Author: Charles Dittmeier

Bro. Terry Heinrich

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.

Not Early Decorations

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.

Environmental Un-Awareness

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.

Buddhist Fund-Raising

Organizations collect money in Cambodia just like everywhere else in the world, but here they don’t use robocalls and direct mail.  It’s a more people-to-people approach here where figures like these process through the streets accompanied by a tuk-tuk with a loudspeaker announcing the presence of the figure–and the accompanying woman who collects the money for a Buddhist organization in this case.