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.

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."

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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.

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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."

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.