Our First Khmer Staff!

So its official! We have just hired our first ever Khmer Staff at Ratanak International (Cambodia). We have an accountant so now it is one less hat that I get to wear!!!Yipee and its one hat I am glad I don't have to wear!! I love numbers (especially if it is to do with stock prices) but accounting, ugh---those debits and credits drive me crazy! Anyway, our new Khmer staff member is named Sathya, a very talented young man who not only has auditing and accounting experience, but he is trained in banking, in microfinance, he is  a tax specialist and also advises foreign investors who want to do business in Cambodia. If ever we set up a business here, we have someone who can advise us of all the necessary documentation and processes. God has given us more than what we ever expected when we hired this young man. He has an amazing skill set and also taught himself English. I had to say him, if I could teach myself Khmer like he has taught himself English, I would be so fluent in Khmer! An added bonus is that he and his wife attend the same English service that I do so it will be a wonderful opportunity to worship together.

Sathya will start on March 1st and our accountant Faith from Canada will be flying over for two weeks to train him. Here at Ratanak, we are not a typical NGO. Most NGOs here focus on funding their own projects but God has given us the privilege of not only funding other NGOs in Cambodia but also He has blessed us and given us much favor that we are able to fund our own projects. And so Sathyá will be a busy young man not just monitoring our partner projects to ensure that our donor dollars are being well managed,  but he will be instrumental in establishing our Financial and administrative policies and procedures for our Cambodia operations office and also providing financial oversight to any new Ratanak established projects. We look forward to having him on board!

Thanks to all of you who have been praying for our staff. We celebrate this with you as you have partnered with us in prayer. We are continuing in the process of asking the Lord to provide the right staff with the right giftings and experience for our upcoming project. In the months to come, we look forward to sharing with you how the Lord is continuing to give shape and form to the vision He has placed in our hearts to invest in the lives of those who are on a journey from victim to survivor to more than a conqueror in Christ as they discover that they are not only valued and loved by the King but He has a plan for their lives, a plan to prosper them,  a plan that is full of hope as He puts a new song and a new dream  in their hearts.