Category: Daily Life in Cambodia

Well, we got the sink….

Cambodia has a lot of major problems: corruption, impunity, deforestation, trafficking, drugs, poor education, poverty, etc. And then there are the nuisances. When we moved our Maryknoll office to this building, we asked the landlord to put in a real sink in the kitchen. He did but the bottom of the sink is at knee level. It’s perfect for the Cambodian woman who cooks a few meals a week, though.

No need to rush these things…

There is a large high school behind the trees in the photo above, and more than a year ago the city started to build a pedestrian overpass for the students to get over a really busy intersection. Then came the pandemic and the schools were closed–and the overpass construction stopped. Now the schools are reopening and the construction is resuming. Why they didn’t finish the overpass BEFORE the schools opened? Who knows.

Refreshing but not so profitable.

These are the people who really get hurt by shutting down the local economy to fight Covid-19. These people, all part of the informal economy, only make money when they are on the street and when other people are on the street to buy. How much could this woman make even pre-Covid-19? She has to buy the fruit, buy the block of ice, and rent the cart. And then the price for sliced fresh fruit can’t be too high. The profit margin has to be rather low for a morning or afternoon walking the streets.