Category: Deaf

People and activities in the Cambodian deaf world

Birthday

Today was the birthday of one our deaf staff, Sreytin who is one of our teachers. Here some students cut up fruit for a surprise celebration.
Then the staff and students gathered in the eating area outside to surprise Sreytin.
And there was the mandatory group photo!

The planning begins….

The last full week in September is celebrated annually as Deaf Week, a time for deaf people to celebrate their situation, their life, their culture. We celebrate Deaf Week at DDP but this year we are late getting started. Today we had our first meeting about our activities that will start just about a month from now.

Time to go….

Today we said goodbye to two of our student barbers (L2 and L3) who have finished their training. Their families came to pick them up–and a barber chair and a lot of supplies to help them establish their own business when they get back to their home villages. It is rewarding to see them hopeful and excited on their departure, and we wish them all success!

Where to go?

The last full week of September is always celebrated as Deaf Week, and DDP is looking for a venue for this year’s celebration since we moved from our old large office grounds. Today a planning team visited the Don Bosco Vocational Training School for Girls in Tuol Kork to see their layout.

Our site-checking team, beneath a picture of Don Bosco.
Sr. Amanda is the principal of the school and she explained how we might use their outdoor area at the school for our event.

Football in Russia 2

This trip was a package of new experiences for the Cambodian deaf football team. Some of them had played a game in Thailand or Vietnam but none had taken part in an international competition.
They had their share of injuries, too. In addition to this broken hand, the goalkeeper messed up his knee and is coming home in a leg brace.
Meeting deaf people from all over the world was new and exciting also.
Even the travel between the football grounds and the hotel exposed them to a city very different from Phnom Penh.
Finally it was time for the closing ceremony on the last night.

Football in Russia 1

This week a deaf sports competition is going on in Ufa, Russia, and a football team from Cambodia is participating. It is the first time a Cambodian deaf team has been in a major international competition. It is significant also because the deaf people themselves organized their application to play. It is not a DDP-sponsored activity. Three of the DDP staff went along as interpreters and support staff.

Here is the Cambodian football team at the airport in Phnom Penh, getting ready for departure.
Here is the team 30+ hours later in Ufa in central Russia, taking advantage of a practice day.
Seven countries sent football teams to compete. Countries sent other teams to compete in a variety of other sports also but Cambodia’s first-time participation was limited to football.
Cambodia’s first game was against Russia and Cambodia lost 0-22. Teams from other countries were older and much more experienced and had played internationally before. The Cambodia team was definitely not at the same level. From our management point-of-view, though, the main objective was to give a different experience to Cambodian deaf people and to enable them to make friendships with deaf people from other countries. Here two Russian players pose with a Cambodian play after Cambodia’s loss.
Then it was time for a strategy session, to discuss the loss to Russia and prepare tactics for the next game with Vietnam.

[To be continued]

Boncafé, helping again

10 days after offering a training program to deaf people on how to make and serve coffee in a business, the good people of Boncafé came back to DDP to donate 15 boxes of Oatside, an oatmilk that is especially suited for use in coffee. Never heard of oatmilk? I never had but it’s for real! Thank you, Boncafé!

Asian Deaf Games

The next two weeks, starting July 23, will see the competitions of the Asian Deaf Games, an every-four-year event that brings together deaf athletes from the various Asian countries. This will be the first time Cambodian deaf boys participate. For this first participation, our deaf youth will only enter the football competition. Here two of the footballers pick up their newly arrived uniform shirts.

CSR–Boncafé

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the idea that a company should play a positive role in the community and consider the environmental and social impact of business decisions. (Business Development Bank of Canada)

Boncafe in Phnom Penh has taken CSR seriously and approached the Maryknoll Deaf Development Programme about training deaf people how to make coffee. DDP thought that was a wonderful idea!

The training at DDP was in two sessions on two different days, one day for deaf people from Kampong Cham Province and the second day for learners from Phnom Penh. Here Pakheday, the trainer, explains some of the basics of making good coffee.

Here he explains the hardware on the commercial coffee making machine. The goal of the training was to provide a marketable skill that the deaf people can use to set up their own businesses.

The training was hands-on and each student made one of the coffee varieties. The DDP staff suffered caffeine overload from drinking so many of the demonstration coffees!

Certificates were presented at the end of the day of training. Now the DDP Job Training Project staff will follow up with the trainees to see if they are able to capitalize on what they have learned.

On the third morning, without the students, the DDP staff made videos of all the coffee varieties and the processes for making them. The videos can be used for review and reinforcement of what was learned.

Thank you, Boncafe!