Difficult times are also opportunities for people to come together to find solutions and build up community. COVID-19 has presented many challenges to MCC’s operations around the world. I wanted to share one of the most straightforward actions we’re taking in response – some old ‘Friends’ will be subleasing a room at the MCC Cambodia office.

MCC has a longstanding relationship with the American Friends Service Committee. In this case, ‘Friends’ refers to the Quakers. Both organizations were founded in Pennsylvania by historically Christian denominations known for their peace witness.

In Cambodia, collaboration between AFSC and MCC goes back to the very beginning of our program. In 1979, immediately following the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge, MCC’s first relief aid shipments arrived on an AFSC airplane. AFSC and MCC were two of only five American NGOs active in Cambodia during the embargo (all five were Christian, three were based out of Pennsylvania). In the early 1990s, AFSC and MCC were founding members of the Cooperation Committee for Cambodia. For decades, our two organizations worked closely together on development, peacebuilding, and interagency collaboration.

In Cambodia, our long collaboration quietly faded after the success of our last major joint project – supporting the working group for weapons reduction. AFSC shifted focus to other countries in the region and their Phnom Penh office now serves as their Asia regional office.

Of course there is a concrete benefit to sharing resources during a time like this but this feels like a great opportunity to renew collaboration with one of our oldest ‘friends’ in Cambodia. I’m excited to see where this leads. We already have a few initiatives in the works that I hope to write about soon.