Howell Family Update

Natalie, Billy, Christy (an assistant at the school), Alysa, and Danielle

In Cambodia, God has been opening doors for work on a local-language school to move forward. He is using the Howell family to oversee this project. They have seen doors opening and God’s hand moving. Natalie Howell shares below what God has been doing:

This past summer I saw a fellow missionary build bamboo huts for his workers, and I thought that would be a good idea for us. We felt that building bamboo huts was an easy and inexpensive way to get on the land while waiting for the school to be built. This helped me feel less overwhelmed about the future project. We were taking it one step at a time. It took a while to get started and when we finally began, the work progressed slowly. Working with bamboo is very different than working with wood.

One day while my husband and his two assistants were working on the building a neighbor came by (he uses our property for grazing his cows). He looked at what we were doing and told us we were doing everything wrong. If desired, he could get three friends to come and help us build, and they would charge us $10 per day to build. My husband told them yes, and they told us they would start after they were finished harvesting rice.

They came two days later and took down nearly the entire structure. We tried to tell them no but because of our language barrier we weren’t able to communicate effectively. So we had to ask for help with translation. When the translator came we told them we wanted them to build a separate hut, and they went to work. They built the first hut (6 meters X 4 meters) in two weeks. Now they are finished with the students’ huts and the students have moved in. They also built a gazebo where we can teach English and conduct a weekly program for the children in the neighborhood.

The builders range in age from 19 to 70 years old! I bring up their age because the older men do not look like they are 70, and they work like they are in their 30s. I was blown away when I learned their age because I have been watching them work all this time.

The workers God sent to help us

The men building the house are Christians so they have the weekend off. I was so grateful to meet Christians, but as I mentioned before, we could not really communicate at this time. Each morning before work, we met together and prayed. It was such a blessing to be able to pray with these men. I am praying that in the future we will be able to do more than just pray with them. 

While they were building the huts, we arranged for another group to build the bathroom and kitchen. Everyone who worked on the bathroom project is related. They were very diligent in their work. My only problem is that they all smoke. I wish I could talk to them about the dangers of smoking. What is even sadder is the picture of a young baby hooked up to all kinds of tubes on the pack of cigarettes.  

The new well

We also drilled a well, with a submersible pump that requires electricity to run. The power from the village is less than 20 amps, and because the well uses a significant portion of the electricity, we are only left with enough power to run the lights and two fridges.

Eventually, once the school is finished, we will need to install power lines from the main road to permanent power, which will cost around $30,000 because the school property is two kilometers (1.2 miles) from the road. 

For now, we would like to install a solar panel to power the well and free up the wired electricity from the village for other needs.

Over the past few months, we have also had the land cleared and have begun reworking the plans for the school. When we arrived in Cambodia and spoke with the builder about the previous plans he quoted a price double the original estimate. So we wanted to use a simpler, less-expensive plan that is more like two existing SDA schools in Cambodia. 

Clearing land

We have also seen a need for the school to include more grades than just high school.

The village near the school property is home to more than 100 kids, and the local school isn’t very helpful to them. This school has three teachers, and the government says there too many, so they are in the process of letting one go.

A lot of the kids have to help their parents take care of the family cows. So some only go to school in the morning – or not at all. We hope our school will appeal to the parents of these kids, and that as we try to form relationships with the villagers they will be encouraged to send their children to school.

This past summer I also found out that we cannot just build the school. We have to design every building we want to put on the property and submit it to two departments of the mission for approval. Once we receive approval then we have to take the prints to the Department of Education for final approval. Everything here takes a long time. For example, last August we went to the Department of Land Titles and asked them to come and re-mark the property lines so we would know our boundaries. We were still waiting for them months later. Oftentimes people in Cambodia have to bribe to get things done. I do solicit and covet your prayers because I am not okay with bribing to get God’s work to move forward. There is a lot of work to be done behind the scenes before anything visible and tangible will be seen. So please pray for us that God will guide us and direct us. For the remainder of this year we are focusing on teaching all of our students English as we prepare to send them to the Philippines for school.

Natalie teaching in a shelter before the gazebo was built

The English teaching is going well. The students are speaking better and understanding more. They are learning a lot about grammar as well.

Since we moved to the property, the students have become more like family. They put their money together to go grocery shopping. They cook together. They help each other more, which is something that wasn’t happening at the beginning.

If you'd like to learn more about our students we have a newsletter here that goes into more details about them.

Please keep our project, students, and workers in your prayers. Thank you always.

The Howells