Charles Dittmeier – Page 272 – Welcome to Cambodia, and…..

St. Vincent de Paul Society: 400th Anniversary

In 1617 St. Vincent de Paul began forming groups, mostly of women, to serve the poor in his region of France. He was joined by St. Louise de Merillac and their ministry spread, not only throughout France but around the world. Now more than 260 groups trace their origin to St. Vincent de Paul and basically every Catholic parish has a St. Vincent de Paul Society group to serve their local area. This is a large number of the St. Vincent de Paul Society members in our English-speaking Catholic community in Phnom Penh—a wonderful group of committed Christians filled with compassion and love for those who need help. This month the Cambodian Catholic Church has been celebrating the 400th anniversary of the Vincentian movement.

Topics: Wood #6

Almost as surprising as the great desire for wood furniture is the number of shops selling wood furniture; but then maybe the great number derives from the great desire. Click here to go to the table of contents and then click on #8.

Pick your snack

North Americans on the road tend to dash in for hamburgers or ice cream or large sugary drinks. In Cambodia the traveling clientele opt for different kinds of fruit or bags of snacks like dried bananas or other crunchy things.

DDP Staff Wedding

DDP has a young staff and we are always having weddings of the staff, here in Phnom Penh and in the provinces. The latest one was Mr. Heng Ravy, our Job Training Project assistant, who married Ms. Roeun Srey March.

Before the wedding: A Cambodian wedding, even a Catholic wedding, is quite different from a Catholic wedding in the United States. Here is the sanctuary prepared for the ceremony.

Before the wedding: No organ for these weddings. They usually do have an electronic keyboard and guitar but this one also had these traditional percussion instruments to accompany a blessing dance that was part of the event.

The ceremony lasted nearly two hours with various cultural additions. Finally when it was over many of the congregation gathered for a group photo with the newly married couple.

Ravy the groom is our staff member and afterwards the DDP staff who were present posed with Ravy and Srey March. The two women on the right are the only Catholic members of the DDP staff.

Topics: All-purpose Platforms #5

This post focuses on one type of Cambodian furniture, large flat platforms that are found everywhere and are used for everything. Click here to see more.

Topics: Wood #4

This is the beginning of the section on how Cambodia’s forests and luxury woods are used. This page looks at the massive style of traditional formal Cambodia furniture which is a part of almost every household that can afford it. Click here to take a look.

Keeping Cool in Cambodia

There are many signs that Cambodia is moving into the 21st century—paving sidewalks, jamming the streets with cars, erecting tall buildings–but there are also indicators that Cambodia still hasn’t made the jump from a simple village life style to a modern city environment.

When I first came, I don’t remember one shop on the main street that had an enclosed front. Each store had a pull-down metal shutter that, when opened, revealed the whole interior of the ground floor. Then slowly one shop after another started to have a glass front, a normal doorway, and it was no longer possible to drive motorcycle or car into the store at night.

As the shops were enclosed, they needed air conditioning and it’s spreading, but it’s still at its earliest stages. New modern buildings often have individual stand-alone AC units sticking out like warts all over the exterior. This KFC at least has put all the units in one place, but central air conditioning’s time has not yet arrived.

Author: Charles Dittmeier