Challenges in the City - Street Kids

Homeless children who wander the streets of the world's great cities are often called "vermin" because they beg, steal, sell their bodies, and-if they survive-grow up to become hardened criminals.

Struck by the need of Phnom Penh, Cambodia's street children wandering the local marketplace, Jim and Shirlie Moore began reaching out to this "throw-away" segment of society. They started with just a few children, but that quickly mushroomed to 160 children who are taught to read and write the Khmer language, learn verses and recite passages of Scripture, hear Bible stories, and wash their hands before eating the only decent meal most of them have during the week.

The result of meeting basic physical needs has resulted in numerous children and their extended families coming to saving faith in Christ. Some older children have graduated to junior staff positions, and are now teaching the younger ones what they have learned not just about education and hygiene, but about the greatest Friend and Teacher who ever lived.

Jim and Shirlie constantly receive requests to take additional children, but are stretched beyond capacity with the children and families to whom they already minister. The challenge they face is one of logistics: too few workers to reach the thousands of poor families who encourage their children to frequent the marketplace in order to get money by whatever means possible.