“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal not lover of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God…” II Timothy 3:1-4

The Khmer Rouge destroyed every textbook along with all school equipment and facilities. Education was condemned as “corrupt”; indoctrination programs that sought to instill Pol Pot’s ideology replaced schools. Anyone with a diploma was condemned as an “Intellectual” and sentenced to hard labor or even execution. Before 1975, there were 20,000 teachers in Cambodia, nevertheless by 1979 there were less than 5,000 left in the entire country. The rest had either perished under the Khmer Rough Regime or fled the country. Today, over 70% of public schools are in the Buddhists temples. Because of the shortage of classrooms, most classrooms have morning shifts and afternoon shifts, each class has over 50 students. Many poor parents can not afford to enroll their children to get an education in public schools, students must pay bribes and superfluous costs. Children were raised up seeing lawlessness such as:

 Corruption – Greed and materialism, gaining from the exploitation of others.
Injustice – Bribes as a source of income by law enforcement officers.
Lack of value in society – With in the family and towards children and women.

         In the family, women not only shoulder economic and all household responsibilities but they are faced with a great deal of tension and domestic violence. Some are abandoned by their husbands and some are divorced, but a large number of women are domestically abused and must tolerate polygamy practiced by their partners. The Khmer proverb states, “Men are gold and women are cloths. Gold can be washed, but cloths are stained.”

        Today, the greatest ministry need in Cambodia is “Family Ministry” because Christian morals, values, and Godly parents do not exist in this culture. While most Christian organizations focus on holistic ministry to provide humanitarian aids. Many denominations focus on training church leaders so more churches can be planted with very little emphasis on the family. Pastors and Christians themselves are struggling to seek sound biblical counseling for their own marriages and families. For this reason, children see no role model to follow and the concept of integrity, the value of the family and Christian moral standards are neglected. New Hope Preschool provides the opportunity to the poor 4-7 year old children to be educated by these Christian standards. We believe that if we want to change society, we must start by training the children.