Surprise!

I was rather surprised today to see a collage of photos of priests who are deaf and who work with the Catholic deaf community–and to find my picture in the latter category. I’m not sure who created this.

Priests Retreat 2

Today was Day 3 of the 2021 priests retreat for Phnom Penh. Our retreat leader is the head of the Thai Mission Society in Bangkok and the 40 priests are scattered throughout the southern third of Cambodia.

#2 and Finished

We—the members of Maryknoll Cambodia—were back at the same hospital this morning for our second vaccination injection.
Because Cambodia received only 400,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, it was reserved for the foreigners and the larger population received one of the two Chinese vaccines.

Priests Retreat

Today we started an online retreat for all the priests of the Phnom Penh diocese. Last year, as Covid-19 was developing, it was canceled completely. This year we’re all in our home parishes or workplaces but are attending two online sessions each day.

Maybe it gets better

The tall building in the background is still under construction but it’s mostly finishing work, painting interiors, installing carpets and lights, etc. A couple nights ago they started turning on some outside decorative lights on parts of the building. At this point, they are of various colors, don’t seem to have a coherent pattern, and just aren’t at all attractive. But the workmen are still working on it so we can hope the finished product looks better.

We’re not covered

Today there was an interesting article in the Khmer Times about insurance. What I found significant is that less that 1% of the population is covered by any insurance–auto, medical, personal, fire, property, etc. That’s why they have large families in Cambodia. Your children and grandchildren are your insurance.

Regreening…

A really popular corner of our DDP compound is this volleyball court. In normal times, it gets a lot of use and the grass is worn away.
But the times are not normal now and with all our students at home in the provinces, the court is growing a new cover of grass.

June 7th?

I prepared a photo yesterday and was getting ready to post it when I got a call from the United States that caused me to return to the DDP office at night. Then when I got back home, I had to call the U.S. again and I forgot to post the photo.

And now I forgot what the photo was and what category it is in, so I can’t find it! One of these days I will get back to that category and find it and be able post it then!