September Audio Highlight

Marie Ens talks about finding Places of Rescue, her calling to Cambodia and Jesus's hand through it all.

Just outside a little village on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, is Place of Rescue. Surrounded by rice fields and sugar palm trees, Place of Rescue is a safe haven for families living with AIDS, orphan children, orphan grannies and young unmarried pregnant women.

Place of Rescue was founded as a Cambodian NGO in 2003 by Marie Ens, a retired Canadian missionary. At that time Place of Rescue consisted of 15 houses for AIDS families.

The youngest of 7 children, Marie was born in 1934 on the prairies of Saskatchewan. She sensed a call to missions even as a young girl and from the age of 8 her stated goal was to be a missionary. Indeed, Marie’s mother had dedicated her to God’s service even before she was born.

In her early teens, Marie’s family moved west to BC where she remained until heading back to Saskatchewan to attend Canadian Bible College in Regina. The year was 1952. It was there that Marie met a young man named Norman Ens whom she would marry four years later.