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Claire's Story
  
Where do I begin…First of all, words cannot describe how thankful I am to continuously receive money and donations big and small from all who have contributed. Listening to these young children worship God, laugh, cry and strive to achieve new life skills through education is truly amazing, and I know all of the children are truly thankful for all they receive. On behalf of them, THANKYOU SO MUCH! Since August 2007 I have been volunteering for Love in Action (LIA). I worked there for two weeks doing what I could for the eighty-six children that are in desperate need of love, care and just the simple necessities in life. This charity helps make their life just that little more special and worthwhile.To get to know the children one on one, and support them each with life ambitions is an experience you will never forget. Everyday I look at the many drawings and pictures the children have given to me as they hold my hand or sit on my lap, or ask me to run around and play football or tennis in forty degree heat. This is what I miss the most. Working with founders Ruth and Tracey is so inspiring and life changing, looking after eighty-six children isn’t an easy job! This is especially true in a country like Cambodia, a poor South-East Asian country with much poverty and little government support. I was introduced to form of life unbeknown to many in western cultures.Growing up I never thought of becoming involved with an organisation such as Love In Action. It wasn’t till one day I discovered LIA from a worker whom volunteered with World Vision at an expo in Brisbane that I then decided to become involved and see what I could do to help.After my first trip to Cambodia. Looking back on my experiences with Ruth and the children I had come to realise that these people were now part of my life. I think about Ruth and the children all of the time. The children will never know what impact they have had on my life. Every time I return to the little orphanage in middle of Cambodia, the whole experience seems to grow on me. I talk about my wonderful encounters with my family, friends and co-workers, spreading the word about what people can do for these children and just how easy it really is to help make a small change to their lives. I never realised that just one person could make an impact on not just one but more than eighty lives.
Every year since 2007 I have returned to Cambodia and will continue to return in the future. I endeavour to continue to fundraise and spread the word about the wonderful Mummy Ruth and the love, work, care and the time spent on the eighty-six beautiful children whom make up Love In Action Cambodia.
CLAIRE MARSHALL
VOLUNTEER
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Mary Kate and some of the team from Suncoast
I really can't express properly what an impact visiting LIA has had on my life. Seeing what passion the children had for worshipping God and the visions that they had for their future despite where they had come from was so inspiring. I particularly wanted to thank Kimloun for sharing with me that he wanted to become a doctor one day and help mummy Ruth bring medical care for people in the villages. The vision and hope I saw in his life has inspired me truly beyond measure. At the time that I visited I had just graduated school and taken a year off to work before deciding whether to go to uni. My whole life I have wanted to become a veterinarian but after achieving no where close to the marks I needed to get into the vet science degree I'd nearly given up on this dream and thought I would settle for something less than what I truly wanted in my life. I needed an OP1 (the highest possible) to get into the degree and I only had been allocated an OP12 - a really long way off. After returning home to Australia, I decided that if the kids at LIA could have such amazing visions for their lives even though they had much greater hardships to overcome then I did what was stopping me from keeping my vision and going after it? My life has been extremely blessed and I have every oppurtunity at arms reach, there was nothing stopping me from trying, just my lack of hope. So I applied to enter a science degree and was successful, after completing a year in the science degree I was at the top of my class for many subjects and my grades were high enough to transfer over into the Bachelor of veterinary science degree at UQ! I'm now at the end of my first semester of veterinary science and have also been blessed with a job in a vet surgery in Brisbane (praise God!) and am on the way to achieving what I've always wanted and what I believe Gods purpose is for me. I wanted to thank the kids at LIA for thier inspiration, particularly Kimloun - when ever I was feeling unmotivated about study or was losing hope I would think of him and his amazing vision and hope for his own life. I now hope that through my study and when I have graduated I will be able to return the blessing and be able to help Kimloun and the other kids achieve thier dreams. I pray that they never give up on thier visions and that they know that truly nothing is impossible when you are doing it with God.
Vickie Jeffs, Qld Australia
 My awakening of what God can do...
I didn't really have a clue why God was sending me to Cambodia or what He was going to do or show me whilst I was there, I just went in obedience. When we arrived we were straight to working. Leah and I packed up Ruthie's possessions and the 3 babies ( Elizabeth, Isaac and Joshua) and began relocating to a new house. What struck me at first was that Ruthie did not have a home to call her own after 3 and a half years and had very little furniture. Ruthie, having a shoulder injury and badly in need of a break flew back to Australia four days after we arrived, so then we knew that God wanted us firstly to establish a home and sanctuary for her and secondly to minister to the babies. And what a sense of humour God has got, to send two women who have never had babies of their own, to look after 3 babies aged from 5 months to 9 months! Bottles, tears and poop to the eyeballs!! I honestly believe that as Christians we need to get totally involved in supoorting Ruthie and Gods' work throughout Cambodia, not just with our finances, and not just with our prayers but as people willing to go and be the heart, hands and feet of our Saviour, ministering to these children who will be the next generation to bring revival to Cambodia.
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Our team of five Australian girls & myself spent three weks in Cambodia where we volunteered at LIA. Mummy Ruth & Trace lovingly supported our team through culture shock & heat exhaustion to experience Love In Action first hand. We were overwhelmed with happiness of the children living in the orphanage on our very first day. It was stinking hot & we were sweaty from walking down the dirt road to the girls' home. A beautiful little face peered through the gap in the gate to ask me " Do you know Jesus?". The children shared songs, tears and laughter the very second we walked into the home. Over the three weeks, we learnt about the amazing life stories of the children in Cambodia. Our hearts were broken at the situation we quickly realized the need for love everywhere. In Australia we complain about the most trivial of things and don't put into perspective the worries of the world. Through our experience in Cambodia with LIA our eyes have been opened & our hearts have been touched in such a way we will never be the same again. Thank you LIA for sharing this amazing God filled experience with us. We will cherish it always. P.S I cannot wait to come back and do it all again with a new team. 