Kambimbi - What's it all about?? Our Mission objectives

Each trip has a foundational mission or goal.  How it shakes out in the end is in God's hands but we try to organize the trip around a goal.   Serendipity.

This trip's story begins for me in Iraq.  A place full of suffering, war, strife and far far from Christ and any church here in the USA.  During my service in Iraq I was the Brigade Executive Officer for the 36th Combat Aviation Brigade.  This put me in the position of directing the Brigade Staff and as such I worked with all of the Battalion Staff.  One of these fine officers from a Battalion's staff is a man named Coren Allen.  When I returned I had friended Coren on Facebook just to keep in touch with the folks I served with.  Fast forward a couple years (its been ten years since Iraq).  I saw Coren do a FB post about The Kambimbi Academy and WIIJSR  (What if it just started raining). A project he brought to the world to serve the people in Africa to help create peacemakers in a part of the world with horrible strife.   A seed was planted....

Fast forward 5 more years or so and the seed grew...  What if we took the book that Coren had created for Africa and taught it in Khmer to Orphans in Cambodia?  What if we created a Khmer version of the Kambimbi academy in Cambodia and tied the messages of the book to the scripture?  The messages are pretty simple in concept and difficult to live every day.

1. Rain (Body).  As rain replenishes the earth, and thus the body....smiles replenish the soul, kindness & generosity replenish the heart and kindness replenishes the mind.  What if it just started "raining" all that goodness?

2. Smiles.  Smiles are everywhere…for all people…all cities…all tribes
A smile doesn’t care what color your skin is…
A smile doesn’t care what tribe you are from…
A smile doesn’t care what language you speak…

3. Kindness.  Kindness and Generosity are everywhere...for all people...all cities... all tribes
Kindness & generosity heals
Kindness & generosity reduce anxiety and increase communal cooperation at every level of society
Kindness & generosity are contagious

4. Forgiveness.  Forgiveness can be found everywhere…for all people…all cities…all tribes
Forgiveness heals the mind
Forgiveness heals the body
Forgiveness is freedom

5. Goodness.  Goodness can be found everywhere…for all people…all cities…all tribes
Goodness is more than smiles, kindness, generosity and forgiveness
To be good is free (doesn’t take money)
When we are good to each other, life is better

So what the heck is a Kambimbi?  In Africa the Kambimbi is a mythical bird that brings hope to the people.  It is a sign that they will see rain which will replenish the ground, the crops and the people.  When you see the Kambimbi you see hope.

The idea then is to teach the Orphans of the Kambimbi and it's message of hope. When they have learned the concepts they are given a Kambimbi Tshirt.  The hope then is that like the bird, when they go into their community they share the messages and ideas of the book spreading hope amongst the people.  Peacemakers. 

Through the very generous donations of family and friends, we have had the book that Coren wrote translated into Khmer by a dear friend Sothea Da from Cambodia and we had it re-illustrated by an Orphan in Cambodia to be tailored to them.  We have had hundreds of books printed and they await our arrival.  In addition we have had Kambimbi Tshirts printed for the children and those are waiting for us as well.

So that's it....  a crazy tale of how a terrible war in Iraq may just spread the message of hope and Christ in Cambodia on the other side of the world.   Serendipity