Author: Charles Dittmeier

Another season

The big green fruits with the spikey hull (hard to see the spikes) are jackfruits. They are big with a really thick hull but once they’re open, they’re a good-tasting fruit. They’re definitely in season now. The large plastic bags seem to be full of mangoes that are still green. Cambodians love them that way!

Staying in Touch

Cambodia has the same problem as the rest of the world with distracted drivers, but the difference here is that people don’t realize (1) that it is illegal–just recently; and (2) that it is dangerous. They do everything dangerously–according to western standards–and driving while using a phone would never occur to them to be a problem.

COVID-19 Notes

There are currently about 15,000 foreigners basically trapped in Cambodia. They were here for vacations and business and other reasons, and while they were here their flights out were canceled as countries closed their borders and stopped flights because of the COVID-19 disease. Now they’re stuck here, away from home. This article today is about a petition to the UK government to help them get out of the Kingdom of Wonder.

Stay Home!

The only way to stop the spread of COVID-19 infection is to stop contact among people. It may seem staying at home has no effect but it is the only way to prevent a full epidemic infection wherever you are.

Good News, Bad News

Fr. Kevin, who lives with me at the Maryknoll office, likes to watch the news, especially CNN, to keep up-to-date about the coronavirus.

The bad news: the TV remote control stopped working while he was watching CNN and he had to unplug the TV to turn it off.

The good news: the TV was tuned to CNN and not the Cartoon Channel when the problem developed!

Corona Burger

(Photo from Economic times)

The Economic Times reports on a “corona burger” being offered by an eatery in Hanoi in Vietnam. It’s marketed with an “Eat it, to beat it” slogan. Looks pretty tasty actually.

Increasing stress

Phnom Penh is slowly shutting down because of the COVID-19 disease, even without a lot of pressure from the government. Schools and museums and churches and beer gardens are officially closed but the hundreds of garment factories and the small shops can still operate. It’s the small mom-and-pop shops, though, that show things slowing down. More and more of them are shuttered every day, many as worried parents take their children to the supposed safety of remote villages in the provinces.

The closings mean loss of jobs and income, and that is starting to affect many people. Levels of fear and anxiety are rising. Fr. Kevin, our resident psychologist, has offered some links to sites that can help people deal with stress. Here is one resource we offered in the newsletter sent out today.