Category: Deaf

People and activities in the Cambodian deaf world

Lights out…

Today our power was off at the Deaf Development Programme so our students in the Education Project met outside on the porch till the electricity came back on about 2:00 PM.

Field Trip Follow-up

Last Friday the students in DDP’s Education Project went on a field trip to the National Museum in Phnom Penh. Today they had a follow-up activity to help them better understand and retain what they saw and learned there.

Another Farewell…

Covid-19 has changed the world so much–our plans, our hopes and dreams, the way we work, the way we do business, and–at DDP—our plan for the future. Because of Covid, we had to suspend many of our projects and activities for almost two years, but the most painful effect of Covid was needing to reduce our staff because our funding was cut back.

The last day of June we had a gathering for our staff in Phnom Penh where eight of our colleagues were terminated. It was a simple event, just a lunch together, but it gave us an opportunity to say and show we care about each other.

At the start, Soknym, our program manager, and Charlie spoke to all the staff about the need to reduce our numbers because of lack of money.
Then we had lunch together.
Finally staff were given the opportunity to talk about the experience of all the changes and the terminations.

Deaf Awareness

Perhaps the worst aspect of deafness is not the inability to hear. Deaf people say they can overcome that with hearing aids, cochlear implants and other technology, and can still communicate using sign language, gestures, writing notes, lip reading, and such simple things as acting out an idea or pointing to something.

For many, many deaf people the worst part of deafness is isolation. They are excluded from all that is going on around them because they do not share a common language with their society.

Here in Cambodia our deaf students do not know sign language when they come to us and their families almost never learn sign language. When our students are at home with their hearing parents and brothers and sisters, they are isolated. They may be in the same house, may eat together, but the deaf person has no communication.

Many young deaf people come to us at age 19-23 and they have never spoken to a human being in any language. All the things hearing children learn from hearing parents as they grow up, the deaf students have missed.

That is why it is so important for more hearing people to learn sign language. Then when they encounter deaf people at work or in a group or socially or just on the street, they can communicate and can include the deaf person in what is happening.

That is why the Deaf Development Programme teaches regular sign language classes.

The graduation ceremony this week for the latest class of beginner sign language students.

Sign language class graduation

The Sign Language Project of the Deaf Development Programme teaches Cambodian Sign Language to interested groups throughout the year. This week we had a combined graduation for new signers from four different NGOs serving people with disabilities. I gave a short talk explaining the importance of increasing the number of hearing people able to use sign language.

Maryknoll Transition

Greetings… I have a big Maryknoll transition coming up at the end of June. The Maryknoll Society (priests and brothers) are no longer going to renew my contract—they say I’m too old–and I am going to move my contract to the Maryknoll Lay Missioners. I want to explain more about that in upcoming posts but I need first to make two requests:

1. My present e-mail address–cdittmeier@maryknoll.org—will no longer be valid after 30 June 2022. Instead my main address will become cdittmeier@gmail.com. Please go ahead and change my address NOW in your e-mail lists so that we can keep in touch.

2. Many people have supported the deaf ministry over the last 35 years by sending donations to my Mission Account administered by the Maryknoll Society. Like my e-mail address, my Mission Account will cease functioning at the end of June so please do not send any further donations to my Mission Account at Maryknoll, NY. Again, more about that to come.

I had planned to initiate this transition process at the beginning of May but that planning was BEFORE I had kidney surgery, BEFORE I got Covid, and BEFORE the Maryknoll Society e-mail server started acting up after a security upgrade, choking off my e-mail communications.

I’ll be back with more about what’s happening….

Apologies

I was fully prepared to keep posting updates here for each day of the retreat. It’s just that the wi-fi system at the pastoral center did not cooperate. The last two nights, when I was ready to post photos and comments, I could not gain access to the Internet at the center.

Priests Retreat–Day 1

Traditionally all the priests of Cambodia had a retreat together the first week of June. Because of Covid there was a two-year hiatus, but this year the diocese of Phnom Penh organized a smaller gathering of only the Phnom Penh priests at the diocesan pastoral center on the outskirts of Phnom Penh.

Fr. Alberto, from the Kampong Cham diocese, presented a talk each morning of the retreat.
The afternoon session was led by Bishop Olivier Schmitthaeusler.
In the evening I sneaked out of the retreat to attend a farewell for Liz Pfifer, the outgoing country representative for Catholic Relief Services, and a welcome for her replacement. Marc D’Silva (c) organized the gathering.

Teacher Training

Our students are still on their Khmer New Year break but the teachers were back at DDP, participating in teacher training. This session was led by lay missioner Julie Lawler.

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!)