This is Cambodia's principal blood bank and trauma hospital, next door to the Royal Palace. The signs in red read in Khmer and French, "Given the dengue fever epidemic, visitors are not permitted except for patients' relatives." Eek.

It's Tuesday morning at 1:45 and I'm awake . I'm grateful for this chance to work with the folks at Deaf Development Program (DDP). I get to see a life that I could never have imagined. That reminds me how richly blessed I am.

Tomorrow I get to go with a couple of the DDP interpreters and the organization's manager to a sleepy resort town in the south of the country, Kampot. DDP has a project going there and they will be inviting the local AIDS NGO (non-governmental organization = not for profit) to present to Deaf young people on the subject. As many of you know I was program director at APICHA, the Asian and Pacific Islander Coalition on HIV/AIDS in NYC a while back. I am fascinated to learn what I can from my Khmer counterparts.

The one thing about working for DDP is that some there think that I come to help them improve their interpreting. I am glad to contribute where I can, but THEY have helped me so much to appreciate what I have. I hate to be maudlin about it, but what the hey...I get more than I give and they have given me a whole lifetime of experience while I have given little.

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