The English-speaking Catholic community borrows a hall in an old building at St. Joseph Church on the north side of Phnom Penh. We had been leery of making any renovations because the plan is to tear this building down to build a real church on the rear part of the church compound. Earlier this year, though, we learned that the planned demolition will not happen for several years so we are going ahead with plans to air condition the hall as cheaply as we can.
One of the first steps was to cover over the ventilation slots you can see at the top of the wall. They allowed air–and birds–to flow through freely. We also had to add more lights now that we are having some night-time services here.
This is a picture in mid week when the workmen are getting the room right before adding stand-alone air conditioning units along the walls.
