Author: Charles Dittmeier

Notable Quotes

 

 

Into this world, this demented inn, in which there is absolutely no room for him at all, Christ has come uninvited. But because he cannot be at home in it, because he is out of place in it, his place is with those others for whom there is no room. His place is with those who do not belong, who are rejected by power because they are regarded as weak, those who are discredited, who are denied the status of person, who are tortured, bombed and exterminated. With those for whom there is no room Christ is present in the world.
~ Thomas Merton

Still Hanging On

This is the old-style license plate for Cambodian vehicles.  A new style of plate was introduced about eight or nine years ago but there was no requirement to replace existing plates and some like this one are still around.  Their numbers are diminishing, though.

So?! She’s holding on!

There are no enforced traffic or safety rules in Cambodia, either for drivers or for passengers.  Anything goes.  Today we were driving to Kampot Province and saw this little girl standing in the back of a truck on the highway.  At least she’s holding on–and has something to hold on to!

Christmas 2018: VTC Christmas Bazaar

Every the Don Bosco Vocational Training Center for girls has a Christmas Bazaar and I’ve been going for eighteen years.  It is a fund-raiser for the school but also just a fun event that involves all the girls in reaching out to the community.

There are sorts of simple games for the children to play and win prizes.
Every Cambodian celebration involves traditional dancing and at the Christmas Bazaar even the kindergarteners get a chance to show what they have learned.
This year the mostly Filipino choir from the English 10:00 Sunday mass were invited to sing a brought a really professional performance to the event.

Wait, it’s Tuesday!

This morning I was riding a motorcycle taxi (a motordupe) across town to our 10:00 AM mass, just like I do every Sunday, and I was thinking it was strange that this microfinance place was open on Sunday.

 

 

Then it dawned on me: “This isn’t Sunday!  It’s Christmas!” and I considered how it’s just like a Sunday with all of us off from work and going to mass and that I would have the afternoon after mass to catch up on some paperwork.

 

 

 

Then it further dawned on me: “Wait!  This isn’t Sunday!  And it is Christmas, but it’s a work day in Cambodia” where 94% of the population is Buddhist with zero interest in Christmas and the birth of Christ.  As I saw this woman dusting off the wares in her little shop, I realized that this afternoon after mass I would be heading back to work at the Deaf Development Programme.  “It’s Tuesday!”, just an ordinary Tuesday and an ordinary workday for all of Cambodia except for the few of us Catholics who had a service on Christmas morning.

Christmas 2018: Santa Outfits

The understanding of Christmas isn’t very deep in Cambodian society and most outward signs of the season are commercially driven and geared toward children.

Every neighborhood will have several shops selling Santa suits for primary school children.
Most schools in Cambodia are commercial, that is, they are private schools not associated with the government and also basically uncontrolled by the government.  Anyone can start a school and many people do to make money.   If you have at least one foreign teacher–or even if one of your teachers knows some English–you can call it an international school which has great cachet for the parents.  And then if you’re selling the foreign ideas, you have to celebrate things like Christmas so that creates the market for these Santa outfits.
This is where the Santa outfits end up, on the kids participating in a Christmas program and knowing next to nothing about the meaning of Christmas.