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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.
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.
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.
We invite deaf entrepreneurs to bring their goods to sell at the Deaf Day celebration.
When I arrived after morning mass, a little after noon, most of the Deaf Day participants had finished eating and were just enjoying the time together. They live very isolated lives and seldom get to see each other and talk in their own language.
Today’s Deaf Week activity was making decorative paper bracelets. Most of the students were quite creative! And of course afterwards there were the usual photos!
Sunday will be the big Deaf Day celebration, and one part of the opening ceremony is a coconut dance. Today some of our students were once again rehearsing for their big show.
Day 4 of Deaf Week was a bit more low-key. The students and staff decorated their faces with Cambodian stickers.
This was also Julie Lawler’s birthday and the Phnom Penh staff celebrated with her at lunch time.
