We Can Only Pray

“Most of the deportees entered the US as refugee children fleeing the Khmer Rouge with their families, and many have never been to Cambodia and don’t speak Khmer.”

The largest group of deportees arrived today. We are going to try and visit some of them tomorrow. It is the single largest group of deportees in the history of the 15-year repatriation program. Since 2010 Hope Now has been involved in helping these men who find themselves lost in a strange and foreign land. This fresh crop of deportees is not only the largest, but is made up of men with chronic mental illness and poor physical heath conditions. We have our work cut out for us.

Even now we struggle to help men who have lost hope. Piseth is one of those. I have known Piseth for several years. Our staff has helped him over and over. For a brief moment we thought he might be getting his life on track, but the alcohol proved too much for him and he could not overcome it.

We found him on the streets today, sitting on a curb drinking cheap and deadly rice wine. He is resigned to sleeping on the streets. We bought him food and he accepted our invitation to pray for him–there was nothing else we could do. He doesn’t even know if he wants help, but until he believes he can pull out of his tailspin, we can only pray.

Will you please pray for our staff here as they are burdened with the new arrivals and the continual help of those already here?