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…
Category: MCC in Cambodia
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…
Rory and Marcia
Last night our new Peace Coordinators arrived at the Phnom Penh airport after a harrowing journey from the other side of the world. Their first flight had ‘technical difficulties’… Which is the tactful way to say that it collided with another plane while taxing at the Philadelphia airport. This delayed their departure from Philadelphia causing…
Some old friends are moving in
Difficult times are also opportunities for people to come together to find solutions and build up community. COVID-19 has presented many challenges to MCC’s operations around the world. I wanted to share one of the most straightforward actions we’re taking in response – some old ‘Friends’ will be subleasing a room at the MCC Cambodia…
Clivia Dione Avila
In March, Cambodia banned entry of foreigners from Italy, Germany, Spain, France and United States to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Our new Connecting Peoples Coordinator, Clivia, was in Pennsylvania for orientation and flew to Cambodia arriving just six hours before the travel ban went into effect. Clivia is a fourth generation Mennonite from Honduras….
COVID-19: First Project
In March, MCC Cambodia partnered with 11 local churches to provide food relief to 150 poor households (approximately 600 people) as our first COVID-19 specific project. The primary goal of this small scale initiative was to provide these households with enough nonperishable food to enable them to shelter safely in place during a three week…
First Program Review
Last week we had the pleasure of going through our first country program review with our Area Directors. Arthur and Phyllis Mann are multi-term MCCers who live in Chiang Mai and supervise programs in Southeast Asia. Their wealth of experience in MCC, in international living and in transitions and living abroad with kids is so…
ODOV Proposal Revisions
On the Thursday and Friday after Christmas, I headed out to rural Prey Veng province with our new Planning/Monitoring/Evaluation Coordinator Visal to meet with one of MCC’s long term partners, the Organization to Develop our Villages (ODOV). ODOV was, originally, MCC Mesang until it localized in 2004. The file cabinets seen in the photo above…
Cambodian Labour Law
I don’t often talk about my work because it’s largely administrative. It’s more interesting (and photographic) to share what other folks on the team are doing. But I thought that I’d give you a quick snapshot into one of my current projects. It helps that Catherine decided to read my Cambodian Labour Law book for…