Author: Charles Dittmeier

Starting again

Yesterday the Education Project of the Deaf Development Programme resumed its classroom teaching after the most recent suspension for a month or two.
The power went off for quite an extended period today so we moved the students outside to a porch where they were working on an illustrated version of the classroom rules they have been discussing as part of the restart.

Musica Felice

Ms. Miwako Fujiwara is the founder and director of the now quite well-known musical group, Musica Felice. Several times a year they perform in charity concerts that are always well received. This past weekend we were treated to their latest production which had been delayed several months because of COVID-19 restrictions. It was well worth the wait!

The whole Musica Felice ensemble with Miwako as pianist.
Some of the women singing some Christmas-themed music
for the last time this season.
These two young blind men, from one of the groups benefited by the concert, really stole the show with their strong vocal duets.

The Cambodian Cyclist

This is a photograph of the quintessential Cambodian bicycle rider–riding serenely, even gracefully along a city street, sit stiffly erect, pedaling oh so slowly. I can’t do it. I can’t ride that slowly, nor can I ride in the near middle of the lane. I have to stay over near the curb to let faster traffic pass me on the left.

It’s wood…and more

This is a doctor’s waiting room. Note the heavy wooden furniture! This furniture is the goal of every business operation. Acquiring the 100-pound chairs on the left means you have arrived. You are the real thing, whatever your business is, be it a dentist office, a car wash, a bank, a metal fabrication shop, whatever. The Cambodian culture is obsessed with luxury woods that bestow respect and esteem upon their owners.

Hong Kong, too…

Our Asia superior in Hong Kong reported today that John Clancey was arrested under Hong Kong’s new draconian state security laws. John was a Maryknoll priest in Hong Kong right before I came. He left Maryknoll but stayed on in Hong Kong as a lawyer working for civil and human rights. He must have been doing good work to get Beijing riled up. Hang in there, John!

This is the way the BBC reported his arrest.

Politics and Theology

The incredible events in our nation’s Capitol Building are more than politics. They are also indicative of our theology. Here is a link to an article by Jim Wallis in Sojourners magazine. Read the full article and reflect on how to respond, but for me these were the ideas that struck me the most.

In addition to the political ramifications for our democracy of the attempted coup, there are also theological questions Wallis raised:

1. Truth is a central tenet of Christianity. “Does the truth matter to Christians and Christian leaders who supported Donald Trump?”

2. “[T]he biblical abomination of racism and its ideology of white nationalism…stands at the core of the Trump base…. This is no longer just politics, it is theological heresy, and one that needs to be exorcised from white Christianity in America.”

I encourage you to read the article.