Members of a detachment of U.S. Marine combat engineers made several infrastructure and cosmetic improvements at the Ma’Ahad El-Muhajirin Islamic Center in Kampot province, Cambodia. The Marines rewired and improved the electrical equipment that powers the center, installed ceilings in classrooms and ceiling fans in the center’s mosque, and painted. The detachment’s medical and dental personnel provided medical care and preventive medicine training for residents during the project.

The center is an Islamic school for high school graduates from Cambodia’s Cham, an ethnic group of Islamic people residing in Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand. Nasiet Ly, an English teacher at the center, welcomed the U.S. Marines. “We are very thankful for the help, and we hope to build on the warm relationship between the U.S. and Cambodian people,” he said.

The project is part of the Cambodia Interoperability Program, which develops interoperability between the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces and U.S. Armed Forces. It also builds on the relationship between the Cambodian and U.S. governments. The project marks the second time in two years the U.S. Marines have conducted a civil assistance project in Cambodia. In October 2005, the Marines completed construction on the Kompong Chhnang Friendship Clinic, a medical clinic in Kompong Chhnang province.

The Ma’Ahad El-Muhajirin Islamic Center in Cambodia’s Kampot Province is in the country’s southern farmlands.
PHOTOS BY SGT. ETHAN E. ROCKE, USMC