In July, we hosted a group from Fresno Pacific University in California. Fresno Pacific is a Mennonite Brethren University. The group spent most of it’s time in Vietnam but came through Cambodia for a week and ended with a few days in Thailand. The lead Professor for the group was Dr. Ken Friesen who was the MCC Representative to Vietnam in the 1990s. There were about 25 people in the group including students, Faculty, and a few Faculty family members.

Dr. Friesen connected with us in January about the group coming through Cambodia and asked about visiting some MCC projects in the countryside. So we arranged to take them on a day trip to Education and Food Security projects in Prey Veng province.

Chhourn Maly leads a Peace Club lesson for Grade 6 students at Svay Chor Primary School while a visiting group from Fresno Pacific University observes.

After observing the Peace Club lesson, the Fresno Pacific group sat down with the Primary School Principal, Mr. Lay Yim, and several Teachers for a question and answer session. Sokea interpreted between English and Khmer, so that the group could learn about the Cambodian education system and situation directly from Cambodian educators.

Afterwards we visited Mok Samun’s farm and she shared about her living situation. She then demonstrated how she feeds her chickens with feed that she makes herself from ingredients that she grows on her farm.

Two students from Fresno Pacific University try fishing from Mok Samun’s fishpond while the daughter of a Professor watches.

The group heads down the path, still muddy from seasonal rains, from Mok Samun’s farm. We couldn’t visit more farms on the short timetable we had but it gave them a good glimpse of the traditional Khmer lifestyle and an introduction to the rural development/climate change work we’re doing.

If you are ever bringing a group through Cambodia please don’t hesitate to reach out like Dr. Friesen did. We’d be very glad to arrange a quick day trip to nearby projects or just host you for lunch at our office. Just let us know in advance. In 2019, we had some Mennonites visitors drop in for a surprise visit at the office and that didn’t leave us with any time to set up anything for them.

On their last day in Phnom Penh, some students from Fresno Pacific University group joined the 2022-2023 YAMEN/SALT class for lunch at the MCC Cambodia office. This gave them the opportunity to learn about MCC’s exchange programs directly from participants. The MCC Cambodia office “extended the table” for the larger lunch group by pulling three tables together.