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…

Three New Service Worker Positions with MCC Cambodia

It seems hard to believe but our Peace Coordinators, Rory and Marcia, have 10 months left in their term of service with MCC. It seems like only yesterday that we were praying desperately for their safe arrival after their flights were delayed because a plane collided with theirs while taxing on the runway in Philadelphia…

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…

Farewell to the Prey Veng waterfront

This week I was able to visit our field office in the provincial capital of rural Prey Veng province. Because of COVID-19, we hadn’t been out since Clivia and I delivered lockdown food relief packages back in April 2020. I’d heard that they had begun to fill in the waterfront there but this was my…

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…

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…

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…

Dr. Sunil Chatterjee

On June 8th we learned that Dr. Sunil Chatterjee passed away due to COVID-19 on May 7, 2021. Dr. Chatterjee served in Cambodia from 1985 to 1986 at the Prey Veng Provincial Hospital and Neak Leung Hospital. Please pray for India because of the incredible loss and suffering caused by COVID-19 there. In the 1980s,…