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We wish our group of parishioners who are going to Cambodia this coming Thursday a safe and enjoyable trip. They will be visiting various projects/parishes in the diocese of Battambang and making a Financial Presentation at Svay Sisophon - the parish we are twinned with.
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News from Svay Sisophon … A New Church takes Shape
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The church building at Svay Sisophon has been gradually showing signs of age, and needs renovation. This should have been done four years ago but other, more pressing matters delayed the work.
The building was too small for the needs of the community and it fell to Fr Kyung-Yong to put matters right.
With typical energy and application a new building was envisaged and its construction set in motion, even before all the necessary funding had been found. The church will be larger than its predecessor and — very importantly to the local people — taller. For nothing must overtop the house of God.
The whole project is estimated at about $30,000, which Fr Kyung-Yong is now trying to raise. Thus far the foundation timbers have been set in place, together with some of the base work. It is hoped that the roof will be on during October when we hope to get an update on the progress that has been made — together with pictures.
Our support, financially and through our prayers and good wishes, has been very much appreciated. The community at Svay Sisophon are looking forward to celebrating Mass with us, in the new church, when we visit them in February, 2010.
In the meantime we hope that we can offer them further support with their plans, which will be to the benefit of the whole community of our friends in Cambodia |
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Leah Richards recently spent 3 weeks in Cambodia. She writes:
“My time in Cambodia was amazing. I experienced first-hand the impact our support has provided.
I travelled around the Diocese visiting Parishes and learning more about their cultures and their needs.
I was made very welcome everywhere I went and the whole experience was very humbling.
Seeing the happiness and contentment on the faces of so many will be an image I’ll never forget.
I too felt supported throughout my time in the Diocese and the mutual prayers and support will ensure my return soon.”
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School Update – St. John’s First School
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The summer term was as busy as ever at school and was dominated by an International Festival which ran for a fortnight in June. It was an exceedingly exciting time for everyone – the timetable was thrown out and every day was different. We welcomed dancers from Africa and India, musicians from Spain, German storytellers from the Norwich school and Irish dancers from Notre Dame High School. We read stories and sang songs from around the world. The opportunities for art and craft work were endless, not to mention the chance to taste new foods.
And, of course, we couldn’t forget Cambodia. We had another ‘Day For Cambodia’, which means that the children could come to school in non-uniform clothes and bring a small donation to go to our twin school at Kbal Spean. We all wore scarves ‘kremar-style’. We looked at a powerpoint of pictures from the school, we tried to weave paper mats and we made clay pots like the ones brought back from the last trip. We all wrote prayers for the children of Cambodia to help keep them in our thoughts. We were joined by Leah Richards, an ex-pupil of St. John’s, who had just returned from a visit to the country and who visited each class to tell them all about it.
The International Fair was a real highlight of the fortnight. We dedicated our summer fête to countries around the world. It was a huge success especially in terms of celebrating our school community, which must be one of the most multi-cultural in the county. Pauline Andrews and Kim Latimer kindly ran a Cambodia stall selling things brought back from previous trips, making ‘I love Cambodia’ badges and running several small competitions.
We were also thrilled to be able to launch our International Cookbook this term. The school PTA worked tirelessly to gather together a selection of recipes from children and grown-ups involved in the school. Bishop Michael wrote us a foreword and it went off to the printers. It was so exciting opening the box when the first copies arrived back in school. The book is now selling like proverbial ‘hot cakes’ and Father David has kindly given us permission to make copies available for sale at the three churches. A large percentage of the proceeds is to be donated to the school children in Cambodia – hurray!
In the meantime, our story sacks have got off to a flying start. We took one story sack with stick puppets to tell the story of ‘The Good Samaritan’ out with us last year to the church and it went down really well. Our aim is to send to our twinned school, a selection of accessible stories, along with some puppets to help tell each story. Commercially produced storysacks are very expensive and one of our school governors has been extremely keen to help us get our project of the ground. Over the past few weeks many children have been involved in making puppets to help tell the story of ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ and our first sack is now ready. Plans are afoot for the next book to go into production in September! Want to help? We would be really glad to receive pieces of fabric, including shiny, sequined, and felt, along with any buttons, beads and ribbon which we can use to make our puppets. Please feel free to fill a bag and bring it along to church. I’m sure it will find its way to Aylsham!
Thank you. |
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