It’s becoming a tradition for us to join the ‘GSL’ team for a photoshoot in traditional Khmer clothing. GSL stands for Global Service Learning; it’s the department that our YAMEN and SALT exchange program fits under. Simeon Ndagijimana (YAMEN participant from Rwanda), Clivia Avila (Connecting Peoples Coordinator from Honduras), and Andrew Neufeld (SALT participant from…
Category: MCC in Cambodia
COVID-19: July 2021 Update
Like Thailand and Vietnam, Cambodia was fortunate during the first year of the pandemic but is now facing the kind of spread that was seen in most other countries. The daily cases have become stuck around 800 -1000 since July 1st, which may not sound like much, but considering we were having around 30 –…
Rural Livelihoods and Social Cohesion in Interethnic Communities
I wanted to share some snippets of the grant proposal that we submitted at the end of June. It’s not the full proposal, that’s 20 pages long with around 40 supporting documents, but just a short snippet on the proposed project. As I mentioned in the previous post, this brings two of our local partners…
Grant Proposal Process
Last year we submitted a concept paper for an external grant to fund a rural development project in the Northeast and after a few months of sparse communication thought that we hadn’t gotten it. Then, at the end of the May, we were invited to submit a full proposal that combined that concept paper and…
Dr. Sunil Chatterjee
On June 8th we learned that Dr. Sunil Chatterjee passed away due to COVID-19 on May 7, 2021. Dr. Chatterjee served in Cambodia from 1985 to 1986 at the Prey Veng Provincial Hospital and Neak Leung Hospital. Please pray for India because of the incredible loss and suffering caused by COVID-19 there. In the 1980s,…
COVID-19: Restrictions Lifted
We were expecting Cambodia to continue with targeted zone based lockdowns for some time but over the last week almost all COVID-19 restrictions in Phnom Penh have been lifted. The few that remain, like mask wearing and bans on large public gatherings, are not being enforced. I think we’re already seeing the impact of this…
New Office Cook – Ramy
The MCC Cambodia office will be reopening for fully vaccinated staff starting next month. That means that I can finally make a personnel announcement that I’ve been holding on to since last year. This is probably of more interest to MCC Cambodia alumni than to other readers. Many alumni have fond memories of So Sopheap,…
Khmer Vulnerability Aid Organization
In January, I was able to finally resume in person visits to our local partners after a lengthy hiatus due to COVID-19. It was wonderful to be able to see them and their work in person again. Unfortunately it was short lived as Cambodia is experiencing its worst COVID-19 outbreak to date. I wanted to…
Simeon from Rwanda
Late on Christmas Eve, our surprise last minute YAMEN participant arrived from Rwanda. Simeon was originally going to be in the Ukraine this year but could not go because of COVID-19 restrictions. Fortunately, we were able to get him a Visa to come to Cambodia. There was a harrowing moment when he missed a connecting…
Prey Veng Female Disabled Federation
Last week I had my first meeting with a local NGO in rural Prey Veng province, the Female Disabled Federation. We are hoping that this will be a new partner for MCC Cambodia working with people with disabilities in the countryside. Our Connecting Peoples Coordinator, Clivia, and Rural Education Coordinator, Maly, were the first to…