Lots of news from Cambodia lately ...

Let's start with this report on the World Bank's plan to reform Cambodia's corrupt forestry industry.

Global Witness found the bank's US$4.6 million program that ended last year did nothing to alleviate poverty and focused on creating a regulatory framework in the forestry sector at the expense of "environmental and social aspects."

The World Bank's program was ostensibly set up to help... more

I wrote recently about a couple of Seychelles families bringing Cambodian children home and how very happy we all are about their new additions.

Both were adopted from the orphanage where my kids were cared for (AOA, near Phnom Penh), and since they were going there to get their little ones, we asked them to take some things for us. AOA gets quite a bit of support from adoptive parents, with some contributing monthly, others donating... more

Within the past two months, two more little ones have arrived in Seychelles from Cambodia.

Yes, Cambodia is closed for adoption to those in the US, the UK and a few other countries, but that is by their decree, not that of the Cambodian government. Adoptions from other countries have, thankfully continued.

We shared Cj's G&R (Giving and Receiving ... the official Cambodian version of the entrustment ceremony Coley talked about earlier on her blog) with a Swedish couple and their new... more

“I love the smell of diapers in the morning!”*

(*A very different Robert Duvall in “Apoopoolypse, Now” speaking over the wail of a wet and hungry baby, a Barney sing-a-long blaring at full blast, and a never-ending loop of See n’ Say doing farm animals.)

Some people aren’t fond of kids. They may go all squishy inside at the sight of a newborn, but that’s just nausea. Sticky fingers scare folks like this and can have them avoiding contact as though melted chocolate contained a deadly virus. And diapers? Don’t even think about diapers!

My... more