Charlie Dittmeier's Home Page
It is the norm for construction workers in Cambodia to live on the construction site where they work. Many are workers from provinces who have left family–and homes–behind to come for off-season work in the big city. They have no place to live in Phnom Penh so they live where they work. Here a mother with a 4- or 5-year old son sits on a site where she and her husband work while her toddler son explores the sand piles and paving bricks that will become the building’s courtyard.
I was totally surprised–twice!—this weekend as I turned 75 years old. On Friday a group I meet with regularly came to the Maryknoll office where I live and then today, Sunday, the congregation celebrated with me after the morning mass. Click here to see wonderful celebrations with beautiful people.
Not all the motorcycle loads are as dramatic and extreme as some of the ones pictured here. It seems more and more companies are devising some type of carrier for deliveries, especially as now we have started food delivery services. This carrier looks homemade and it’s definitely bigger than most, but it looks like a more reasonable way to transport things–although notice the straps on the box, ready to tie down the really big and unwieldy loads when necessary.
Well…. Today was my birthday and it didn’t even occur to me until I got an e-mail this morning with birthday greetings from Peg in Louisville. I assumed no one here knew it was my birthday and just went about a normal day. Someone had called yesterday to make an appointment to see me at 6:00 PM and I was waiting for her when suddenly about 35 children and adults appeared on the front porch of the Maryknoll office! They brought food and drinks and a cake and it was a total, wonderful surprise. All of the families were from our weekly prayer group and the St. Vincent de Paul Society. It was a delightful evening and thinking back, I believe it was the first birthday party I have had in 60+ years! Thank you all!
Phnom Penh has Starbucks now, but for most of the country, when you’re really hot and thirsty….
The traffic in Phnom Penh is beginning to rival that of the infamous bad-traffic cities like Bangkok. There are multiple problems behind the traffic mess. One is the sheer number of vehicles that increases significantly every year. There is no place to park or drive the vehicles we have, but last year more than 200 vehicles were registered per day on average. So far in the first six weeks of this year, the average is 876 per day. Another reason is government incompetence. Everyone knows there is a huge problem but even the most simple remedies, ones that don’t even entail spending any money, are ignored. The above article is from a new newspaper, Capital Cambodia. An article in the past week in another paper lists several steps that the government is finally going to initiate. There is little expectation of change because of the way the government functions–or doesn’t function.
Street signs in Cambodia are erected and used in a different way here than they are in other countries. Click here for some samples of Phnom Penh street signs.
Trump’s wall has become a false god and a symbol of all that is not great with America. Our desire for power over people instead of power with people. Our unwillingness to be governed by our own laws. Our disdain for the faith-based principles calling us to care for one another, found in all sacred texts.
~ Traci Blackmon and Caleb Lines in Sojourners