Let there be light…

Cambodia is a very dark place. Most of the country now has acquired some form of electricity as of the last three to five years. According to the World Bank in 2018, 72% of households are connected to the grid; 26% are off the grid, using home solar systems or batteries.

The electricity supply is unreliable. Only 13% of the people have electricity 23 hours a day. 70% face frequent unpredictable power outages. 33% experience damage to their appliances because of voltage fluctuations.

On top of that, electricity is expensive here. Also most buildings were put up before electricity was available and it had to be added later. Thus the lighting in most houses especially is quite minimal.

In the picture above, at a sacristy in a girls school, there is one eighteen-inch fluorescent light above the window and that would be typical lighting for many buildings, even with much bigger rooms.

Yes and No

At the farewell on Monday for three of our staff, the staff did rather well on compliance with wearing masks. The interpreter by the pole doesn’t have one so the deaf people can read her face.
The social distancing wasn’t done so well, except by a few in the back who kept their distance.

Saying Goodbye…

Today at the Deaf Development Programme we had a little farewell gathering to say goodbye to three of our staff who are leaving us. We have been blessed with good staff over the years and now will miss Kanha (L), Soeun, and Sinh.