In October, MCC Cambodia said farewell to our PME Coordinator, Visal, and our Finance Officer, Ringsey. It would have been hard to lose either of these senior national staff, but it was especially difficult to lose both of them the same month so soon after the catastrophic medical emergency on the team.

I mentioned them briefly in a post about our January trip to Kratie province but I thought I should take some time to introduce them properly. So in order of hire…

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Sreylen, our new Accountant.

Sreylen is from Takeo province and is the first Christian in her family. Her father, in particular, is troubled by her new faith and puts significant pressure on her to renounce Christ. While she was in University Sreylen lived at the Eastern Mennonite Missions Dormitories in Phnom Penh and was recommended to us by one of the EMM Missionaries, Kandace. Sreylen recently completed her degree in Accounting but MCC Cambodia is her first workplace experience.

Sreylen and I have a special connection in that she lived with Simon the cat. When I left Cambodia in 2009, I gave one of my cats to the new family of EMM missionaries, the Umbles. They rechristened my cat Simon, who I had given the unfaltering name, Simon and lived with him for some years. Eventually, Simon moved into the EMM dormitory. Sreylen described him as “big and loud.” Kandace, who also lived with him, complained that he consistently meowed loudly and ignore mice even if they were two feet from him, which sounds about right – his brother, ឆ្កួត, was always the hunter of the duo. The feline connection was deepened when Sreylen opened my White Elephant gift – a frumpy gray cat – at the MCC Cambodia Christmas party.

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Mok, our new Monitoring, Evaluation, and Reporting Coordinator.

Mok was actually one of the last people I hired before I left MCC in 2009. I didn’t actually get to work with him, but I took part in his interview and got to know him at the office. He was hired as a Translator for the Wiederkehr family and the new service workers (Fowlers) who be coming in a few months. He went on to work with MCC Cambodia for another five years but when the Prey Veng field office was downsized in the mid-2010s Mok was laid off.

After that, Mok went to work with an excellent literacy NGO called Room to Read. We met each other a few times during my visits to Prey Veng province, at church or in the rural primary schools that both NGOs supported. He’d since gain a lot of experience working at Room to Read and had gotten his Masters degree at the local University. Mok is a very down to earth, caring, and friendly man who cares deeply for the project participants and the MCC mission/vision. He very much wanted to come back to work at MCC and we were glad to welcome him back.

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Thearak, our new Finance Officer.

Thearak has worked at a variety of NGOs in a finance role and immediately impressed us with the breadth of knowledge, experience, and problem-solving skills when we interviewed her. It was the right timing as the European NGO where she was working was downsizing and she was looking for a finance position at another NGO. She’s a dual major in Accounting and English Literature!

I had a wonderful time traveling to Kratie province with Thearak, Mok, and Janelle from External Grants back in January. She made some astute observations and suggestions on improving the processes for the village savings group that we visited. It was great to see our new office staff jump into fieldwork. She’s incredibly observant and really makes connections. Her expertise and experience has been massively assuring as we begin our financial audit for the grant.