On June 18, 1999, the first Pastoral Community of the Daughters of Charity arrived in Phnom Penh City, formally inaugurating the Cambodia Mission. Their ministry focused on pastoral services for children and youth, particularly through catechetical formation, accompaniment, education, and health services at the Temporary Shelter of the Church in Battambang Prefecture. Earlier, on June 10, 1999, while at the Perboyre Community, Sr. Teresa Mabasa, then Visitatrix, installed Sr. Eloisa Nadres as the first Sister Servant. She was joined by Sr. Mercedes Disu and Sr. Eulalia Desacula, together forming the pioneering community.

After exactly ten years of service and presence in Battambang Church, the Community transferred its mission site on March 15, 2009, to Pailin City, within the same Prefecture. Pailin, recognized as one of the poorest provinces in Cambodia, became the ground for a renewed mission. Here, the Sisters dedicated themselves to family and community sustainability, establishing Day Care Centers, initiating Feeding Programs, extending educational assistance, and accompanying members of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul (SSVP) and the youth, in general. To this day, the mission continues to evolve, expanding into more creative and relevant responses to poverty. The focus has grown toward the education of youth, the self-sustainability of families through self-initiated and self-managed livelihood projects, the insertion in the Early Childhood Development programs in government primary schools, and active participation in the pastoral services of the Church.

On October 24, 2001, the Daughters of Charity Community was canonically erected in Phnom Penh to administer the Caritas Rehabilitation from Blindness Program at Takeo Eye Hospital and the Community-Based Eye Services at Wat Charawon, undertaken upon the recommendation of the Maryknoll Society through Fr. John Barth. The Takeo Eye Hospital was established primarily to train eye care personnel in Cambodia, addressing the urgent need for qualified professionals in the field while the Community-Based Eye Services at Wat Charawon focused on rehabilitation from blindness.

In time, Fr. John Barth entrusted the leadership and management of the project to Sr. Myrna Porto, appointing her as Project Director of the Takeo Eye Hospital. Under a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Health, she oversaw the training of Cambodia’s eye care personnel. Sr. Evangeline Dunton was missioned to lead the training of ophthalmic nurses from various eye units across the country.

On April 6, 2010, during the inauguration of the new Takeo Eye Hospital building, Sr. Myrna Porto, DC, and Sr. Evangeline Dunton, DC, were honored with a special award personally bestowed by His Majesty King Norodom Sihamoni of Cambodia. This recognition celebrated their significant contribution to developing the Hospital into the nation’s foremost eye care facility.

Following the request of Bishop Emile Destombes, MEP, services at St. Joseph Parish in Phnom Penh were organized to provide temporary shelter for the sick. Sr. Virginia Irang assumed responsibility for hospital referrals, medical treatment, and the care of patients in recovery, serving those who came from various parishes with compassion and dedication.

In partnership with Bambino Gesù Hospital in Italy (the Vatican Pediatric Hospital), the Pediatric Department of Takeo Provincial Hospital was inaugurated on March 24, 2006, under the newly formed DC NGO. This initiative was formalized through a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health. Alongside this, a temporary shelter was established in Phnom Penh to welcome and care for those seeking treatment and recovery.

In 2008, the Lindalva Center in Pochentong, Posenchay District was established. The initiative was recommended by Christian Life Community volunteers from the Catholic Students’ Center in Phnom Penh, who identified the area as particularly impoverished, with women employed in factories, families surviving as garbage collectors, and children left to roam the streets. The Lindalva Center focused on day care and feeding programs for children of factory workers aged 0 to 13, alongside counseling, accompaniment, meals, and skills-bridging activities. For sixteen years, these services persevered through the challenges of rented rooms, repeated transfers, flooding, and the daily realities of poverty—sustained always by God’s Providence.

Faithful to this original inspiration for women and the unfolding of new calls, the Lindalva Center continues to care for poor children and youth whose parents are working in factories, constructions and garbage collection.

In June 2015, the Sisters of the Phnom Penh Community, confronted by the presence of drug dependents near their residence, discerned a new call to mission among the urban slum dwellers of Boeng Trabaek. The cycle of poverty and the complex realities of family life continued to challenge and test the mission’s resilience. In response, the Mobile Learning Services was initiated, traveling from village to village with diverse activities for children, encouraging families to value education and supporting them with assistance.
The Sisters also opened their compound as a “second home,” a place where children could be nurtured holistically and prepared for formal schooling.

After 8 years of waiting for God’s approval, on August 22, 2022, Feast of the Queenship of Mary, the Sisters had the joy of witnessing the groundbreaking for the construction of the new Lindalva Center Building and Sisters’ Residence in Preytea Village, Posenchey District.

Exactly a year later, on August 22, 2023, the new Lindalva Building was solemnly blessed by His Excellency Bishop Olivier Schmitthaeusler, MEP, Apostolic Vicar of Phnom Penh. The celebration was graced by Vincentian priests, clergy from the Phnom Penh Vicariate, and the Daughters of Charity led by Sr. Maria Ana Rosario Evidente, DC, Visitatrix. Representatives from local government offices, the District Education Office, together with neighbors and parents of the children served by the Center, also joined in thanksgiving for this milestone.

In Takeo, a new Community was established, engaged in ministries of community and family health, advocacy for safe migration, prevention of trafficking in persons, and the promotion of mental health. These services, formalized through a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Health and carried forward to the present, replaced the Bambino Gesù Project which concluded on November 30, 2010. Since then, the mission has flourished, touching and transforming lives across eight villages.

However, the sickness and passing of two Sisters, leaving only one remaining, led to the closure of the Takeo Community on December 21, 2021. From that time, it became a mission station under the care of the Phnom Penh Community, while continuing its services in Takeo with steadfast dedication.

On April 23, 2024, Msgr. Enrique Figaredo, SJ, Apostolic Prefect of Battambang, joyfully presided over the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the Students’ Center and Sisters’ Residence in Pailin City. Through a Memorandum of Understanding between the Prefecture of Battambang and the Daughters of Charity, the Church of Battambang granted the Sisters permission to use part of the Church’s property for the development of their apostolic works. The generous support and partnership of “Enfants du Mékong,” Church in Need, Lionel Palandre, and other benefactors stand as living testimonies to God’s Providence.

On June 18, 2024, the Cambodia Mission joyfully celebrated its 25th Anniversary in Battambang with a Eucharistic celebration officiated by Msgr. Enrique Figaredo, SJ, Apostolic Prefect of Battambang, and concelebrated by His Excellency Bishop Olivier Schmitthaeusler, MEP, Apostolic Vicar of Phnom Penh. Many significant persons joined the liturgy, uniting their voices in faith, gratitude, and joy.

In November 2024, the DC Pailin Community transferred from Pahy Tabong to Tangent Leu Village, Pailin City, where they settled into their newly constructed residence and the St. Louise de Marillac Students’ Center.
Indeed, though as tiny as a mustard seed, God has sustained the mission with His Providence and mercy, guiding it through the wisdom of the Holy Spirit in our Superiors over the years. Above all, we are graced to begin and conclude the year of the 25th celebration of the Cambodia Mission with the establishment of two missionary foundations: the Lindalva Center and Sisters’ Residence in Phnom Penh, and the Sisters’ Residence and Students’ Dormitory in Pailin.

With the worsening of the long-heated territorial dispute between Cambodia and Thailand into war, the Visitatrix and her Council missioned back to Thailand the three Thai Sisters serving in Cambodia. This left the two Communities with only two members each. At present, there is only the Pailin Community as the main Community, with Phnom Penh as its annex and Sr. Norma ESPERAS as Sister Servant.

Today, the four Sisters, assigned in pairs across four far flung mission locations, continue to face the challenges of nurturing a united and joyful Community. Through their agreed community days, they strengthen bonds of fraternity and sustain their mission, responding with audacity to the ever-growing calls of service. As artisans of peace and hope, they dedicate themselves to the least, the last, and the lost of Cambodian society.