My sister-in-law Hope Dittmeier is connected with an organization in Louisville, Kentucky called WaterStep which provides equipment for disinfecting surfaces and for water purification. This afternoon I received a shipment of four sets of disinfecting supplies to use in Maryknoll projects here, especially in the hostel for our young deaf adults. It took more than two weeks for the boxes to get here by courier because of the few aircraft flying routes to Cambodia now. Thank you, Hope!
COVID-19 Notes
The Old and the New
COVID-19 Notes
COVID-19 Notes
There are many poor people who live in the Boeung Tum Pun area around the Church of the Child Jesus. At the St. Ambrose Center at the church, the Maryknoll Sisters work with some of these children and their families. These families had little money before the COVID-19 pandemic, but now because of the closing of so many small shops and because of the economic downturn, these families are in very difficult situations.
The sisters sometimes give rice to families to help them survive, and, knowing the families’ problems, the sisters developed a plan that will give more help to the families without anyone knowing about it or without the families feeling they are beggars. The sisters know the owner of a small rice shop in Boeung Tum Pun. Many poor families go to her to buy rice. To make sure that they get enough rice to feed their families, the sisters buy a 50-kg bag of rice and leave it at the shop. When the poor people come to buy 1 kg of rice, the owner of the rice shop doesn’t say anything but gives them 5 kg of rice instead of 1 kg. The sisters check with the rice shop each week, and when their bag of rice is empty, they buy another one.
The poor family is happy, the rice shop owner is happy, and the sisters know that these families will have enough to eat.
COVID-19 Notes
Press Freedom
Recently Reporters without Borders ranked Cambodia at #144 of 180 countries evaluated in their survey of press freedom throughout the world. That was a drop of one place since the last ranking.
COVID-19 Notes
Invitation to Reflect….
The COVID-19 pandemic causes much pain and suffering. It may also offer us an opportunity to reflect on who we are and what we do as God’s children, as the church. Maybe we shouldn’t go back to “normal.” Maybe the old “normal” wasn’t so good but was just the path of least resistance, the easiest way to get by.
Interpreting Scripture for Our COVID-19 Times
“Where two or three (but less than ten) are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
Matthew 18:20 (revised)