Author: Charles Dittmeier

Cleaning Up

Today we had to run down to Kampot Province for some meetings.  We got over to DDP House, our hostel for young deaf people in our Education Project, just as they were washing dishes after lunch.

Production and Marketing

Various groups of impoverished people locate themselves in places where large numbers of people with money are, i.e., at the entrance of the western-style supermarkets, at tourist attractions, etc.  Other groups frequent places where the normal traffic of every day life has to slow down or stop, i.e., at intersections or at the increasing number of traffic lights in Phnom Penh.  When the light turns red, small children or slow, tottering elderly come to the cars and peer in the tinted windows, hoping to sell limes (as in these photos) or flowers or other trinkets.

These two children approaching cars to sell limes at a stop light are the front end of a small family business.
Around the corner, mother and the smaller children put together the bags of limes that the larger children sell. They might make a couple dollars in a day.

Religious Education Finale

Many of the international schools in Phnom Penh are giving final exams to their students in May, and in the religious education program for the English-speaking Catholic community, we had our final class this past weekend.  There weren’t any exams but rather we had a farewell for Ms. Beata Pratiwi (far right) who has been a coordinator for the program but is now returning to Indonesia.

April USA Trip–Monday to Thursday

On Monday I said goodbye to staff at the Walsh Building at Maryknoll Lay Missioners and then went into Manhattan where I left Tuesday morning for Chicago, Hong Kong, Bangkok, and Phnom Penh where I landed this morning.  My computer is not cooperating, though, so I am going to have to finish this tomorrow.