Portrait of Sreyra standing next to a tree outside the church. She is wearing a brown-patterned long-sleeved shirt. There are white shells hanging on a string behind her. Photo: Compassion
The half-day of school has finished for the younger children, and the ones who know about the extra literacy programme hosted by Sreyra walk towards her home. The midday sun has begun scorching the landscape, and she is already preparing a spot under the mango tree. Like every other day ever since she moved into the community, she teaches children about spelling, math, drawing, colouring and simple manners.
Sreyra is a woman who does not let any single hour of her day pass her by.
Sreyra (in a brown-patterned long-sleeved shirt and black workout pants) is sitting in a chair at home reading the Bible. There is a brick wall in the background. Photo: Compassion
She rises at 5am for her personal time with the Lord, reads her Bible and prays for her family, neighbours and the children in her Cambodian village community, before she starts her morning routine and prepares breakfast. At the same time, her husband takes care of their young son and gets ready for his work at the police office. Then, Sreyra’s tasks are followed by work around the house to make sure all the animals are fed and content. After her chores are completed, she begins to prepare materials and lessons for children in the community.
Sreyra will not rest on a hot afternoon like others, not until the children have returned home from their classes. Many neighbours wonder why she has such great compassion for children, and they still sometimes think she is wasting her time.
But she has never left any of the children behind—not her own and not any of the others in the community. She longs for them all to know Christ.
Sreyra (in a brown-patterned shirt) is smiling as she hold and looks at Vichea (in blue), her fourth adopted child. They are in the garden outside their home. “I feel like [my adopted children] are my children because I think this is a blessing from God, and God trusts me to care for them. They are like a blessing for us. I adopted the children because of love and compassion. How else would they know how to survive the dark world?” —Sreyra Photo: Compassion
“When I was a kid, my parents didn’t have enough time for me. They went to work. They cared for me and my siblings, but we never got warm care or quality time with the family. The feeling of not having care and not having good quality time with my parents was really painful. I don’t want children to have that experience like mine,” says Sreyra.
A Heart for the Gospel
During the Cambodian civil war, missionaries and volunteers started to share the gospel and mentor anyone who came to get medical treatment or healing. In 1993, Sreyra and her whole family accepted Jesus into their lives. As time went on, Sreyra began volunteering in the church ministry and taught a women’s group.
She went to Phnom Penh in 2007. While in search of work in the capital city, and a deep passion for vulnerable children grew inside her heart. As a young single woman, she adopted three children, one by one. She moved out of the city to be closer to her family in 2015, when she met Sucheat. He met her three adopted children, saw her compassionate heart and married her in 2017.
Sreyra (in a brown-patterned long-sleeve shirt and black athletic pants), Preav (13, in a light blue top), and Eming (in orange) are sitting together in chairs in the church garden area having a lesson. Photo: Compassion
“I adopted the children because of love and compassion. How else would they know how to survive the dark world?”
Each one of Sreyra’s adopted children had faced extremely difficult circumstances when she was moved to take them into her home.
“My first son, Samuel, I adopted when he was 27 days old, when his mother passed away. The second was Hannah; her mum had leukemia and was expected not to survive. And the third one was Timothy; I found him when he was a small boy who begged for money with his grandfather,” says Sreyra.
Sreyra faced difficulties and challenges while raising three children as a single mother. Expenses increased with each addition, and when one was sick and needed medical treatment, Sreyra would work tirelessly and persistently to ensure all the children received a meal and good care and were loved; she would not rest until her children were well cared for.
Sreyra (in a brown-patterned long-sleeved shirt) and Preav (in a light blue shirt) have their hands clasped in front of them, praying with the children at the Bible verse class outside the church. They are sitting at a round table. Photo: Compassion
“My source of motivation is from God. I pray hard to God because I alone cannot provide enough for the children,” she says.
Against all odds, Sreyra stood firm in her faith, and by God’s grace, she overcame all that was against her—not only her financial and physical circumstances but also her emotional situation in society. Many people in the community would discriminate against her as they thought her work was in vain and a waste of her money.
“My favourite scriptures always gives me strength. Luke 2:52 says, ‘And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.’ It talks about the holistic life of Jesus, and I really wanted the children to be prosperous, to develop holistically as well. And in Matthew 19:14, the disciples stop the children from coming to Jesus, but Jesus says no and invites all little children to come to Him.”
Sreyra decided to follow the example of Jesus: “Let the children come to me and talk and praise and pray.”
A Life of Ministry
Sreyra is wearing a long-sleeved shirt and is holding her Bible. Her husband, Sucheat, is wearing a grey T-shirt. They are smiling as they pose for a picture together in the garden near the property where they have the church and ministry. Photo: Compassion
After Sreyra married Sucheat they continued raising their adpoted children, however, the poverty and vulnerability of the whole rural community stirred Sreyra’s heart to respond. She began with prayer, and then, with her supportive husband, started a church ministry.
“People here drink a lot of alcohol, they like gambling, and the community has problems with drugs; people would often migrate to another place, and the children face domestic violence,” says Sreyra.
But their well-intentioned ministry ran into barriers within the community. At first, the people were suspicious of them, and they wouldn’t let their children join the activity at the church because Sreyra and Sucheat were strangers. They were afraid, as they didn’t know what Christianity was and had never heard about Jesus.
“We didn’t have a real church building but only a small hut for gathering,” says Sreyra.
After a while, the first family sent their children to the church to observe what the church was doing. Then, they learned that the programme was good for their children, and gradually, the children and youth came to join the activities at the church as their parents appreciated how Sreyra and Sucheat’s teaching helped their children become more polite—and they even helped their families with house chores!
Sreyra, in a long-sleeved brown-pattern shirt and black pants, is teaching the children (who are sitting in red chairs) outside the church. She is writing on a whiteboard. There is an old tire in the foreground. Photo: Compassion
Sreyra provided a literacy programme, an after-school class for children, and snacks. She set out to teach them life principles based on Christian values.
“In my perspective, children will be the next successors or the next leaders after we leave this world. So, it’s very important to teach them and educate them on what is right and what is wrong,” says Sreyra.
Sreyra and Sucheat only expected children to come for the activities. But the more the people in the community learned about their faith, the more that older people wanted to join the service or pray and worship.
As the number of children and people who came to the church grew, the facility needed more room. Sreyra enthusiastically prayed, trusting God for His provision. Little by little, Sreyra and Sucheat extended a tin roof to give some shade to the place of worship, while other gifts donated to the church were used for the children.
“We would take the offering from the church and the tithe to have a food programme on Sundays for children and youths,” says Sreyra.
Sreyra’s true heart was always for children to grow holistically through education and enough nutrition. They took a loan from the bank to raise a few cows, goats and pigs on a small farm, generating funds to keep the ministry running without help from another source.
Through uncountable hardship, Sreyra kept running the ministry without complaint—and as their church grew, so did their family. At the age of 43, Sreyra and her husband adopted a fourth child together.
Reaping a Harvest
When Compassion International launched in Cambodia, national office leaders sent a partnership facilitator to the area to select church leaders willing to commit to childhood ministry for pastoral development.
When they heard about Sreyra and Sucheat’s story, they called her. Realising the organisation held the same values she did, Sreyra did not hesitate. In 2023, the church they founded joined a partnership with Compassion.
From beginning as a stranger to the community who everyone looked down on, things changed remarkably. Sreyra earned the respect and trust of local families and local authorities alike.
Sreyra (in a rust and brown top and black skirt) is sitting on a log visiting with one of the Survival mothers (in a yellow shirt) and her baby (in pink). The mother is sitting in a hammock and is smiling as she looks at her baby. Photo: Compassion
The partnership with Compassion quickly helped Sreyra’s ministry increase its capacity to serve the community. At the same time, it opened Sreyra’s world to the concepts of child protection and how to transform the community.“Now I could reach out to support the community’s mothers through a partnership with Compassion,” says Sreyra. “I’m so glad that we can support mothers in the survival initiative through a partnership with Compassion. We have been praying for this ministry to be able to support young children and mothers.”
Sreyra, in a blue button-down shirt and black pants, is standing outside under a tree next to a flip chart. There are Survival parents sitting in chairs in a semi-circle in front of her. Photo: Compassion
The mango tree is bigger now. Its branches extend further, offering more shade and shelter. Sreyra’s garden is blooming, a place of sanctuary for the community. Seeds planted in faith are growing.
The church wants to see the community transformed so that the mothers, children, and youths can open their hearts to Jesus. And Sreyra’s heart still desires them to improve their lives holistically.
“We thank Compassion for supporting us in reaching out to more people. Without that partnership, we can only do a little and cannot reach out to young mothers. If we don’t do that, then who will do it? So, thank you,” says Sreyra.
Learn more about our child sponsorship programme here.