Author: Charles Dittmeier

Typical for Phnom Penh

Here is a typical scene–at least, not an unusual scene–on a major six-lane street in Phnom Penh at 4:00 PM. Two cars in the left-hand lanes and one car in the right hand lanes are backing up across traffic and blocking the street in both directions. No one thinks a thing about it….

The rains are coming

January through May is the dry season but it seems the rains are starting a bit earlier these years. Earlier we had photos of those who were carrying their rain ponchos and had stopped to put them on. Today the photos show those who don’t carry a poncho and just pull into a sheltered place to wait out what is usually a ten-to-twenty minute shower.

Preparing for the 3rd New Year!

The Khmer New Year is coming up, April 14-16, but because our students will go home before the holiday for a long break, the Deaf Community Center will have a new year celebration on April 1. Here some of the DCC staff prepare a backdrop for one of the activities. (Hmmm…everyone is supposed to be wearing masks!)

Watch where you step!

In the United States your mother or father would jump all over you for leaving your shoes in the middle of the walkway and doorway; in a public place you’d be threatened with a lawsuit. Here it’s just normal–if you can’t wear your shoes in church–to just step out of them in the doorway–and leave them for everyone else to worry about and step over.

Time for a snack

I never understood the appeal of eating sunflower seeds. Too much work for a nebulous (imaginary?) reward. I have the same feeling about eating these little mussels dredged up from the bottom of riverine waterways near Phnom Penh. Discounting the risks of eating anything found in those polluted waters, I don’t understand the payoff of eating tiny bits of clams. But there’s obviously an attraction for them. Notice this woman’s mussel cart has three different varieties of tiny clams for sale.

The Three “Do”s

In some parts of the world, few people are wearing masks for protection from Covid but in Cambodia they are still part of the normal daily routine. The government campaign speaks of the three “DOs” and the three “DON’Ts”. This vendor, set up on a roadside where the traffic backs up every day, supports two of the three DOs: wearing masks and using hand sanitzer. (The third DO is to practice social distancing.)