Cambodia on church radar

Veronica Oum, left and Jean Paul, local ambassador for the Adventist Development Relief Agency, examine a globe Saturday. Veronica is preparing for a trip Feb. 13-March 1 to Cambodia and Thailand as part of Canadian delegation with ADRA offering relief in parts of those countries. Saturday, her church hosted a dinner to raise money for her trip. (PATRICK BRENNAN Times-Journal)

20-year-old St. Thomas woman volunteers for journey back to her homeland

31 Jan 2012
By Patrick Brennan
St. Thomas Times-Journal (St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada)

Veronica Oum is preparing to make a difference.

The 20-year-old St. Thomas woman who works as a lab technician at Zellers Pharmacy, is making plans to leave Feb. 13 on trip to Cambodia and Thailand. She will be there until March 1.

She will be travelling as part of an Adventist Development Relief Agency (ADRA) mission sponsored by the Seventh Day Adventist Church.

Saturday, members of her church sat down at a fundraising dinner for her as she prepares to the final phase of her preparation.

Oum, whose family emigrated to Cambodia to Canada, said her trip will take the Canadian delegation behind the scenes in both countries.

"It's not where other people go," she said.

It won't be her first trip to that part of that world.

She was there is 2005 and saw for herself what life is like.

"I witnessed a lot of poverty," she said. "Everywhere you looked there were girls without homes."

She and the delegation will be tackling tough social problems like getting young girls out of the sex trade that flourishes in that part of the world.

ADRA is a long established Seventh Day Adventist relief organization.

"People don't hear as much about ADRA," admits Jean Paul of the Seventh Day Adventist Church in St. Thomas and an ambassador for the organization.

"We're not as well known as the Red Cross," she said.