A truce of sorts

This cat–caught today waiting? resting? stalking? on top of our accounting filing cabinets–and I have a running battle going. Our deaf office building is not “tight” as you might expect a solid concrete building to be. Doors are often just grates; even if solid, they’re mostly open; and the way the tile roof sits on the walls, the cat can always get in and out. I always tried to make sure she was “out” because a previous cat gave birth to a litter of kittens in my office. The cat always makes sure she’s in, and judging from the overturned rubbish bins in the offices, she manages to be “in” a lot, searching for food scraps. I used to chase her out, and then when we were having exasperating rat problems in the Maryknoll office, it occurred to me that maybe we are not having the same problem in the deaf office because of the cat. So now I tolerate her–chasing her out of my office but not getting too exercised when she’s slinking through the second-floor corridors.

Trees: Former Glory

Cambodia has a strong relationship with its trees. Most of the population still cooks using charcoal in open pottery braziers. Heavy wooden stylized furniture is an affirmation of a family’s status or the viability of a company. In the colonial days beautiful tree-lined boulevards graced Phnom Penh. Today much of the urban glory provided by the trees is gone but there are still glimpses in some parts of the city.

Decorative trees in the park-like median between busy lanes of traffic.
Another urban open area with trees.
Some businesses create a welcoming environment with trees.
A remnant of a former beautiful tree-lined boulevard.

Another glimpse of what used to be but now is mostly gone.

Maryknoll Visitor


Today the Cambodia Mission Team was delighted to welcome back Sr. Luise Ahrens who was with us for many years before returning to Maryknoll, New York. It was great to see her again and to celebrate the eucharist with her. She reported it was the first time 2 1/2 months she has been to mass because of Covid restrictions in the U.S.

Two weeks and counting…

Two weeks and a day ago, we celebrated the Lunar New Year. Lots and lots of chrysanthemums were sold to decorate homes and businesses. And apparently a lot of others didn’t get sold. Yesterday I passed these seemingly abandoned flower pots, wilting reminders of the celebration of the Year of the Tiger.

“Where has all the water gone?”

Much of Cambodia is flat as a pancake–and floods every year. That is why the traditional houses are built on stilts. Large areas of the country are boeungs (lakes) which collect excess water in rainy periods and prevent some of the flooding. The boeungs around Phnom Penh also serve as aquaculture sites, like the one above, where vegetables are grown in the shallow water. But now, under relentless pressure from developers and their friends in government, the boeungs are being filled in, mostly to build factories and residence compounds. Above you can see the brown embankment with a road on top that has resulted when this boeung was partially filled to develop the housing compounds in the background. The rest of the boeung will likely be gone in a few short years. The developers make millions of dollars; the poor people are dispossessed and pushed out; and Phnom Penh floods because there’s no place now for the excess water to go.

KOMISO Clinic #2

On February 8 (scroll back to that date for more pictures) Bishop Olivier blessed the new medical clinic of the Korean Mission Society. In the pictures above he ceremonially cuts the ribbon to open the new building and all the guests went in to see the new facility which is quite nice. Then Bishop Olivier went through the building to sprinkle and bless the different departments with holy water.

The building behind the clinic is a residence for Korean doctors, nurses, and medical staff who will come to work in the clinic along with local medical professionals. In Cambodia, the top floor is often covered and left open, as a meeting place and activity area but also to provide a layer of open air insulation from the heat of the sun.

Watch what they’re doing…

Everybody in the city has to have a little business. If you have a regular, formal office job, you still have a little business enterprise on the side. Every little bit helps the family survive. These two men, one maybe retired from another job, have little carts for working on watches–changing batteries, replacing watchbands, maybe even a simple repair. An important part of this endeavor is finding where you can keep your cart overnight and finding a good place to set up on the street.