Author: Charles Dittmeier

Bill Burns Funeral

Our friend and lay missioner Bill Burns died here in Cambodia and his funeral was held 24 March 2022. Because of new environmental regulations, most cremations are prohibited within the city boundaries and even the ones on the edge of the city can only be held at night when the ashes in the air are supposed to be less of a problem. Bill’s funeral was held at the Church of the Child Jesus in the morning but the cremation was delayed until 6:30 PM in the evening at a Buddhist wat.

In the morning, after the funeral mass, Bill’s body was taken to Wat Dombok Khpuos to await the cremation in the evening.
Bill had taught English to some of the monks, and monks from that pagoda were familiar with many Maryknollers over the past two decades and so there was a Buddhist ceremony at the wat with about ten monks chanting their ritual prayers. The coffin is on a catafalque at the top of the stairs.
After the prayers the coffin was lowered into the pyre structure into a crematorium where it was burned out of sight. A symbolic coffin replaced it at the top of the funeral pyre. The smoke from the cremation can be seen coming from the white chimney pipe at the top of the structure.

Typical for Phnom Penh

Here is a typical scene–at least, not an unusual scene–on a major six-lane street in Phnom Penh at 4:00 PM. Two cars in the left-hand lanes and one car in the right hand lanes are backing up across traffic and blocking the street in both directions. No one thinks a thing about it….

The rains are coming

January through May is the dry season but it seems the rains are starting a bit earlier these years. Earlier we had photos of those who were carrying their rain ponchos and had stopped to put them on. Today the photos show those who don’t carry a poncho and just pull into a sheltered place to wait out what is usually a ten-to-twenty minute shower.

Preparing for the 3rd New Year!

The Khmer New Year is coming up, April 14-16, but because our students will go home before the holiday for a long break, the Deaf Community Center will have a new year celebration on April 1. Here some of the DCC staff prepare a backdrop for one of the activities. (Hmmm…everyone is supposed to be wearing masks!)

Watch where you step!

In the United States your mother or father would jump all over you for leaving your shoes in the middle of the walkway and doorway; in a public place you’d be threatened with a lawsuit. Here it’s just normal–if you can’t wear your shoes in church–to just step out of them in the doorway–and leave them for everyone else to worry about and step over.

Time for a snack

I never understood the appeal of eating sunflower seeds. Too much work for a nebulous (imaginary?) reward. I have the same feeling about eating these little mussels dredged up from the bottom of riverine waterways near Phnom Penh. Discounting the risks of eating anything found in those polluted waters, I don’t understand the payoff of eating tiny bits of clams. But there’s obviously an attraction for them. Notice this woman’s mussel cart has three different varieties of tiny clams for sale.