Business Name
Everywhere you look, there are geckos and Monks!
St.Sometimes
Special points of interest:
Volume 72
• Theravada Buddhism is practiced by 95% of the population.
Buddhist Monks Everywhere!
• Average annual income per capita here is $310 making Cambo one of the world’s poorest nations. • Roughly the size of Oklahoma • The Tonle Sap lake makes up 5% of the area
Inside this issue:
Truly MC school 2 community! Building Friend- 2 Drinker’s Club
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Where is the
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I
love this country! This is so different than the Arab world...for the better. The presence of so many monks is the most obvious. While my time in the Arab world was surrounded by people who play two roles the devout Muslim on the outside, distinctly nonMuslim behavior on the inside, this country is filled with genuinely devout and spiritual people. I recently attended a blessing ceremony that is held for each new building in Cambodia. Several Monks were invited to lead the spiritual chants and prayers to bring health and good luck to the people under the
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Tech2.0 and
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roof of this new building. I watched and listened as the monks meditated and chanted in the Khmer language, while the participants prayed and showed respect. The monks showered the audience with Holy water and offered small gifts. After the inside ceremony, the monks led a small group around the outside of the new elementary classrooms and showered the building with Holy water. Monks do not ask for anything. So in return for their blessings, a small basket was presented to each monk. The baskets contain
A ceremony– a monk blesses the
toothbrushes, soap, rice, and other essentials of health. This was a very moving and spiritual ceremony, just the “tip of the iceberg” of my Cambodian experience.
Bare feet - customary throughout S.E. Asia
Superintendent 3 Cambodia out-
September 2007
T
ake off your shoes before you enter a private home! Sometimes you may even notice shoes
by the entrance of smaller business buildings. Believe it! It’s no wonder the most common footwear is a pair of sandals. Sandals are easy to take off and put on, don’t cost as much as shoes, and dry out a lot faster if you are caught in a sudden torrential downpour. Surely there is a more spiritual or
cultural reason for taking off your shoes. As yet, I don’t know. All of the students leave their shoes outside of the classrooms at school. Imagine that? My first reaction is “what if someone steals your sandals?”. Spend some time here and you will quickly lose that feeling.