Charles Dittmeier – Page 209 – Welcome to Cambodia, and…..

This article is a really good look at the difference between justice and charity, and an explanation of how theology and politics are related. I recommend it to your attention. It is very appropriate as we listen to the Good Samaritan story today.

DDP Menagerie

Our new office for the Maryknoll Deaf Development Programme is much an improvement on our old location. It is notable for the increased space we have and the different uses it makes possible. And it is noteworthy, too, for the accumulation of stone animals the landlord deposited around the grounds when he first developed his property. Here are SOME of them!

Corn to Go

I had a wedding on the other side of town this afternoon. On the way back I passed this woman selling hot corn on the cob from her bicycle.

At the next light I pulled up beside a seemingly satisfied customer of hers.

Pandering to the Populace

110 cc and 125 cc motorcycles
(waiting on the sidewalk for a red light, but that’s another problem).

Khmer Times (newspaper): What kinds of vehicles cause the most traffic accidents in Cambodia?

Colonel Visal (Chief of the Traffic Police Office): “Causing the most accidents is motorbikes, including the ones used to drag a cart and tuk-tuk. Accidents caused by motorbikes account for 70 percent of all accidents in Cambodia. The new law states that motorbike drivers whose rides are 125cc or less will no longer need a license, yet our statistics prove that it is that kind of rides which cause most of the accidents in the country.”

Cambodia averages five or six traffic deaths a day, with many more injured. The government’s response? Eliminate the need for a driver’s license for the largest category of vehicles (by far) on the road. It makes the locals happy because they don’t have to pay for the test and bribe the test official, and it makes the government happy because it gains them votes. It’s like, in the United States, if the government said that no driver licenses would be needed for any vehicle selling for under $40,000.

A little girl’s dream…

When I worked in a girls high school in the United States, it was every girl’s dream to be a cheerleader. Here in Cambodia, the girls dream of being Apsara dancers–and they start early.

Refugee Hell

Religious persecution has driven many Pakistani Christians out of their home country. Many of them have come to Cambodia and ask for help from the St. Vincent de Paul Society in our English parish. Here is an article from UCAN that describes their journey and constant fear.

On the hunt…

This scene is not uncommon in Cambodia—a young man with a mango picker, a long bamboo pole with some sort of basket at the end to put around a mango so that the mango is caught when it is pulled from the tree. This boy already has one mango in his hand. A question: is he collecting mangoes from his own trees or using the long pole to reach into others’ yards to get their fruit?