Teaching the Gospel in Cambodia
Lisa Hines ’03 considers HDCH to be one of the most important parts of her education journey.
As a high school student at HDCH, Lisa Hines was known for being a high achiever, fascinated with computers, and a talented musician. She was on the sound crew for five years and spent most of her free time in the music room. However, HDCH was also the place where Lisa had her first encounter with helping those in need through field trips to Kensington Market and to downtown Hamilton to hand out lunches.
The teachers at HDCH worked together to make us think about the world. They encouraged us to pursue whatever it was that God called us to with all of our hearts.
After graduating in 2003, Lisa took some time off to volunteer at the Olive Branch and work part-time. Her eyes were opened to the realities of the poor in Hamilton, and she began to sense that God was calling her to serve others with her gifts. That summer, Lisa went on a two week mission trip to El Salvador and felt God clearly calling her to do something overseas.
The following year, Lisa attended the University of Waterloo to study Computer Science and enrolled in the Mathematics Teaching Option. This program was joined with Queen’s University where she attended for their Bachelor of Education program. During her time at university, Lisa saw four independent presentations on Cambodia and felt God calling her to be there. However, Lisa decided to stay in Ontario to get some experience and had a great teaching opportunity at an Ontario school. Following a co-op term at St. Mildred’s-Lightbourn School in Oakville in her final year of school, Lisa accepted a full-time position teaching math, computer science, and coaching a robotics team.
Three years later, Lisa started to look at how she could use her skills to help others around the world. She found Logos International School through some connections on the internet, and noticed that they were looking to fill a Computers teaching position. The fit seemed too perfect not to follow up. Leaving a school in Canada was hard, especially since teaching jobs were thin at that time, but Lisa felt that this is where she was being called and accepted the position.
Being far away from friends and family is hard, but the experiences that I have had in Cambodia are incredible.”
At Logos, Lisa teaches Kindergarten, Grade 8 Computers, high school Programming and Design, high school Robotics, and a Grade 8-10 self-paced math program. She also acts as a Grade 6 homeroom teacher, helps out with the swim team, runs a middle school robotics club, and assists with the audio/visual needs at the school. Logos is in Phnom Penh and reaches out to many Cambodian children from a wide spectrum of incomes, as well as many international students from Korea, United States, Canada, Australia, Pakistan, Thailand, and China. The school is run by Asian Hope, which is an organization that reaches out to at-risk children in Cambodia. Asian Hope operates two children’s homes for at-risk youth, three international schools, and three catch-up schools for local children.
As an organization, we are working to help prevent child-trafficking by giving children an education, and teaching them about the gospel through the various schools and programs.”