Seems like every post we put out starts with it’s been awhile or we’re busy, this post is no different.

We did try and get a post out early last month but we had some web issues that wouldn’t allow us to post.  So our wonderful tech savvy pastor man Micheal fixed all that when they came out this month.

I have much more to share but I’m going to start with the money stuff and let the post work for a week while I prepare a second post.

Okay last year 2018 we asked for a lot of financial help and we received a lot from you all.  So thank for all the blessings last year.  We also felt that we’d hold off for a bit on asking for more.  I think last July we asked for funds to build the basketball court and I don’t think we’ve really asked for anything since then.  However we’ve still been quite busy building with fund we’ve saved.
a. We’ve remodeled the yard raising it almost a foot to help with drainage.
b. We’ve been real busy with having a second floor to the team house constructed.  It should be completed in a couple weeks.

We have our plans for this year that we would love to get your help with especially if you don’t know what to do with your tax refunds ;).

Well our most immediate, pressing need; a vital one really.  Solar Panels.

The year Cambodia has had a severe drought.  So bad in our area that our well has run dry.  The first time it’s been dry in the 14 years that we’ve had it.  Normally our well is the best in the whole area it has water year round faithfully.  We’ve been buying our water from a pond in the village.  It’s clean and filtered but it’s not ours.
The drought has also reduced the efficiency of the hydro dams that support the countries ability to put out enough electricity.  Also contributing to the problem is the housing boom in the city.  To many new users for a system that can’t cover it current users properly.
So for the last couple months the power is out for five or more hours a day.
We’ve been running our generator half a day some times into the evenings.
Our bill is way over $1,000 a month currently.

So we’re running to the idea of panels again.  Even though it has started raining the last 2 weeks, we suspect it will be a months before dams are running full power and then Cambodia normally goes dry again in September.  Normally November is a turning point in water levels and were a long ways from that.  Then there is always next year where they are expecting same problems largely to new users.
Most people here are scrambling for power right now and generators have nearly doubled in price.  There is also the cost of running it.  I think our is costing us $3 an hour adding about $400 a month to our current bill.

We are working towards getting an estimate here soon and just from talking to the company this week they’re saying about $25,000.
Because this is an immediate need for us we are also looking into taking a lone from the bank.  The loan payment will be half our current electric bill and only 1% interest.  But we’d love to get an email saying we have a donor or donors willing to cover this need.
We wouldn’t even mind having to take the loan but with help pay it off quicker than expected.

Years ago, maybe 12, we actually had a donor offer to cover the entire costs of putting panels on.  But while we were looking into panel for the orphanage but the electric cost back then was less than the replacing the batteries every couple years, so we declined the donation and avoided panels.

Some things changing our mind beside not having power most the day.

Solar Companies here are now selling new lithium batteries here and the longevity of those reduce the cost under current power prices, especially with the generator running.

We want to stop the taxing of all our equipment that the generator is putting on things.  The generator is very small and we can’t run things like the ice machine half day because there simply not enough power for it.  We also constantly have power irregularities with not even to do with current power problems.  Cause of storms and high amount of lightning strikes here power is constantly popping off.  Last night power tripped at least 5 times an hour and we’re quite sure stuff in the house is going to break at some point.

So long explanation but we could use some help on this.
A. Solar Costs $25,000

Next Couple Projects.

D. Remolding building into 4 classrooms, a library and Science Lab.  Costs $6,000
Supplies (desks, chairs, etc.) for 6 new classes $4,000

B. We really would like to cover our basketball court because it’s our daily meeting area and more of a church than a ball court.   Costs $20,000

C. We are engaged in land talks with our neighbor.  We want to increase the snack shop area and increase the entrance and parking
Costs $30,000 depending

LASTLY
BIG NEWS;

While the school grows into it’s new classrooms of over the next couple years we will start purchasing new land for the permanent campus.
We are seeking 10 hectares or about 25 acres.  We are expecting $5 a meter which would be about $500,000. for the 10 hectares.
We have had 2 pieces of land given to us from Ream’s father that are around 1 hector leaving us with 9 more.
We believe can can obtain about 1 hector a year under our current budget of regular donations that come in each year.

A couple things here.
1. We have to buy all the land before even dreaming about construction to avoid price hikes.
2. We’d like to speed this process up and not take 10 years to obtain all the land.  We really only have about 5 to 7 years at our current location before we run out of room again.

3.  We are in a design process and learning what we want from the future campus and starting the planning how we get there.
Infrastructure will be pretty critical this time.  Drainage, Sewage, Electrical, Parking all that it’s quite huge for me to accomplish by myself  and would love the help from a person or group that can help us get this right.  A person with civil engineering experience would be of great help.

I’ll post more details on this later.

Thank you for all your prayers and help

Kit