Category: Deaf

People and activities in the Cambodian deaf world

Unwanted Surprise

We moved our office to a new site last week (I’ll be starting a series of photos about that tomorrow) and today we got a surprise at the new site when the main waterline from the street broke. It took us a long time to find and dig up the cutoff valve and then it wouldn’t work so we plugged the incoming pipe with a cap held on by a brick and the concrete buttress until Sokly our director could run out and get a piece of replacement pipe and get it connected. Well done, Sokly!

Good Publicity

Recently DDP was contacted by a local station’s producer who wanted to do a short segment on DDP and its work.  Today he came to interview a couple of our staff and one of the deaf students.  We hope to see the results on air in a few days!

The producer first interviewed our DDP director, Keat Sokly, and then he sat down with Korn Maly (pictured here), the manager of our Sign Language Project.

Then the producer filmed one of our deaf students answering questions about her experience at the Deaf Development Programme.

Another Farewell

Today Jonathan Hooker (black shirt), a really fine advisor to the deaf program at Krousar Thmey, came to say goodbye to us at DDP as he finishes his volunteer term.  Jonathan has been instrumental in linking Krousar Thmey and the Deaf Development Programme and in arranging financing and keeping our sign language committee functioning.  His replacement will be Juliet who came with him today.  On the right is Keat Sokly, the co-director of DDP.

IDPD 2018

Today was Cambodia’s official celebration of the International Day for People with Disabilities.  The UN-designated day was 3 December but the government here transferred the celebration to today.  The annual event is rather a charade.  No person with a disability spoke or had any role in the planning or enacting of the celebration.  No person with a disability was even on the stage except for Mr. Veasna, in a wheelchair, who is head of the National Center for People with Disabilities.  We were required to be in the hall 1.5 to 2 hours before the starting point, the deputy prime minister spoke for 1.5 hours, they gave $1.25 to each person with a disability, and that was it.

The deputy prime minister spoke an hour and a half, the only event of the celebration.

This was the reaction of the people with disabilities sitting beside and behind me.

This our DDP sign language interpreter. Notice how many of the deaf people are following the interpretation she is giving of the speech.