Thanks to All Our Racers!

The race was a success! Despite the 35 degree, rainy, windy weather we had over 30 racers come and run in our "Race us to Cambodia 5K Run/Walk." We had runners, walkers (with their pups), rollerbladers, and skateboarders supporting us in our move to Cambodia. We raised over $2,900 on Saturday morning just from those who donated that day! THANK YOU!!! Let us know if you could not come but would still like to partner with us.

Here are some of our finish line photos from Saturday...
Our winner Andrew coming across the finish line.






Our race crew volunteers!

Preperations, preperations, preperations

Over the last month we have been doing a lot to get ready for our big move this summer. There is so much that needs to be done in the next few months...

• Leanne got a new passport (I guess procrastinating and never doing it after we got married is now catching up with us).
• Chris got 2 years of meds, contacts, and a new pair of glasses.
• Leanne got Lasik eye surgery on the 16th, and now doesn't have to deal with contacts and glasses anymore!
• With the help from two wonderful students from the Annex, we started packing our winter clothes and things we know we won't need in Cambodia (thanks Sara and Blayne!)
• We started to sell some of our things that we don't want to store over the next couple of years (let us know if you want a recliner chair, Men's Salamon skis, or a Chevy Equinox).
  
• We have been getting ready for our big fundraiser event on April 24th! Hope to see you all there....
  

Race us to Cambodia 5K Run/Walk Fundraiser!

The time has finally arrived for our first ever Race us to Cambodia 5K Run/Walk! The event is going to take place the morning of Saturday, April 24th from 9:00am to 11:00am. We wanted to have a time set aside that people could come and join us in financially supporting our move to Cambodia. So we thought why not a 5K race? Registration will begin at 9:00am, the race will start at 10:00am, and we will have post-race snacks until about 11:00am. Whatever you choose as your race entry fee will be considered your donation, and 100% of the money raised will be donated to Asian Hope and deposited into the DeRemer ministry account. Our goal for this event is to raise the remaining $3,500 we need before we move to Phnom Penh.

The race and registration will be located at the City of Cuernavaca Park near downtown Denver. If you are interested in receiving an Evite invitation in the next couple weeks, we would love to send you one so we can know if you are able to participate. In the Evite you will find all the same information with location, date, time, directions to the park, and what you need to bring with you. Please feel free to pass along this information to anyone you think would like to attend; we would love for you to bring your spouse, your boyfriend, your brother, your niece, your roommate, your friend, your parents, and your kids!

If you don’t think you will be able to attend, but would still like to donate to our move, below are some short steps on how you can donate online using any credit or debit card:
- Visit www.asianhope.org
- Click on Donate on the left hand side of the screen
- Fill out the small form and choose “DeRemer” in the drop down menu to direct where you want to donate your money

So save the date for SATURDAY, APRIL 24th and start saving and training now!

Articles in the News

We have had a lot of people recently asking us about what role Leanne will have in working in anti-trafficking. In a brief overview, there are three areas that people work in to end sex trafficking -- prevention, intervention, and after-care. Leanne will be involved in the prevention side of the work, as Asian Hope is an educational based organization, and hope to educate Cambodians on the dangers of trafficking children.

Since human trafficking is such a hot topic among human rights and justice organizations, below are a few links found in the news about sex trafficking in Cambodia, to help people better understand what is going on.

The first link is a set of articles from the New York Times written several years ago by Nicholas Kristof. Kristof has been involved in trafficking for several years in Cambodia, and you can read some of his stories in this article (there are 5 consecutive stories, make sure you read them all to get the full story) listed on the lower left hand side of the webpage below his profile. He also just recently wrote the best-seller Half the Sky, about women’s rights in many different capacities worldwide.

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/columnists/nicholasdkristof/index.html?scp=1&sq=kristoff%20in%20cambodia&st=cse

The second link is from an article from CNN about another big profile name, Aaron Cohen, who works to stop sex trafficking of young children in Cambodia. This article was just written this week and goes over the urgency in helping these victims.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/02/08/cambodia.wus.child.sex.trafficking/index.html?hpt=Sbin

The third link is a YouTube clip on a story done by CNN's Anderson Cooper on a trip he took to Phnom Penh to uncover the crime of child sex slaves.

Anderson Cooper Reports from Cambodia

If this is something you would like to read more about other great books out there on the topic of trafficking are Disposable People by Kevin Bales, Terrify No More and Slave Hunter by Gary Haugen (President of International Justice Mission), and again Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof.

Photos

A family of four on a moto

Independence Monument

The Royal Palace Buddhist Temple

Traditional Khmer dance performed at the opening of the new Logos campus

The traffic and streets of Phnom Penh...new and old!

A Glimpse into Phnom Penh

This past month I (Leanne) had the opportunity to visit Phnom Penh for one week to get a glimpse into what our life will look like when we move to Cambodia. I couldn’t have asked for more out of this short trip, as it was extremely helpful in preparing for our move. Phnom Penh is a city filled with motos, Buddhist temples, noodle shops, and road-side selling carts, but still lacks simple things like stop lights, fly swatters, and flood control abilities. The city was constantly active with families commuting to local markets, (where we would use mini-vans, there mothers and fathers with three kids all pile onto one moto or scooter), children trying to get the next tourist's dollar, and a few cows grazing in the grass nearby, yet it is still somewhat peaceful and charming. I was pleasantly surprised by how clean, quite, and organized the city was. However, wherever you look you can still find a child without food, clothes, or shoes; a dirt road scattered with trash; and most of the population trying to make it by on their small incomes and lack of education.

I spent most of my time meeting with staff at Asian Hope and hearing about the specific ministries they were involved in, and then also having the chance to talk with other organizations who are working in anti-trafficking. I was able to gain a lot of information and knowledge on what our day to day will look like both in work and in free-time.

The rest of the time was spent looking at some housing options that might work for us, getting an orientation on they city, and enjoying the much-anticipated Khmer food. Overall, the trip was a huge success, and we can’t wait to start this new chapter in Cambodia! The new Logos campus where Chris will be teaching



The neighborhoods around Logos


Sunset over Phnom Penh