November 7, 2011
The following is an excerpt from a report by Jimmy Jacks, a freelance photographer whose C&MA church affiliation is the Hollywood Hills (Florida) Alliance Church.
The water levels in flood-ravaged Cambodia are receding. But as the flood waters go down, the danger of disease rises. Ly Sovann, deputy director of the Communicable Disease Control Department at Cambodia’s health ministry, says the government is watching closely for any severe outbreaks of diarrhea or cholera. Kim Rattana, director of the NGO Caritas Cambodia, has raised concerns about the lack of clean drinking water and water-borne diseases in areas hit by the floods.
Mosquitoes are increasing as the flood waters recede. According to Rattana, malaria and dengue fever are now a big concern. Nhik Bunthuk, director of the Battambang Provincial health department, says the floods have led to disease among affected residents. They are suffering from diarrhea, fever, and the flu, but hospitalization appears rare.
Most displaced families are living in very poor conditions. Their homes have been severely damaged or destroyed, and they have lost all or most of their possessions. Most of these Cambodians live an agrarian subsistence lifestyle, and their crops and orchards have been destroyed. With their source of income gone, their options are bleak.
Please pray for the people of Cambodia and for our Cambodian pastors and churches as they struggle to minister to their hurting fellow countrymen. Pray that individual Christians as well as churches abroad will be led to help. And, pray that Christ will be magnified in the midst of all this.
What You Can Do
Your support through the Great Commission Fund helps keep Alliance workers in Cambodia and around the world, impacting multifaceted needs with the love of Jesus.
Pray for Alliance people around the world, including those in Cambodia.