Author: Charles Dittmeier

Is it safe?

When I opened up a new box of soap (from Thailand) today, I noticed it had an expiry date printed on it. Given that food dealers are super cautious about things like expiration dates because of the risk of getting sued, I’m betting that even a year after 8 November 2024 the soap will still be safe to eat.

Women’s Day 2023

The Deaf Development Programme always celebrates Women’s Day as one of its special days and this year we moved the celebration to this Sunday so more people could come from the provinces and join in the fun and camaraderie.

This was the first big celebration we had since we moved from our old office grounds where we had big open areas. Today we used the eating area for our hostel and it was cramped but not so crowded as to be uncomfortable.
Our celebrations always have an array of simple games which people really enjoy. Here a young woman flips a water bottle to see if she can make land upright. If she does her paper is stamped and she gets a prize.
Another game challenged participants to blow a ping pong ball across glasses of water.
Another game used a water gun to shoot balls off the cups.
Those who were successful at the games brought their stamped games slips here to claim a little prize.
The games were fun but perhaps the most enjoyable part of the day was eating lunch together and then just talking to and catching up with friends not seen for many months.

Human Rights

Today DDP was invited to a meeting at the UN office for Human Rights and it was quite an interesting and productive meeting. I am not aware of the UN Commission on Human Rights bringing us together before but today they talked about plans for a campaign to promote the human rights of people with disabilities. That is tricky in Cambodia. That type of advocacy is defined as conspiracy by some government officials.

One Year of War

Friday marked one year since Russia invaded Ukraine.  This morning at the English mass we had about fifteen people from Ukraine join us for mass.  Most of them were Orthodox.  They were gathered by a parishioner from Ukraine who is a lector and coordinates our church Facebook page.  Last night we invited Ukrainians to come also and had four for that service.

Both times it was a really moving experience.  I welcomed them at the beginning of mass, our Ukrainian lector did the prayers of the faithful, I mentioned them in the homily, and then at the end we brought them all forward and the community blessed them.  I was happy we had the opportunity to support them with prayer and just as happy that our community could have an actual event of expressing care and concern for justice and peace and for the people suffering so much.  The war isn’t just CNN notifications on our phone but real people, individuals and a nation, hurting.

[I was surprised we had that many people from Ukraine in Phnom Penh!]

Lay Missioners Meeting

For more than 25 years, lay missioners from different countries who are working in Cambodia have gathered mostly monthly for friendship, socialization, and mutual support. Covid prevented meetings for two years but today the group met at the Maryknoll office to resume the monthly schedule.

Caritas from Korea (R) was a new member of the group joining us today. Here she chats with Julie.
Marie from Haiti (L), here talking to Kila at the break, was another new member.
Pilar from Spain (R) was the third newcomer to the group.
(L to R): Kylene, Marie, Pilar, and Cristina at the break.