Charlie Dittmeier's Home Page
Cambodia has two seasons: hot and wet, and hot and dry. It’s always hot. The heat doesn’t prevent women from wearing gloves year round, though. Gloves on a hot day is better than letting the sun make your skin a little dark. At least this woman wears her gloves in style!
Come Jan. 20, on the inaugural day of his second term, President-elect Trump has promised voters that he will begin a massive deportation effort. It is a deeply menacing threat without any indication of how matters of due process, human rights, respect of persons, respect of families and other matters of human dignity, justice and mercy will govern the deportation. And though we see indications that some Republicans will try to tone down Mr. Trump’s threats, many members of the party that will take control of every branch of our government on that day have not taken any evident steps to address the massive deportation itself.
I, for one, am not waiting for Inauguration Day. I think the threat of mass deportation needs to be urgently addressed by bishops, teachers, theologians, politicians and preachers. We cannot wait to see what happens, especially since the President-elect insists that he means business on that day.
James F. Keenan, S.J., in America
Last night the Don Bosco Vocational Training Center in the Tuol Kork area of Phnom Penh had a fund-raising dinner. That is the school where I go for mass early Monday mornings with the sisters and some of the students. The school teaches hospitality skills like food preparation, and it was good to see the students dressed up in their uniforms and serving the meal. A number of people from our English parish were in attendance.
Can you imagine a greater encouragement and opportunity for tripping and falling on stairs than these shoes on the church steps at the Carmelite Monastery in Phnom Penh? And this is after half the people have left the church and removed their shoes from the steps! This scenario is repeated a million times a day as people slip off their shoes and sandals when they go into a building.
My major mode of transport around Phnom Penh is my bicycle, here being repaired by a young Khmer man who goes by the name of Jack. He has a little bike shop that fortunately for me is on the way I go from my home to the deaf office. For major repairs like today (getting a new sprocket and chain), I drop the bike off and come back after work. Fortunately also is that Jack is a real good man, a pleasant and caring human being.
At the Caritas Deaf Development Programme, we have leadership training going on as a preliminary step to establishing a national association of the deaf.
This week the Deaf Leadership Training Program had an all-day meeting to finalize a concept paper or proposal to be sent to be considered for funding by the Finnish Association of the Deaf. Here the Cambodian staff members of the training team and the management of DDP discuss whether to approve or not the draft version of the proposal.
After a carcinoma was removed from my right forearm, I needed to change the bandage every two days and it was almost impossible with just one hand. Today I asked some of the deaf students to help.
