So he says….

Hun Sen is the prime minister of Cambodia and has been since 1997. He is the longest-serving head of state in Asia and everything–good and bad–in Cambodia can be attributed to him. One wonders what he means when he avers he will never sacrifice the national interest. The prime minister has his hands deep in the pockets of China and so he has to go wherever China goes. The Chinese set up huge gambling operations in Sihanoukville and took over everything. A newspaper article reported that 90%+ of the businesses in Sihanoukville are now Chinese owned and half the population is Chinese. That’s in Cambodia’s national interest?

A Typical Home

To me this photo captures quite accurately the style and tone of life in urban Cambodia now. This is a shophouse, where the main room opening on to the street is a business space and behind it and above it is a living space for the family. The father, a tailor, works at his sewing machine with material samples, sewing supplies, and completed garments set around the work space. In the lower right corner is a bag of charcoal for the charcoal stove with a big pot on it. Is the burner for cooking? Or with such a big pot, are they making some sort of snack like those on the table, a small sub business selling snacks to customers and passersby? Maybe that is the wife’s contribution to maintaining the family–in addition to mothering and cooking and cleaning. In the upper left corner is a little shrine for making offerings to placate the ancestors. Whatever the circumstances, there is a way to make do, like the wooden block under the leg of the steel table to level the table on an uneven floor. And then there’s the little boy, the well-dressed son (his father IS a tailor!) who just watches the world go by and figures that all this is just normal and the way the world should be.

Disgusting, Shameful

“…Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and his Republican caucus opted, in an outrageous dereliction of duty, not to hear from further witnesses, thereby continuing the effort to suppress the facts that began when Trump ordered members of the executive branch not to cooperate with the House inquiry.

If Republican senators were so concerned, as they have repeatedly claimed to be, about the lack of direct evidence, why in the world would they vote against summoning Bolton and other witnesses who spoke directly to the president? The only possible answer: Their priority was to protect Trump (and their own political fortunes), not to establish the truth.”

~ Los Angeles Times editorial

Job Training Graduation

Last week twelve of our students graduated from DDP’s Job Training Project after a year of training. It was a happy and important day. The students had been trained in metalwork, sewing, barbering, and beauty skills. Click here to see photos from the day.

Where is the risk-management team?

I went to a DDP graduation today, held at a Christian church near the Chinese Embassy. Especially because it is a church, even though we were using it for totally secular purposes, Khmers would never wear shoes inside. Instead they leave them at the door–literally. In the United States the liability lawyers would go crazy at the hazard the shoes create for an organization, but here it’s just part of life. What else are you going to do with your shoes?

Spreading Success

Ms. Kem Khemara is the owner/director of the Bi Salon beauty establishments in Phnom Penh. She spent seven years in Japan and speaks the language fluently, and she is also an accomplished businesswoman. She has taken a special interest in training young deaf women to work in her salons and they have been very successful, so much so that Japanese television came to film a documentary about her accomplishments. Here she is filmed speaking to DDP’s co-director Keat Sokly about her involvement with the DDP students.

Two Language Schools

Julie Lawler (left, at table) is a new Maryknoll Lay Missioner who will work at the Deaf Development Programme. She is in class every day to learn the Khmer language but twice a week she is also learning Cambodian Sign Language! She has a head start because she already knows American Sign Language.

Lunar New Year 6

After you clean the house and buy new clothes and get your haircut; after you burn the incense and paper offerings; then it’s time to put out the food and drink offerings to really make the spirits happy.

Almost every shop has some sort of offerings on display…
A safety equipment store.
An Internet shop…but why do they have three offering tables?
Offerings outside a restaurant.
At a used car parts shop.
At a beauty salon.
Some shops put out really elaborate offerings. (I’ve noticed that the spirits really like beer. Or at least the people who put out the offerings think they do.)
This beauty salon has a rather humble offering.
This private house has a rather generous offering.
While this house’s offering is much more subdued.
This man goes all out at his house, making sure the spirits are pleased.

The End

Lunar New Year 5

There are always last-minutes purchases and preparations and many people were out on new year’s eve making everything ready.

One more decoration for the home or maybe a trinket for the kids….
These men finally found a traditional peach-blossom tree to put in the house.
This man opts for a few more fresh flowers….
This woman is selling the white jasmine blossoms on a stick or the small jasmine garlands which are important new year’s decoration.
And these people are getting the truck ready to head out to the province and leave the city hoopla behind.