In our exchange program files I came across a document on cultural differences between Cambodia and North America. It was written by a former Cambodian staff – in the Connecting Peoples Coordinator role – for a specific situation and I’ve rewritten it to remove the specifics. I wanted to share it here as a Cambodian’s…
Author: Charles
Khmer New Year 2022
To paraphrase the artist formerly known as Prince, “So tonight I’m gonna party like it’s 2,565.” That’s right. This week is Khmer New Year, celebrating the start of the 2,566th year of the Buddhist Era. In Thailand, the official calendar is BE and you might be surprised to see your phone automatically shift from 2019…
Passover at International Christian Fellowship
As the COVID-19 situation in Cambodia has improved we’ve been able to start attending in-person church again and have started attending the English language International Christian Fellowship. Before COVID-19 broke out we were attending Khmer language churches and we plan to get back to that as well, fortunately ICF meets in the afternoons so that…
Cambodian Prime Minster condemns Russian invasion of Ukraine
Historically, Cambodia has been the victim of proxy wars between nations such as Thailand, Viet Nam, France, Japan, China, U.S.S.R., and the United States. In the 1940s, King Norodom Sihanouk negotiated a bloodless end to the Japanese occupation of Cambodia and peaceful independence from France. In the decade that followed Cambodia emerged as a bright…
Update from Myanmar: April 2022
I wanted to share an update from a check-in earlier this week with one of our partners in Myanmar. I am not including our partner’s names for safety reasons and have removed any specific details that might identify them. I’m also not including the details of their current MCC project. I might share this in…
TADA! Electric Tuk Tuk made in Cambodia!
When I lived here from 2006 to 2009, it was easy to get a moto taxi or tuk-tuk…but you’d have to hope they knew where you wanted to go and negotiate a price beforehand to avoid paying a hefty foreigner increase. It was quite normal back then to get someone who answered “oh yes, I…
Youtube: Introduction to Mennonite Central Committee
Our Peace Coordinator shared a Youtube video from MCC that explains the organization’s background, work, and supports. I appreciate the in-depth look at the thrift stores and material resource centers in North America that support MCC’s work around the world. It also features a photo from me back in 2009 – the team here couldn’t…
Flowers of Cambodia 2022
One of the blog posts that I have yet to write is about our January 2022 trip to Battambang province. We went for an engagement ceremony but got to see the sights while we were there including many, many beautiful flowers. In the latest entry of my Flowers of Cambodia series, I’m sharing some flower…
Ren Reasey’s mobile phone repair shop
Mennonite Central Committee funds an apprenticeship vocational program facilitated by our long term partner ODOV. Last month I visited one graduate of the program who started a mobile phone repair shop in his home village. Our supervisors, the Area Directors, were along for the visit as they were in Cambodia for the first time since…
Sharing Food Together
In the New Testament, we often see Jesus breaking bread to share with the disciples and others. There’s something powerful about sharing food in community. This week, Sokea from the MCC Phnom Penh office is out in Prey Veng at our field visit helping with some work and the Prey Veng team has been sending…