Notable Quotes

Pope Francis must exercise his ministry as arguably the most identifiable and prominent Christian on earth. His plan has been to keep it simple and radically evangelical. Acutely aware that we are facing an extremely uncertain future, his message could be boiled down to this: wherever the world is heading, just make sure you take God with you. Yes, it’s that basic.

Robert Mickens in LaCroix

Vietnamese New Year

Bishop Olivier



There is not much of visible Chinese Catholic community in Cambodia but there is a huge Vietnamese Catholic community. Yesterday Bishop Olivier celebrated the Sunday mass on New Year’s Day with one Vietnamese parish. Here he is on his way to mass with them.

After mass with the Vietnamese community.

CACD Retreat #2

As part of the CACD retreat (Catholic Alliance for Charity and Development), we visited a social enterprise center where Bishop Olivier has created basically cottage industries to give employment mainly to people with disabilities and poor women who have no source of income and no possibility of jobs like in the city.

One source of employment is weaving khramas (scarfs) and other cloth on these massive wooden looms.
Weaving is a simple process basically but it looks rather complicated to the untrained observer. Here a woman guides a shuttle with white thread across the loom while the shuttle with green thread rests on the finished product.
Here a woman weaves a solid-color piece of material. It is a slow process, basically weaving one thread at a time.
Another view of the process.
This woman is able to bring her toddler child to work with her.

What’s Cambodia Like #4?

I don’t intend to dwell only on the negative aspects of life and culture in Cambodia but there are so many of them. They certainly can’t be ignored in daily life.

It seems almost every day, literally, there is another story of some government official or military officer or village chief arrested for fraud, selling government land, appropriating land of indigenous peoples, cutting protected forests–you name it.

Lunar New Year’s Eve Preparation

Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve for the Lunar New Year of the Rabbit and many people in Cambodia are preparing for the celebration. The Lunar New Year is not an official holiday in Cambodia but many, many people claim some Chinese ancestry and take two or three days off to celebrate. There were signs of preparation along the streets of Phnom Penh this week.

Vendors had plenty of chrysanthemums on sale and also lots of oranges. Both are preferred because of their golden color promising wealth in the new year. And then there are the Chinese lanterns and decorations to make for a festive house.
One international school welcomed its students with many lanterns hung in the entrance-way while another chose pots of chrysanthemums to create a spirit of celebration.