Samaritan's Purse is distributing supplies and sharing the Gospel to families displaced by recent conflict in northwestern Cambodia. As violent clashes continue, pray for peace.
Heavy artillery fire along the border between Cambodia and Thailand has displaced nearly half a million people from their homes. Many have relocated to meager displacement camps lacking basic resources and sanitation.
Families line streets, fill empty buildings, and search for adequate shelter as entire communities are forced away from their homes following violent conflict between Cambodia and Thailand.
“I came here with nothing,” said one grandmother in the displacement camps. “When I heard the explosion, I ran away with my grandchild. I could not bring anything with me. I really need help.”
Another mother has been living in a crowded Buddhist temple since she and her daughter were driven away from their home. “I feel so sad,” she said. “We had to leave our homes, and my sister has many children, now they have no place to sleep.”
Samaritan’s Purse teams are actively responding to this sudden crisis in Jesus’ Name, providing basic supplies to families and offering the comfort of God’s love. With a field office in Cambodia, Samaritan’s Purse relief teams and supplies were quickly assembled and sent to hurting families.
Samaritan’s Purse staff pack supply kits at a local warehouse before delivering them to families in need across northwestern Cambodia.
“The current situation is the story of the Good Samaritan; it is our mission,” said Barry Jessen, Samaritan’s Purse country director for Cambodia. “There are thousands of people on the ‘side of the road,’ beaten by life with no way of caring for themselves. The situation has robbed them of their possessions, their livelihoods, their homes, and their dignity. Samaritan’s Purse is choosing not to walk past but to help.”
Responding in Jesus’ Name
The centuries-long border dispute between these two countries in Southeast Asia was rekindled two weeks ago with airstrikes, shelling, and widespread military action in the region, breaking a short-lived ceasefire. Entire communities fled their homes in a fear-filled rush once the bombs started to drop, forced to relocate to large, crowded camps with inadequate food and shelter. The conflict is ongoing; many thousands more could be displaced in the coming weeks.
Early into this response, Samaritan’s Purse is distributing household packages to over 2,700 families. Each package includes tarp, rope, blankets, towels, and hygiene resources—such as soap and feminine hygiene products. The basic supply kit gives families an opportunity to build shelter, sleep on something other than dirt, and stay clean as they navigate a new life away from their homes.
A mother and son leave a Samaritan’s Purse distribution site with tarp, a bag full of other essential supplies, and an Operation Christmas Child gift-filled shoebox.
Lam, together with his wife and three children, fled their village over a week ago and have been living ever since under flimsy plastic sheets that spill water on them when it rains. Samaritan’s Purse materials gave them a sturdy shelter to sleep under and keep dry.
“I am very happy and deeply thankful to Samaritan’s Purse for providing many essential items that I did not expect,” he said.
Yat, a 74-year-old grandmother, was another who received a Samaritan’s Purse aid kit shortly after arriving to the camp with nothing to her name. She’s been a Christian for three years and said that she prayed to Jesus as the bombs dropped on her remote village. She was quickly evacuated and had no time to grab any belongings.
“I had nothing,” she said, “but when Samaritan’s Purse staff came, I was happy because I needed so much.”
Samaritan’s Purse is also installing 27 latrines across four locations in Cambodia after local authorities expressed the need for proper sanitation and waste management within the camps due to the sudden influx of people.
“There is a deep sense of brokenness and exhaustion,” said Samsonraj Pandian, the deputy country director for Samaritan’s Purse in Cambodia. “People don’t want this conflict to continue, yet they feel helpless as they wait for peace.”
A man puts up his Samaritan’s Purse tarp at the displacement camp.
The Gospel Spreads Amid Crisis
Despite overwhelming chaos and worry, hope is beginning to reemerge among adults and children alike in Cambodia’s displacement camps as they hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ—some for the first time.
Along with their aid packages, each family receives a Samaritan’s Purse Gospel booklet in Khmer, the national language of Cambodia, that explains salvation through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
Women read through “The Jesus Story” booklet provided by Samaritan’s Purse, that explains the Gospel in a clear way in Khmer, their heart language.
“They have not been forgotten. They are not abandoned. There is a real God who sees them and sent Samaritan’s Purse to show that He cares,” Jessen said.
The same Gospel was presented to children in the camps accompanied by Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts. The gift-filled and prayer-covered shoeboxes found the laps of roughly 2,600 children, reminding them that they are loved by their Creator.
Sokleap was one child uplifted by a shoebox gift. “These are all things that I love,” the 13-year-old girl said as she opened her shoebox. “I have never had nice toys before—I didn’t even have many at home—so I am truly, incredibly happy.”
Sokleap is one of thousands of children displaced by violent conflict to receive a special Operation Christmas Child shoebox gift. Pray that each child would grow to know Jesus as their Savior.
As the conflict rages on, please pray for strength for all the families whose lives have been uprooted and changed forever as a result, and that many would feel God’s love and comfort during these tumultuous times. Pray for Samaritan’s Purse teams as our work in is only beginning in the region.
