An Unstable Situation

Cambodia is in a volatile and unstable situation with COVID-19. A few days ago, the WHO declared that the next two weeks will be critical for the kingdom as daily infection numbers remain high and the Delta variant becomes established. [All photos are from the Khmer Times]


The good news is that Cambodia has received more than 7 million doses of vaccine and 73% of the population has been vaccinated. China, the United States, and the UK are contributing 2 million more doses this week.
More good news is that today vaccinations began for 12 to 17 year old children, and the prime minister announced that a third injection, a booster, will be offered to all who have received the first two doses.
Bad news is that hundreds of Cambodian migrant workers in Thailand are daily crossing the border to return to their home provinces because the factories in Thailand have shut down because of the pandemic. The Thai-Cambodian border is now closed but people like these are crossing illegally. The worry is that they are importing the Delta variant spreading through the country.
More bad news is that a new curfew declared in Phnom Penh and other cities is not being strictly observed. 275 persons were detained last night in Phnom Penh during the curfew hours of 9:00 PM to 3:00 AM.

What NOT to say….


DEAF is a four-letter word but not THAT KIND of four-letter word! It’s perfectly acceptable and certainly preferred by deaf people. Don’t use the terms on this poster and other terms such as “audially challenged” and “deaf and dumb.” Hearing people jump through all sorts of hoops trying to avoid the word “deaf” but it is the scientifically correct and most acceptable term used by deaf people.

Goodbye to a friend…

Yesterday we had the funeral for Fr. Toni Vendramin, a PIME priest who was long-term missionary in Cambodia (and Bangladesh before that). He died two and a half weeks ago but because of COVID-19 we were prevented from gathering for his funeral until now. He was a good man and a good friend who would help with our English masses when I had to be away.

New Maryknoll Office

Maryknoll is moving to a different office building in August and today we went through the house with the landlords to check for need repairs and changes. Here Sr. Regina calculates whether our dining room table will fit into this space. It does.

Signs of Progress

A somewhat unlikely sign of progress in the development of Cambodia is this small frontloader at a sand pile on a construction site. It would be much more common to see a handful of humans–maybe most of them women–moving the sand around with shovels. But Cambodia is becoming more and more mechanized.

More vaccine for Cambodia

[Photo from Khmer Times]

After incurring only about 375 positive cases of COVID-19 in the first fifteen months of the pandemic, Cambodia now has experienced more than 72,000 cases in the last five months. Phnom Penh is almost completely vaccinated but the country has had 800-1000 cases per day for more than two weeks. A good number of those cases now are “imported,” i.e., brought into Cambodia by migrant workers returning to Cambodia after their jobs disappeared in Thailand when factories there were closed. Many of these returning workers are crossing the border illegally and it is feared that they are bringing the delta variant of the virus.

Above is a picture of 325,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine donated by Japan, part of a one million dose gift. This vaccine arrived yesterday.