Author: Charles Dittmeier

Heading home….

The newspapers are reporting large numbers of migrant workers (Cambodians, working legally or illegally in Thailand) who are now daily streaming across the Thai-Cambodian border, legally or illegally. They earn about $10 or $11 a day in Thailand (which gives you a clue how low their pay would be if they were in Cambodia because they’re going to Thailand to get more money than here) but now there is a spike in coronavirus infections in Thailand and the workers are afraid for their personal safety and also many of the businesses that employed them have closed so there are no jobs.

This presents quite a problem for Cambodia because more than 80 of the returnees have tested positive. That’s one sixth of all the cases in the kingdom. And those are the ones who crossed at the legal checkpoints and were tested. Others sneak in through the jungle because they don’t want to be quarantined. It could be a perfect setup for a major infection in Cambodia.

Eat Here

Yesterday you saw the cooks preparing food for dinner at the hostel of the Deaf Development Programme. This is the eating area, outside the kitchen, where the deaf youth gather for their meals.

Sad day….

This is my 1984 IBM clicker keyboard that has been going strong for 35 years. But today it suddenly stopped lighting up! O sorrow! This is one of the real things, not one of the six-ounce plastic jobbies that come with desktops today. It weighs about six pounds and in its day, this clicker was worth $600. I’m hoping I can find some repair geek around here to take a look at it. I’m suspecting the problem is in the cable.