I’m excited to share that Oscar Suarez has arrived in Cambodia and has started his term of service with MCC Cambodia as our next International Seek Facilitator. Oscar is a Mennonite from Colombia. He spent 11-months teaching at a school in Ohio, USA as part of MCC’s IVEP program and previously worked as a Music…
Myanmar is no longer the most violent place in the world
In June 2024 the former MCC Cambodia & Myanmar Peace Coordinator, Audrey Thill, published an article in Foreign Policy on How Myanmar’s Wood Funds Its Brutal Military. It’s a fantastic article pulling back the curtain on the illicit economy driving conflict and deforestation. The article is on Myanmar but also looks at similar issues in…
Peace Clubs, Signing Agreements, and a Ministry of Presence
In March, MCC signed an agreement with the Prey Veng Department of Education to facilitate Peace Clubs during Primary School Life Skills classes and train Primary School Teachers on the operation of Peace Clubs. This agreement includes a sustainability plan with the Primary Schools gradually taking on more responsibility for the Peace Clubs and eventually…
Reflections on breaking relationship and breaking bread together
I’ve been reading a book by J. Nelson Kraybill titled Stuck Together: the Hope of Christian Witness in a Polarized World. It’s a very inspiring book that speaks to the kind of presence I personally believe Christianity should have in the world. Nelson writes from a lifetime of experience and seamlessly weaves together contemporary real…
5 years later
A couple of weeks ago I received a message from MCC Canada asking us to update our family photo. It was taken a little over five years ago during MCC Orientation in Akron, Pennsylvania. Catherine and Charlotte were so cute back then! It’s amazing how much they’ve grown up. Of course Caleb is the big…
ឆាសាច់គោជាមួយអង្រ្កង | Fried Beef with Red Tree Ants
Last week I was in Ba Phnom district for community meetings with the Primary Schools that are part of our Peace Club project and I was lucky enough to be treated to Fried Beef with Red Tree Ants. These are the same kind of ants that I wrote about before but this time they were…
Catching up with a boy named January
Our project in remote areas of Kratie province has been renewed and expanded from 4 to 10 villages. Last week I visited the 6 new villages, meeting with the village chiefs and new project participants. We also made time to visit 2 of the existing villages and was delighted to meet up with Mokrea again….
Seek – Ramy’s Life Story and Testimony
Yesterday afternoon Ming Ramy shared her powerful testimony with the 2024 Seek cohort. I wanted to share my summary of her testimony with you. This is based on my notes from listening in Khmer so I know I got a few details wrong – it’s often hard to know which ‘bong’ is being referenced in…
Podcast: Distributing aid in Myanmar at great risk
The MCC Relief, development and podcast recently hosted an interview with one of our partner staff in Myanmar. I’m sharing the podcast and transcript below. For security reasons our partner is not identified in the interview and the partner staff is going by Mr. Khong. It’s a wonderful opportunity to hear about the situation directly…
Crystal’s Birthday over Khmer New Year
This morning we celebrated Crystal’s Birthday during the closing day of the Khmer New Year holiday. It has been hot so we already had the pool set up for the holiday. We invited some of the team over to swim in the pool, play games, and eat cake. Crystal has been spending a lot of…