Back in May, I shared some of my old photos of Flowers in Cambodia. While we were in Chiang Mai, Thailand last month I took a few photos of flowers there. I was still recovering from Dengue and didn’t get out as much as I’d hoped – but a few are better than none. Next…
Author: Charles
Why Prey Veng?
Since 1981 Mennonite Central Committee has focused much of its rural efforts on Prey Veng province. But why? Prey Veng has, over decades, been one of the highest need areas that is relatively accessible from Phnom Penh. The most brutal Khmer Rouge internal purges targeted the East Zone which included Prey Veng province. Prey Veng…
Who is Ruth Keidel Clemens?
Ruth Keidel Clemens is in Cambodia right now as part of a learning tour. But who is she? She is the current International Program Director for MCC US – our supervisors’ supervisor – but her connection to Cambodia goes deeper than that. Ruth and her husband Jonathan came to Cambodia (then Kampuchea) in 1988. They…
Bike Injury
On Saturday last week, Charlotte and I had a lovely daddy-daughter outing around Phnom Penh. We stopped by the office on the way home to pick up a bike and, as the guard did some last minute maintenance on it, Charlotte took off her shoes. This is where I messed up – as we started…
Durian
The first time I had durian I was told, “it smells like hell but tastes like heaven.” Unfortunately that wasn’t the case. It tasted like a rotten sweet onion. This was in Ohio in the year leading up to my first cross cultural trip to Viet Nam. Because of that experience I avoided eating durian…
So Dengue Fever
To conclude the story of Ugh Food Poisoning and Probably Not Food Poisoning… After the tests came back the Doctor concluded that I did have Dengue Fever. It has been a long recovery – lots of muscle pain, fatigue, and headaches. But, after a month, I’m finally feeling close to normal again. Dengue is a…
Charlotte and Victor Playing Chess
The Dengue fatigue hit me hard this evening and I’ve been up in the bedroom resting. When I came down to get some water I was surprised/delighted to see Charlotte playing Chess with Victor – one of the YAMEN participants from Kenya. I taught her how to play last year but never expected her to…
Why do so many Cambodians have diabetes?
Cambodians have surprisingly high rates of diabetes. Why? Is it because they put a lot of sugar in their coffee? This is what one expatriate told me when I mentioned that I was excited to have Cambodian coffee again. To paraphrase “Be careful, you’ll get diabetes.” I normally drink my coffee black so it’s a…
Probably not food poisoning
I’ve had food poisoning a lot in my life, as noted in my last post, so I’m familiar with the symptoms by now. This latest bout started off feeling like an extreme case of it. The nausea, fever, and vomiting lasted around 48 hours. But the diarrhea (and associated lightheadedness/weakness) has continued since. That’s way…
Ugh. Food poisoning.
I’m very susceptible to food poisoning. Even back home in the United States. It was a challenge for me last time – living in a rural province – as I had major bouts of food poisoning every two to three weeks for my first two years. I lost a significant amount of weight because of…