Interview with Ratt Morn, a farmer

Transcribed by Imm Sokea, MCC Cambodia Connecting Peoples CoordinatorPhotos by Isaac Alderfer, 2022-2023 SALT participant at ODOV My name is Rath Morn. When I was a child living with my parents, there were two seasons – dry season and rainy season. There were no changes within the seasons unlike nowadays. I was able to support…

Clay Pots

One of the peacebuilding exercises that we’ve seen Women Peace Makers (WPM) and Peace Bridges Organization (PBO) use here in Cambodia is to split the training participants up into small groups with the assignment to work together to paint a clay pot with their vision of the future that they want for their communities. This…

Visiting Isaac’s Host Family in Mesang

Last month during our team visit to Prey Veng province we visited Isaac, our SALT participant, who is living with a Khmer host family there and working at ODOV. Isaac is a recent graduate in Environmental Science from Eastern Mennonite University and is supporting ODOV as the Climate Resilience Assistant. Isaac’s host family in Mesang…

Visiting Mok Samun’s Farm

Early this month we took an all-team trip out to Prey Veng province for the first time since March 2020. I think it’s very important for our short term volunteers in the city to understand what life is like for the majority of Cambodians and it means a lot to our Cambodian staff to see…

Ren Reasey’s mobile phone repair shop

Mennonite Central Committee funds an apprenticeship vocational program facilitated by our long term partner ODOV. Last month I visited one graduate of the program who started a mobile phone repair shop in his home village. Our supervisors, the Area Directors, were along for the visit as they were in Cambodia for the first time since…

Chhin Ya’s Garden and Fishpond

In rural Mesang district, Prey Veng province Mennonite Central Committee partner Organization to Develop Our Villages (ODOV) supports rural Agricultural Cooperatives across 90 villages in adapting sustainable agriculture practices, healthy food preparation, conflict resolution, gender and domestic violence prevention, and organizational capacity. In a recent interview, one farmer told ODOV about how life has changed in her…

Fishponds

I wanted to share some photos and a recent story related to the household fishponds that long time MCC partner Organization to Develop Our Villages (ODOV) is constructing in four rural districts of Prey Veng province. This is part of a larger project funded by MCC and the Canadian Foodgrains Bank to support rural Agricultural…

Kheang Vanna’s Apprenticeship

In rural Mesang district, Prey Veng province long time MCC partner Organization to Develop Our Villages (ODOV) coordinates an apprenticeship vocational program. This proven model connects young adults hoping to learn vocational and small business skills with a Master Crafts Person. In the process, they escape chronic poverty that drives many people to dangerous migrant…

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…

2019 Drought in Cambodia

In 2009, there was a two week drought during the rainy season that resulted in 5,000 hectares of rice being lost in Prey Veng province. This year, Cambodia is just coming out of a prolonged drought that had the Prime Minister call on farmers to plant rice only once in the dry season. Prime Minister…