Ben and Karen Little run an organization that builds wells in Cambodia. The congregation has supported the Cambodian Wells Project for several years as part of our Second Offering Sunday. They wrote this update with this note:
I have written this up not as a request for any more donations(although we need wells more than ever), but simply as an informational piece to let you know that the conflict has affected our library and families in Cambodia. The wells that we have donated over the years are an instrumental part of keeping our families and new refugees alive. Saron just sent us this picture showing his message in Little Rock, Arkansas, last week. Let us join in supporting his love for his countrymen. Karen and Ben
That wish (in title) seems to be timelier than ever with countless armed conflicts around the globe. And there is a serious conflict between Cambodia and Thailand that is not reported on our newsfeeds, but VERY important to share with our Wells Project Supporters.
The dispute between Cambodia goes back more than a century when the borders of Cambodia and Thailand were drawn after the French occupation of Cambodia. Hostilities escalated in 2008 when Cambodia tried to register an 11th Century Temple as a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the disputed area. The move was met with heated protest from Thailand. There have been sporadic clashes with soldiers and civilians killed on both sides over the years, but in May, tensions increased after a Cambodian soldier was killed in a clash. The fighting continues to focus on ownership of the Temple.
Fighting broke out again earlier this month after a fragile ceasefire in July, negotiated by the US, (President Trump) and Malaysia, fell apart after five days of intense border clashes. Fighting has now spread to nearly every Province along the 500-mile border. Cambodia accused Thailand of “indiscriminate attacks” as Thailand carried out more air strikes inside Cambodia. Cambodia has lost many soldiers and a lot of its military equipment. It has been driven back from positions it held on the border and suffered extensive damage from the Thai air strikes, grievances which could make a lasting peace harder to achieve. Following intervention by Malasia and President Trump, a fragile ceasefire was negotiated between the two countries and signed in late October. Dubbed the Kuala Lumpur Peace Accords, it mandated both sides to withdraw their heavy weapons from the disputed region, and to establish an interim observer team to monitor it. But Thailand suspended the agreement in November as it felt that the security threat had not decreased. How well the ceasefire holds this time depends, to a large extent, on political will. Nationalist sentiment has been inflamed on both sides. These latest ceasefire points include: getting the displaced back to their homes (over one million people have been displaced) and an agreement to remove landmines.
December 15th letter to us from Saron, our Wells Project manager. Saron feared for his life and fled to the US in Fall of 2024, now is living with Cambodians in Little Rock, Arkansas and is seeking political asylum.
“Urgent news from Sary, our librarian (and also interim Wells Project Manager) in the Kouk Reang’ library that our supporters helped build. Thai aircraft bombed and destroyed the bridge that links Srei Snam district, Siem Reap Province* and Chaongkal district, Odor Meanchey Province*. While Sary was teaching in the English class, the sound of bomb makes all the children in the classroom be very panic. I am crying now because most of my relatives, cousins- were evacuated from their homeland. Please help pray for Cambodia.”
*These are the Provinces along the Thailand border where we have dug the majority of our wells in for the past 11 years. Saron has told us that many Cambodians living in the border have fled to our villages (23 airstrikes on Cambodia have displaced Khmer people on both sides of the border. 518,611 Cambodians and 213,072 in Thailand as of Dec 2025 – BBC News) and that the water from our wells has been very needed by the refugees.
We felt that it was important for our supporters to understand the current situation