“We didn’t choose Cambodia. Cambodia chose us...”

Ted Nieman,

Co-founder  of Cambodia, We Care

Cambodia, We Care (www.cambodiawecare.org) is a project of Amazing Mission International for H.E.A.R.T. (www.ami4HEART.org) which is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.  Donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

Ted and Bonnie Nieman were so touched by they people of Sambour Pouk, the decided to co-found Cambodia, We Care in the spring of 2005.

Ted and Bonnie Nieman stopped in Siem Reap to see the temples and then return to the United States. They had been traveling in Vietnam, seeing some of the areas where Ted had seen combat during the war. A retired army colonel, Ted enjoyed travel along with Bonnie, especially to areas such as Angkor Wat. It was on this trip that their lives changed forever.

“We didn’t choose Cambodia. Cambodia chose us, and took us to the forgotten war torn village of Sambour, Pouk, a God forsaken place where, until 1999, the villagers were forced to live down holes and in ditches,” said Ted Nieman.  Fighting between the rebels and the Vietnamese continued until the United Nations finally provided security for the country in 1999.

What Ted and Bonnie saw tore their hearts apart:

An unoccupied one-room school made mostly from branches and a few pieces of wood.  There were huge holes everywhere, a dirt floor and very crude benches made of logs.  There were no students, teachers, books, stationary supplies, blackboards... absolutely nothing.

Parents who couldn’t afford to educate their kids.  The cost of books and a uniform was well beyond their means.

Tiny, malnourished, raggedy and naked children, many with distended bellies and rotten teeth.  They stared.  They laughed.  They cried.  We tried not to weep in front of them.  It was difficult.

Homes that were shacks.  Some dwellings were made of plastic sheeting.  Many families were wearing plastic bags to protect themselves from the monsoon rains, which poured through the holes in their homes.

Villagers drinking filthy bacteria and sewage laden water.

Children working in the fields to help stave off complete starvation.

There was no infrastructure and a village leader with limited resources.  No available cultivable land.  Wide spread disease, including TB, Dengue fever, intestinal parasites, malaria and many types of skin disease.

Villagers have to make a two-day journey to find work which would reap them the equivalent of five US dollars per week.  Most are fortune if they can make the equivalent of fifty cents a day.

Monkies fighting people for water.  This made us think - if monkeys are that thirsty, what about the people?  This led to the water well installation project.