Category: Daily Life in Cambodia

Masks for Deaf Community

Finally we at the Deaf Development Programme were able to receive a shipment of face masks sent to us by Peggy Fung from the Catholic deaf community in Hong Kong. Beside of the greatly reduced air travel to Cambodia, it took many weeks for the box to arrive but finally they are here now. Thank you, Peggy!

The Wet Season

This is the rainy season and today was the heaviest rain I have seen here in years. In mid afternoon, it just poured, so much so that I decided to leave my bicycle at the Deaf Development Programme and take a tuk-tuk home because I knew the streets of Boeung Tum Pun would be flooded. They were.

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]


The good news is that Cambodia has received more than 7 million doses of vaccine and 73% of the population has been vaccinated. China, the United States, and the UK are contributing 2 million more doses this week.
More good news is that today vaccinations began for 12 to 17 year old children, and the prime minister announced that a third injection, a booster, will be offered to all who have received the first two doses.
Bad news is that hundreds of Cambodian migrant workers in Thailand are daily crossing the border to return to their home provinces because the factories in Thailand have shut down because of the pandemic. The Thai-Cambodian border is now closed but people like these are crossing illegally. The worry is that they are importing the Delta variant spreading through the country.
More bad news is that a new curfew declared in Phnom Penh and other cities is not being strictly observed. 275 persons were detained last night in Phnom Penh during the curfew hours of 9:00 PM to 3:00 AM.

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.