While Slumdog Millionaire celebrated the underdog within the slums of Mumbai, half a world away, a teenage boy was responding to miraculous stories of God at work in the slums of Cambodia.  Tim Paton, of WEC’s Bridge of Hope ministry, recently received an inspiring email from an overseas family he had visited and shared with last year.

Where would you start with statistics like these?  Cambodia has the highest rate of child abandonment in South-East Asia. There are over 300, 000 disabled persons, ten percent of which are victims of landmines.  One third of all Cambodian prostitutes are children.  A phenomenal sixty percent of the population suffer from largely trauma induced mental disorders.  Yet sadly, less than one percent of the national health budget, which is only $2.50 per person annually, is allocated to mental health care. 

Beijing paled into insignificance compared with the inaugural Bang Tumpong Olympics.  Far from China’s fireworks and fanfare, these games played out in a humble Cambodian slum.  Kiwi WECers Gordon and Jan Meehan and about forty children enjoyed competing in relays, shot put and long jump.