April here in Cambodia is the month of Khmer New Year. I usually equate this as their Christmas holiday equivalent. Khmer look forward to this holiday all year, it is filled with celebration and games, most get a few days to a week off of work, and almost everyone travels back to their hometown to spend time with family. Sdam and I were looking forward to spending some time with his father and aunties. However, the beginning of April also saw the largest increase of new daily Covid cases, and by the middle of the month, the Cambodian government had put Phnom Penh on total lock-down and banned all intra-province travel until the middle of May when things eased a bit, and we were able to travel back to the province for a short trip.
Anna Update
At EMI we said goodbye to our spring interns and are preparing to receive several new staff in June. We have three new associate staff coming from the US, Canada, and the UK who will be with us for a little less than a year. I am also excited about our new Khmer interns. Working in our office will give our interns a head start in work experience after graduation, and we also get to disciple them during this season of their lives.
SreyHeng is a sophomore engineering student. She started working with us last year in a role we called “pre-intern,” as she was still too young for the program. She would come in a few days a week to learn AutoCAD and do a bit of drafting for different projects. We have been so impressed with her work and attitude that we have asked her to become a full intern. She will continue her engineering classes, but will come into the office part-time. We look forward to brining on more students like this in the future.
Ariya is a business student we got connected with through a mentorship program our director was volunteering with. She is a senior and will come to work with our office manager to see how an international business as missions office is run.
Sdam Update
After going through some changes at his organization earlier this year, the board and the new interim director asked Sdam to step into an assistant director role for a few months. Then, this month, they made the position permanent. With lock-downs, being in and out of the office, vaccinations, and the normal operation of the ministry, Sdam has kept very busy. He misses working directly with clients and the communities they serve, but he’s excited that he gets to spend more time communicating with all the team leaders and helping them grown in their roles. He also enjoy’s working with the different government offices, which is a blessing and a skill to know how to navigate those relationships. But mostly he’s excited to see the ministry continue to grow in their capacity, and to grow in this leadership position.
Grace and Peace,
Anna & Sdam