The Prince Albert Alliance Church hosted a tour of Western Canada by the organization Rescue Cambodia on Saturday afternoon.
The organization was founded by Marie Ens, who spent her early years in Prince Albert and the surrounding area.
Rescue Cambodia is a haven for orphan and at risk children, families living with HIV/AIDS, and destitute elderly women. Songkrua Chun Aus Songkum (Rescue) is a non-governmental organization (NGO) registered since 2003 with the Cambodian government.
Ens, who recently celebrated her 90th birthday, was born in Rosthern and came to live in Prince Albert when she was seven. She said returning to Saskatchewan was very special.
“It’s almost an emotional overload for me these days to go back to all my roots,” Ens said. “God has been so incredibly good to me that I’ve sometimes felt I haven’t given him anything, but now to come back and review my life and see how he’s provided it, every single thing I gave up has been way more than worth it. Every experience, everything that has happened in my life that could have been considered an offering or a sacrifice, it’s just doesn’t begin to compare with my life is so incredibly wonderful now.”
Ens first thought about being a missionary as a young girl. She said the prospect always interested her.
After leaving Prince Albert, she attended Christian Missionary Bible School in Regina, where she married her husband, Norman. They were both interested in becoming missionaries, even though they weren’t sure where they would go.
In 1961, they headed to Cambodia.
“We just said, ‘oh, we’ll go wherever they want to send us,’ and the mission sent us to Cambodia,” Ens remembered. “It was absolutely God’s choice for us. We bonded so much to those people.”
The journey wasn’t easy. Cambodia was closed to foreigners at one point, so the Ens’ had to spend four years in Thailand. The returned to Cambodia during the country’s civil war. After the war, they left for France, where they served Cambodian refuges.
Norman passed away in 1991, and Marie decided to return to Canada. At the time, there was some pressure to stay in her home country.
“They said, ‘now you got to go back to Canada and don’t even consider coming to visit Cambodia,’” she remembered. “The idea was get adjusted to living in Canada and be retired, but I had no desire to do that at all.”
In 1994 Cambodia once again opened to missionaries and she returned with Alliance Church Missions. She worked with them until she turned 66-years-old
She then decided to go back independently using her retirement pension which could support her in Cambodia.
“Not enough in Canada probably, but enough in Cambodia, so I went back and built my dream house there that I had wished for for a long time,” she explained. “It looks like a Cambodian style house and right next to the Emerging Aid Center.”
At that point, Cambodia was suffering through an AIDS crisis. Ens said up to three per cent of the population was infected. To help, the organization built 16 small houses for families coping with AIDS.
“We felt that everybody should do something because so many people were dying,” she said.
“We didn’t take individuals and they’re mostly moms coming with their children and they used all their finances, all their everything to try and make it.”
Ens said there was no way to afford drugs so the homes essentially became palliative care homes.
When the adults passed away they left the children in their care and that started the first orphanage. Now there are 20 more houses, plus three orphanages and university-style dorms.
“It grew beyond my imagination,” Ens said. “People say, ‘how did you have a vision for this?’ (I) absolutely didn’t. (I) absolutely did not. (It’s) step by step by step.
“I feel like my whole life up to this point has been for this any lessons that I learned about anything has been for Rescue and for what we’re doing there now,” she added.
Rescue has three centre’s throughout Cambodia. Rescue I is located just outside of Phnom Penh near the town Bek Chan. Rescue II is in the northern Cambodian town of Mongkol Borey, and Rescue III is nestled near the Cardamon Mountains of western Cambodia in Pailin, just minutes from the Thai border. In addition to the centre’s Rescue has three University Dorms ‘House of New Dreams’ that are located in the cities of Phnom Penh & Sisophan.
Dancers performed “The Lord’s Prayer Dance” as part of the Rescue Cambodia tour stop at the Prince Albert Alliance Church on Saturday
Marie Ens, the founder of Rescue Cambodia posed in the Prince Albert Alliance Church on Saturday afternoon.
The Rescue Cambodia Tour began on Sept. 11. The group has already traveled across Canada and will soon enter the United States. The goal is to raise funds and sponsors for Rescue Cambodia.
Along with testimonials, it features performances by 12 Cambodian dancers. “They’re well trained. Their dances are really, really beautiful,” Ens said.
Ens added that the tour was about more than fundraising and entertainment.
“In my heart, what I want more than anything on this tour is for people to see the goodness of God, the faithfulness, the provision, what he’s done and his care for widows and orphans. The scripture says that pure religion is here for widows and orphans. and how he’s used rescue to fulfill that,” she said.
Since Rescue Cambodia started over 20 years ago, they have looked after more than 1,000 children. Ens said that being able to bring the children and have them answer questions about their backgrounds shows the benefit of the organization.
“They all come from terrible backgrounds,” she said. “Every single one has a story. We’ve brought two young adults with us who have compelling testimonies about what their life was like before Rescue and then during their time at rescue and what their life is like after now. It’s quite compelling, really, to hear this story.”
After the stop in Prince Albert they returned to the Alliance Church in Rosthern on Sunday morning and then were at Westgate Alliance Church in Saskatoon Sunday evening.
Ens said that she is thankful for how great God has been in her life.
“I just turned 90 the other day and praise God so much,” she said. “I can’t thank him enough for his faithfulness and also for allowing me to do this tour at this age and be able to. It’s gone very, very good. The tour has been wonderful. It’s been wonderful for me personally.”
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
