Author: Charles Dittmeier

Trip to Kampong Cham #3

It took us about three hours to drive from Phnom Penh to Kampong Cham. When we arrived at the DDP office there, we had a short meeting. Sorphany (L) is interpreting for one of the deaf staff (R).
Then we traveled about a half hour outside of Kampong Cham to a village where thirteen young deaf people had gathered. They come together once a month for education and socialization, a chance to be with other deaf people and communicate. We met under a Khmer house which is in practice the main “room” for a Cambodian dwelling.
I talked with the deaf young people to encourage them to continue to meet and build up the deaf community–one of the goals of DDP–and then the DDP staff had a teaching session with them.
Back in Kampong Cham city, Soknym, our DDP director, and I had dinner by the night market along the Mekong River.
Then Soknym and I walked along the river toward the bridge. When I first started going to Kampong Cham there was no bridge and we would take a ferry to cross the Mekong.

Trip to Kampong Cham #2

I just got back from Kampong Cham and Tbong Khmum a little while ago and it’s late now so I will just show one picture from our first gathering yesterday and start a fuller post tomorrow.

Our first gathering was with thirteen young deaf adults a half hour’s drive from Kampong Cham city. It was delightful to be with them again.

Trip to Kampong Cham #1

Today Sau Soknym and took a van to Kampong Cham to some districts where DDP has set up local deaf groups with funding from the United Nations Development Program. It was quite interesting and I’ll put more about it here in the next day or so.

One interesting feature for me was the Virak Buntham bus company we used. I had never encountered them but they are the best I’ve seen, going everywhere in Cambodia and with really good vehicles and professional staff. I wish I had found them years ago! Here are two of their vans at our first rest stop.

This may be the world’s narrowest corn field, about four inches wide along a wall around a government school in Phnom Penh. A lady running a shop on the opposite side of the street plants the corn in season and then flowers during the rest of the year.

Retreat: Saturday

Saturday was a departure day. We had mass at 6:30 AM and then breakfast and then almost everyone was on the road by 8:00 AM, heading back to their parishes throughout Cambodia.

Looking downhill toward the sea–which isn’t visible anymore because of development that has taken place.
Looking sideways across the hillside. Just four or five years ago, there was nothing taller than the red tile roofs of the retreat center buildings in the foreground.
St. Michael’s Church at the center is a distinctive building, designed by Cambodia’s foremost architect. It is noteworthy as one of two churches left standing by the Khmer Rouge in their four years of terror. They used the church as a barracks for their troops.
Bishop Olivier was genuinely pleased to offer a gift of a wooden statue of Mary, carved by Cambodian craftsmen, to Archbishop Julian Leow who gave us a wonderful retreat.

Retreat: Friday

I have a lot of good reflections and memories from this year’s retreat for priests. One of the best memories is meeting Archbishop Julian Leow from Kuala Lumpur. He is a Francis bishop and just what the church needs. He renews my hope.

Retreat: Thursday

This meeting room is so nice now compared to what it used to be. As you can see it is open on both sides and there usually is a breeze blowing across the room so it is fine without air conditioning.
Today Archbishop Julian continued his theme of relationships, talking about our relationships with society.
The food service students from the Don Bosco Vocational School are really busy all day. They will be glad when this week is finished and they can return to a more normal school day back in Phnom Penh.
The Catholic center is up high on a hillside, overlooking the sea. In past years the sea could actually be seen but now the view is obstructed by new construction.
From a far corner of the church property the port of Sihanoukville can still be glimpsed through the trees.

Retreat: Wednesday

At our services in the church, the guys have the option of sitting on the floor–as many of them do in their parish churches where they have no chairs–or sitting in chairs.
We do a bit of walking each day. These men are walking from the meeting hall a good distance away back to the residence buildings.
These young women come from the Don Bosco Vocational Training School where I have mass every Monday morning. The school offers commercial courses in food and beverage services. These girls are students cooking for the priests retreat to get real work experience.
There are 62 priests attending this retreat so the students prepare a lot of food.
The center hires some local people to wash dishes for the week. No stainless steel sinks in a sparkling kitchen for washing dishes here!