CARRYING COMPANIONS

Bringing hope, dignity and the love of God to Cambodians who have disabilities and their families

CURRENT HAPPENINGS

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Walking into Carrying សែងកល្យាណមិត្ត - Carrying Companions center will never ever be the same… Hosanna, we all loved you so much and were loved by you so well 💖 it was beautiful today to be in this space of safety and belonging that you helped create. Everyone was comfortable to express themselves and admit that it will be different from now on. We will go forward together to glorify God and to honor you 🐢 🌸 🥰

Isa. 61:3- a crown of beauty instead of ashes… a joyous blessing instead of mourning. Today, with the help of a short term team from Mission 25 (and their 2 vans and our 3 wheelchair tuktuks) we were able to take 10 clients to a public park to celebrate សែងកល្យាណមិត្ត - Carrying Companions 5th year!!! 🥳🎉🤩 Everyone had so much fun with the opportunity to be in a green space with their friends, fun games and yummy snacks! It was absolute joy for me to hear all the laughter and bits of conversations as I went from one group to another 💕 I completely love what I get to do 🥰

5 years ago today I did something I’d never imagined I would do - With a great sense of anticipation and a confidence that God was going before me I began សែងកល្យាណមិត្ត - Carrying Companions 🤩 In some ways, it seems as though 5 years has gone by so fast and in other ways it still feels like day 1 😂 I have stood in awe and humility, cried tears of gratitude and sadness, seen births and deaths, spoken His life to single mothers and drug addicted sons, witnessed dreams become absolute reality yet there are others that are still to be fulfilled… And, all of it has centered around making Him known to people who have disabilities and their families while our supporters, friends and partners get to experience more of His Kingdom on earth through their connection with us 😍 With everything in me I’m honored to follow Jesus in this incredible adventure and canNOT wait to see what else He has in store as we go forward together!

We love some fun on Fridays! Including “jumping” in your own way on the trampoline, full leg braces can’t stop him! 🤩

When we want to go to church, we’ll find a way! I love how God allows the 3 of us to witness His strength in each other as we live this life to bring Him glory 😃��💕🥰 ♿️ 🦯💪🏼

Merry Christmas! We had a great morning, celebrating the birth of our Savior together 🎁🥰🎄

It’s Monday morning and we are ready for our big Christmas celebration at Carrying Companions! Expecting 23 people who have varying disabilities and some of their family members to join us this morning for games, prizes, singing, traditional snacks, a meal together, photos, and lots of laughing and good memories made!

These smiles made my day yesterday as we gave out gifts!

Today, we wrapped 23 gifts 🎁 Gift giving week is my favorite part of Christmas at Carrying Companions! Each client (person who has a disability) will receive a gift that was chosen specifically for them by the staff! Next Monday, during our big family Christmas celebration, each household will also receive a general gift bag including rice, cooking oil, good quality toiletries, Play-Doh, and some other small items … but, for me, the magical part is watching each client receive and open a gift that is JUST FOR THEM 🥰

It’s beginning to look a bit like Christmas! But not feel like, not even a bit for this New Yorker 😂 At carrying Companions it has become tradition that our guys decorate the Christmas tree and so they did 🎄🎄🎄

We get to do some of the best things at Carrying Companions because of your financial and prayer support! 🥰 This boy is 18 years old and we’re pretty sure he has muscular dystrophy (no way to diagnose here). His legs are so weak he can’t move them on his own and he has very limited use of his arms. Our staff member who works with him the most is Vireak who has his own limitations and uses full leg braces as well as a walker every day. In this video, they are practicing skills needed so that our friend can begin to participate in his own face washing routine at home. All of the adults in his house are busy at work every day while his younger siblings go to school. This leaves him alone most of the time to lay on a bamboo mat and play video games on a phone… When he spends time at our center he’s learning to use his voice to advocate for himself, he’s learning simple English vocabulary, he’s learning that he likes to paint and he’s learning daily living activities! Each of these things provide him with confidence and hope as he hears the truth about God‘s heart for him 💕

I’m here to say a great big THANK YOU to everyone who helped make it possible for me to give these incredible staff members bonuses in November! 🤩 What Carrying Companions is accomplishing is not possible without your help and these 5 staff members deserve every good thing the Father has for them! Each day they love our clients, help them learn new skills, give them confidence to try new things and point out what God is doing in their lives… they are His hands and feet and your support and prayers equip them to make great things happen 💕

When you’ve had a stroke at the age of 42 and then laid on a bamboo mat for 2 years you need to re-learn sooo much… Practicing daily living activities that our clients are capable of doing on their own, in their own way is an important part of what we do at Carrying Companions and we love celebrating the progress!!! Can you begin giving $20/month so he can come to our center once a week?

I took this video to give everyone a peek into what a typical morning can look like for us at Carrying Companions. I absolutely love what we do and I am so grateful for all of your support! We need new monthly sponsors for staff salaries, rent for our building and many other monthly expenses. Let me know if you’d like to start giving – every dollar adds up so there’s no amount that’s too small to make an impact 😃

This morning was the BEST and my heart is sooo happy🤩 we got to facilitate an outing for 4 of our clients! For the younger 2 it was their first time at a park and feeling grass! It only cost us $45 for transportation and a drink for 14 people to go to this great park/cafe- thank you so much to those who give finances allowing us to make things like this possible! 🥰

We are blessed to work with this team of the best staff in Cambodia at សែងកល្យាណមិត្ត - Carrying Companions 🥰 They display the heart of God to each other and our clients so well! 🤩

It’s so exciting to watch as items disappear from Carrying Companions wish list 🤩 there are still some great resources that we are hoping to have when a team comes to visit us in early August. can you help us purchase some of these? Send me a message and I’ll send you the link to our list!

We work really hard together… so it’s important that we play together, too! Last Friday morning, we spent time at our favorite park, eating, delicious food, and playing Farkle!

This is our friend Ms. S. She is completely blind as is her husband. She’s pregnant with their third child, a little girl who will be born in September! 🥰 After today’s visit to the doctor, she told my staff member how kind the doctor was because he verbally told her what he was going to be doing before he did it and asked her permission before he did things. I’m so grateful that she had a good experience and at the same time I’m so sad that her other experiences (even ones we have been with her at) have not been as kind, gentle or honoring of her because a lack of understanding, compassion and empathy for her as a woman with a disability causes people to do and say dumb things 😢 We found out that she has both Hepatitis B and C. Today she was having a follow up blood test done to get exact measurements of the sickness in her body. The cost for these blood tests was $200. If you would like to contribute to this need please let me know. If you are unable to contribute, join us in praying for those who can 🙏🏼

“Trauma is a personal experience but recovery demands community”- Katherine Wolf. I find this to be so true as I work with people who have disabilities and their families every day. Especially for those who have become disabled later in life (by what was surely a traumatic experience) recovery is greatly enhanced by the community they’re finding in Christ and with each other.

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 Very proud of our staff for completing an online workshop in Creative Play for Children with Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND)!

I love this boy and his smiles! With no school for him to go to he spends his days at home. But once a week Carrying Companions’ wheelchair accessible tuktuk brings him and his mom to our center for art and occupational therapy activities 😃 Thank you to those who pray for us and those who support our work financially 💕

What a special day today was! 😃 If you’ve been here a while, you know one of my favorite things is giving our clients first time experiences… a few days ago one of our volunteers who works with our friends who both blind and parents of 2 (soon to be 3!) children mentioned the idea of taking the mom and four year-old daughter to a salon for haircuts. They all had a great time! It was also great timing as this family has been struggling with some lice issues 👍🏼

Staff at Carrying Companions have been doing some study about how all human beings are created in the image of God, with dignity and inherent value… Today I listened to this on audiobook. An incredible true story about a refuge of love and dignity for those with various types of disabilities in Nazi Germany and still in operation today! Highly recommend ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

One of my favorite boys gave me a flower for women’s day 💕

We’re so grateful for our volunteers! One of them is an incredible woman from Sri Lanka (whose mother in law actually works at center there for people have disabilities) and she makes an art class possible for our clients! 💕🤩 They LOVE art day- for most of them it’s the first time they’re able to do anything artistic!

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Noteworthy Moments

Cambodian Sign Language

In June 2022 our staff completed a one year course in Cambodian sign language and we are proud to be able to build relationships with Khmer people who are deaf! In November 2022, we will be continuing to grown our Cambodian sign language skills as we learn about prayer, sharing Bible stories and worship songs.

Our FIRST Family Encouragement Day

In July of 2022 we were so excited to offer to our clients a Saturday morning at our center dedicated to families coming to spend time together eating snacks, playing games, getting to know new people and being encouraged by God's word and the testimony of His people!

“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see”