Author: Charles Dittmeier

Pchum Ben 2019

Today was the first and most important day of the Pchum Ben festival in which Cambodian people honor their deceased relatives and ancestors. They all go to their home provinces for this so Phnom Penh becomes quite empty and peaceful. I had to go to a 6:15 AM mass across town and took a few photos coming and going.

Shops normally bustling in the morning are all closed up. Three very well dressed adults go visiting on a motorcycle. One man celebrates the holiday sitting in front of his shop. Two boys return from buying some takeaway food for the family for breakfast.

19th Century Banking

I had another nightmare experience with Cambodia Public Bank today.

One of my least favorite endeavors in Cambodia is going to a bank, any bank. It is an experience of inefficiency from the late 1800s, made even more ridiculous because now they use computers to perform so badly . To their credit, the branch manager did call me a few days ago and said that because I had not made a transaction with my account for almost a year, I would incur a $10 bank surcharge, but that I could come in this week still to make a deposit or withdrawal and avoid the fee.

What she didn’t acknowledge is that the reason I hadn’t made a transaction is that the bank canceled my ATM card without telling me and then said I had to pay $5 to get a new card, a debit card which I don’t want. Because it is such a pain to go into the bank and because now I don’t have an ATM card, I haven’t used the account.

Today I went in to make a withdrawal to avoid the surcharge. I arrived at 1445 and got a number ticket, #2016. There were 13-14 people sitting in chairs waiting to be called and that number stayed consistent the whole time I was in the bank. Behind the counter there were six bank staff. In front of the counter, being waited on, was one person. My number was called at 1510. It took an average of five minutes to deal with each customer at the counter, one by one.

I gave the teller my completed withdrawal form. She asked me to sign it on the back, where there is no place for a signature, even though I had signed it in the required place on the front. Then my withdrawal slip had to be stamp, approved, and authorized by three people! The teller then took out a $100 bill to give to me but first she ran it through a bill-counting machine. Not too surprisingly it registered that it had counted one $100 bill and it printed out a receipt to that effect. Then I had to sign that receipt, after which the teller gave me the $100 bill. It took 31 minutes to accomplish that.

Why do Cambodian banks have waiting rooms full of chairs? Why are they full of people waiting, waiting, waiting for one, two, three, or more trips to the counter? Why can’t a person go in for a deposit or withdrawal and be out in five minutes like in the US? Why do customers need to sit down if they are not negotiating a loan?

Cambodia’s Economy

These are some economic indicators that were published recently. Note the 6.9% economic growth. Cambodia has averaged more than that for the past decade. Unfortunately the money does not flow freely through the economy but ends up in the pockets of the government officials and business tycoons. Notable also is the low median age and the low average income.

Pchum Ben Festival

Pchum Ben is an extremely significant festival, holiday, and celebration in Cambodia. It is their lengthened celebration of what in the West would be All Souls Day, a period for honoring their deceased ancestors and relatives. It is a two-week celebration but only the last three days are observed as holidays. This year that will be September 27, 28, and 29. Much goes on in the period before the holiday. The scene above is at a major wat (pagoda) in Phnom Penh. The Buddhist flags are up, cars are delivering people to the ceremonies, the standing man is selling special flowers to those arriving, and the food cart is hoping to attract anyone coming or going.

Deaf Day at DDP

Part of our celebration of International Deaf Week is our own Deaf Day activity at the DDP office grounds. We put up some tents for protection against sun and rain and our staff prepares a variety of activities for deaf people from all over. Click here to see some of the goings-on for the day.

Too little, too late

There is at least one fire hydrant that works in Phnom Penh. I have seen four or five of them in the city but they are very few and far between–and there’s no assumption that they work. Because they are almost non- existent, reports in the newspaper of fires indicate how many fire trucks were involved. It doesn’t refer to how many individual trucks responded to a blaze but rather how many trips the trucks made to a fire hydrant or other water source. I saw in the newspaper yesterday that they made 35 trips to get water for a fire. Given the horrendous traffic congestion here, you can imagine how efficient the fire fighting is.

Trash or treasure?

One aspect of life in Cambodia that I find particularly disturbing is the high percentage of people who make their living handling trash, either collecting it for recycling or for disposal.

It’s hard to know what he has collected but it looks like he has had a fairly successful morning–for which he’ll probably get a dollar or two at the recycling place.
This man has a load of metal cans and assorted plastic and metal rubbish.
A third recycler I ran into this morning was this woman flattening cardboard boxes to load them unto her cart.

Deaf Day at DAC

Today the Disability Action Council, a section of the government’s Ministry of Social Affairs, had a Deaf Day celebration in connection with International Deaf Week that is observed around the world at the end of September.

The good points: [1] the speaker encouraged all the television stations to add a sign language interpreter on screen for their broadcasts; [2] he said only certified interpreters should be used.

The bad points: [1] on a day ostensibly to recognize and honor the deaf people, there was not one deaf person on the stage, just two rows of government officials; [2] deaf people need to sit near the front so they can readily see the sign language interpreter and catch the nuances of facial expression, etc., but the first four rows of the theater seats were filled with more government people and the deaf were moved towards the rear of the hall; [3] a speaker from the ministry stated that sign language is “universal,” meaning there is one sign language used every where (that’s not true); [4] the wording on the back of the purple T-shirts given to the participants said in Khmer “deaf and dumb.” Deaf people are not dumb and that phrasing is offensive to them. [5] At the end of the ceremony, the government officials and invited guests were taken downstairs for a reception with tea and coffee, fruits, cakes, etc., and provided with photo opportunities. The deaf people were kept upstairs in the auditorium and given a bottle of water and a box with a sandwich, croissant, and some fruit.