Welcome to Cambodia, and…..

Not much business…

I have been planning to get a haircut at the DDP barber shop where we train young deaf men. The road–terrible before–is even worse now because of construction on the road, and I could barely get to our barber shop.

Here is our trainee crew at the barber shop and you can see why they have given few haircuts the last few days. I could barely get there with my bicycle. I couldn’t ride it but had to push it through the mud and soft dirt.

A hundred meters beyond the barber shop is the reason for the mud and disruption: a road crew is installing a large new sewer line that everyone hopes will eliminate the constant flooding during the rainy season. The red wooden building in the background is the site of the former Maryknoll village health and education project run by Sr. Regina Pellicore.

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

Yesterday, 20 November 2019, was the 30th anniversary of the adoption by the UN General Assembly of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. On that day the convention was submitted to the nations of the world to be signed and ratified. As of today, 196 countries have ratified it, including every member of the United Nations except the United States.

Maryknoll Immersion Trip

For the past week, Maryknoll Cambodia has hosted what we call an immersion trip, bringing a group from usually the United States and exposing them to the language and culture and people of Cambodia to help them get an idea of mission in this country.

On one of their first days in Cambodia, the group of fourteen men and women came to the Maryknoll Deaf Development Programme to learn about what we are doing with the deaf people of Cambodia.

Today the group came to join Maryknoll Cambodia for a liturgy and for a dinner together, just to give everyone more chance to talk.

Most of the immersion tour group will be returning to the United States tomorrow so this was a low-key, not stressful way to spend their last evening in Cambodia.

Not much help…

Do you think this helmet would help much, if he needs it? It looks more like a yarmulke with a chin strap.

Oops! Sorry!

Mr. Jan Frey in Germany, a long-time friend and reader of this website, sent me an e-mail noting that the link to Maryknoll Bangkok Meetings–3 (scroll down to 13 November) wasn’t working. I checked it out and found that I had prepared the page the link connects to, but had neglected to “Publish” the page after I completed it. It should be working now, Thanks, Jan!

Unusual Vehicles

Topics: Traffic Rules

In a country like Cambodia where there is little regulation or even a sense of discipline, anything goes. In terms of personal style like clothing, hair color, etc., it doesn’t much affect society, but the same easy-going style influences things like traffic where just about any kind of vehicle, with or without standard safety features, is fit for the road. Here are a few unusual vehicles that appear around Phnom Penh.