In and around the small village of Sobhan, Dar and I work with a growing group of committed Cambodians to offer hope and real opportunities to poor and desperate people who are struggling to live from day to day.

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Jumpah needs you. We always have. We always will.

Together, for 20 years, we’ve extended love and compassion to so many desperate people.

In the beginning our actions provided a measure of comfort and extended life (a bit) for moms and dads suffering from the impact of HIV-AIDS. Your support enabled Jumpah to provide daily support and to build simple but beautiful, small homes for so many families.

When parents died, Jumpah welcomed the surviving children (some of them also desperately sick) into a loving, growing, Cambodian family. Again, your support purchased land, built homes, trained and hired staff, and cared for surviving children.

In the beginning, we developed relationships with very poor families in the village and provided some with simple jobs. One man who was first to be helped is now the village leader. Another lady is currently cooking meals at Garden of Joy. Your partnership with Jumpah made it all happen.

In the beginning, Jumpah reached out to the the sick, the unwanted, the handicapped, the poor, the helpless. We did it all because Jesus loves us and we wanted to pass that love on to other people in actions and in words.

Jumpah needs you. We always have. We always will.

Today, Jumpah people and programs continue to extend the same love and compassion to our neighbors…

…But there is a difference - now our love and compassion can do much more than extend life, provide a measure of comfort, bring temporary relief to overwhelming circumstances, or provide surgery to a very sick person.

Now, your continued support provides genuine hope and real opportunities for individuals and families to break out of poverty and improve their quality of life.

Most of you know how we are doing that. Here are a couple reminders.

Improving health— modeling a healthier lifestyle to our neighbours, teaching hygiene practices to children in community, offering occasional health seminars to villagers.

Providing education— opened a private school for village children (pre school through grade 6) that is becoming self sustaining through mandatory school fees.

Vocational training and Job creation— providing training in agriculture, wood working, teaching and small business. That is then followed by hiring some to work full time with Jumpah activities.

Agriculture assistance— developing a small farm that we hope will become profitable and eventually offer a model for farmers and other groups to follow.

Family support— through normal relationships with people in surrounding villages, our staff are finding opportunities to counsel, support and help families with needs.

Your support makes sure that these activities continue and lives continue to be changed.

Jumpah needs you. We always have. We always will.

Today, the Jumpah account at Mountain View Community Church is extremely low. Actually, I believe it is an historic low. Under $1,000 low. In Cambodia, we have enough cash to operate for July and part of August.

Each month, Jumpah requires $11,000 to operate normal activities in Cambodia. This includes all salaries for Cambodian staff, all program expenses, all funds to operate Garden of Joy, and Ratzloff’s allowance. There are no administration charges from MVCC, only small bank fees for money transfers from America to Cambodia.

In addition to the monthly operating costs, Jumpah is currently raising funds for a couple major capital expenditures that will significantly help our AdVenture Cambodia businesses. These funds will require gifts over and above the amount required each month for operating expenses, but they are a one-time gift, not an on-going requirement.

An additional school building with three large classrooms and one teacher resource room will require gifts of $58,000. To date, friends have given about $20,000 toward that opportunity. Jumpah will begin construction as soon as necessary funds are received.

Giving normally lags in the summer, but this summer we desperately hope and pray this trend turns around. Would you be part of making that happen?

As always, checks marked “project Cambodia” can be sent to:
Mountain View Community Church
Project Cambodia
12033 Seattle Hill Road
Snohomish, WA  98296

Here is a relatively new, but simple, quick and secure way to give online.
https://e-giving.org/jumpah

And if you’d like to follow our progress in establishing small businesses in Cambodia:
https://www.facebook.com/adventurecambodia/

I hope you have stayed with us through the rather lengthy letter. And I really hope and pray you will continue to follow and support the people and programs of Jumpah. Together, we will bring hope and opportunity to more and more Cambodians. As we are faithful, we expect to see more people enter the kingdom of God.

Thanks so much for your encouragement, prayers and support — in the past, now and in the future.

Tim Ratzloff