Charlie Dittmeier's Home Page
Here are fourteen cyclos–old, human-powered three-wheelers with a bench seat for one or two people. The cyclos have mostly disappeared from daily use but still can be seen around some markets, catering to elderly people who have never used anything else. This line of cyclos is about half of a bunch of them going to pick up a group of tourists for a slow tour of an area of Phnom Penh.
Maybe it’s a reality in other markets, but I’ve never seen a potato shop. This Potato Corner sells nothing but potatoes fried/boiled/cooked/served in a multitude of different ways with some different toppings. I can see a shop dedicated to ice cream or smoothies or hotdogs, but potatoes? Let’s see how long it lasts.
You can’t very well have a rollbar on a motorcycle but this configuration has some promise if you go down….
KOMISO is a project of the Korean Mission Society in Cambodia, a Catholic mission group from Korea like Maryknoll is from the United States. KOMISO offers vocational training to poor, under educated young people, offering three skills: motorcycle repair, baking, and beauty salon work. We have been discussing with them the acceptance of deaf students for training.
Our students are interested in the beauty work and baking. Last week I visited the KOMISO training center and met the trainees and the Korean couple (rear) who are teaching the baking.
On that day the training was on creating the different types of figures that are placed on top of cakes. It was amazing to see the craftsmanship that goes into the decorative figures. Three of our deaf graduates are interested in the baking.
All the students live at the training center while they go through the six-month courses. In addition to the technical skills they learn, they also have one hour a day in character development, to teach them good values.
I am anxious for our students to start training there.
When the Maryknoll NGO was here, we met after work each Christmas Day for a meal together. They were always great. The Maryknoll NGO is gone now but some of the former group of lay missioners and others got together for a Christmas lunch today.
Cambodia is 94% Buddhist and Christmas Day is a regular work day, not a holiday. Here are some images from Phnom Penh streets today.
Merry Christmas!
Tonight we began our celebration of the Christmas season with a 6:30 PM mass on Christmas Eve. We had a lot of people we don’t usually see and it was a good group. Here Fr. Charlie and the thurifer (incense bearer) bow as they approach the altar in the entrance procession. A Christmas nativity scene is set up before the altar.
On Sundays we have our second English mass at St. Joseph Church. Yesterday their workers were setting up a stage and decoration for a large-scale mass on Christmas Eve that will attract many from the neighborhood.
Nineteen years ago I witnessed the wedding of Sarah Igboeli to Paul and then in 2007 they relocated to Australia. This evening I got to catch up with Sarah who was very much a part of the deaf program and the Maryknoll community and the Catholic community back in “the old days.”
Today was graduation day for our Year 2 Education Project students and our Job Training Project trainees. It was a joyful experience.
I was the opening act after we sang the national anthem in sign language. I welcomed the parents and thanked them for supporting their deaf daughters and sons in getting an education at the Deaf Development Programme. These young people have great economic value for dirt-poor families in the rural provinces and many parents will not allow their children to come to us.
Then I told the young people I am proud of them and was happy to have had them with us, and that was especially true for this delightful group.