The right and duty to vote

Today I finally got my Kentucky ballot finished and tomorrow morning I will take it to the embassy and they will carry it to the US and drop it into the US postal system. That is a BIG help because Cambodia doesn’t have a functioning postal system. They have restarted sending mail outside the country (there is no incoming mail unless you have a post office box) but a letter to the U.S. takes an inordinate amount of time–and may never arrive–so a really important letter must go by courier (DHL, UPS) at $40 a pop.

Packing before moving….

I hope to get all of my furniture and belongings out of my old house this week and today I went there to pack up the remainder for transit. Assisting me were Maria (L) and Kila, members of the former Maryknoll Cambodia world. Maria grabbed as a keepsake an old wooden box Fr. John Barth had made in the days before filing cabinets in Cambodia.

October in Buddhist Cambodia

Every two months I write a column about life and ministry in Cambodia for The Record, the newspaper for the Catholic diocese of Louisville, Kentucky. The latest column mentioned Pchum Ben, the Buddhist festival of the dead that we are experiencing this week.

For some reason one of the paragraphs of the published version of the article appears to be corrupted so rather than give the link to the newspaper, I’m trying to make a link that will send you my original copy I sent to The Record. See if you can click on this link below:

The-Record-Article-32-Sep2024Download

More Moving…

Last week I moved enough clothes and “stuff” so that I could live in the new house that I have. Today I went back to the old house and moved another truckload.

After loading the truck, the first stop was St. Elizabeth Center where we dropped off a wheelchair and walkers, and then we went to the Missionaries of Charity’s home for women in Cham Chao. There we left a hospital bed that had been given to our St. Vincent de Paul Society.
Then we went back to the old house and loaded up my stuff and took it to my new house.
The final stop of the morning was Fr. Kevin’s mental health project where we dropped off the remaining items in the truck.

Deaf Day at DAC

In recent years the Disability Action Council has celebrated their own Deaf Day, apart from the activities of the deaf community. This year it was the last of the Deaf Week events. At the DAC headquarters, several hundred deaf people–mostly students–were invited to a reception with an under-secretary of state for the Ministry of Social Affairs.

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Some more photos of the pre-departure fun before the DDP students went home for the Pchum Ben holidays. The students were playing LOUD music and showing off dance moves they picked up from Tik-Tok.

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Pchum Ben at DDP

Pchum Ben is the Buddhist equivalent of the Catholic All Souls Day, a time to remember, respect, and pray for deceased family and ancestors. Unlike All Souls Day, it’s a 15-day celebration with the last three days as public holidays. The holidays will be next Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday but our students went home today.

In the morning the students walked to a nearby wat for a service with the Buddhist monks. Then after returning they had games in the morning.
In the afternoon, they had pizza before they all started their journeys home to their provinces.
Pchum Ben is a major religious and cultural festival and at home the students will go to the wats there with their families for prayers and ceremonies.

Moving Day

A generous donor who helps the Deaf Development Programme also has several apartments in Phnom Penh as an investment. He told me he has a one-bedroom unit that has been empty for a year because people want more rooms, and he suggested that I move in for free. Then I could use the money I was paying for rent elsewhere to support the deaf program.

I’ve still got a lot of unpacking to after I moved to his apartment today. This place is a definite upgrade! I have never lived in such nice housing!

Now to figure out where to put everything.

Deaf Week–Day 8 (#3)

A large part of the afternoon was given to really simple games that kept the crowd occupied in various parts of the building. Winners of the individual games had a tally sheet stamped and with three wins they could select a prize.

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