Last week we had a visit from a YWAM team who joined us for 3 days.  Their team is based in Australia but was made up of 12 people from Germany, U.S.A., UK and Australia and they offered to help us and serve our needs in whatever way we needed.

Their first morning here was spent getting to know the staff and setting up teams to cater to the different areas they were helping out in.  We shared lunch with them and they also prayed over the Precious Women team and for the women we reach out to.  The prayer time was a great time of being in the presence of the Holy Spirit and left everyone feeling encouraged and refreshed.

After lunch the team split into their groups and that afternoon and the following day was spent teaching English to some of the Khmer staff, doing some training, working on media projects and preparing for the women’s fellowship outreach on Friday.

The volunteers worked with the Precious Women team to put together a program for the monthly fellowship with women from the KBB’s.  The day was a great success with over 30 women and a few men to the party and a range of activities, including a fashion show, a skit demonstrating the love of God for us, testimonies, a Western/Khmer cook off and painting.

Their 3 day visit ended with sharing our responses to the party and some more prayer time where they prayed over us and encouraged Lida in the work she is doing and in her role as director of Precious Women.

The YWAM team members were all full of energy and their creative ideas, servant hearts and hard work were an incredible blessing, not just to us but to the women we are reaching out to.

International Women’s Day is a day of global celebration of women. In different regions the focus of the celebrations ranges from general celebration and a demonstration of respect, appreciation and love towards women to a celebration of women’s economic, political and social achievements. The first International Women’s Day was celebrated in 1911, so this year, 2012 is the 101 year anniversary of this significant day. As it is our second year of ministry, we at Precious Women were so proud to celebrate it again and raise up Womens Rights in keeping with our vision.

Cambodia (Kingdom of Wonder) is a developing country and it’s also a home to so much oppression and degradation of women. Things are rapidly changing in Cambodia from one day to another and things for the women are starting to improve too as some of the old traditional cultures are starting to change. With these changes taking place, gender roles are also shifting and progress is slowly being made towards equality but there is still much work to be done. Traditionally, women in Cambodia live to serve and provide for their families and there is limited access to education and there are scarce opportunities for dignifying jobs. At this time, the younger generation is pushing towards freedom, establishment and modernity. As a result of this pressure to get a job and provide for their families, many young women end up working in beer gardens, bars or brothels.

OUR OPPORTUNITY TO REACH OUT

Precious Women Ministry is a Christian organization which reaches out to disadvantaged and vulnerable women who are working at a KBB (Karaoke bar, Beer garden, Brothel) to promote value and dignity through providing counseling, job opportunities and life skills. On Women’s Day, we received a donation from Love 146 to buy and print 100 t-shirts and we packed the t-shirts to hand out to the women. These t-shirts were handed out to 59 women in 5 different karaoke bars in Phnom Penh. In each pack we included a t-shirt, a card, encouraging notes and information about Precious Women Ministry.  Over 15 local volunteers joined us for this occasion and we went out in teams to the different KBB’s.  The women and managers were very surprised and it meant a lot to them that we were there on such an important day.  Some of the women were unaware of their rights and had never been treated as valuable before.  Precious Women Ministry impacted the lives of many vulnerable women that night by showing them they have not been forgotten. Many women excitedly told volunteers, “Today is my day and I feel very special because of all of you!”

Thanks to all of you for all you do for this ministry. Your continued prayers and support keep this ministry going. God bless you!

Precious Women Ministry is a non-profit organization and our goals are :

- To build relationship and encourage women to make choices about starting a new life free from exploitation. To encourage the women whose lives have been transformed and who choose to do so to build relationships with those still working in KBB’s.

- To provide a counseling service to the women and in doing so promote value, positive thinking and self-worth.

- To mobilize churches in Cambodia to reach out to the women working in KBB’s and raise awareness in churches on women rights, value and dignity.

- To refer women to vocational training and help them to find jobs.

- To raise awareness of women’s rights with the KBB owners and customers and promote value and dignity.