We started the morning early again, eating breakfast and doing our devotional around 7 am.  After we ate the group split up and got ready to head for the day.  I went with Kate, Jenni, Megan, Tiffany, and Amanda to do 4 more home visits.  The rest of the team headed to HOPE to work in the hospital and the outpatient clinic.  Once we arrived at the home care office we were greeted by the social workers, and got ready to head to the market.  We were able to get the same food and hygiene supplies for each family again.  The bags of rice and the other food items are able to feed the families for anywhere between 2 weeks to 1 month.  This is extremely helpful and will help ease the financial burden on some of these families.  Once we had gathered all of our supplies we loaded everything up on the Tuk-Tuks and headed out towards the first home.

Similar to the past two days we visited four different families, and spent some time talking to each one of them.  It was challenging to see the poverty that these families lived in, and the health challenges that they faced as well.  At the first home we went to, the daughter had recently been released from a prison along the Cambodia-Thailand border and had come home to live with her elderly mother.  The rest of her family had abandoned her when they found out that she was HIV positive, and her mother was the only one that was able to take care of her.  Both of them were in very poor health, especially the mother who was nearly 80 years old and suffered from some sort of lung problem.  Even though she was very sick, she managed to go out and work so that she could earn enough money to support herself and her sick daughter.

At another home we met a family with a mother, father, and two children.  Fortunately the mother and both of the children did not test positive for HIV, and they were in good health.  However, because of the father’s illness he was unable to work and as a result the mother had to work construction each day to earn enough money to support her family.  The father suffered from both HIV and TB, and had a very hard time walking.  The social worker talked to us about the psychological and emotional challenges the man faced as a result of not being able to work and support his family.  In Cambodian culture the male is traditionally the one who earns money for the family, and since the father was unable to work he felt that the was unable to properly support his family.

Although it was challenging to see the obstacles that many of these families faced, it was also encouraging

to see the strength that they had.  Despite the many challenges they faced they still continued to push forward and hope for better things to come.  The love and support that they are able to receive from the home care team and other volunteers is encouraging.  Although they are faced with poverty and sickness they do have a community of compassionate and supportive social workers, nurses, and other volunteers that are willing to help and encourage them.  Seeing the good work that HOPE and the home care team is able to do is very encouraging, and gives me hope for these families!