and food rations for the poor family.

Thank you also to all who have been taking loads of effort these past months to donate, deliver or find friends who have furniture, TVs, microwaves and washing machines to fill 3 homes of our less fortunate brothers and sisters and also a centre for kids with special needs and disabilities.

Thank you too for all who also responded so quickly yesterday to the call to provide a Wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas day lunch for the girls at the Tent. Instead of self-cooked meals by 12 to 18yr olds, they now have turkey, honey baked ham, ice cream, fruits and a huge cake! Plus KFC! :)

I thank you all on their behalf.. I am humbled at everyone's generosity.

My deep gratitude and thanks also goes to all who offered their furniture, their food, their time and their money but I was not able to take up on their generosity when homes were filled and tables full.

I am sure Jesus would be at their tables tonight, as he would be at yours, smiling at our solidarity and love for the poor.

May our Father be well pleased at our small efforts to continually make a small difference in lives of others.

All efforts we make are only for His Glory \o/\o/\o/

May He bless you, your family and your love ones abundantly this Christmas and throughout the year 2009.

God Bless,

mill

"It is by the path of love, which is charity, that God draws near to man, and man to God. But where charity is not found, God cannot dwell. If, then, we possess charity, we possess God, for "God is Charity" (1 John 4:8).
- St. Albert the Great (1206-1280)

Hemocue gadget for Lay Canossian Missionary Dr Lucy Goh in Nurobo, West Timor

2008-12-16T20:08:00.013+08:00

Dear Martinus, Vicky and our Anonymous Angel,

Thank you so much for generously responding to Mill's request for funding to help buy a Hemoglobin machine to detect anemia in children and adults in our mission clinic in rural Nurobo, West Timor, Indonesia.

Dr. Priscilla Lim will buy it for me and when it does arrive in Nurobo, I will inform you and Mill.

God Bless you!
Dr. Lucy Goh
iluvluci@gmail.com

2008-12-15T20:39:00.001+08:00

BIG THANKS TO ALL OF YOU, for your generosity and involment in the mission for the poor children!!

May God bless you all In the name of Sr. Sarah, our Superior of Cambodia- Myanmar, all the Sisters, youth and children of Cambodia!!

Sr. Maria Salesian
Sisters of Don Bosco -Cambodia

Another Container on it's way to Don Bosco in Cambodia

2008-11-10T20:55:00.018+08:00

I thank everyone on behalf of the beneficiaries of the Don Bosco Mission for making this shipment possible! \o/\o/\o/

Many Thanks to John Lee, Vicky Quek, Mark Foo, Shanny Ho, Clarence Lee, Jacinta & friends, Christopher Solihan & Friends, Jerry Yong, John Ng & Family, Thomas Tay, Angeline Khoo & Family,Jennifer Tan, Christopher Lim, Augustine Goh, Tara Melwani, Poh Peng Hoe & Family for allowing us to store the goods in his warehouse whilst we consolidated the shipment.

Last but not least to the World federation of Catholic Medical Associations for funding the shipment.

The items loaded are:

11 plts Assorted Toys(Educational),1 Plt Assorted Toys(General), 1 Pallet Exercise Equipment(Trampoline), 13 Sets of Computers, 7 Ctns Clothes/Tee Shirts, 4 Ctns Shoes, 1 Ctn Toys, 1 Ctn Bags, 1 Ctn Bags and Shoes, 1 Ctn Blankets, 1 Ctn Bags and Clothes, 1 Ctn Training Books for teachers, 1 Ctn Stationery, 2 Pcs Ground Sheets(Tentage), 6 Boxes Blankets , 2 Boxes Clothings and Toys, 1 TV Set, 15 Wheel Chairs and walking aids, 6 Pcs Polystyrofoam Sheets, 1 Junior Bicycle

Thank You to All from the Das Family

2008-11-10T20:23:00.011+08:00

In life, often due to unforseen circumstances we come to face hardships that can test the most faithful of believers.

We are all on a journey, like pilgrims to the same promised land. When one of us falls or face problems, we stand together and give the helping hand that we can.

A month ago, we asked for furniture to help furnish an empty flat.

I give my thanks to many who have come forward so generously to share what you have. We would have liked to take all the furniture offered but we couldn't because we didn't have the storage facilities to collect all the furniture to benefit others.

Many thanks to Mandy Chua, Fran Seah, Shirley Chong, Alice Fu for helping them turn their empty house into a home and filling it with the most essential element...love for another and shining the light of Christ into their family. Of course, not forgetting Paul Raj, who is the pivot of all the arrangments. Without him, this project would not have been possible.
Deepest thanks from the Das family, who would like to thank all who have shared so generously.

Aid for the needy in Batam - A Kyrie & Focolare Project 2008 - 2009

2008-06-13T01:37:00.035+08:00

Aid for the needy in Batam S$45,000 needed for 100 children

Beneficiary receives

- S$450 per child S$80 for uniforms and school books

- S$370 for 12 months of food suppliers

Brief:

Children of poor families in Batam are generally undersized due to lack of proper nourishment. An 11 yr old can look like a Singaporean 7 yr old child.

Families look generally happy though not in best of health. Most have basic shacks..with little or no furniture. Families live in kampong environment..with trash strewn unhealthily everywhere.

Children in these poor families can go much further in life as some are very bright and show potential of having a bright future. Without assistance they would likely drop out of school at an early age and continue in their cycle of poverty.

How will your money help?

Aid given to each child from selected families will help alleviate stress on parents to choose between food and education.

Sponsors can provide consistent education and opportunities for the child to grow healthily and have a better life than their parents have.

Focolare will issue food vouchers to be redeemed in a Focolare-run mini supermarket. This will perhaps put a little more food on the table for the family.

Poverty need not be the price paid by a child

my world is full of possibilities with your help
*anyone who would like to communicate or visit the sponsored child they are only an hour away by ferry from S'pore

Sponsorship of prayer books for the sisters and young in formation need in Myanmar

2008-01-29T10:36:00.003+08:00

Thanks to Dominic Yeo, for his sponsorship of 15 copies of Everyday Prayer from the Divine Office, published in co-operation with collins E.J. Dwyer Talbot,by Theological Foundations in India.

Charity is surely not found in the great things we hope to do one day but in the daily responses to small things that God places before us everyday! Praise God \o/

Simple Contributions Make a World of Difference!

2008-01-25T19:59:00.001+08:00

a simple ping pong table can light up the lives of the women & children at the Hagar Women's Shelter \o/

ALL GLORY TO GOD!

2008-01-10T23:17:00.003+08:00

THANK - YOU!

Ukraine is so far away and many of us have no inkling what Ukraine is about or even look like. I praise and thank the Lord that kindness and mercy knows no bounds.

We wish to thank the following kind-hearted individuals for their generous contributions and support for the Ukranian Medical Centre Project.

An amount of S$9,500 was raised and have been sent to Ukraine via the Canossian Sisters in Poland by Dom Yeo our friendly banker.

May God bless you all a hundred fold for your kindness and love for the poor:

Martinus Kossahi, Francesca Seah, Sandra Vatsaloo, Julie Ng, Mok Sauk Soo, Lynette Yap, Raphael Teo, Lee Pey Woan , Theresa Sim and an anonymous angel.

Individual acknowledgement letters have been sent by the Ukranian Cannosian sisters to all.

The medical centre is a continuing project that has to survive on providence.

The Canossian Ukraine Mission will still need funds if anyone is called to help them get started. Even if technicians are paid for this year salaries will still need to be paid next year.

Further contributions for this worthy cause can be made directly to the convent or I would be happy to assist in organising the money to be sent there for you.

All monies or equipment sent will be officially acknowleged by the Canossian Order in Ukraine.

God Bless,
mill

A thank-you note from the sisters in Ukraine

from canossavin <canossavin@yahoo.co.uk>
reply-tocanossavin@yahoo.co.uk mailto:tomillicent.tan@gmail.com
dateThu, Apr 10, 2008 at 3:33 AM

subject: From Vinnitsa, Ukraine signed-by yahoo.co.uk

Our Dearest Millicent,

here we come with great joy to Wish you once again all the joys

of the Easter Season!

Hope and pray that you are keeping well.

Sr. Alicia had gone to Poland for the first profession of the 2 novices and we have got

what you had sent for our Mission.

May the Good Lord reward you and your companions for your charity and generosity.

We have got the License of the Clinic renewed from Kiev.

Very soon there will be further steps taken as we had planned.

Meanwhile once again we thank you for your help.Be sure of humble prayers for your noble work you are doing.

Lovingly, Sisters from Vinnitsa
Best regards, canossavin

mailto:canossavin@yahoo.co.uk

CANOSSIAN MEDICAL CLINICS FOR THE POOR IN UKRAINE (Vinnytsia)

2008-01-01T16:59:00.001+08:00

Dear Frens,

Happy New Year to you and blessings to you and your family in this new faith-filled year!

As some may know, I just came back from a 3 months trip to Poland and Ukraine.

Amidst my vacation, God led me to become closely acquainted with the Canossian Nuns in Eastern Europe. They took it upon themselves to show me their work, their mission and the needs & difficulties of the poor that exists especially in Ukraine.

The poverty in Ukraine is different from the poverty we are used to seeing in Cambodia. Ukraine, being a country whose temperature falls below -30 degrees, the poor there face a whole different set of problems.

It’s like living in a freezer for many months a year. The nuns told me that just recently a lady missed her train, she then sat herself down to wait for the next train. She had forgotten to move around and her legs froze thus they had to be amputated.

Ukraine also suffered from the 2 man-made famines that killed at least 9 million people, Hitler's insanity and Stalin's cruelty during the communist occupation.

Against this backdrop of violence, the Canossian sisters want to help these poor families transit from the effects and shadows of communism by providing medical assistance to the needy.

The sisters currently provide catechism, host retreats and some counselling. They visit the poor, the sick and are working hard to reduce the high rate of abortion through their existing Pro-Life centre.

The nuns having been praying fervently for assistance in launching their Medical Clinics for the Poor in Vinnytsia.

For 4 years now, a 22 room medical facility located in the Canossian convent has been completed but left unused despite it being fully licensed to operate.

There are now 3 doctors seeing patients but they cannot do much and are unable to fully launch this medical facility.

The Canossian Nuns have managed to raise 70% of the required funds and have managed to set up some of the infrastructure.

What they need now is funding to:

1) employ laboratory assistants to test and analyse blood and urine. ( Cost about USD$200-$250 a month each )

2) employ technicians to operate the ultra sound machine. ( Cost about USD$200-$250 a month each )

The medical facility can start to function immediately if we can fund 1) & 2)

In their prayers the sisters also hope to get:

1) a fully equipped dentist's chair - for the urgently needed dental clinic
2) an echocardiogram - for the cardiology clinic to diagnose heart problems

Usually in poor countries, we have to build and fund the medical facility but in this instance they already have the infrastructure - the land, the clinics ( cardiology,gynaecology, pediatric, family and dental clinics) all set up but lack manpower & some equipment ie. perhaps 30% more, to make it fully operational.

Frens, if you feel called to assist the Canossian sisters to enable these servants of the Lord to bring some hope and love this way, pls email me or call me at 96956267.

Car for the Canossian Sisters in Poland

2008-01-01T15:57:00.001+08:00

Dear Frens,

Thank you so much for responding so quickly to the appeal letter below.

It is indeed God's Grace \o/ \o/\o/ that we managed to raise the S$31,100 (54,000 zl) within 2 weeks!

On 20th November 07, we placed a downpayment for 1400cc, Peugeot 308. It cost 51,500zl. We collected 54,000zl = S$31,100.

The money is almost spot on after paying for insurance and tax to put the car on the road.

I can't tell you how grateful the sisters are to you for your act of kindness. They have just taken delivery of the car and your unconditional support has inspired them to do even more.

The gift of this car is so much more than just transport for the sisters, you have given them affirmation for their life's work and it truely symbolises God's providence and love for his servants through answered prayers.

Special Thanks to Irene Tang, Susanna Kang and our anonymous angel for their generousity and kindness..and to Lynette Yap for co-ordinating the logistics of this project \o/

Appeal letter dated 30th Oct 07

Dear Frens,

I am now in Poland with Canossians nuns in krakow, Poland. There are 3 nun in the house with one novice. Recently they have wrecked their car and are in need of a new one. An inexpensive car would cost abt 25K.

Winter is here and temperatures go down to as low as minus 10 or 20 degrees with sometimes heavy snow. I have followed them to comfort the aged, they feed some poor families even tho they are not rich with funds, teach catechism, conduct youth retreats and when its cold its also difficult to go buy food.

Most of us are unable to do the Lord's work as they do on a daily basis, if anyone feels called to help out with the sponsorship of this vehicle and be part of the Lord's work through them, pls email or sms me 96956267

Thanks.

Yours in Christ,
Mill

Helping the poor

2007-12-11T01:11:00.002+08:00

Dear Friends,

It been almost a year since I have posted anything here. Mainly its because the plans we have are now slightly larger and slightly harder to implement.

I am reminded that 'With God Nothing is Impossible!' thus we will embark on fulfilling the following needs that God has put placed in our way.

1) Cambodia - Microcredit loans to women
To assist them with funds to set up their own small businesses. This will enable families to rise out of extreme hardship and poverty. If these women have a skill or the will to make a better life for themselves and their families, they deserve an opportunity to try.

2) Ukraine - A land of blood and saints

A) To set up a medical centre for the poor at Vinnitsa

Here we have a situation where more than half the solution has been solved already.

The Canossian mission in Ukraine for purpose of helping the poor has built, set up and obtained a licence to operate a 22 room medical facility in Vinnitsa.

They have currently 3 doctors but they are unable to launch this medical mission because they lack funds for laboratory assistants to analyse blood tests, medical technicians to operate the ultra sound machine, some equipments and a dentist.

Re: Equipments still needed:

Dentist chair
Echo machine
X-ray machine

Those who feel called to help in contributing funds or have friends who can donate 1st or 2nd hand equipment pls contact me.

It would also be great if a network of doctors can assist in set up or provide associate help to this medical centre in any way to enable the centre to function to its highest ability and reach out and assist as many people as it can.

B) Setting up a Social Centre in a poor village in Ukraine - A dream of a priest for his people

Its hard to imagine but Ukraine's temperature goes down to minus 25-30 degrees. I was there last week and it was only minus 5-10 degrees and I was freezing. It's like living in a freezer!

Ukraine has suffered 2 world wars, 2 man-made famines ( extreme persecution and genocide) and 70 years of harsh communist rule all within the last century. We will never understand the pain and suffering of the people. What I know is that they need a break!

They have been independent for 15 years, the poverty there is also extreme and harsh especially in the depth of winter. People need money for coal to warm their homes, to eat, to educate. It is a place where your legs can freeze and have to be amputated if you don't move in extremely cold.

Again here, we believe education is the 'hope'. The priest in this poor village has a dream to provide the poor with sewing and baking skills to help lift his parisioners out of poverty for those who try.

We want to help him raise funds here to build or rent this small social centre, where people can come not only to learn new skills but also for the young and old to gather and a place where the nuns can minister to the poor.

So I ask you friends to join me to help make the lives of those who have little or nothing a little better. If you feel called to help please do.

God can only put love in our hearts but we have to act on this love so that it can grow and glorify him.Pls do share this needs with people you know . Perhaps we can together make this a wonderful and meaningful Christmas for many.

With God all things are possible through him and through all those who love him :)

God Bless,

Mill

96956267

http://www.gimg.blogspot.com/

Last Day of the Year ....2006

2006-12-31T15:16:00.001+08:00

Many will know I just got back from Cambodia. It Has been a wonderful trip in so many ways. Ways which I will share with everyone in the coming year 2007.

Right now,I am sorting my photos from this trip and having a good cry.

Seeing the happiness on the faces of the children when they received the gift of toys and clothes we packed for the freight, really makes me feel how Great God Is.

It's a miracle in itself that the goods even got there!

It's a perfect way to spend the last day of the year, recalling God's mercy and goodness in our lives. Thank you all again, in all the ways you have helped to bring these children a little happiness. You are indeed the Lord's angels!

The Unsung Heros

2006-12-20T19:28:00.001+08:00

We wish to Thank DHL for their constant support for our cause. This year they have again sponsored 200kg for us to send necessities to Cambodia.

This has enabled us to send up much needed text books for the education of the poor. We thank Marshall Cavendish for giving us a good discount and sponsors for raising $1747.55 for the brand new text books.

Last but not least, I would like to Thank my Parents, the True Unsung Heros for doing all the back breaking work of packing hundreds of cartons in the last 2 years...They have been wonderful and may God bless them bountifully so that they can continue to serve him all of their lives!

Handbag Business

2006-12-20T19:14:00.001+08:00

We are heading out to Cambodia tomorrow. One of our Objectives is to help set up a viable handbag business for the Don Bosco school in Battambang. Battambang is known for girls being led astray into the world's oldest profession. We aim to provide these girls with an alternate source of income a new set of skills so that they can provide for themselves and their families.

We have seen some of the handbags done by the students, they are a little too traditional and lacks the 'fashion' element. Hence, we have bought sequins and designs with us this time. We are hopeful that we can create some bags that can be sold here in Singapore and perhaps the UK and USA.

Special Thanks also to Merlene Wong from Sing Mui Heng for helping us select the sequins and also kindly sponsored 14 packets of sequins from her own cost.

2006-12-20T19:10:00.002+08:00

Peng Sinath Is Sponsored!

2006-12-17T11:57:00.001+08:00

Thank-You to our anonymous sponsor!

Long Pheakday is Sponsored!

2006-12-17T11:43:00.001+08:00

Thank-you to our anonymous Sponsor!

Thank You from Long Pheakdey..

Christmas Message From Phum Chreh

2006-12-17T11:26:00.001+08:00

Clean water for kids of Phum Chreh

2006-10-16T11:37:00.001+08:00

Dear Frens, Thank you for everybody's help in getting this water filter into Cambodia. From point of conception, to designing,buying, packing, sponsorship of freight to setting up and prayers.

Here is a letter from Sr Ophriini on 14th October:

Dear Mill, Lyn and Friends,
Greetings from all of us: Sisters, Teachers and all the children at Don Bosco Chreh School.

We are very happy to inform you the joy you have given to these kids through your generosity and sacrifices. This school year 2006 – 2007 we have 414 children of which 169 are girls.

These kids are very eager to learn and become good children. We were able to provide all of them, uniforms, school bag, all school materials free of charge and also the daily lunch which they look forward to satisfy their hunger.

Observing their smiling and limpid eyes, our hearts swell up with gratitude to God for your contribution of love, so as to give these unfortunate kids a better future and also to realize their small yet heartfelt Dreams.

We can’t do it alone, but together we achieve much. We feel the deep joy that God’s providential LOVE and care continues through good persons like you.

The parents of the kids too bless God for this unique gift that they children could learn moral values and grow in wisdom and grace. Your special love of us makes us grow.

We wish to thank you in a special way for the water filter. We hope you could come and witness for yourself how it helps us and the children to be able to cook and drink clean purified water.

May God almighty compensate your love in the way He knows best.

The student scholars, Sok Phirom, Muong Srei Touch, So Rachana, Paing Suen, Long Pheakdey, Peng Sinath, Em Rotana, Maly Thavy, Proh Sophir and Sroh Socheat have began well their new scholastic year. They send their love and greetings too.

Love from all the Sisters.
United in prayers,
Sr. Ophriini Elizabeth FMA

Letter on 16 july 06
Dearest Mill,
Greetings from all of us.

Hope all are fine and working for the Kingdom of God.
Well, we are very happy and are grateful for all what the good Lord has done for us and especially for the poor children at Chreh.

The water filter plant is working very well. We are still trying set up a permanent place for it and we will be working with it in the following days. We are afraid that the theives will rob the water pump or other things as Chreh is famous for robbery.

With the money that is being alloted by you, we decided to buy government water. We then pass through the filter and the children are very, very happy to drink the water. They said it is very tasty and they took it home to make their parents and others taste the water too.

We also use this filtered water to cook our food for all the children. What a wonderful blessing !!!

A big thanks from all of them too.
Give our regards to all your friends and do continue to pray for these children, that they may know the Truth, accept the Truth and live the Truth. Love from all of us, Sr. Ophriini

Everyday prayer books Don Bosco sisters and young in formation need in Myanmar

2006-07-16T12:19:00.001+08:00

Thanks to Dominic Yeo for the sponsorship of 15 copies of Everyday Prayer from the Divine Office.

Everyday prayer is published in co-operation with Collins E.J. Dwyer Talbot by Theological Foundations in India.

Charity is not waiting to do great things one day but in responding and doing the small things that God places before us everyday!

Praise God! \o/

Thank-you! Teresa Indyk and Angela Stepan....

2006-07-10T18:59:00.001+08:00

Thank-you so much to Teresa & Angela for sponsoring the education of three 1st year students at Don Bosco Vocational School

The grateful receipients of their kindness are Teuk Kim Khun, Sem Chandany and Tang Ratana - their lives are that much better because you cared enough to make a difference in their lives...

Praise God for John and Lisa's constant love and support for the poor...
.

Thank you to our anonymous angel for providing these basic amenities for the children

2006-07-06T04:19:00.001+08:00

Toilets for the children at Kampong Speu

Thank you very much!

The toilets of the school in Kompong Speu are done.We added the outside wall and raised it higher to protect it fromflood.

We had not foreseen this before when we gave the price quotation. We added $250 and the total cost is $2,750 for 5 toilets.

We would like to put a simple plaque for the children and the peopleto feel the bond between them and the Singaporeans. Do you have anysuggestion on what phrase to write?

May God bless you for your generosity. - Sr. Ched

"The building of a better world requires Christians to speak with a united voice in working to inculcate respect for the rights and needs of everyone, especially the poor, the lowly and the defenseless." - Pope Benedict XVI (Deus Caritas Est - God is Love, #30)

The 'Freight' have arrived at last!

2006-07-05T23:53:00.001+08:00

Freight Arrives! 2 containers of clothing, toys and water filters!

BIG THANKS TO ALL OF YOU FROM ALL OF US!The filter for Phum Chreh arrived intact.

All the Sisters of Teuk Thla were there to welcome it :) From Phum Chreh, the truck delivered the cargo to our place in Tuol Kork. It was around 8:30 pm and we finished unloading until nearly 10:00. Look how happy everyone is and tired too:) I'll be sending you the complete pictures including the opening ofthe boxes. Tomorrow, we have to divide first the boxes for the threecenters. I'm glad there's a label for each box. It would facilitate the unpacking and distribution because we know which center has more children and their age level.You know our boarders all clapped their hands and shouted when the truck entered the school and especially when it was opened. A grandwelcome! I had some problem though with the camera. I'm not an expert yet in using the flash.with love and prayers from all of uswhile they were unloading I couldn't help but say a little prayer forall those who have contributed their time, money and effort in sendingus all these beautiful things. What a big work you did! God is really wonderful!

Dear Friends,
Thank you again for making this shipment possible.

The total cost to ship these 2 containers cost about $7,000. Everything inside it is priceless because it is a gift of our love for our less privileged brothers and sisters.

This is a testimony that with God everything is possible. It only takes from each one of us the heart to give and share and in this case the trust to pack the first carton! :)

All Glory to God! \o/\o/\o/

Yours In Christ,
Mill & Lyn

We thank you for your wonderful and powerful network in providing for us and the children many beautiful things. May you be blessed by the Lord always. The children's little hearts are beating with joy to express their unanimous "Thanks" to you and all your co-workers. We have clean water now. Thanks again. Love from all the sisters.

Sr. Ophriini

Paul Raj & Friends Sponsors - Rice for YIN CHOM RAN & 1 Yr Education for Ngoun Dara

2006-04-17T12:07:00.001+08:00

Dear Paul and Friends,
You have never failed us in many ways and until now. Thank you so much for the US$436 you sent. It has been allocated for the tuition fees of Ngoun Dara our handicap and the rice and other needs of the family of Yin Chom Ran. When classes re-start after the Khmer New Year I'll try to send you some photos. Ngoun Dara is also scheduled to go to Thailand for a needed medical check-up.
We will surely remember you during this Holy Week.

gratefully yours,Sr. Ched

YIN CHOM RAN is 4 years old. Last October 2005, we brought her to school along with the others.

The father earns by driving a romok, a motorcycle with extended piece of wood at the back to take in more passengers. He earns very little and this mode of transport is dangerous.

Chom Ran's mother stays and keeps the house. They just rent the house. They don't have any property.

They're very, very poor. This family needs help too for the rice.
Thank you so much!
Sr. Ched

Thank You, Patsy!

2006-04-17T11:16:00.001+08:00

Dear Pat,

Thank you so much for the USD$1638 you sent and of which I received hand carried by Angeline, Mill's friend. Now that I know the allocation of funds go for the education of Chin Vatey, Long Chanya and Chan Monyroth, the money will be forwarded to Sr. Teresita Garcia, the animator of the community where Sr. Ophriini belongs. Sr. Ophriini will surely send an acknowledgment letter .

May the Lord bless you for this gesture of solidarity with the poor.

with our prayers,Sr. Ched

Mrs Pat King has sponsored rice for a year for the family of Sok Thay

2006-04-05T12:29:00.001+08:00

Thank You Mrs Pat King from UK
These poor village families each need £4.67 (USD$7)/month to help with food costs. That is a total of £56 (USD$84)/year/family - John & Lisa Bishop

This is the family of Sok Thay who needs sponsorship of $7/month for rice. The family lives in the cemetery. It's the first time for me to see small houses within the cemetery. From the photo you can see the tomb in front of their house. Anyone who would like to sponsor for their rice would be greatly appreciated.
God bless,
Sr. Ched

Rice For The Poor

2006-04-04T16:00:00.001+08:00

John Thomas has sponsored rice for the Family of Chum Srey Pauv

Chum Srey Pauv (pronounce as Pao in English). She's the one in light blue shirt. She's one of the members of the Church choir.

On the photo with Sr. TM you see her sister with the three children. They're orphans. They stay together in the same house. The sister rents the house. The space you see in the photo is the actual little space they have. The sister and her husband collect old things thrown away and seel them. This is their source of income. Srey Pau has been sponsored for her studies by a Vietnamese lady. The rest of the expenses from the little earnings of her sister. A donation of $7/month is a big help for them.

This is the first one in the list and John Thomas was the first one who asked to sponsor this Vietnamese family.

Thank you very much!

God bless!
love and prayers,
Sr. Ched

NGAN Vutha is Sponsored by Aunt Barb (UK)

2006-03-26T01:12:00.001+08:00

Thank you Aunt Barb for your sponsorship of Ngan Vutha.

We pray that your kind support for her education will inspire her to work hard to build upon the foundation that you have so wonderfully provided.

"Neither genius, fame, nor love show the greatness of the soul.Only kindness can do that. " -- Jean Baptiste Henri Lacordaire

Cambodia Freight - Toys From Red Cross

2006-03-22T15:19:00.001+08:00

A meaningful day, spent last Saturday packing toys for the freight we are preparing to send to Cambodia.

Praise God for the enthusiam of the volunteers, their unceasing efforts, a sunny day, the loan of 2 lorries, last minute lorry drivers, for the fellowship of friends, the safe journey to Tuas and cartons boxes arranged by Mrs England.

Special Thanks to Pui Yee from Red Cross, Ronnie Goh and to Mr Poh for keeping his warehouse open till 8.30pm on Sat night to receive our goods. All Glory to God! \o/ \o/ \0/

Reaching Out From The UK!

2006-02-21T15:01:00.003+08:00

Praise God! For the efforts of John & Lisa Bishop..

They are indeed angels of God's Mercy!

Kindness Beyond Measure

2006-02-20T17:38:00.001+08:00

What will be the crown of those who, humble within and humiliated without, have imitated the humility of our Savior in all its fullness.- Saint Bernadette Soubirous (1844-1879)

Reaching out to Cambodia from the UK

2006-02-10T17:49:00.001+08:00

When I first met John & Lisa Bishop in Fiji in 2004, having beer in a little fishing boat, I did not know then we would be working together on a magnificent project to extend a little more of God's love to Cambodia.

God is Magnificent in his ways, it only takes a little sharing to get the spark going. John and Lisa was then on a world tour, they visited us in S'pore then eventually went to Cambodia. They visited Don Bosco School, met the nuns, sponsored a child and now back in UK, they have like us embarked sharing with others the need of the poor in Cambodia to their friends, family and community.

I will be sharing with you on my blog some of the wonderful work they have been doing. I hope this work will not only stop in the UK but continue to reach all who care to make a little difference in the life of those who need a little of our love.. as we share a little of God's mercy that we have received with others who still hope for a new tomorrow.

Here is John & Lisa:

Hi there

As many of you know we spent time in Cambodia in April this year and had the priviledge to meeting a small group of nuns looking after 4 schools with 1,207 students. We have been working on fundraising activities here in the UK and we wanted to share with you what we have been up to.

The attached documents we sent was the speech we made in church and the 57 cent story which we handed out on the day. This was given to me by one of my highschool teachers in Kansas City.

We raised a total of $980 on that Sunday plus we had a handful of people who we are meeting next week in the evenings who want to sponsor a child!

When we were there in April we sponsored a young lady called Chenda who has been through hell and back at the mere age of 20. Her father died when she was young so they had to move home. That home burned down with all they had, so her mother, sister and she moved into a room in someones home. The son of the owner physically abused her for a long time. The sisters took her in and gave her room, board, schooling, etc. She has now finished her final year at Don Bosco and we are currenlty sponsoring her through University - she wants to be a psychologist to help people who are going through what she has been through. She emails us weekly and calls us Mom and Dad.

The great thing about this group is they are not part of a great big charity organisation. We send the funds we receive straight into the Sisters bank account and then they let us know what they use it for, or obviously if a specific child is sponsored they provide photo and background of that child!

We will be emailing you 2 photo albums which you can look through with the photos from our trip to Cambodia and also the picture boards we used for our speech at Church.

Also you can have a look at the website that our friends in Singapore keep up to date with all the activity we are all doing in Cambodia - www.gimp.blogspot.com have a look at the Last Posts on the right hand side and you will see entries such as:Sponsors from the UK - info on our Father Damien and his sponsorship, John and Lisa visit Cambodia - info on our trip there last April

They are doing so much from Singapore - amazing efforts!

The greatest quote we have seen in along time came from this website:THE WORLD SAYS, THE MORE YOU TAKE, THE MORE YOU HAVE, CHRIST SAYS, THE MORE YOU GIVE, THE MORE YOU ARE. (Frederick Buechner)

Lots and Lots of love
Lisa and John

The Cambodian Teachers Are On Their Way!

2005-12-17T01:38:00.000+08:00

Dear Frens,

Praise God! The Cambodian teachers' visas have been approved! They will arrive in Singapore on the 26th of Dec 2005.

The 2 teachers (21 yrs old) will be bonded to Don Bosco to teach for 5 years. To help teach the poor children in Cambodia, we aim to teach them how to fish. Thus, they will be here to study English in S'pore at SSTC park mall and Cyn and Gus will be giving them tuition.

I would like to ask anyone who is interested to assist in this project to call me. We need:

1) someone to teach them how to take the bus and the MRT ( end Dec 05)

2) people who would like to take them out weekends to places that will enrich their educational experience in S'pore eg science centre, museum, library etc

3) people who have access to character building, confidence building , arts and craft courses or Montessori skills.

4) people who can teach PowerPoint and Microsoft office access data base

5) All other ideas welcomed!

The teachers will be here 3 to 6 months depending on how they perform in school. Please join us in making a difference in the lives of many children in Cambodia who will gain from this project of immersing their teachers in an English speaking environment of Singapore.

God Bless,
Mill
http://www.gimg.blogspot.com/

God Is Good!

2005-11-29T14:04:00.001+08:00

God is Indeed Good!

In one short month, Angeline has managed to go to Cambodia 2 times!

There are so many wonderful friends with wonderful hearts! We are all so blessed and we know it! Sharing with the poor is a way we can give our Thanks to God, for what we have received in our lives.

Angeline in this trip, hand carried 91kgs, believe it or not!

We managed to send through Angeline, to Sr. Ched of Don Bosco, a Roland keyboard from Grace, more vitamins from Lai Siong and Jocelyn, another 10,000 panadols from Mr Poh Peng Hoe, 3 tape recorders/MP3 players from Samantha Yap.

Magic happens when we allow God to lead and pool our efforts together.

As St Catherine says:
"I know nothing. I was nothing. For this reason God picked me out."

- St. Catherine Laboure (1806-1876)

Through our availability to God,
We truely hope that the children will be blessed with music, better education and good health :)

2005-11-15T16:33:00.000+08:00

Apart from thanking Angeline and H. Richert for their effort, time and generosity of Spirit for carrying the 6 heavy cartons to Phnom Penh, Don Bosco..We would also like to thank :
Wong Lai Siong for thousands of $ of vitamins and medicine
Mr Poh Peng Hoe for 10,ooo panadols
Annie Tan and Jeremy Fu for Dvd players!

"I shall reflect on myself and ask: "What have I done for Christ? What am I doing for Christ? What ought I do for Christ?"
- St. Stanislaus Kostka ( 1550-1568)

2005-09-21T15:03:00.000+08:00

Sponsorship of 2 Cambodian Teachers to Singapore

Dear friends,
To help poor and the under-privileged, we have taken a bold step to accept the request of the Don Bosco's nuns to send their teachers here for 6 months of education. We have put this project in belief of God's Providence

Praise the Lord, through His kind intervention, we have managed to secure a 6-month scholarship for the 2 teachers (age 22 yrs) to study at SSTC, airfare for their flight here and back and home-stay for one of the teachers.

The target is to upgrade their English language skills, office skills and immerse them in Singapore's English speaking environment.

When they return to Cambodia, they will be bonded to teach at the Don Bosco's school for 5 years. They will be teaching Don Bosco's two-year secretarial course students, aged 19-23.

The students taking this secretarial course are very poor and if they do not get a chance to study a skill, there is a high chance that they will be taken advantaged of and exploited by the world's oldest trade for women.

As at now, we are waiting for the student visas to be approved by the Singapore immigration. We are expecting them to arrive here in Oct/Nov 05, if all goes well.

The outstanding issues we have for this project are :

1) We need kind individuals to help with their food and transport allowance and pocket money for the duration of their stay.

2) We need to find someone who can provide home-stay for one of the two teachers.

3) A person who is able to provide Personality Development, Leadership Skills training, Powerpoint and Access.

4) Friends who can provide time and effort over weekends to take them for activities which would allow them to grow and benefit from their stay and interaction with us, in Singapore.

Point one, is of course a matter of great urgency. Those who feel called to help with any amount of sponsorship for their living allowances do get in touch with Lynette or myself.

You can reach us at :
millicent.tan@gmail.com or lynetteyap@gmail.com

Yours In Christ,

Mill

Sponsors from the UK

2005-09-21T11:17:00.002+08:00

Father Damien Sponsors Heng Somaly's Education
It's wonderful to see how one good deed of kindness in our own hearts, can lead so many to generously make-a-difference in lives of the less privilege in Cambodia.

Across the sea, from Singapore to UK, with the efforts of John & Lisa, Heng Somaly, can now study one more year in school. This will allow her to find a better job when she graduates.

Love and kindness for each other brings people and countries closer. It's a bond that raises humanity, a saving grace for us all.

2005-08-25T14:23:00.000+08:00

Many Thanks to our anonymous sponsor.
As Martin Luther so aptly says:

"What is it to serve God and to do His will? Nothing else than to show mercy to our neighbor.
For it is our neighbor who needs our service; God in heaven needs it not." -- Martin Luther

Yeang Ryna is Sponsored!

2005-08-17T23:00:00.000+08:00

Yeang Ryna has been sponsored for a year of secretarial course at Don Bosco.

Her father's two feet have been amputated since the war (Pon Pot). But he repairs bicycles in front of his house in order to earn a living. Her mother sells native cakes in front of her house, too. But the family earning is very small.

We hope that this sponsorship extended to her will make a difference to her life and that of her family.

Her kind Sponsors are Paul Raj & Friends, Anne Low and Theresa Sim.

"I tell you, that if you will not do good to the poor, God will not do good to you; in the hour of your death it shall be measured out to you with the same measure with which you have measured out to such as these. "
- Saint Camillus de Lellis (1550-1614)

Anonymous Angel

2005-08-17T18:20:00.000+08:00

Thank You for your Heart of Gold!

We would like to thank anonymous friend of AFG for her support in our cause to support the education of the Cambodian children.

Sponsorship allocation:

USD$4000 - please use to furnish the kindergarten at Tuol Kork - furniture, books, playground, study equipment and maintenance. Yours to spend for your kinder Sis My Hahn :).

USD$1,400 - please reserve for upgrading of teachers ie airtickets ,courses, pocket money.If not used let us know we want to re-allocate.

USD$1,100 - for Phum Chreh Rachana's 2nd,3rd and 4th yr education. ( First year education already sent earlier this year to you,amount $541.19)

USD$1,000 for outreach to new villages ( tents, toys, school books etc)

USD$1,000 for Battambang.

USD$1,000 for Sroh Socheat and Proh Sophir

USD$500 for Sisters Multi Vitamins.

Praise God!

Christmas 2005 Collection - Let Jesus be Alive in us!

2005-07-19T14:27:00.000+08:00

Dear Friends,

Hello again!

We are now targeting to collect a 20 foot container of goods for Cambodia.. If you feel you are able to help by collecting and packing in your own small groups, be it work friends, church friends or neighbourhood friend, please contact me.

Your assistance is this project will be invaluable.

Guidelines for Group Leaders
1) All goods collected must be brand new. The customs there charge duty and taxes for second hand or used items.

2) Packing of goods must be under the group leader's control. ie leader must ensure that goods are tightly and well packed before it is sent to the freight forwarder for storage till we have accumulated enough. I will give the address to interested parties who can do the collection.Please pack efficiently because the freight is expensive and is taken care off by sponsored money ( only partially raised).

3) A 20 ft container takes about 200 cartons of size 2 ft by 1 ft cartons.

4) Please see attached shipping mark that has to be pasted on 2 sides of all cartons. Please only fill in the description and leave the rest blank.

5) Description should only state - 'mens' , 'ladies', 'childrens', 'toys', 'shoes', 'winterwear'.
Fill cartons with only 1 generic item. Do not mix mens and ladies wear or mens and kids wear together into 1 carton.
The nuns do not have the manpower to sort when it arrives in Cambodia.

6) There will be a cut off date for collection which will be comunicated to the group leaders.
Target delivery hopefully before Christmas ( sometime in Sept/October 05)- so we can together send a message of Hope and Love from us in the name of our Lord.

Item needed
educational toys, cassette recorders, stuff toys etc
kids wear
shoes - mainly slippers
ladies wear - NO shorts or tank tops
mens wear
winter wear
underwear
If you have any queries please email me.

Like Mother Theresa says :
"We cannot all do great things but we can do small things with great love."

God Bless,
Mill

2005-07-12T13:12:00.000+08:00

Movie Clip - Thank you DHL and All Sponsors

2005-07-04T23:16:00.000+08:00

Dear Friends,
This piece of land you see is part of the Don Bosco Teuk Thla School, donated by the US Aid. The land has been left empty for many years because there is not enough funds to build a proper school.

Currently, they have only a few classrooms and some makeshift ones. If a proper building can be built on this land, more children can be taken off the streets and given a proper education. Most of us take education for granted but for all these children it is the only chance out of poverty and abuse.

We hope that we can find like-minded people who will want to contribute to building this school of hope...

2005-07-04T22:26:00.000+08:00

Paing Suen -->
Sadly few months ago Paing Kosal left school to work in a construction site. His brother Paing Suen has taken over his education sponsorship...17/12/06
"Paing Kosal, is studying in grade 6. He is very intelligent and is usually in between the 3 and 6 rank in his class of 49 students.He is an orphan,eldest of four siblings.He is determined to study hard and bring up his other younger siblings" - Sis Ophriini
Praise God!! An anonymous angel has sponsored him for the next 4 years of his education!

John & Lisa's visit to Cambodia; Phom Penh

2005-06-02T21:47:00.000+08:00

My friends from UK, John & Lisa just visited Cambodia after a stint in S'pore.

They have sponsored the education of 'Chenda' the Cambodian girl.

I am sharing with you an account of their experience in Cambodia because I cannot describe the atmosphere in Cambodia, the life of the kids and the work of Don Bosco Schools any better than they have already done so in their email.

I hope all who view this website will feel called to help these under privileged children and yound adults so that they may have a better life through education.

Yours In Christ,
Mill

John & Lisa - Their Account of Cambodia:

lisajohnbackpacking@yahoo.co.uk>To: Lisa & John <lisajohnbackpacking@yahoo.co.uk>Date: Fri, 20 May 2005 14:27:16 +0100 (BST) Subject: Hello from Phnom Penh Cambodia

Traffic here is even more crazy than Siem Reap. It comes from every direction on both sides of the road. Cars, motodups (motorcycles), tuk tuks and bicycles. You even see up to 7 people on 1 motorcycle: 4 adults and 3 children hanging off the sides! No helmets and no license needed…scary and absolutely have to see it to believe it.

Whilst here we also visited the darker side of Phnom Penh. One of the many prisons, the Former Khmer Rouge Security Prison (S21) was there the Pol Pot regime tortured over 20,000 victims over a 4 year period in an attempt to eradicate intellectuals and return Cambodia to an agricultural society.\n He killed the educators and the educated even to the extreme of anyone wearing glasses was considered to be an intellectual.

We also went to the Killing Fields (again one of many) where 17,000 men, women and children met a brutal death and then were buried in mass graves. As you enter, there is a tall white monument housing thousands of unearthed skulls and are arranged by the victims ages (photo 371). It is truly a harrowing experience.

In the distance beyond the mass graves we noticed a pond with a group of young naked children playing in the water whilst a few older children scrubbed down their cows. (photo 382) They were all laughing and having fun. Evidence that life in Cambodia has moved on although the poverty is as strong as ever.

Pond water is used for cooking, drinking, washing, cleaning – absolutely everything. This is the same water the animals use. There are many landmine victims and poverty beyond comprehension. Yet they always have a big smile to offer you.

We arrived in Phnom Penh during their Khmer New Year which similar to Thailand is an excuse for a nationwide water fight. But here not only do they drench you with buckets of water but then they douse you with talcum powder, leaving you looking like a human pancake. We experienced this first hand!

The highlight of our trip to Cambodia was the time spent with the Sisters and volunteers at Don Bosco School. They house a group of 132 girls, teaching them secretarial skills, social skills and hygiene. (photo 628) They also look after 17 special girls with tragic backgrounds and often a very bad home life. There is also a kindergarten here with a further 120 children. (photo 653)

We also visited a village school managed by the nuns with 400 children. The Sisters provide a hot lunch which is probably the only meal these children get each day and yet they all wanted to share their food with us when we arrived.

We brought them each a notebook for their studies and enough sweets for each of them to have a few. You would have though we had given them a million dollars. Their faces where glowing with happiness and the biggest smiles you have ever seen. (photo 563) They put their hands together as if in prayer and bow to you. This is how they greet you and also how they say thank you. After that we visited yet another school with 300 children (who were all taking their naps). So sweet to witness.

All of these schools survive on charity alone. One large bag of rice costs $13 and will feed one of the schools for 1 week. It is just amazing what they survive on. At the schools they children are not only taught their normal classes, but also taught basic English, social skills and hygiene (which most are not taught at home).

But the interesting thing is that these Catholic nuns are teaching in a 95% Buddhist community. They explained they do not teach religion but do teach the importance of prayer.We passed onto the nuns a great tradition taught to us called "Group Therapy" where each evening at dinner you take turns talking about the positive things that happened in your day. The nuns loved it and couldn't wait to share it with the other sisters from other groups and of course their students. (Troy and Jolee, you will never know how much your family tradition has had such an amazing affect around the world!)

Our last day in Cambodia we had the privilege of meeting a young lady we have chosen to sponsor called Chenda. She is one of the 17 "special" girls at Don Bosco. She has had so many tragic experiences in her 21 years it is incredible. Now she wants to be a psychologist and help others. She is learning English and tried so hard to express her gratitude to us for helping her. She sat holding our hands and gave us lots of hugs. When we departed she said with tears in her eyes "Happy New Year Mom and Dad."

We all had tears as we left Cambodia. Those few weeks had such impact on our minds and our hearts and have helped us appreciate just how lucky we are for such basics like clean water, electricity and homes with real floors, walls and furniture.

Next email will be from Vietnam.

Lots of love ,
Lisa and John

Message from Sis Ched of Don Bosco

2005-05-05T14:30:00.000+08:00

Big Thanks from Cambodia!

Dear Paul Raj and Friends,

It has been quite a time since I last communicated with you. My monitor broke down and our e-mail was a mess for some days because we changed our main user account. I hope you have received the message of acknowledgment I sent for our student Srey Long. Sr. Ophriini has sent you too the acknowledgement for Pheap Srei Neath. I think it would be better to have a joint letter of acknowledgment for your file.

Many thanks for such a big help you've extended to our students - S$1,400. The two are really poor, suffering but studying hard so as to help their family in the future. Hope one day you can come and meet them.

You know, you made Srey Long very happy. Her mother died recently of cancer. It was a big blow for her and her brother. She's the most affected because she was the one who took care of the mother. She's very, very closed with her. It's sad that after her mother's death she came back to school for a week and then, she became very, very ill. The brother said she needs an operation. We have not heard anything from the brother after that. We'll try to follow her up and give you the news. We unite ourselves in prayer that she may pass through this trial in life.

Thank you! You made a big difference in the life of our students. The thought that they have friends out there who care consoles them in moments of difficulties.

May the Lord bless you for taking part in our mission for the young. He cannot be outdone in generosity. You're greatly blessed! The Sisters pray for you daily.

A very meaningful month of Mary!

with our love and prayers,
Sr. Ched

2005-04-29T19:37:00.000+08:00

Pheap Srei Neith - Aged 15 - her education next semester is sponsored by the kind hearts of Anne Tan, Martinus, Jocelyn, Sam & Friends and Paul Raj & Friends...

We should learn from St. Augustine who said:

"Trust the past to God's mercy, the present to God's love and the future to God's providence."
-- St. Augustine of Hippo

2005-04-29T19:07:00.000+08:00

Sok Phirom (left) - wants to be a doctor...he is now sponsored by Dr Mark Thong.
Moung Srei Touch (right), intelligent and aged 15 ..is by God's grace sponsored by Susanna & Han...

2005-04-29T18:53:00.000+08:00

This is Chenda - Education sponsored by John Bishop & Lisa Whitman. Desire to be a psychologist..very promising student!

Srey Long is Sponsored!

2005-04-29T18:46:00.000+08:00

Praise God for Paul Raj & Friends, Dom Yeo and Kat Chan - Srey Long has a chance to study another year!

So Rachana is Sponsored!

2005-04-29T18:42:00.000+08:00

X'mas Wishes from So Rachana Xmas 2006

Age 15, studying Grade 6 - Next year's education sponsored by Patsy! Thank you!

2005-04-29T18:27:00.000+08:00

The world says, The more you take, the more you have. Christ
says, the more you give, the more you are.

-- Frederick Buechner

2005-04-04T11:22:00.000+08:00

"Greetings from all of us. Yesterday the grdes 5 & 6 children had a wonderful time in the sea.For almost all of them, this was their first and so they were taking the sea water home for their families. " - Sis Ophriini

2005-03-22T18:29:00.000+08:00

Socheat - girl standing on the left

How the 'Cambodia Project' came to be...

2005-03-22T17:59:00.000+08:00

Our Cambodia project started because my buddy and I felt called to go to Cambodia for a visit.

We, as a group of friends have been sponsoring the education of a girl named Socheat for the past year. We wanted to better understanding of Don Bosco School and meet Socheat.

Don Bosco School is a vocational school. They teach young children how to read and write and teach older children a life skill. When they finish their education, the Don Bosco nuns will find job placements for them.

The Don Bosco Schools have both boys and girls schools. Boys learn metal work etc whilst the girls learn cooking, sewing, secretarial courses, office administration etc.

When we were in Cambodia for 2 weeks in De 04/Jan 05 – we were amazed at how well the kids were being educated , how kind and untiring the nuns were in their vocation to help the under privileged. We also saw first hand the poverty in Cambodia.

When we got back, we put our photographs together and shared the situation of the Cambodia kids with friends. Many people were and is still keen to help...

We communicate with the nuns at Don Bosco, to update us on the needs of these children.
We hope that we can find more like-minded people, who have a heart for the poor.

We believe that help comes not just in the form of material things but assistance in sponsoring their education so that in time they would be able to help themselves.

Education will ensure that they are able to find proper jobs, find self worth, self esteem and then as educated adults, they return what they have received to their fellowmen.

2005-03-22T17:49:00.000+08:00

No effort will ever be in vain...

2005-03-22T17:48:00.000+08:00

We help because we can...

2005-03-22T17:47:00.001+08:00

Poverty is not by choice...

Project Cambodia

2005-03-22T15:35:00.001+08:00

Poverty is not by choice...so we help where we can...
People may say, our effort will be in vain...

But think how many things on earth have been made...
Beginning from a grain of sand...