I recently shared a news article from Dhaka about Art Defehr’s early work with MCC Bangladesh and thought that I’d share another one. I don’t plan to do this too often so don’t worry that this will become an article blog. Currently, MCC Asia and MCC Europe are launching initiatives to strengthen our connection with…
Author: Charles
Flowers of Bangkok 2023
This week we had to make a ‘visa run’ to the Cambodian Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand to get Caleb’s visa. The bright side of having to wait for three days for the Embassy to issue the visa is that we had time to explore the city and visit a few of it’s many wonderful gardens…
បោះអង្គុញ | Throw Seeds (Angkunh)
Throw Seeds is a traditional Khmer New Year game that’s played with the large, glossy seeds of what Cambodians call ‘Forest Tamarind’. These large seeds are called Angkunh. Angkunh seeds have the same lacquered feel as domestic Tamarind seeds but are magnitudes larger and have a flattened shape. The game is played played between two…
ល្បែងវាយក្អម | Smash the Pot
One of the most popular traditional Khmer New Year games is – quite simply – called Smash the Pot. It involves hanging thin clay pots filled with flour (or, in the city, baby powder) and a prize of some sort (usually tamarind candy) on a rope. The aim of the game is to smash one…
Article: Art DeFehr, The man who transformed Bangladesh’s agriculture in its early years
One of MCC Bangladesh’s national staff, Arefur Rahaman, shared this article from The Business Standard newspaper out of Dhaka about Art DeFehr and the early work of MCC Bangladesh. I’d heard many people talk about Art DeFehr before but this was the first time that I’d seen his work in Bangladesh outlined so comprehensively in…
Visiting Bokor Mountain during Rainy Season
Last month we were in Kampot for a teambuilding retreat and, afterwards, our family decided to drive up into Preah Monivong Bokor National Park to see how things had changed since I was last there (in 2007, I think?). Bokor is a mountain near the coast and marks the southeastern end of the Cardamom mountain…
Chan Trea’s Class on Anger Management
I wanted to share a story of change from our Peaceful Education project. This story came specifically out of the Peace Club pilot and was collected by our MER Coordinator, Mr. Mok. A white shirt with a blue skirt or blue trousers is the sight of six grade students who attend Svay Chor Primary school…
New Service Workers
Back in September of last year, I shared that we were recruiting for three new service workers to join the MCC Cambodia team. I’m glad to announce that all three arrived safely and without incident in Cambodia on May 19th. We had a service worker back out after accepting last year so we waited to…
Raise the Anti-Mosquito Fortifications!
Last year we meet with some wonderful Lutheran missionaries who spent many years in Hanoi before moving to Phnom Penh and who had gotten to know the Mennonite Central Committee Vietnam team quite well. When they saw Charlotte wearing a MCC shirt at a churchgoer’s birthday party they immediately connected with us. Later, when we…
5 Year Program Review Team
Ideally, every MCC country program in the world should undergo a Program Review every five years. This doesn’t always happen due to instability, conflict, or other disruptions. Cambodia was scheduled for a Program Review in 2020 but it ended up being delayed for three years due to the pandemic. The Program Review is an opportunity…