If it's Friday, it must be a day for news from Cambodia on the International Adoption Blog. If you're looking for other adoption-related features and articles, please check out the Adoption News Blog.

A very interesting commentary with a firm and realistic footing in history is well worth a read for anyone interested in Cambodia then and now.

Making comparisons between Indochina... more

After the blog I just wrote on Brother Number Two, I need to cleanse my soul with something pleasant ... a good idea, perhaps.

Hey! Here's one!

We've all heard of the $100 laptop, right? The one that's supposed to connect kids in underdeveloped countries to the WWW, thereby giving them access to education... more

Like so many of us touched by Cambodia, I've spent way too much time being upset and angry over the tragic history of my children's country of birth. I've done the crying at sites of historical horrors and heard the first-hand accounts of more suffering than anyone should ever have to imagine, must less live through or die from. I've read the books, seen the photos, watched the films and absorbed as much as I could of the Cambodia that produced these kids I love with every fiber of my being.

I am almost beyond reacting from the gut, having spent almost five years... more

Tell me if this sounds strange to you, too ...

The US Department of Homeland Security and the FBI are among the groups advising Cambodia's new national heritage police force, the agency that will be responsible for protecting the country's ancient temples from pillage.

Sure, I get that the FBI might have something going on illicit trading in antiquities, but Homeland Security? Sounds a bit of a stretch.

And... more

The US State Department has posted a warning on their intercountry adoption page on Guatemala, and it's not pretty.

Read the whole thing, please, if you have any connection with adoptions from Guatemala, but I'll give a quick overview here. Please keep in mind that I am no expert on Guatemalan adoptions ... or much of anything, for that matter ... so am summing up to the best of my understanding a complicated situation from a hard-earned perspective of cynical suspicion.

Basically,... more

An historic event will be taking place in Cambodia at the end of November. From the 24th through the 2nd of December the first ever team sport World Cup will be held in the country.

Appropriately enough, the sport is volleyball for the disabled, and the venue is Phnom Penh's Olympic Stadium.

The Phnom Penh World Cup will be the biggest ever World Organization of Volleyball for the Disabled (WOVD) competition in the history of the organization with... more

We were looking at good news from Cambodia, and although there's a bit more of that, this good-and-not-so-good news strikes me this morning as being so typical of how the world works.

Seems that Cambodia has been doing so well at achieving "satisfactory" progess on the HIV/AIDS front that three international donors have decided to cut back on the amount of help they give the country.

The... more

Starting off this week's Cambodian news update on the upbeat, an announcement for people who will be in the NYC/Long Island area from the 29th of November to the 1st of December ... a simple online registration process can have 25% of what you pay for any purchases made at either the Americana Manhasset or Wheatly Plaza shopping centers be donated to The Sharing Foundation, a great organization that's been taking care of kids in Cambodia for almost 10 years.

For more information,... more

According to a blogger who seems up on the facts, the tide may be turning against the anti-adoption front when it comes to international adoptions, and it's gaining steam over the suspended process in Nepal.

Citing amongst other things this article, "Diplomats Urge Nepal to Resolve Adoption Deadlock", the point is made that at the very least, families in the process at the... more

Continued from the previous post where we've been looking at the Ethopian community of Awra Amba.

According to an Action Aid report men and women in Awra Amba take turns cooking, baking, weaving, baby sitting and anything else that needs doing ... even on days dictated by religions to be set aside from work.

Now Action Aid is looking into ways to "replicate their working habit and other... more