Phnom Penh : Led by the Apostolic Vicar General of Phnom Penh Father Peter Suon Hangly and staff of Caritas Cambodia, the official social development arm of the Catholic Church in Cambodia, on the morning of May 18, 2020 have visited and brought along medical materials to be handed over to Samdech Patriarch Bou Kry at Wat Botum Vatey and Preah Sihanouk Raja Buddhist University Vice-Rector Khy Sovanratana in Phnom Penh as well as the top leadership of Cambodian Muslims were warned to guard against Covid-19.
The materials were also donated as a show of solidarity between all religious groups in Cambodia to contain the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. The sanitary items donated and delivered at each place are 2016 soaps, 100 facemasks, 80 litters of alcohol and 400 posters. A total of 6024 soaps, 300 facemasks, 240 litters of alcohol, and 1,200 posts.
Father Peter Suon Hangly, Vicar General said: “We have difficulties as the Covid-19 has really become a problem. There are no joint religious groups working together in the fight against this pandemic. So this is a good opportunity to share love and beliefs in God. We thank the Cambodian government for allowing us to practice our respective religions across the country. Even though we are of different religions, we show solidarity to seek peace in Cambodia.”
Muslim representative Sim Matout thanked Caritas Cambodia and the Catholic Church for visiting them and bringing along soap, alcohol and facemasks.
Khy Sovanratana, the Vice Rector of the university, also thanked the Catholic Church and Caritas Cambodia for the donations. The donations had encouraged the people to keep themselves clean and preserve the environment “because it does not only prevent the virus from spreading, but also makes us and our families be healthy including protection in the Church.”
The vice rector further said that Buddhism had always worked closely with inter-religious groups and joined them in various programmes.
Samdech Patriarch Bou Kry of Cambodia wished all a healthy life during the Covid-19 pandemic. He also advised all the followers of all religions to be united without discrimination against one another. “Irrespective of what religion they belong to, we are on the same Cambodian land. We are united and not siding with any religion,” he said.
He also reminded them to maintain hygiene and not to forget because Covid-19 doesn’t discriminate against any religion.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Cambodian government has stopped all religious gatherings across the country. Cambodia Ministry of Health has confirmed 122 case positives of COVID 19 and all patient were heals. The 122th Patient of Covied 19 was heal on May 16, 2020.
The bishops of the Catholic Church in Cambodia also advised all Catholics to follow the government’s directive and urged them to combat Covid-19 by all means and maintain good hygiene. The bishops also urged faithful to initiate charitable actions as the earlier Church did, in spite of not having religious gatherings.
