Author: Charles Dittmeier

Final Meeting

Standing: Sr. Ann Sherman, Kylene Fremling, Charlie Dittmeier, Julie Lawler, Sr. Helene O’Sullivan. Seated: Sr. Regina Pellicore, Sr. Mary Little, Fr. Kevin Conroy. Missing: Hang Tran.

Since 1991 when Maryknoll first came to work in Cambodia, all the Maryknollers in the kingdom have met on Wednesday afternoons for a meeting, a liturgy, and then a dinner together. When I first came in 2000, there were 25 to 27 people gathered in the living room of the Maryknoll house every Wednesday.

Everything has changed now and Maryknoll Cambodia, the International NGO, will cease to exist in a couple weeks, and today we had our last Wednesday meeting forever. The Maryknoll priests and sisters just don’t have the personnel to send to Cambodia. The Maryknoll Lay Missioners will continue here with four members. A sad day.

Hong Kong Trip

Departure
Today I returned to Phnom Penh from Hong Kong. I have more photos to show from the trip but i ran into multiple problems when I came home and needed to reinstall some apps and that took up too much time. For today, this is a view at 7:00 in the morning on the way out of Hong Kong city across a new bridge, heading out to the airport built on some islands.

Hong Kong Trip 3

Pastoral Center Anniversary

December 4 was the anniversary celebration for the pastoral center in Homantin for people with disabilities. Because the center is not so large, the mass and dinner were held at a high school.

Judy Wu Man Ha came to Rosary Church where I am staying while in Hong Kong to take me to the venue for the celebration. On the way she pointed out these gift baskets bunched on a sidewalk and explained that the culture dictates that the groom and his groomsmen give these gifts to the bride’s family. Apparently a wedding celebration was taking place there.
Judy and I arrived at the church early and had a chance to meet some of the deaf people, also early birds.
It was most pleasant to see Fr. Kam Po Wai, now the vicar general of the Hong Kong diocese, at the celebration. He was in Cambodia for several years and we got to know each other well. Good man!
Ophelia Chan and Judy Wu. Ophelia is one of those people who gets things done in professional and government circles.
Fr. Po Wai incensing the altar to begin the liturgy.
A group with an enlarged photo of the pastoral center. It was built in the early 1950s as a refugee center for people fleeing the Communist takeover of China and coming to Hong Kong.
After mass we went to the high school auditorium for a joyful meal together.

Hong Kong Trip

Catholic Deaf Gathering

Tomorrow will be a gathering of all the disability groups to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the center but today the deaf people gathered in the afternoon. It was wonderful simple event that was one of the most affirming days of my life.

When most people had gathered, we had a simple meal together, really informal.
It had been about six years since I was last in Hong Kong–thanks to Covid–and it was a really joyous reunion between me and the Catholic deaf community.
We made a picture with all the men present.
And then we invited all the women into a group photo.
And then we recognized the “volunteers” (really, ministers in my way of thinking) who have basically been with the Catholic deaf community for 20+ years.
Here, I am thanking the deaf community for their welcome, their coming together that evening, and for the gift of money they offered to support deaf work in Cambodia.

Hong Kong Trip

Travel Day

On Sunday the Hong Kong Catholic center for people with disabilities will celebrate its 30th anniversary. I helped to set up the center in what used to be a refugee center for people fleeing mainland China so I was invited to the anniversary and flew to Hong Kong two days in advance.

I was surprised at the Phnom Penh airport to be greeted by one of our deaf community. He was flying to Bangkok on the same flight with me, going to visit his deaf friends. I am very pleased that he has succeeded enough in life to have disposable income to use like that.
I had a five-hour layover in Bangkok. Before Covid, there were several direct Phnom Penh-to-Hong Kong flights, but not any more. I was flying AirAsia, a budget airline. Their tickets are considerably less expensive but they charge $62 for a checked bag and even had a fee of $36 for buying the ticket with my Visa card!
Now that the Maryknoll priests have sold their Hong Kong center house, I had no place to stay so I arranged to stay at Rosary Church in the touristy Tsim Sha Tsui area of Kowloon. It is an old historic and elegant church and many people want to get married there. The church has four to six weddings on a weekend. Here a bridal party takes photos before their ceremony.

Closing Time

Today Maryknoll Cambodia, the legal entity authorized by the Cambodia government so that Maryknoll can work in the kingdom, had a closing celebration. In December Maryknoll Cambodia as an NGO will cease to exist.

We had a Maryknoll meeting and then a closing liturgy. Here Maryknoll Lay Missioner Julie Lawler passes out papers for one of the mass songs.
Julie and Sr. Regina Pellicore planned this gathering. Here we viewed photos of our activities over the years, recalling the various ministries we’ve been part of.
Former members of Maryknoll Cambodia were also invited to offer their memories and reflections, and quite a few did so. Here Sr. Ann reads one of the reflections we received.

Water Festival 2023 – #2

The Water Festival is BIG. 2.5 million people come to Phnom Penh for the boat races stretched over three days.
This drone shot gives a good idea what the boats are like. Notice in the pink and light blue boats that more than half the crew are standing, to be more vigorous in paddling. It takes a really big boat to allow standing.

[The photos are from the Khmer Times newspaper.]

Water Festival 2023

Preparation

Today (Sunday) and Monday and Tuesday are the three official holidays for the Water Festival held each year at the full moon in November when the Tonle Sap River reverses its flow. Long boats, paddled by 30 to 90 men, race for three days river in front of the royal palace.

2.5 million people from other parts of Cambodia come to Phnom Penh for the festival, the national celebration second only to the Khmer New Year. Here at 9:00 o’clock in the morning, families are walking toward the riverfront. They could take tuk-tuks only so far and then the streets are blocked and they must proceed on foot.
This father takes his three daughters to the riverfront on his motorcycle. He’s probably wondering how close he can get to the water and where he is going to park.
These tourists are part of a group of ten or twelve being carried to the scene of the action by cyclo.
This woman is setting up her cart for a long day of selling bags of popcorn and cotton candy.
This vendor finds customers for small clams to crack and eat while the boy on the left struggles to set up his offering of some sort of fried bread.
Hat sellers do a good business with everyone being out in the sun all day long.

Early Thanksgiving

Because we have a weekly Wednesday meeting for Maryknoll Cambodia and we have a cook on that day to help with the meal, we moved our Maryknoll Cambodia Thanksgiving celebration to today. In the past we would have 30-35 people attending. Today we had 13 who gathered after work. Here the group is participating in an opening Thanksgiving prayer.
There was plenty of good food that our members prepared. Here Sr. Ann and Bro. Tony take some of the chicken we prepared rather than turkey.
It was a pleasant evening with good food and old friends.