
Homegrown

Charlie Dittmeier's Home Page
When I first came to Cambodia, there were very few Christmas events and most of them were small private gatherings at churches or Christian schools. Now Cambodian society has learned there is money to be made recognizing Christmas and there are Christmas trees and Santa Clauses everywhere. And many of them have already been set up for this coming Christmas season.
Every year the Women’s International Group hosts a Christmas fair that has become a major seasonal event. This year’s gathering at the Canadian International School was no exception.
This year was the first time the Deaf Development Programme had a booth at the fair. We sold some handicrafts made by deaf people, sign language books, and various foods prepared by deaf staff. Here DDP staff assist some customers.
Some deaf people came just to enjoy the Christmas fair.
This was my first time to attend the WIG Christmas Fair and I was surprised at how large and complex it was. This is a gymnasium area where smaller NGOs like DDP displayed their wares.
In an open interior courtyard of the school, some students performed songs, adding gestures and sign language to some of them.
In another part of the expansive school grounds, families took photos against a Christmas tree backdrop. It’s quite probably that many having their photo taken here had no idea of the meaning of Christmas and its celebration.