Category: Daily Life in Cambodia

Awareness of Autism

One of the things the Catholic Church can do in a mission context is take the lead when new situations are encountered or society gains a new awareness. Such an area in Cambodia is autism. So much is being written about autism in the US and there are so many programs set up to work with children with autism. It’s a rather new issue in Cambodia—the awareness of autism, not children with autism who have always been there.

Many of the Catholic parishes now have programs to help children with autism and their parents, and today at the quarterly meeting of the Catholic Alliance for Charity and Development, a subgroup working on disabilities discussed an upcoming program to be presented by an experienced practitioner from Australia.

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.

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!

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!