Welcome to Cambodia, and…..

A couple weeks ago we celebrated a graduation for our education students and for a group of our job trainees. Today four of the job trainees finished their time at DDP and returned to their home provinces to set up their own barber shops.

The four barbers with the equipment supplied to them to set up their barber shops. They got barber chairs, the clippers and trimmers, and the hair washing chairs in the foreground.

This young man is packing up his supplies as the barber trainer and DDP staff speak with his mother.

Then it was time to load up vans and tuk-tuks for the ride home. We give the students bicycles to use while they are here and this man is taking that–and also an old barber chair we had thrown out (foreground).

Lunar New Year – 1

The Lunar New Year (aka Chinese New Year) will be Saturday, 10 February 2024. There are a lot of people claiming some Chinese heritage in Cambodia and preparations preparing for the festival are appearing around Phnom Penh.

Some of the decorations already put up are definitely low key.

Been away too long…

I think I’ve been away from the US too long…. When I moved to this new place where I am living alone now, I bought a small refrigerator. Refrigerators should be rather simple but I can’t figure this one out.

What the heck is this door designed to hold? The large tall area on the right is not deep enough for a 1.25L Coke bottle and it seems the little restraining bar at the bottom is too low to keep soft drink bottles in place when the door closes.

And then there’s the vertical compartment on the left, where I have a jar of jam at the bottom. What is that compartment supposed to hold? Notice it’s got a moveable restraining thingy to hold something in. But what? Enlighten me at cdittmeier@gmail.com or +855 12 608 470 for WhatsApp or Telegram! Please!

Something’s amiss….

Mixed Themes

Here is a storefront selling and renting used power tools. To the display of those wares they have added a flourish of decorations for the Lunar New Year (aka Chinese New Year) coming up weekend after next.

Potable?

Earlier I marveled at how our former Maryknoll office manager put together piping and a pump to send water through a house he built–and where I now live. I was pleased when he added a new pump because it created greater water pressure–and also because it eliminated a plastic garbage container he was using as a water reservoir. Now for some reason he has brought back the reservoir.

I’m not so happy with that. The water system in Phnom Penh has won an award for purity so after quite a few years here, in my last house I was drinking water from the tap instead of buying bottle water. But now that the water goes through the green plastic container above I’ve had to switch back to purified water. Notice that the container has a large circular cover that doesn’t fit tightly and allows dirt, rat droppings, whatever, to get into the water. I’ll pass now on drinking it.

Maryknoll Sisters Farewell

Last weekend the Maryknoll Sisters officially made their exit from Cambodia, returning to the Sisters Center in Ossining, New York. For more than thirty years, Maryknoll Sisters did wonderful work in a variety of projects but the sisters here were starting to feel the years and their congregation does not have the new members to build up the sisters community here, so it was decided to end their presence here.

Sr. Ann Sherman, one of the last four Maryknoll Sisters in Cambodia, returned to New York in December. For the remaining three sisters, we had a special blessing ceremony at the end of the Saturday mass. Charlie led a blessing in which the whole congregation was asked to participate as we said goodbye to a fine group of women. In the photo (L to R) are Sr. Mary Little, Sr. Regina Pellicore, and Sr. Helene O’Sullivan. Sr. Regina will actually stay on another month or so to deal with the government requirements for terminating an International NGO in Cambodia.

Caritas Cambodia Retreat 2024 / Day 4b

After lunch, we started the roundabout return journey to Sihanoukville with a first stop at a huge statue of a man and a woman celebrating a marriage famous in Khmer mythology.

Not far from the statue is this bay which is the home of the Ream Naval Base, a military facility recently renovated by the Chinese. Western countries, particularly the United States, have expressed concern that the base is to be China’s outpost in the Gulf of Thailand to bolster their power and presence in the South China Sea. China denies any special role for China but the renovations created berths that accommodate aircraft carriers–and Cambodia doesn’t have an aircraft carrier.

Cambodian social media is also up in arms because the government is filling in the bay for development purposes and has despoiled the mountain hilltops on both sides of the bay, destroying the forest cover to get stone for the renovation.

Farther along the highway is this famous tree which has been left in the middle of a rebuilt highway. It is on a hilltop overlooking the sea and is known in popular lore as the place where wives and lovers waited for their seamen to return.

Caritas Cambodia Retreat 2024 / Day 4a

Today was a get-to-know-your-country day for the Caritas Cambodia staff. Most of the day was spent visiting several interesting sites around Sihanoukville.