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…

MCC U.S. Board Learning Tour 2023

In June 2023, the MCC U.S. Board of Directors spent eight days in Cambodia for a Learning Tour. There were 26 visitors in all, including Board members and MCC staff. We were quite a crowd when the MCC Cambodia team met up with them. On Sunday morning, the Learning Tour split up into two groups…

Fresno Pacific University Visit 2023

In July, we hosted a group from Fresno Pacific University in California. Fresno Pacific is a Mennonite Brethren University. The group spent most of it’s time in Vietnam but came through Cambodia for a week and ended with a few days in Thailand. The lead Professor for the group was Dr. Ken Friesen who was…

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…

Christopher Dock and Peaceful Education

Our rural primary school education program is making the shift to focus on peaceful education and that’s had me thinking about Christopher Dock. No, no, not Crystal’s high school but the educator for whom it is named. Christopher Dock was a Mennonite educator who taught in the Skippack area from 1718 to 1771 (with a…

Phase 2 – Study Groups

Last week the girls started with their new school, The Giving Tree. The Cambodian Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports evaluated this International School as being in Phase 2 according to their COVID-19 prevention guidelines. This means that The Giving Tree has resumed in person meetings with appropriate safeguards but not in large groups or…

Rural Primary School Teacher Coaching

Early in December we went on field visits to three schools in rural Prey Veng province. I shared a bit about the breakfast program, now let’s get into teacher coaching. It is difficult to be a teacher in the countryside. The pay is low, supports are few, and absenteeism is common. Some teachers routinely skip…

Rural Primary School Breakfast Program

This was originally a Global Family program that I was put in charge of implementing during my first term in Cambodia. MCC had a breakfast program at a Primary School just outside of Phnom Penh previously but they wanted it to move to a rural location where it would help more vulnerable students. There’s a…

School-kits to Kampuchea

In July, MCC East Coast published a set of cards telling the story of school-kits to Kampuchea. These are a fantastic Sunday School resource that illustrate how children (and teachers) can change the world. In 1979, Vietnam invaded Cambodia (then Kampuchea) and overthrew the Khmer Rouge regime. The new Cambodian government that resulted had very…

Prey Veng Education Program Ten Years Later

On Day 6 in Cambodia (yesterday), I got out into the countryside on my first field visit to see Chhourn Maly at work. This visit was at the Kraing Kaet Primary School. I was the initial Partner Adviser for the education program in Prey Veng during my first term with MCC and it’s exciting to…