Yesterday Hema and her husband took us to visit with Father Kevin at Maryknoll's HIV/AIDS projects. Father Kevin came to Cambodia not too long before I first visited and met him. He took us to one of the orphanages and the project office for Little Sprouts and some of their other projects. While we talked, children climbed all over him and us. Father Kevin spoke with all of them, and the staff, in Khmer. He had a statistical summary for us that was quite impressive, and talked at some length about the history of the program and new calls for services (for example, families displaced when the government took over their land recently). As with all projects I've visited in Cambodia, they have an overarching goal of building local capacity. We had a good discussion ... read more

It's pretty polluted today despite a warm rain earlier. Asthma is catching up with me, so I'm taking the night off. I'll try to be a better blogger tomorrow. I will say that I had a nice day and that despite their absence from my bird book, Maddy and I saw two hoopoes (Upupa epops) on the campus of the university. Do click the link if you don't know what they look like--they're rather astonishing.... read more

My day began with a visit to the Counseling Center of the Royal University of Phnom Penh's master's program in Counseling Psychology. I was able to sit in on a workshop introducing Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET) and listen to an interesting discussion on the nuances of "feeling" that are not shared by English. I enjoyed it a lot. After the class, my host invited me to lunch, which turned to be lunch with her, her sister, her husband, and the student who was serving as a driver. It also turned out to be lunch at Phnom Tamao Zoo, 44 kilometers south of Phnom Penh, past the Cheung Ek genocide center (the killing fields). This zoo is a wildlife rehabilitation center. I was the only non-Asian person I saw there. Lunch was served on wooden platforms surrounded by ... read more

I've been working on presentations much of the morning, plus doing a little electronic hygeine on these hotel computers. Here are a few photos from Wat Phnom. They're a little blurry because I'm using a slower shutter for evening and inside and don't have a tripod.... read more

--this is more the weather I was expecting--hot, humid, lots of grit in the air, walking around makes your eyes burn. Good weather for my last day in Siem Reap, since it leavens my regret. Yesterday I visited Angkor Hospital for Children, which is sponsored by Friends without a Border. The way it works (outpatient) is you go in, get a number, and wait for triage. There you're admitted to a scheduled appointment, or get a nursing intervention, or get sent on for additional care. Here's how they describe themselves: Angkor Hospital for Children (AHC) serves as the pediatric department for Siem Reap’s Provincial Hospital, but also treats children from neighboring provinces. Providing outpatient, inpatient, acute, emergency, surgical, low-acuity, dental and ophthalmologic care, AHC has treated almost 5... read more