Visitors

 

 

 

 

Steve Turcsany and
Heng Bee Tan
24-27 March 2008

 

Steve Turcsany, a deaf man from Chicago, and Charlie Dittmeier have known each other a long time, first meeting in Hong Kong more than ten years ago. Since that time Steve has married Heng Bee Tan who is also deaf, and they have a baby Mia. Coming to Asia to visit Heng Bee's family in Malaysia, they made a side trip to visit Charlie and DDP in Cambodia.

Steve Turcsany and Heng Bee Tan
Steve and Heng Bee first went to Malaysia where they spent three weeks with Heng Bee's family, the first time Steve had met the family since their marriage more than a year ago.
In their hotel room
Because of passport difficulties, Steve and Heng Bee arrived two days late in Cambodia. They had lost their previous reservations and ended up spending each night in a different hotel.
Heng Bee in a tuk-tuk
Both Steve and Heng Bee are experienced travelers. Steve has been to Asia several times and Heng Bee attended a university in London.
At DDP House
Steven and Heng Bee visited DDP House, the hostel for students in job training, and got to know some of the trainees in an afternoon there.
Chatting at DDP House
Steve and Heng Bee didn't know Cambodian Sign Language and the students didn't know American and British Sign Language but all quickly began to understand each other.
At the DDP office
Later Heng Bee and Steve toured the DDP office and classroom building where they met the two sign language researchers, Sokchea and Samath, who showed their the new dictionary they have produced.
In a DDP classroom
Heng Bee and Steve also visited the DDP classrooms in Phnom Penh and answered questions from the students who were amazed that a Malaysian would marry an American.
Steve and Heng Bee in a tuk-tuk
Their last day in Phnom Penh, Heng Bee and Steve spent a lot of time in a tuk-tuk traveling to DDP, the Russian Market, and one of the 125 killing fields located outside the city.
Go to Activities page on DDP website
Go to Charlie Dittmeier's home page