Gratitude

The flavors and textures of gratitude are many. There’s the quick and sharp relief gratitude that the red ant which got in my hair while sweeping the courtyard didn’t bite me. There’s the bone deep, breath-stopping gratitude of seeing pictures from my 16 year old niece’s car accident and knowing she miraculously got out with…

COVID-19 finally got us Two Years and a Month Later

The first case of COVID-19 was diagnosed in Cambodia on January 27th, 2020. It’s been a long two years of caution, disruption, and uncertainty. As leaders here, we’ve tried to walk the line between modeling appropriate precautions and being calm and reassuring. This month, for the first time in a over a year, we started…

Several Vaccinations this week

This week Crystal and I received our first COVID-19 booster shot. We could have gotten it back in August but decided to wait until it had been six months since our initial dose. It ended up taking longer than that because we were vaccinated by the Military, not the Ministry of Health, and had some…

COVID-19: Reopening…again!

This month started with the Pchum Ben holiday, this is one of the longest and most important holidays in Cambodia. Technically, it’s a 15 day long series of ceremonies honoring deceased ancestors but the core is an official week long holiday when Cambodians travel back to their ancestral homelands and pay tribute to their ancestors…

Fishbones and the heart of the Mekong

I developed a dairy allergy in my teenage years. Since then, I’ve often been asked “how do you get your calcium without milk?” Well, calcium is available in many foods with dark leafy greens being of special note. One of my favorite sources of calcium is blackstrap molasses which is a fantastic sugar substitute for…

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…

COVID-19: Because they feed the poor

In my last post on COVID-19, I suggested that perhaps we are in our positions for such a time as this. I ended that post by sharing photos of generosity from North America that I’d seen on social media. “Blessed are those who are generous, because they feed the poor.” Proverbs 22:9 (NLT) Since then…

COVID-19: For such a time as this

What a whirlwind the last weeks have been. It feels like the world has been suddenly and fundamentally changed. The disruptions. The cancelled plans. The disappointments. The uncertain future. The distanced relationships. The livelihoods interrupted. The fear of disease. The fear of death. We don’t know what the world will look like after this. Indeed,…

COVID-19: Outline & Update

The first diagnosis of COVID-19 here came in January. Cambodia made news around the world later in February when it allowed the MS Westerdam cruise ship to come to port here after four countries turned it away. Initially, the official response to COVID-19 here was to focus on maintaining a positive relationship with China. There…

Coronavirus

Given our proximity to China, the single confirmed case in Cambodia and the cruise ship situation, I thought it would be worth updating people on our response to the new novel coronavirus which is spreading across the world.  First, you should know that we are not worried.  Healthcare in Cambodia has improved dramatically in the…