Jesuit Service Cambodia had a Team meeting at the JSC Reflection Center, Siem Reap from February 7 – 9, to reflect on the work done by this mission and to look at planning for the future. The meeting was a chance to “celebrate the past” and “look to the future with hope.”
A team from the Sogang University, Seoul visited Cambodia from February 9 – 13 to explore the possibility of helping in the area of education. The team called on the Secretary of State for Education, Mr Pit Chamnan and on the Secretary-General of the Accreditation Committee of Cambodia, Mr Tech Samnang. They also visited the state-run Royal University of Phnom Penh and the privately-run Norton University in Phnom Penh.
Bishop Michael of East Anglia, UK, whose diocese is twinned with the Prefecture of Battambang visited Cambodia in February 14 – 26. Six parishes in East Anglia have twinned with six parishes in Battambang. Bishop Michael visits every two years to foster friendship and work relationships with the Battambang Prefecture. Many parishioners from the six twinned-parishes in East Anglia have visited Battambang. These parishes have recipocated by hosting priests and parishioners from the Battambang Prefecture.
The Prefecture of Battambang was also kept very busy when the Queen Sofia of Spain, who takes a special interest in Msgr Kike Figaredo’s (CAS) work, decided to make a private visit to Battambang to see the work for herself. However, the private visit last February 21 – 23 by the Queen of Spain could not escape Cambodian customs and protocols. It was very appropriate that the Queen of Spain visited the works that bear the marks of two Spaniard Jesuits: Pedro Arrupe and Enrique Figaredo.