Deaf – Page 8 – Welcome to Cambodia, and…..

Human Rights Celebration

This is the 75th year since the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights was promulgated and this evening the local Office of the High Commission on Human Rights had a reception at a big hotel. Our Deaf Development Programme works a lot with OHCHR (I have a meeting with them at 9:00 tomorrow morning) and I was invited.

It was quite a production and a nice meal at the end. It was good to note some of the achievements in the last 75 years but disheartening to see how little we have progressed. There’s still much to do. [The sign language interpreter on the right of the stage is one of my staff.]

Hong Kong Trip

Departure

Today I returned to Phnom Penh from Hong Kong. I have more photos to show from the trip but i ran into multiple problems when I came home and needed to reinstall some apps and that took up too much time. For today, this is a view at 7:00 in the morning on the way out of Hong Kong city across a new bridge, heading out to the airport built on some islands.

Hong Kong Trip 3

Pastoral Center Anniversary

December 4 was the anniversary celebration for the pastoral center in Homantin for people with disabilities. Because the center is not so large, the mass and dinner were held at a high school.

Judy Wu Man Ha came to Rosary Church where I am staying while in Hong Kong to take me to the venue for the celebration. On the way she pointed out these gift baskets bunched on a sidewalk and explained that the culture dictates that the groom and his groomsmen give these gifts to the bride’s family. Apparently a wedding celebration was taking place there.

Judy and I arrived at the church early and had a chance to meet some of the deaf people, also early birds.

It was most pleasant to see Fr. Kam Po Wai, now the vicar general of the Hong Kong diocese, at the celebration. He was in Cambodia for several years and we got to know each other well. Good man!

Ophelia Chan and Judy Wu. Ophelia is one of those people who gets things done in professional and government circles.

Fr. Po Wai incensing the altar to begin the liturgy.

A group with an enlarged photo of the pastoral center. It was built in the early 1950s as a refugee center for people fleeing the Communist takeover of China and coming to Hong Kong.

After mass we went to the high school auditorium for a joyful meal together.

Hong Kong Trip

Catholic Deaf Gathering

Tomorrow will be a gathering of all the disability groups to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the center but today the deaf people gathered in the afternoon. It was wonderful simple event that was one of the most affirming days of my life.

When most people had gathered, we had a simple meal together, really informal.

It had been about six years since I was last in Hong Kong–thanks to Covid–and it was a really joyous reunion between me and the Catholic deaf community.

We made a picture with all the men present.

And then we invited all the women into a group photo.

And then we recognized the “volunteers” (really, ministers in my way of thinking) who have basically been with the Catholic deaf community for 20+ years.

Here, I am thanking the deaf community for their welcome, their coming together that evening, and for the gift of money they offered to support deaf work in Cambodia.

Hong Kong Trip

Travel Day

On Sunday the Hong Kong Catholic center for people with disabilities will celebrate its 30th anniversary. I helped to set up the center in what used to be a refugee center for people fleeing mainland China so I was invited to the anniversary and flew to Hong Kong two days in advance.

I was surprised at the Phnom Penh airport to be greeted by one of our deaf community. He was flying to Bangkok on the same flight with me, going to visit his deaf friends. I am very pleased that he has succeeded enough in life to have disposable income to use like that.

I had a five-hour layover in Bangkok. Before Covid, there were several direct Phnom Penh-to-Hong Kong flights, but not any more. I was flying AirAsia, a budget airline. Their tickets are considerably less expensive but they charge $62 for a checked bag and even had a fee of $36 for buying the ticket with my Visa card!

Now that the Maryknoll priests have sold their Hong Kong center house, I had no place to stay so I arranged to stay at Rosary Church in the touristy Tsim Sha Tsui area of Kowloon. It is an old historic and elegant church and many people want to get married there. The church has four to six weddings on a weekend. Here a bridal party takes photos before their ceremony.

Human Rights for the Deaf 4

The training for judges and prosecutors working with people with disabilities was organized by the Office of the High Commission on Human Rights (or UN Human Rights). It was held at the Angkor Paradise Hotel which seemed to have five or six UN and NGO meetings going on while still accommodating hordes of tourists come to see Angkor Wat.

The Angkor Paradise Hotel is a beautiful facility but much of its beauty comes from its (over) use of luxury woods native to Cambodia, one of its treasures.

The hotel lobby exhibited the characteristic Cambodia display of wooden furniture, figures, and objects.

The shops in the lobby were accented by massive wooden stools. Imagine the huge luxury trees sacrificed to provide these five incredibly heavy wooden decorations in the corridor.

Wooden chairs and a carving worth thousands of dollars decorate one of the passageways. These chairs are really unusual because they are padded! I have never seen that in 23 years here. For me one of the curses of Cambodia is sitting in a doctor’s waiting room with these huge wooden chairs, designed for a Cambodian sense of beauty and not for comfort.

The Angkor Paradise Hotel has a beautiful pool.

And of course the pool furniture is more of the heavy wooden style.

Human Rights for the Deaf 3

Every time I go to Siem Reap I stay at the Bun Kao Guest House. Maryknoll has known their family for 25+ years and they are just delightful people. There are fancier and more modern places to stay but I really like their guest house.

A small porch on each floor looks down on the street.

The guest house has not starting serving meals again after Covid so I walked around the corner to this little restaurant and laundry run by a mother with two teenage children.

Human Rights for the Deaf 2

Unexpectedly the judicial officials for whom the training was set up failed to appear. The organizers had to do some creative revisions to the agenda but the program turned out well for the Organizations for Disabled People and officials from other ministries who attended.

This speaker (standing) was from the Disability Action Council of the Ministry of Social Affairs, one of the organizers of the training.

Staff of OPDs (Organizations of Persons with Disabilities) discussed some of the legislation and planning about people with disabilities in Cambodia.

The group discussions were characterized by significant awareness of the problems faced by people with disabilities when dealing with the law and by a genuine determination to address those issues.

Another speaker (in wheelchair) who is quite knowledgeable about the disability field.

This small group preferred to discuss standing up.

Human Rights for the Deaf

The Deaf Development Programme works closely with OHCHR, the UN Office of the High Commission on Human Rights, and today and tomorrow I am participating in a training session for judicial system leaders about the legal rights of people with disabilities.

The judges and prosecutors from several provinces have been invited to attend. I am speaking to them tomorrow about the difficulties that deaf people have with the police and judicial system.

Meeting Day 2

While Sophy was representing DDP at the UN Human Rights training session in Phnom Penh (yesterday’s post), three others of our staff went to Kampong Cham Province with UNDP to meet with the governor’s office.