Category: Mission Journal

Cambodia is 94% Buddhist but there is an element of Chinese influence visible throughout society. Here on a typical Khmer street is a small Chinese temple which doesn’t exactly blend in architecturally but is an accepted part of the neighborhood.

Since there’s confusion in the reporting about the present epidemic:

• CORONAVIRUS is a type of virus
• SARS-CoV-2 is the exact virus going around
• COVID-19 is the disease it causes, and
• “WUHAN VIRUS” is racist.

This is an autorickshaw (as they are called in India, their country of origin) that has become the main mode of public transportation in Phnom Penh now. I used one to go to St. Joseph Church this morning and violated my own rule: Never put my phone down on the seat. I did just that and in the hassle of getting out and collecting my stuff and paying the driver, I walked off and left the phone. The beauty of this online hailing system is that the autoricks are called from a phone, and so the passenger’s phone number, time of pick-up, and destination are all recorded. When I got home I called the company, named Grab, and a very helpful young woman called the driver for me and he had the phone. She then gave me his number and I had our guard call him to explain in Khmer (better than I could!) how to get to the Maryknoll office. Within an hour the man above appeared and I was reunited with my phone, and he went away happy with the remuneration I gave him.

A website called WaitButWhy.com is a quirky little creation that offers interesting facts and viewpoints on a somewhat-regular schedule. Now at the beginning of the “20s,” it offered up this perspective on relative time perceptions.

This morning I was walking back from the Diakonia Center after paying for renting their venue for our Christmas Eve service and I walked past Tuol Sleng, the genocide museum. Along and on the outer wall of the museum, they are building this structure, a simple frame with sheet metal over it. I haven’t any idea what it will be when it’s finished. There is nothing on that northern wall of Tuol Sleng, no gates or anything, and I can’t imagine what this little slanted ledge will do.