Cambodia has the beginnings of a social security system, being implemented in three stages. A couple years ago the first phase was introduced, offering compensation for employees injured on the job. Now the second phase is coming into play, a general health-care plan. Today all the 150+ Maryknoll project employees had to come to the Maryknoll office to sign up and have their ID pictures taken.
The neighbors must have wondered what was going on as a mass of people descended on the Maryknoll office located on a rather quiet street.Once inside, each staff member was photographed against the white background and then issued a National Social Security Fund ID card. It was surprisingly out of character for a government office to set up this registration site for us rather than forcing each employee to visit two separate sites to submit documents.
