Mrs. Y is a widow with two sons and a daughter who lives and works in a large slum community of Phnom Penh. She has a big heart for the women living there who work in prostitution, often forced to do so by family members or because of desperate economic need.
Her compassion is so great, in fact, that for the past 22 years she’s faithfully worked for a local organization that’s focused on helping these women. She regularly visits about 100 HIV-positive women from her community who work in area bars and clubs, teaching them about AIDS and helping victims of violence in their workplace.
“I am proud of myself to work in helping those people,” Mrs. Y told us. Although she doesn’t get paid much for her work, she makes extra income from a small store she runs at the front of her home.
As a long-time resident who knows the heartbeat of her community, Mrs. Y has also been a valuable asset to the work of ELM, and specifically to our Shiloh fellowship outreach. We offered Mrs. Y the use of our small, one-room space we rent for discipleship meetings, Bible stories for kids, medical clinics, and other community events so she could use it for her work with women.
Over time, Mrs. Y heard more and more about God’s love through Jesus. And she consistently saw that love in action. Finally, His love broke through into her heart, and about a year ago she gave her life to Him.
Now Mrs. Y faithfully gathers people in her community for weekly Bible studies, and encourages others to join. One of our Cambodian staff recently observed, “We can see her faith is growing [each time we visit].” Mrs. Y is one more encouraging reminder of how our ongoing presence in the city’s slum communities is bearing fruit for eternity!