Author: Charles Dittmeier

More Musica Felice!

A week ago we had the Musica Felice charity concert which was a great success. 100% of the ticket sales went to the two groups—our Deaf Development Programme was one of them–for whom the concert was organized by Miwako Fujiwara. A reporter contacted me after the concert and we talked a bit but then I didn’t see anything in the paper and thought an editor might have killed the piece he was planning. But today Miwako sent me the following link to the article–and I was quoted!

Take a look to get a “feel” for the concert experience!

Musica Felice Charity Concert makes a big splash on its comeback

New Church Building

There was more substantial progress in evidence this evening when we went to the 5:00 PM mass at St. Joseph Church. Before there was a lot of preparation and clearing the site but now actually construction is taking place. It looks like they are laying a concrete foundation or maybe even the flooring of a basement.

Lunar New Year

Three more days to Lunar New Year’s Eve! More and more signs of the new year are appearing throughout Phnom Penh. Chrysanthemums are one of the most popular flowers for this festival because of their gold color associated with wealth.







Here one of the staff at an office arranges some chrysanthemums and other flowers outside the office door.













Further down the street, more chr ysanthemums are set outside the door of a private house.

Notable Quotes

Shouldn’t we be wondering how it is that we go on arming ourselves to deliver death to unseen enemies while our society is dying in other ways at our own hands as a result?

And now our so-called representatives and senators tell us that those social things are too expensive for them to allow while they have pumped the military budget up and up, over and over, for all the years of our lives?

Sr. Joan Chittister, OSB, commenting on Sante Fe Archbishop John Wester’s pastoral letter calling for the abolition of all nuclear weapons.

Year 2 Graduation

The Deaf Development Programme has a two-year non-formal education program for older students who come to us with no language. Today we had a graduation ceremony for the students who–finally–finished Year 2 after the classrooms were closed 1.5 years because of Covid.
Fourteen students graduated today. It is sad that they are able to receive so little education but they are bright and energetic so we hope they will succeed in job training or returning to their families’ farms.
The social communications office of the Vicariate of Phnom Penh was present for the graduation and afterwards interviewed two of the students.

Lunar New Year 2022

Lunar New Year’s Eve is January 31st and Cambodia is getting ready! Cambodia is not a Chinese country but a lot of Cambodians have Chinese ancestry and very definitely celebrate the Chinese New Year even though it is not a public holiday here. Now that the new year is less than a week away, more and more decorations are going up.

Musica Felice Concert

Sunday evening we had the Musica Felice Charity Concert and part of the proceeds were designated to assist the Maryknoll Deaf Development Programme. Organized by Ms. Miwako Fujiwara, the concert filled the large ballroom of the Sofitel hotel both with people and beautiful music.

Before guests arrived Thuch Sophy (left) and Sau Soknym, both of our management team, set out DDP brochures for the concert-goers to peruse.
DDP staff helped to welcome guests and punched their tickets. Understandably, not many deaf people attended the concert. I suspect some of our deaf staff came just to experience what a concert might be like for hearing people.
Miwako and several of the singers are members of our English Catholic parish and it is very satisfying to see them participate in community events such as this.
Afterwards the DDP staff gathered for a photo with Miwako Fujiwara.

Nap Time


Many, many people in Phnom Penh make their living from trash and recyclables. Using push carts, they start early, at dawn, and walk miles checking for plastics, metals, electronics, or other things they can sell to the recycling wholesalers. This woman decided it was time for a nap after selling her load to the wholesaler and climbed into her push cart.

Musica Felice Concert

Ms. Miwako Fujiwara is a professional musician and the organizer of Musica Felice, a choral group of Phnom Penh singers. Their series of benefit concerts was interrupted by Covid-19 but today held a concert at the Sofitel hotel in Phnom Penh with the Deaf Development Programme as one of the beneficiaries. More than twenty DDP staff attended. Most of the concert was not interpreted but at the intermission Miwako made some introductions. Unfortunately, our sign language interpreter offstage didn’t hear her name called, and when she didn’t appear I stepped in for some impromptu interpreting. (More on the concert tomorrow.)