Sureyah and Pari Update TWU Fundraiser May 27

I know there have been a number of people who have followed Sureyah and now Pari's educational journey in and to Canada for the last little while.

Michelle Regehr, Sureyah's homestay parent, has recently updated us on Sureyah. I think it is OK if I share a portion of it. It is all great news. Michelle says,
"Sureyah has had a good year. His grades have been Bs and Cs. He thinks that Pari will do better as he thinks she is brilliant! We are aware of Pari coming. Very exciting. We will be participating in the fundraising night, as well as other efforts. If this becomes an annual event, next year you can be there J. We have been praying for Pari from the time we heard she might be coming. We will pray for you as you anticipate your return to BC. –Ok..I am jumping in my thoughts here…Pari has asked Sureyah if he would be her brother. (make my heart go thump). We will all welcome her in our lives. We will be supportive in any way we can.
Sureyah will be living on campus next year and in a leadership position in the international dorm. Very exciting. I think it will be an awesome experience for him and those around him! He will start more intense clinicals next year. It will be a big transition. He is doing well. He as joined the soccer team at Heritage Alliance Church…we went to the game last night. 6-0 for his team. He was so cute…he looks bulky because he has 4 layers of clothes on!!! But he sure has speed."

As you can see- Sureyah is doing well and you have all made a difference in some way to Sureyah's life. Thank-you. Sureyah has come a long way from the Orphanage in Cambodia.

I can also give you an update with SoPari. She is currently in the running as the Valedictorian for our school for this year. Way to go!!! She is a great girl who loves God and is doing so well academically.
Recently Pari fractured her foot when she fell off a ladder while in the province of rural Cambodia. She is hobbling around but she is in good spirits. At first she had no money to go to a doctor but when some of our staff found out about the accident, they gave her the $80 to cover the costs to get it looked at and taken care of. She is all casted up.
As far as prepping for Canada, Pari is trying to get her paperwork in order to apply for her Canadian Student Visa. The process is slow in Cambodia. She has visited the police records check department a series of times only to be rejected and told to figure out odd little things. (I suspect no cash in hand as a possible issue). Yet she toils with a positive heart.
In preparation for leaving Cambodia, we have also told Pari to say good-bye to the elderly lady she calls Grandma she is staying with. Pari agrees with this thought as she is not sure she will see her again before Pari returns to Cambodia in 5 years. Pari is a strong girl- stronger than me thats for sure.
I also know that many of you have asked how you can continually and prayerfully support Sureyah and now Pari while in Canada. Well I am excited to share one possible way to help them through an upcoming Trinity Western University (TWU) fundraiser for the two of them and also 4 African students on May 27th. Tickets are $25/person. I will let you view the advertised poster below for more details. I sure hope you can participate in some way. Of course if you can't make it and you would still like to help there will be other ways I am sure of that. Don't forget you can always contribute to the Trinity Western University Logos International School Cambodian Student Award- this money does go to Sureyah and Pari's schooling costs. Also we are still looking for donations to help with Pari's visa costs and to get to Canada and her flight, etc... Exciting.
I hope you all have a great day- life is busy here as we try to finish well here in Cambodia.
Blessings,
Dean
PS I will also post a bit of Pari's bio below too so that you can get a sense of who she is.

From 2010-11

SoPari's Bio:

To be born, to grow, and to live in a family with a loving dad and a sweet mom have always been the desires of my heart. The necessities of life are not all about oxygen, water, food, or shelter, but love and care from the ones who a person expects to be closest to him. All these I did not have.

Together, my parents had two children, my younger brother and I. They were divorced in 1995, when I was around three years old and my brother was still a baby. My dad left us and remarried severing all ties. As a single parent, my mom not only worked to support me and my brother, but also my aging grandma. Mom worked as an entrepreneur of a small business—selling second-hand army clothes from province to province. Her business flourished. However, due to a serious vehicle accident, her right eye was blinded. Only a year after all her success, my mom was again a jobless divorcee. This time, our family, was left crushed and forgotten in the ditch of extreme poverty. Because of the loss of her right eye, she could not continue her business or find any new work. After about three months, my mom decided she would leave Cambodia and illegally cross the border to Thailand to look for work. My brother and I stayed with our old grandma. From that time on we lived depending solely on my mom’s income from the jobs she found there.

From year to year, life has never been easy for my brother and I. There were times when my mom was jobless, and we had absolutely no money to buy food. At the age of eight, I helped earn money for my family by selling rice cakes my grandmother had made on the street after school everyday. Then in 2002, I was sent to live in Phnom Penh with my aunts’ family. That was when I first heard about Christ. Nevertheless, it took me one whole year to truly have a personal relationship with Him. This year, 2003, was the turning point of my life. It was the year when I first felt and understood love. Christ’s love transformed my perspective toward my own life. Instead of feeling bitter about my own conditions, I felt hopeful.

In Phnom Penh, I studied in a Khmer public school. The school disappointed me. No matter how hard I studied, I would never get better grades than those who had additional money (bribe) to pay the teachers for marks. I often prayed asking God to bless me with a better schooling situation. It took two years for my prayer to be answered. Through much help and prayer from many people, in 2005 I was allowed to attend Logos International School for free. I have studied at Logos International School since sixth grade and now, in 2011, I will graduate.

This year is the year that I have to decide the next step for my life. Once again, this next step cannot be decided without guidance and help from God who has been with me from the very beginning. I sense a deep sense of God’s call on my life. That calling is to go out into the world and draw nonbelievers to Christ by healing them both spiritually and physically. The process of accomplishing His call seems very challenging.

I want to go to college to study nursing yet there is the financial barrier. Based on my mom’s financial status, there is no way I can go to college. Even today she is still in Thailand working to support my family. Our current situation limits the possibility of me going to college. My desire to love and care for others seems financially impossible, yet I believe that what is impossible for me is always possible for God.