Families In Cambodia Experience Both Physical and Spiritual Healing Through Our Clean Water Projects.

Sok* is a village chief in a remote area of northwest Cambodia that has always lacked consistent access to clean water. Sok had to watch as families in his village suffered from waterborne illnesses. Children missed school because they were sick. Parents couldn’t work, and their meagre savings quickly dried up as they struggled to recover.

Impoverished families struggled to secure water for cooking, bathing, and washing clothes. Drought season also brought increased challenges to already vulnerable households, as livelihoods were threatened because farmers couldn’t maintain their crops.

“People work very hard in the rice fields under the heat,” Sok said. “Then, they have to spend a lot of money to buy drinking water.”

Sok, a widower and father of six children, didn’t know how to help his village. He feared that his family and friends would remain trapped in a cycle of illness and poverty unless something changed. The first glimmer of hope for a different, brighter future came when a Samaritan’s Purse team arrived in Sok’s village.

The New Water System Is Helping Sok and Many Other Families To Live Safe And Healthy Lives.

We drilled multiple boreholes and constructed a network of pipes to connect individual households to the new water distribution system. Sok and his community now have clean water to not only sustain daily household activities, but to also care for their livestock, crops, and home gardens. Our efforts included constructing more than 200 latrines, resulting in a significant decrease of diarrhea.

“The new water project has reduced the risk of waterborne diseases, and is saving people money on healthcare,” Sok said. “The water system is contributing greatly to poverty reduction.”

Dina Reth, a Samaritan’s Purse water, sanitation, and hygiene programme coordinator in Cambodia, said that school attendance is more consistent now that children are healthier and not having to devote so much time to helping their parents collect water from villages that are hours away.

“All people now have access to clean water—including poor households, widows, elderly, and the handicapped,”
—Dina Reth

Salvation Through Water

Samaritan’s Purse teams trained Sok and six other community members on how to maintain the new boreholes so that they will stay clean and functional, providing safe water for years to come. Our staff shared the Gospel during these trainings, and by the end of the trainings, all seven individuals had received Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour.

For the first time in their lives, they experienced the Living Water and a “fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14). “I gave my life to Christ—I surrendered to Him. I live every day confessing Jesus as my Lord,” Sok said. “He is going to take care of all my needs.”

The village chief began meeting regularly with a local pastor and continued growing in his faith in Christ. His deep desire for more people in his village to know God led him to start a Bible study and prayer group in his home.

Sok began hosting the group weekly after word spread throughout the village and interest in learning about the Bible increased. “I am a follower of Jesus, and I evangelise to other people.” Our staff were blessed to see the Gospel change Sok’s life.

After coming to faith in Christ Sok started a worship and bible study gathering at his home

“He has a heart like Jesus,” Dina said. “He helps others, respects others, and is humble.” Sok is now using his musical talents to glorify God by leading worship during the weekly gathering. He is even teaching other people how to play different instruments so they can also help lead in worship.

Sok is thankful to God for the Samaritan’s Purse project that has improved not only his physical health, but has also transformed his heart and mind. “I want my daily life to reflect Jesus Christ,” he said. “As a good village chief, I demonstrate love and integrity in serving the villagers.”

• Pray for families in Cambodia and around the world who desperately need access to clean water. Ask God to use Samaritan’s Purse to provide for their needs. Lift up Sok and the other new believers who have accepted Christ through our clean water projects.
• Pray that they will grow in their faith and that their lives will be a testimony.
• Pray that they will grow in their faith and that their lives will be a testimony.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

Hebrews 10:23, ESV