More about Bloom

Dec 2009
March 2010

Welcome to the first Bloom newsletter, published December 2009.

First students ready to graduate!

In September, Bloom Training Centre saw the first intake of students in our Hospitality and Cake Decorating course. Six girls were selected from among dozens of applicants, and so far they’ve already mastered the art of baking and decorating their own cakes and cookies. Keep in mind, most of these girls had never even seen an oven before coming to Bloom! This cake (pictured right) is an example of their very fine handiwork.

The girls are now almost ready to graduate on 18th December, and continue hands-on training as the first employees at Bloom Cafè, which is due to open its doors to the public in February 2010. If you happen to be in Phnom Penh around then, drop in for a slice of cake and a cup of coffee made by our supremely talented students.

Personal note from Ruth

Wow! How do you put into words our first few months at Bloom?!! I think our biggest excitement has been to see the artistic talent pouring out of the girls – it blows me away! It sometimes seems so surreal – are we really working with girls rescued from pedophiles and brothels? And then someone will say something that makes you want to fall to the floor and weep with gratitude that God has given us this opportunity to be His hands and feet.

One of our girls Thyra told me that when she left the Agape Rescue Centre and returned home, her community told her she had no value anymore, which is sadly common among girls who have been trafficked. Then this precious, precious girl told us with tears in her eyes that since she has been taking home her decorated cakes, her community has been so shocked and impressed that they told her that she has received her ‘value’ back! Thyra almost didn’t come to Bloom because her community told her she wasn’t smart enough for school! Well Thyra is having a great time and despite all the obstacles she passed her first exam with flying colours. Since the girls cannot read or write, we are doing the exams verbally and you should have seen Thyra’s face when we told her she got 95% on her exam! She couldn’t stop hugging me and her sense of achievement and pride was just a joy to witness. It was one of those moments that you want to hold onto forever.

There are still so many girls waiting to come to Bloom. One girl who didn’t make the first cut has since been re-trafficked by her father. It is really hard to deal with that… it drives us on almost desperately. We know we have to ‘start small’ and do this well – to make sure Bloom is sustainable and strong. It is hard not to just take in every girl straight away and stick to ‘budgets and business plans’, but we understand the wisdom in running this race for the long haul, in training our current girls so well that they will rise up to be leaders and trainers for many other girls, waiting for their turn.

Bloom thanks…

builder-boys1 Massive thanks are owed to the wonderful builders who came out to Phnom Penh and turned a vacant buliding into the Bloom Training Centre and Cafe that we’re so fortunate to have today. Huon Smith, Paul Ewan, Warren Ives, Geoff Clare, Bernard Lumkes, Mark Dean, Mark Edmund & Andy Kotzur (pictured) all gave up two weeks of their time, skill and energies to work around the clock renovating the building to install display cabinets, workbenches, lighting, plumbing… you name it! Foreman Andy Kotzur said of the experience, ‘We looked at all we had to do and wondered how on earth we’d get it all done, but somehow we managed to, and realised that what seems impossible to man is possible for God.’

We’d also like to thank all the wondeful people who have offered support, financially and otherwise, to continue the work of Bloom in Cambodia. You know who you are. We love you!

Hospitality Course Diary… stories from the frontline

Week #1

The girls love morning devotions and we’ve been going through the Bible from the beginning and are up to Joshua now. The girls all just sit there with wide eyes and when we finish the story, they beg me to keep going! It’s kind of hilarious – we’re so used to our kids being bored by Bible stories and finding them irrelevant. One of the girls said, ‘If I have a baby, I’m going to call him Joseph because he was so amazing to forgive his brothers after they sold him.’ I was speechless. It’s like seeing the stories brand new through their eyes and constantly makes me realise just how exciting our God is!

Week #2

It’s fun teaching hospitality in the third world. In our lessons on bacteria, I was trying to teach that bacteria only grows in 5-60 degree heat. After much blank staring, we realised that they didn’t know there was a such a thing as ‘temperature’ and that heat in the air could actually be measured. They had never seen a thermometer and hadn’t learnt that numbers go from 0-100 or that zero meant freezing. In the end we just went with ‘bacteria dies when it’s really cold or really hot’!

Week #4

Another great moment really underlined why God has put Bloom in place and the awesome role we get to play in the lives of our girls…

Teagan, our café manager & barista, is doing a great job training the girls in coffee skills using flash cards and simple cartoon illustrations. Cappuccinos, flat whites and long blacks are harder than we thought they would be with no English! One of our girls ‘L’ (who had arrived at the shelter apparently looking like a beaten up frightened dog – bruised, matted hair – and wouldn’t let anyone touch her or clean her. In fact at the interview, she wouldn’t even look at us – which is why we wanted her so bad!!!!!) – anyway she has the least self-confidence of all of them. On Wednesday, the girls were really getting the hang of it but ‘L’ just couldn’t get it for some reason. All of a sudden, she just ran out of room crying because she thought she would fail the whole course!

I was out at the markets with one of the girls showing her where to get all the market supplies (she’s turning out great by the way – she is so happy! Her step father had been trafficking her for parties – gang rapes etc.) ANYWAY… on the way home I stopped and picked up a bunch of hot pink full blown roses for ‘L’. We gave them to her and Kimsua (our Centre Assistant Manager) explained that everything was ok – that she was so clever in making the sugar flowers and cakes – it didn’t matter about the coffee and that our job was to find her strengths and work with her on those. L’s hands were shaking while Kimsua talked and then she just sobbed and sobbed with happiness. She had to run away into another room and kept crying with happiness & relief. After a few minutes, L came out and just hugged Teagan & I, and wouldn’t let go. She didn’t have words. She just stood there shaking and smiling and wiping away tears. It was such an honour to be there in that moment for her. For her to know that she had finally found a place where she was truly loved and accepted and special… We are part of something so beautiful.

Week #5

Sometimes it can all seem like you could never make a difference in a country so filled with poverty and evil. But that doesn’t overwhelm Jesus – he knows each girl by name, and has empowered us to bring His light into this darkness.

The other day, one of the girls just started giggling in class, when I asked her what was funny – she said that the way she was feeling was all new. Before, she always felt ‘dark & sad’, and now all the time she is ‘sabai ched’, which means happy! It’s so humbling, because we’re just teaching cakes for goodness sake – it feels like nothing. But for them it means leaving a dark room of pain and humiliation where customers are brought to them from 5pm until morning. For them it’s literal. Darkness turns to light… no wonder they just start giggling sometimes!

Week #7

One afternoon we were having a party and we had invited some of the counselors and house mums from the shelter where the girls live. After a time we realized one of the girls was missing and Bridget (one of the directors of Agape Rescue Centre) called me out to the kitchen. I went with her and there was our missing girl hiding amongst the flour and sugar barrels. She was crouched down, crying her eyes out and clutching her ‘Student of the Week’ certificate to her chest. She had been so overwhelmed by emotion and happiness that she just needed a quiet moment to digest it all. We all just sat together in the corner of the room amongst the flour hugging each other and laughing and crying.

Week #8

We’re having a great week with our visiting artist, Deanna Bresnehan, who is teaching sugar animals and how to paint on sugar. Don (Director of one of the aftercare shelters) told me one of our new girls, ‘Y’ lived in a monastery where she was raped every night by 9 monks. When they got tired of her they sent her to a brothel. She was finally rescued in a raid by the IJM. She is 14 years old and doesn’t speak at all. Don told me she can’t do school work, doesn’t want to do tailoring or beauty school so coming to Bloom is her last chance. She has been quite slow at picking things up, but yesterday one of our lovely volunteers from Gateway, Kathryn, spent the whole day one on one with her, and at the end of the day she actually smiled. Then she greeted me with a smile again this morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Woo hoo! Love this job!!!

Become a Bloom Advocate!

n 2010, we’ll be launching the Bloom Advocate Program , which encourages people to host casual get-togethers with friends to spread the word about Bloom. We’ll provide you with a kit that contains a speaker’s guide and some items sourced from Cambodia, with all sales going directly back into the work of Bloom. All items (like jewellery, handbags, hand-made giftware) have been sourced in Cambodia at the local markets or from organisations that support the disadvantaged. Contact us at hello@bloomasia.org to find out more!

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