Charlie Dittmeier's Home Page
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The economic downturn has hit Cambodia even though the kingdom has had few COVID-19 infections. Many restaurants only serve takeaway orders and that has been a boost for the motorcycle deliver people. Click here to see some of them.
There are about a million different sizes, shapes, and colors for bananas—just not in the United States where Those Who Know have decided that U.S. consumers should be limited mostly to the one type that lives in our supermarkets. One other variation of banana that I had not encountered before establishing domicile outside the U.S. is the twin banana. They probably occur in all varieties all over the world, but probably Those Who Know don’t think they should be allowed to disturb U.S. banana eaters. Twin bananas like the ones above are relatively common here. They taste the same as single bananas but do present a logistical problem because I have to plan to have the second half at the next meal or else have someone with me to eat the twin.
My sister-in-law Hope Dittmeier is connected with an organization in Louisville, Kentucky called WaterStep which provides equipment for disinfecting surfaces and for water purification. This afternoon I received a shipment of four sets of disinfecting supplies to use in Maryknoll projects here, especially in the hostel for our young deaf adults. It took more than two weeks for the boxes to get here by courier because of the few aircraft flying routes to Cambodia now. Thank you, Hope!
There are many poor people who live in the Boeung Tum Pun area around the Church of the Child Jesus. At the St. Ambrose Center at the church, the Maryknoll Sisters work with some of these children and their families. These families had little money before the COVID-19 pandemic, but now because of the closing of so many small shops and because of the economic downturn, these families are in very difficult situations.
The sisters sometimes give rice to families to help them survive, and, knowing the families’ problems, the sisters developed a plan that will give more help to the families without anyone knowing about it or without the families feeling they are beggars. The sisters know the owner of a small rice shop in Boeung Tum Pun. Many poor families go to her to buy rice. To make sure that they get enough rice to feed their families, the sisters buy a 50-kg bag of rice and leave it at the shop. When the poor people come to buy 1 kg of rice, the owner of the rice shop doesn’t say anything but gives them 5 kg of rice instead of 1 kg. The sisters check with the rice shop each week, and when their bag of rice is empty, they buy another one.
The poor family is happy, the rice shop owner is happy, and the sisters know that these families will have enough to eat.
