Glimmer of hope in the heart of darkness

Editor's note: Richard Botkin, a member of the WorldNetDaily.com board of directors and retired Marine officer, is a senior vice president at First Union Securities in Sacramento, Calif. Every year, at Thanksgiving time, he travels to Cambodia with a group of dental professionals to serve the poor of that Asian country. This first-person article recounts some of those experiences and observations.

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PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- I do not know why, but when I think of Steve and Jill Fisk, I think of the Willie Nelson song, "My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys." Except my heroes, pretty much until I met the Fisks, were men like George Patton, Bull Halsey, Chesty Puller, James Webb, and then the everyday Marine I knew in my own life -- the regular guy who did his duty and served honorably whether it was at Iwo Jima, the Chosin Reservoir, Khe Sanh, or even during peacetime, simply making the world a better place through that service.

Our dental team first met the Fisks briefly one November Sunday between church services in Phnom Penh in 1998. We chatted with them for a few minutes and were off -- our group to pull teeth for indigent people and the Fisks back to the new orphanage they had begun in town. We were all moved by their faith and their pluck. They had recently come over from Colorado with three children in tow, their oldest being son Elijah, who was then barely 3, with a nascent vision now called "Asian Hope."

Cambodia literally became the Heart of Darkness in the last quarter of the 20th century. Between 1975 and 1979, the Khmer Rouge murdered an estimated 2 million of the country's 7 million people. That period was followed by a short war with a long occupation by Vietnam, and finally capped off with the United Nations stationing troops there in the early 1990s. Stability was marginally restored and the wholesale genocide by the Khmer Rouge ended, but other problems surfaced. The placement of international troops brought with it the introduction of AIDS. Cambodia has now become the AIDS epicenter of Asia.

Perhaps the biggest societal casualty in Cambodia has been the traditional family unit. In a culture that generally has accepted a man's dalliances outside of marriage (various sources estimate that between 70 percent and 90 percent of all Cambodian men frequent prostitutes and 60 percent of Cambodian prostitutes are HIV-positive), the widespread presence of AIDS is effecting deadly consequences that will be felt for many years to come.

It is not at all uncommon for a man to father children with several women and demonstrate no involvement or responsibility. What is also becoming more common is the outright abandonment of children by their mothers or the attempted sale of those children by relatives. Add to that the deaths of parents caused by AIDS, crime, land mines, etc., and the picture becomes more grim. The number of homeless and abandoned children in Cambodia cannot be counted with any accuracy.

Into this horror and deprivation step intrepid men and women of boundless faith and hearts as big as Texas -- like Steve and Jill Fisk. What sane man would leave the relative comfort and safety of Westminster, Colo., and a successful landscaping business to live in Cambodia? Why would a man risk not only his own life, but that of his wife and three children?

A chance meeting at church with a Cambodian Christian piqued Steve's interest in opportunities to serve. Making two quick reconnaissance trips in early 1998, Steve convinced his bride that Cambodia was where God wanted them. The rest, you might say, is almost history.

"Asian Hope" began life Oct. 3, 1998. Discovering that Cambodia's adoption laws were, at best, onerous, burdensome and bureaucratic, the Fisks shaped their vision for taking in whatever children they could and simply raising them as their own. One particularly reassuring aspect of Asian Hope is reuniting brother-sister combinations and keeping family units intact -- something not always practical or possible in this very poor country.

Jill Fisk is a passionate young matriarch whose faith and love for these children knows no bounds.

"We want to raise these children as our own," she states with a radiant energy evident in her eyes and body language. They have started their own school in town and are exposing the children to a classical education as well as the Bible. The children learn not only in Khmer, the local language, but also in English. "Our hope is that we will build strong Christian soldiers, able to provide leadership for their own families and for Cambodia."

Their ranging home on Rue 592 in downtown Phnom Penh, large by Cambodian standards, sleeps 36 snugly, which includes the Fisk family, a three-person staff and 28 once-orphaned kids. The entire operation -- housing, clothing, feeding, educating and loving the kids -- runs about $4,000 a month.

The author, Richard Botkin, with brothers Tuen (left) and Tia.

Who are these children and what are their stories? My own favorites include brothers Tuen and Tia, 13 and 11 respectively, as they reminded me so much of my own sons at home in California. All of the children are in one way or another victims of the endless string of horror still prevalent in Cambodia today. Fathers shot and killed in desperate acts of crime and passion, mothers dead of AIDS or malaria, children abandoned or severely abused by dysfunctional parents or family members -- the stories are legion.

Nah Vee is a pretty 12-year-old girl. By American standards, she looks more like an 8-year-old. Her father was murdered when she was 3, and her mother, a young illiterate girl, quickly remarried. At age 8, Nah Vee was sold for the first time to an old Khmer man for $100. She managed to run away, but her mother found her. Bringing her home, she would systematically starve Nah Vee until she sold her again at age 10. Nah Vee ran away once more, this time to her grandmother's home. After awhile, the grandmother was unable to continue caring for her and Nah Vee found her way to Asian Hope.

Steve and Jill Fisk with one family they were able to take in and keep intact.

During our own two-week stay in-country this year, our mobile dental team traveled extensively around southern and central Cambodia working in concert with local Christian missionaries performing basic tooth extractions for hundreds of people, many of whom had never seen a real doctor or dentist. They were the poorest of the poor. All over we worked with children and adults, most of them underfed, undernourished and under-stimulated. Even through the use of interpreters, it was difficult to find common ground with those we served. They appeared sullen, fearful, reluctant to speak, almost shell-shocked.

Then there was our day working with the children of Asian Hope. These kids were different. An oral surgeon with the group, Steve Brown, of Sacramento, Calif., observed, "The Fisk kids seemed like my own. They were animated, excited, happy. You could see the light in their eyes." Kelly Crider, a Folsom, Calif., dentist echoed in agreement, "There was something different about these children compared to almost all of the others we worked with. These kids seemed full of joy." Indeed.

A few of the happy children in the Fisk's Phnom Penh orphanage.

Asian Hope is where the rubber meets the road in practical Christianity. The life stories of 28 boys and girls that would have certainly ended in chapters one or two now hold so much promise and opportunity. Taking to heart the call to disciple the nations, the Fisks have transferred from God's army to His Marines. Assaulting deeply into the unknown, unfriendly territory and securing a sizable beachhead, the ground has been made ready for follow-on troops to occupy and expand. Every day they fight the good fight, gaining victory, at heavy cost, one little boy and one little girl at a time. I am reminded one last time of remarks made by Marine Col. David Shoup, who commanded the 2nd Marine Regiment as it invaded Tarawa in November 1943 when he radioed his situation report, at the peak of the battle, to his division commander aboard ship: "Casualties many; percentage dead not known; combat efficiency: We are winning."

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If you would like to help the non-profit, tax-deductible Asian Hope ministry in Cambodia, you can send contributions to: Asian Hope, 12675 Home Farm Drive, Westminster, CO 80234. For more information about the ministry, see the organization's new website.