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This week saw a gathering of Asian Deaf Catholic people in a retreat center outside of Manila in the Philippines. Today was a travel day for those, like me, who had to make an overnight trip of it. Click here for a few photos from the journey.
Greetings…. I just arrived back in Manila from the second Asian Deaf Catholic Conference near Tagaytay City outside of Manila. It turned out that the wi-fi there didn’t work–the signal was just too weak–and even my data connection on my smartphone wouldn’t work in that remote area. I have now arrived at the hotel in Manila and am using their wi-fi so I can send this preliminary message and then get to work. I just downloaded 247 e-mails to respond to from the last four days of no connection. If you sent me something, I’m getting to it! Please be patient!
I’m in the Philippines for an Asian Catholic deaf conference. The trip was rather routine and even enjoyable until I actually got here. More about that tomorrow when I start documenting the trip. Getting through immigration was a trip and then the taxi couldn’t find the hotel. But I’m here now and because it’s so late, I’m going to bed. More in the morning.
The Water Festival is over for another year and now the cleanup is in full swing. Click here to see more photos from along the riverfront.
For reasons like lack of electricity for refrigeration, some parts of the Phnom Penh economy work every day. And then there are those really poor people who work so they can eat that day. Click here to see more pictures from the streets during the Water Festival.
Many people closed their shops the first day of the Water Festival but in a culture where you live in your shop, it’s not likely you’ll keep things closed up the full three days of the holiday. Click here to see some people in action on the third day of the Water Festival.
Yesterday we received the sad news that Brother Terry Heinrich died in Australia. With the Marist Brothers, Terry established and directed the LaValla School in Takhmao, a really excellent facility for young people with physical disabilities that is a model for Cambodia. Terry had been ill and returned to Australia about a month ago for treatment. He was also a significant member of the English-speaking Catholic community that meets on Saturday night and he served there as one of our best lectors. He was a most pleasant child of God, a real gentleman, and he will be greatly missed.
This week I was riding a motorcycle taxi through a new neighborhood and saw what I thought were the first Christmas decorations I had seen for this year. People here don’t really understand Christmas and think it is more about Santa Claus (Fr. Christmas) than about Jesus. The stores realize, though, that they can make money selling Christmas things and so when the big supermarkets, etc., that cater to the foreigners start putting up Christmas decorations, the smaller shops will follow. I thought this small shop was getting ahead of the rush, but then I realized this is the shop that is SELLING the decorations that the other stores will buy to put up in another couple weeks.
I remember when I was a young child and many people in the United States threw trash on the ground or out of car windows, never giving much thought to the environment. Then there came along a “Don’t Be a Litterbug” campaign and slowly attitudes and practices changed to a strong environmental consciousness in the US today.
In Cambodia, we are still at the stage of the US 70 years ago. Here is a picture of a small Phnom Penh street stall selling breakfast. Notice it is the custom to throw any napkins or food scraps on the ground. It seems counter-productive–and certainly un-hygienic and ugly–since someone has to come along and sweep up the trash a little later. Also, in this picture notice all the single-use plastic straws in the gutter and already heading toward the sewer where they will be washed into the Mekong River and then into the sea.
