Author: Charles Dittmeier

Lucky “168”

Cambodians, especially in the rural areas, are a rather superstitious lot. Their world is full of spirits good and bad and there are certain omens and charms to be called upon. Some of these ideas come from the Chinese. Often the number 168 is displayed in shops and situations calling for good luck and good fortune. This practice comes from the Cantonese language. If the numbers one, six, eight are pronounced in Cantonese, they sound like the sentence “One path to prosperity” so the number is posted quite prominently on vehicles, buildings, etc.

Notable Quotes

“Peace demands the most heroic labor and the most difficult sacrifice. It demands greater heroism than war. It demands greater fidelity to the truth and a much more perfect purity of conscience.”

~ Thomas Merton

Progress?

It used to be quite common to see many motorcycles and bicycles parked outside of shops and other establishments. Not so much now. Twenty years ago, it was a significant achievement to get a motorcycle. Now everyone wants a car. That is a huge problem because there is no place to park them.

One small step…

Now this is something almost never seen in Cambodia, a tuk-tuk driver using a seatbelt! Of course, he’s not wearing it correctly (under his arm instead of over his shoulder) but at least he’s familiar with seatbelts, had one installed in his tuk-tuk, and puts it on!

Church Construction

Here are some photos of the construction of the new St. Joseph Church at the beginning and end of April, 2022.

3 April 2022: Progress is definitely being made.
30 April 2022:The end of the workday as dusk falls.
More 30 April: On the edge of the construction pit, a swarm of workers removed a section of the fence that had enclosed the worksite and leveled out the area with new dirt.
1 May 2022: the next morning a truckload of sections for a construction crane had been deposited on the site where the workers removed the fence.
1 May 2022: The crane will be assembled and operated in the area where the section of fence was removed.

Mea Culpa!

The photo and item about the Water Problems was meant to be posted yesterday but I got so busy that after I prepared the photo, I forgot to post it here on the website. In posting tonight, I see now that I also missed April 28th! Sorry! It’s been a bad week!

Water problems

Phnom Penh is located at the confluence of the Mekong, Tonle Sap, and Bassac Rivers so it has access to a lot of water. What it doesn’t have is the infrastructure to purify and distribute the water. There has been a massive building boom in the last ten years and water supplies that were inadequate before that started are even more inadequate now. Many of the new boreys (gated communities) go without water for large parts of the day or even for a day at a time because they are located on the outskirts of the city. But even those of us in the city are experiencing more and more shortages of water. The Maryknoll office where I live has maintained its water supply but at the deaf office there is often not enough water to reach the second floor. I keep a bucket of water handy in that bathroom there.