If you have…

As much fun as I have every time I go to visit our kids, I have to remember we are still going to a 3rd world country. We are so blessed.

Cambodia Stats

So much of what we show on here is of the orphanage, obviously, because that is where we go.  And God has been good to the orphanage… a lot of work has been done by many, many people to make it what it is.

So much so, that it may be easy to overlook what surrounds the orphanage or to forget what we drive by to get there.

A house literally right outside the gate to the orphanage.

In Phnom Penh

We don’t know where our kids have come from but I have to believe that they know more about the world than I ever will. Very humbling.

Here are some stats from PBS:

• Cambodia has a population of roughly 11 million people.
• 84% live in rural areas. 
• 42% are under 15 years old.
• 29% are from 12 to 22 years old. 
• 35% are literate. 
• 95% are Theraveda Buddhists.
• Cambodia is one of the world’s poorest nations, with a per capita GNP (gross national product) of $280 (1999).
• More than a third of Cambodia’s people live below the poverty line, and two-thirds of the people have no access to clean drinking water.
• The infant mortality rate in Cambodia is nearly 10 percent.
• Agriculture is made more difficult by the presence of between 4 million and 6 million land mines. These painful reminders of the nation’s war-torn history are scattered throughout the countryside, where they still injure or kill as many as 90 people each month. More than 35,000 Cambodians are amputees as a result of land mine injuries.

Cambodia Christian Church Statistics

From this website I found the following information on Christians in Cambodia: The Christian Church

In 1990, when the Christian church in Cambodia was granted permission to operate by the government, there were ten Protestant churches in the country, all in Phnom Penh.

At a consultation held at the end of 2002, leaders of churches, denominations and mission agencies estimated that there were over 2,000 evangelical churches and over 100,000 evangelical Christians in Cambodia. The number of churches includes those awaiting registration by the Ministry of Religion and Cults.

The International Religious Freedom Report 2010, from the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, US Department of State, estimated that the Christian community constitutes approximately 2% of Cambodia’s population. The report stated that Cambodia has 1,292 churches (1,224 Protestant and 68 Roman Catholic), of which about 1,000 are registered with the government [12.1]. In adition, the report refers to 883 ‘offices of prayer’. The report explains: ‘The government makes a legal distinction between churches and offices of prayer. Establishment of a church requires that the founders own the building and the land where the church is located. The facility must have a minimum capacity of 200 persons, and the permit application requires support of at least 100 congregants. By contrast, an office of prayer can be located on/in rented facilities/property, does not require a minimum capacity for the facility, and the permit application requires only 20 supporters.’