Receiving the give away…

Last night when Sambath and I arrived at the Deaf Development Programme, the hostel students were waiting to start supper and came over to help us unload–much appreciated!
This morning our DDP staff went through all that we had received to determine how all the different items could be used in our hostel program.

Give away….

Expat families are constantly coming and going in Phnom Penh. Navern is returning to the Philippines tomorrow and today she invited us to take a lot of her household goods for the Deaf Development Programme hostel.
Sambath is a tuk-tuk driver known to Maryknoll for more than twenty years. He knows us, knows where we want to go, and we know that we can totally trust him. And on top of that, he can pack whatever you have into his tuk-tuk.
With lots of rope and tape, Sambath managed to get more than I expected into his tuk-tuk–a smaller model than I remembered his having. Here he pads a large TV for a ride on the top rack.

Singapore Deaf Group Visit

A group from the deaf program of the Wesley Methodist Church in Singapore paid another visit to DDP today and offered a short workshop on the environment. Afterward they prepared several tables full of foods and drinks they offered to the DDP students.
Some of the DDP students examining the contents of their gift bags from the Singapore Deaf group.
Finally the Singapore group and the DDP management team met for lunch and a short discussion of future collaboration.

Priests Meeting

Today the Phnom Penh diocese had its quarterly meeting of all the priests.

Fr. Chatsirey made a point while explaining about the progress of the new church being built in St. Joseph Parish.
Later, before lunch, the group celebrated Bishop Olivier’s 16th anniversary as a bishop.

Recreating what he grew up with

Most of Phnom Penh’s population has been transplanted from the rural provinces to the capital city. The saying goes: “You can take the person out of the country but you can’t take the country out of the person.” There are many illustrations of that adage around Phnom Penh where the now city dwellers try to recreate the fields, the plants, the flowers the way it was “back then.”

Why do they do it?

This is a shot driving in a tuk-tuk to St. Joseph Church this morning. Notice the two cars in front of us. One has his wheels on the left lane line and other has his wheels on the right lane line. They refuse to drive in the middle of the lane unless forced to by traffic. Why do they do that? My tuk-tuk driver is trying get his wheels on the left lane marker.

Women’s Day

Today we celebrated Women’s Day at DDP. I was there for the first hour before heading out to prepare for this afternoon’s mass for the English Catholic Community.

Some of the first arrivals just enjoying the opportunity to be together and use sign language.
Narith and Mano began preparing for lunch yesterday but then began the hard work this morning.
The first event is always singing the national anthem in sign language.
The emcee started things off with a recognition of those who had contributed their efforts to this day’s celebration.