Rev. Greg Smith and Salvation Centre Cambodia
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Rev. Greg Smith is an Australian Viet Nam Veteran who came to MCC from a Methodist background. After becoming Senior Pastor of MCC Sydney he led the church through a period of great growth during which they were able to purchase their own property…the first MCC church to have owned property in Australia.

Greg served as District Coordinator for Australia and New Zealand and was a leader for the HIV/AIDS ministry for Australia and UFMCC. He has a passion for social service and social justice. He served on the General Council for many years and spoke at the World Council of Churches in Canberra on HIV/AIDS in 1991.

Greg’s partner, Kim, is Cambodian and upon Greg’s resignation from MCC Sydney, they moved to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. They encountered many children living on the streets of Cambodia and after talking to them learned that Salvation Centre Cambodia provides meals for them and a place for them to have showers. He visited the Salvation Centre’s complex which he describes as almost like a village. It includes a restaurant, a retail shop, a barber shop, beauticians, classrooms, work shops, a clinic, dormitories, a day care center and much more. He and Kim learned that all of these shops are run by the street kids who were completing job-training programs.

The Salvation Centre Cambodia program includes education in basic mathematics and written Khmer language. There are also classes in English and French for more advanced learners. Perhaps the most important aspect of the program, though, is the job training provided the children. Options for job training include auto mechanics, motorcycle repair, hairdressing, barbering, electricity and welding. These are all jobs where the children can make a good living. Also important are the various job skills taught, which allow the children to become entrepreneurs – skills which help them to open their own shops. In fact, some students who have graduated from Salvation Centre have opened an internet café and several restaurants outside of the complex.

Children at Salvation Centre are free to come and go. The philosophy is that they will come and complete a program when they are ready. No one can make them do it.

Of the more than 200 employees at Salvation Centre, there are only five foreigners. These workers are employed in administrative jobs where they will not have contact with the children. This is done to keep from imposing western culture on the children.

Greg and Kim are working with Salvation Centre to help with people affected by HIV/AIDS. Greg Smith writes:

“Things are going well here although the job is definitely a challenge. I spent the last week in the provinces visiting some of our HIV projects. I have never seen such tragedy and poverty in my entire life. There are whole villages where men, women and children are infected and dying from AIDS. Some of the families live in nothing more than a rough timber and grass hut. Countless children have lost their parents and are cared for by grandparents, aunts and uncles or family friends…The monks I am working with are doing wonderful work and they are a great joy to work with. In the midst of this tragedy they are still able to smile and joke and have a gentle calmness about them which just seems to put people at ease. Needless to say there is a great shortage of funds and resources and it is amazing how much is achieved with so little.”

Rev. Greg Smith and Kim are opening a guesthouse “Manor House Phnom Penh,” a three story ten room Cambodian Villa in the middle of Phnom Penh, together with a restaurant for a project to work with people infected with HIV/AIDS.

Metropolitan Community Church has provided a base grant of $1,500 for Rev. Greg Smith and Salvation Centre for their joint work with people affected by HIV/AIDS in Cambodia.