This morning I found a delightful rhinoceros beetle in our courtyard that must have been knocked down from it’s perch by the heavy winds and rain caused by Typhoon Noru last night. Well, I shouldn’t say delightful because this pest is one of the critters that’s been infesting our poor coconut palm! The Coconut Rhinoceros…
Author: Charles
Pchum Ben
Pchum Ben is the second most significant public holiday in Cambodia after Khmer New Year. The pronunciation of Ben here is somewhere between the name ‘Ben’ and the word ‘Bun’, phonetically ‘Bĕn’ is most accurate. Pchum means ‘to come together’ and Ben means ‘ball of food’, usually a rice or meat ball used as a…
Three New Service Worker Positions with MCC Cambodia
It seems hard to believe but our Peace Coordinators, Rory and Marcia, have 10 months left in their term of service with MCC. It seems like only yesterday that we were praying desperately for their safe arrival after their flights were delayed because a plane collided with theirs while taxing on the runway in Philadelphia…
Run with Endurance
In this life we’re living there are certain verses that come up again and again. One of them is Hebrews 12:1. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips…
2022 YAMEN and SALT Class
A few days after Disha departed for India, we welcomed our new class of YAMEN and SALT participants. This year we have our largest class since prior to the pandemic, with six participants from Kenya, India, Zambia, Tanzania, and the United States. These young professionals will spend the next year living with Khmer host families…
Medical Emergency Update
I wanted to provide a quick update on our YAMEN participant, Disha, who had a catastrophic stroke shortly before ending her term of service and returning home to India. Last week Disha was able to return home to India on a medical flight and has been admitted to a high quality hospital that specializes in…
Leena’s Ear Hematoma
Soon after we turned to Cambodia, Leena’s left ear swelled up like a balloon. This was easy to self-diagnose by googling “my dog’s ear is swelling up like a balloon.” I didn’t take a photo of her ear but it was dramatic, frightening, and painful. Apparently it’s a common condition for dogs with longer ears…
Medical Emergency on the Team
This has been shared on the Mennonite Central Committee and Mennonite World Conference Facebook pages, but by the time we were given permission to share publicly we were too in the thick of it to post an update here on the blog. Just days from completing her term of service and turning home to India…
‘Make our own Khmer meal’ at the Welcoming Place
Yesterday we traveled to Akron, Pennsylvania for meetings at the MCC US office and spent the night at the Welcoming Place. We invited MCC Cambodia alumni in the area to meet us in the evening for a ‘make our own Khmer meal’. Many alumni are actually in Cambodia right now for a MCC International Programs…
June 2022 Flooding in Phnom Penh
While we’ve been on home leave there’s been severe flooding in areas of Phnom Penh. This has not affected our house or the MCC office, but some staff and MCC partners are in the affected areas. Our Office Manager, Doungchann, shared that the water was up to her stomach on her commute home. The most…