On Day 6 in Cambodia (yesterday), I got out into the countryside on my first field visit to see Chhourn Maly at work. This visit was at the Kraing Kaet Primary School. I was the initial Partner Adviser for the education program in Prey Veng during my first term with MCC and it’s exciting to…
Month: August 2019
Along the Sewage Canal
One of my hobbies when I would visit Phnom Penh during my last term was to walk around the city. It is not a gentrified city, instead the poor live in makeshift homes squeezed into any free bit of land they can find. They live there until the land is sold out from under them,…
Our Trip from Pennsylvania to Phnom Penh
We were given a ride to the airport by a very interesting young Mennonite from Paraguay. He was volunteering for a year with MCC’s meat canner and planned to enter seminary on his return home. Originally, he was drawn to working as a Missionary in Nepal but had since felt called to the Low German…
Arrival in Cambodia
We arrived Saturday morning to our new home in Phnom Penh Cambodia to a wonderfully warm reception. After 32 hours of travel, house to house, we were so grateful to simply have arrived! The Exchange Coordinators, Philip and Belen picked us up from the airport with their smiling 8 month old and transported us home…
Safely in Phnom Penh
We hope to write a longer post about our trip soon but I wanted to put up a quick one letting everyone know that we arrived safely in Phnom Penh yesterday. The flights went well – even the 14 hour one – though the transfer at Hong Kong was the worst I’ve had in my…
First Flights
We will soon be boarding American Airlines Flight 772 to Los Angeles. We are scheduled to arrive around 11:30PM. Our flight to Hong Kong is scheduled to depart at 1:30AM and we have to switch from domestic to international, so we probably won’t have time for an update then. You can track our flight to…
Saltiness
Last week we had a meditative devotion on Matthew 5:13-16. Throughout the service the verse on “the salt of the earth” was read several times and we were asked us to reflect on “saltiness.” You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make…
Orientation Plus
We started our final week of orientation today, packed with sessions on international leadership for human resources, responding to trauma and finance. It’s been a great set of weeks with so many conversations about best practice. While I am new to the organization, learning from others about the many positive changes Mennonite Central Committee continues…