Moaney

"Moaney, a 46 year old Cambodian woman, our newly hired maid, reminded me of a zombie in January of 1999", says Missionary Ted Olbrich . "She went through the movements of life, but never expressed any emotion. She would talk in a monotone, clean, cook and even go to the market with no more expression than a robot." Little did we know but, that all this was soon to change due to the love of Christ. "When we arrived in Cambodia we knew no one except the leader of the one small Foursquare Church, whom I'd met the previous October when I visited the Country", continued Olbrich. 

Since laundry was done by hand, food was prepared from scratch, and cleaning was a constant process in the dry season dust, housework was a full time job. Ted and Sou Olbrich both knew they were called to be fully engaged in missionary work. "We needed a maid and we hired Moaney," says Sou. "God was watching out for us."

Moaney came to the Olbrichs' via their daughter's (Hannah) school. One of the secretaries, an Australian married to a contactor, told them that their children had grown and they were going to dismiss one of their two maids. Moaney had worked for them for six years and they recommended her. "We were in a hurry and didn't check the recommendation", explains Sou. "It's a good thing we were so busy because we probably wouldn't have hired her." 

What the Australian couple didn't say was that they feared her mental stability. They felt sorry for her, but were reluctant to keep her because of recent instability. She had gone into a sudden screaming fit from the usual deadpan. The couple did not want to risk a repeat of her bizarre behavior. "I don't understand why I did it, except that one day all the hatred and anger in my heart just exploded", explains the ever-gentle Moaney, " Grandmother" to almost 1,500 orphan children, as she reflects back on the event almost 4 years later. "I just snapped and they ran upstairs and were afraid to come down for hours," she comments with a soft chuckle, her embarrassed blush and sweet smile making it almost impossible to believe.

Moaney was born in Phnom Penh Cambodia, a few months before French independence, in 1953. She grew up, receiving a normal education, as the daughter of a mid level government official, in the pristine time before the Vietnam war, known as the "Sihanook Period". "I met a handsome army lieutenant in 1972, and we were married, but by then the countryside was being pounded by American Bombing, and he was away most of the time fighting the communists with the pro-US, Lon Nol, forces. "We had one son together in 1973, and he was the joy of my life," says Moaney with a tear forming in the corner of her eye.

The year 1975 changed everything. Pol Pot took over the country in April, by the end of the month the cities had been evacuated. "My husband managed to hide his uniform and pretended to be a laborer, so we were evacuated together and sent to the countryside to work in the rice fields. We had no food, no medicine and no home. We were constantly being sent to re-education classes, moved from place to place," reflects Moaney. She continues, but her voice softens and her face drops. "I did everything I could to protect my son, but he became sick in 1976 and there was nothing I could do but watch him die. Then in 1977 someone recognized my husband as a former soldier. I knew when the came and took him I would never see him again. I lost all the rest of my extended family under Pol Pot. I am the only one left', murmurs Moaney. "For years I wanted to die too."

The Vietnamese liberated most of the Cambodian cities in 1979. Moaney came back to Phnom Penh to eek out a living by selling rice. Then, in 1989, she went to work for a Belgian couple, later some Canadians and then the Australians. "For twenty three years I was dead on the inside. For the ten years I worked for foreigners, they trained me to cook, clean, and account for money, but no one told me about Jesus ", recounts Moaney. "I was full of bitterness and hatred when I went to work for the Olbrichs' in 1999", recalls Moaney with a faint smile. "They always went to church and kept inviting me. I finally went. The third time I invited Jesus into my heart." The smile is now a full-blown grin. "He took my bitterness and pain, my hatred vanished. I could laugh again," states Moaney with a twinkle in her eyes. 

Something remarkable started to happen. The Olbrichs' realized they'd lost a cook. Moaney continued, "I had no living relatives, but the children of my father's former servants, from a remote province on the Vietnam border, called me their 'Auntie' and came to visit me in Phnom Penh. I told them about Jesus and they became Christians. Then they went back to their province and told others. They requested that I come and teach them. I took a pastor with me and have been back several times. We have a church there now and dozens of believers", proclaims Monaey with a hint of pride. "They keep coming and want training, so I help them go to study the Bible." She has now helped train more than 20 pastors, but God had something else for her, a family to replace the one she's lost.

"As the churches started picking up orphans there was no trained staff to care for them, no cooks, no house keepers, just scared, hungry, sick kids", explains Missionary Ted Olbrich. "We had no plan. The churches were exploding in growth. This whole thing was out of control and we were putting everyone we could think of to work." Continues Olbrich. Moaney found God's plan for her. The empty spot in her heart was filled to overflowing with hundreds of orphan children. She started training the caregivers, watching over the finances, taking care of emergency medical needs and food supplies, purchasing and distributing clothing. She needed help so she began recruiting and training other widows, older orphans and pastor's wives. 

Moaney is now the primary supervisor of close to 300 staff and has more than 1,500 children that call her "Grandma". "Moaney is probably the most loved person in all of Cambodia," says Ted Olbrich. "She's come a long way from the bitter woman we met in 1999. She can bring her quiet calm to bear in the most stressful situations and all that emerges is the love of Jesus. I know that wisdom teaches us that no one is indispensable, but Moaney's got to be close", concludes Ted. "She's God's gift to the Church and orphans of Cambodia. We love her!"