“The way to God lies through love of people. At the Last Judgment I shall not be asked whether I was successful in my ascetic exercises, nor how many bows and prostrations I made. Instead I shall be asked did I feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and the prisoners.”
Mother Maria Skobtsova
Author: Charles Dittmeier
Proof vaccines work

This graphic from Morning Brew, an interesting (and cheeky) daily take on the news, shows that the vaccines are working. Breakthrough infections–those happening to people already vaccinated–are minimal and produce usually only mild symptoms. Get vaccinated! (And thanks, Morning Brew!)
Summer job

An Unstable Situation
Cambodia is in a volatile and unstable situation with COVID-19. A few days ago, the WHO declared that the next two weeks will be critical for the kingdom as daily infection numbers remain high and the Delta variant becomes established. [All photos are from the Khmer Times]




What NOT to say….

DEAF is a four-letter word but not THAT KIND of four-letter word! It’s perfectly acceptable and certainly preferred by deaf people. Don’t use the terms on this poster and other terms such as “audially challenged” and “deaf and dumb.” Hearing people jump through all sorts of hoops trying to avoid the word “deaf” but it is the scientifically correct and most acceptable term used by deaf people.
A day at the office…

Goodbye to a friend…
Yesterday we had the funeral for Fr. Toni Vendramin, a PIME priest who was long-term missionary in Cambodia (and Bangladesh before that). He died two and a half weeks ago but because of COVID-19 we were prevented from gathering for his funeral until now. He was a good man and a good friend who would help with our English masses when I had to be away.


New Maryknoll Office

Maryknoll is moving to a different office building in August and today we went through the house with the landlords to check for need repairs and changes. Here Sr. Regina calculates whether our dining room table will fit into this space. It does.
Signs of Progress

A somewhat unlikely sign of progress in the development of Cambodia is this small frontloader at a sand pile on a construction site. It would be much more common to see a handful of humans–maybe most of them women–moving the sand around with shovels. But Cambodia is becoming more and more mechanized.
Shoes for sale

It’s not uncommon to see piles of shoes at a sidewalk pop-up shop. I can imagine it would take a while just to find your size but then, too, it may take a considerable time just to find the mate of one that fits. Click here to see some shoe “shops.”