this week i went with a group of interns to a small village on the coast of cambodia near the border of vietnam. the drive down on monday morning was terrible - the bus was old, the roads were terrible, and the AC was broken. after 5 sweaty, bumpy hours in a cramped bus with blaring khmer karoake music we finally arrived. it was quickly apparent that the drive was worth it. our guesthouse was on a hill overlooking the ocean. it was beautiful, lush and green. i shared a bungalow with my bff here - grace - and we had an ocean view and hammocks on the balcony. the first day we had the afternoon off, so i spent it reading in the hammock. later on we all had dinner and played cards.
tuesday morning we headed out to the village where we were going to be working. the village is made up of a group of families who had been active khmer rouge until the mid 90s. when they defected they were relocated to the south and formed a village. BAB set up a center to help them out. the center offers classes for the kids, and is also working on establishing a farm on the surrounding land to provide food for the village. our job for the week was to help with the farming and teaching.
after orientation on tuesday grace and i headed to the kampot caves, which is a small rocky mountain with caves all through it. when we arrived we were met by two enthusiastic young men who wanted to be our guides. we accepted their offer and headed into the mountain. it ended up being an amazing afternoon. they took us into some really out of the way caves. near the end of the tour we came out of the back of the mountain and they asked us if we wanted to climb up and over it to get back to our moto driver. we decided to go for it and while it was quite treacherous it was definitely worth it.
wednesday morning we left really early to get to the village to do some farming. grace and i arrived before everyone else and were met by a stern looking man who silently handed us each a hoe and started walking out into the fields. we followed behind apprehensively. he demonstrated what he wanted us to do and then stood sternly watching us as we dug at this field. it was slightly unnerving. the others arrived about half an hour later and we finally figured out what we were supposed to be doing - which was not aimlessly digging at a field. we were meant to plant a corn field. once we got started it only took the group of us about 3 hours. 3 hours of farming in the heat was enough for us though. i was feeling pretty terrible from what i thought was sunstroke.
i spent the next two days in bed with a fever, vomiting etc. decided to try to get up on friday morning to teach. i made it through the class but then felt worse than ever and was eventually sent back to phnom penh in the back of a taxi. so im back now, in bed, feeling somewhat better but still pretty terrible. the trip overall was great when i wasnt sick. i was upset to have to miss out on the last few days. the country side is just beautiful. it really became clear how most of the country really lives. phnom penh is the only really urban area and even saying that feels like a bit of a stretch considering what most people feel is urban.
working with the kids is what effected me the most. they are so enthusiastic, energetic, and very motivated to learn. the problem is that there are about 30 or 40 of them in a tiny class, with very little resources and the age range is from about 4 to 12 or older in one room. it is a difficult environment to teach anything in. they are all desperate for any kind of individual attention and learn quickly when you can take the time to sit down with them in a small group of 2 or 3.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Thursday, June 14, 2007
more ferris wheel and the beach
Went to the beach last weekend - Sihanoukville. It was beautiful. Not totally developed although getting there. Lots of hut type bars on the beach, then our bungalow/hotel was right on the water. It was a great time. Lots of reading, sleeping and relaxing. The water was warm and it was sunny the whole weekend.
Also went back to that fair with the ferris wheel. Rode a different ferris wheel, this one was smaller and equally sketchy. the fair is just so hilarious. it is something that just would not happen back home. its more a random collection of old rides on the field. you just ride your motorbike right up to the ride and pay about 25 cents, they stop the ride and you get on. and usually you are the only one on the ride. i think i wrote about this before but everytime i am there i just find it eerily delightful.
Also went back to that fair with the ferris wheel. Rode a different ferris wheel, this one was smaller and equally sketchy. the fair is just so hilarious. it is something that just would not happen back home. its more a random collection of old rides on the field. you just ride your motorbike right up to the ride and pay about 25 cents, they stop the ride and you get on. and usually you are the only one on the ride. i think i wrote about this before but everytime i am there i just find it eerily delightful.
slums and shadiness
Over the past few days I have started to get acquainted with the darker, dangerous side of Phnom Penh, which considering how long I’ve been here is not that surprising. You can only be oblivious for so long. The different events that kind of brought it home to me were not crazy in and of themselves, it is more the sense of cold violence that is chilling - the aggression and the potential for something horrible to happen and go largely un-noticed.
The first experience happened later in the night on Monday, probably around 10pm. I was walking out of the parking lot on the way to my friend’s apartment, chatting and not paying too much attention to what was going on around me – the street seemed totally quiet. My friend quickly brought it to my attention that we were being followed very purposefully and the guy was hurrying up as he approached us. I turned around quickly and it was pretty obvious what the man’s intention was. We started to walk faster and turned quickly into the alley of the building, hoping that he would realize that we were going inside and not follow. The last time I turned around he had just appeared at the start of the alley still following us. After that my friend told me to run and we sprinted up the stairs to his door and quickly went inside. It was disturbing because would-be-thief knew that we were watching him, we all knew what was going on, but he was not at all deterred.
Apparently if you are being robbed here and you yell “JOW” (khmer for thief) and there are any people in the streets they will just mob the guy and beat the hell out of him. There is a strongly felt sense of justice and right and wrong. Unfortunately for us there was no one around that night and by the time anyone came outside it would have been too late.
The next thing that happened was up at Olympic Stadium while I was playing soccer. I ran to get the ball and when I turned around no one was paying attention. Everyone had gathered - probably a hundred people and about 30 motorbikes – and there were two groups of people each trying to hold back two guys who clearly wanted to fight. One of them had picked up a metal pole that is used as a goal post and eventually broke away from the group and started chasing the other guy. It was crazy because everyone was just kind of watching and no one seemed that bothered. Interested, but not bothered. The guy eventually ran to the bbq and tried to get a knife from the girl there that was cooking. She wouldn’t give it to him so he went back to chasing the guy with the metal pole. Eventually it all dispersed but there was definitely a potential for violence and it didn’t seem like anyone was going to step in to stop it.
And finally… same day at soccer, a group of guys came out of the gym-ish building next to the dirt area where we play soccer. I guess they saw me playing soccer – a girl playing sports is still a huge ordeal/scene for everyone there – but they gathered on the edge of the field on the side where I was playing (definitely a moment where I was glad that I don’t speak Khmer). I knew that they were watching me but generally whenever western people are up at the fields playing everyone is gathered watching, so I wasn’t really paying attention. Then one of the guys started to follow me around, ON the field. He kept about 5-10 feet away at all times, but he was physically on the field, in the middle of the game, following me around. The look in his eyes was what really creeped me out. His eyes were dead cold, leering with contempt. He looked like he wanted to kill me. He would look down at my legs (I was wearing shorts to just above my knee), then up at me again and even when I looked at him with a look that was like ‘get the hell away from me’ he would just stare blankly back at me. It really freaked me out, and more than that no one else that I was playing soccer with did anything about it – well, none of the Cambodians. The male intern (Nic) that I go up to the field with noticed and made a motion for the guy to leave me alone – but what can we do? He was with a group of 10 of his wrestler friends, and there was no general feeling that what he was doing was offensive. It got to the point where I felt too uncomfortable to keep playing and had to get Nic to leave with me. That was really my first bad experience playing soccer. Other than that it had been really positive and fun.
I guess what it comes down to with all of these little incidents that have colored my impression of the city is that sometimes the cultural gap feels exhausting and oppressive. There just isn’t that sense of security, cleanliness, access to medical care etc that I don’t even think about when it is there. It is easy to forget that sometimes I’m walking on thin ice here - because it is a great place and the people are generally overwhelmingly friendly. Especially at night though, attitudes change and the man on the corner who smiles at me during the day and says hello will turn into the man glaring at me and thinking about stealing my bag. The attitude towards women just becomes completely disrespectful and almost contemptuous.
Then there is the shady shady bureaucracy. I had to get my visa renewed this week, because I have been here almost one month. First of all, the fee is $40 (give or take, and depending who you ask), which seems steep for a one month extension on a single entry visa – which means that I can’t even leave the country in this coming month without paying extra. Anyways, I couldn’t find the right travel office to do it and I was feeling nauseous traveling around on a very slow moto in roughly 38 degree heat and intense humidity, so I went to a regular tourist travel agency. They took my passport, filled out some form and I paid them. 10 minutes after leaving my phone rang and it was the passport office. Apparently I cant pick up my passport until Saturday… and I couldn’t understand why. He was trying to explain but it was lost on me. It is only supposed to take one day. Whatever, nothing I can do. It was hot and I just could not understand what was going on. That happens regularly here. I end up just staring at someone and they are staring back at me and there is no comprehension whatsoever.
So otherwise things here are going great. It is an amazing place and aside from having to be really careful at night I love it. I am getting lots of work done on the children’s rights manual/lesson plans, and also helping with other projects in the office. Trying to get BAB to organize for some of us to teach some classes at the Centre for Children’s Happiness. I think I would enjoy doing some teaching while here and it is always inspiring and uplifting to be around the kids there.
Speaking of teaching, I went to the largest slum in Phnom Penh yesterday to teach a class to some kids there. In January of this year BAB helped to set up a classroom in the slum to teach additional classes to children in the afternoons – kids go to school for 4 hours in the morning here. It was great, the kids were awesome and they enjoyed spending time with us. It was a huge contrast from the orphanage near the dump where they mob you when you walk in. They were well behaved and eager to learn.
The slum itself was shocking. It is a maze of streets and huts built on a huge shallow lake in the north of the city. The water is thick with garbage, including medical waste from a hospital in the city. If that wasn’t bad enough, the government sold the whole lake area illegally to a corporation for development. This means that the area is threatened with eviction, which would leave thousands of families with no home and nowhere to go. The corporation plans to fill in the lake and built a resort. There is a huge legal battle right now over the planned evictions.
The first experience happened later in the night on Monday, probably around 10pm. I was walking out of the parking lot on the way to my friend’s apartment, chatting and not paying too much attention to what was going on around me – the street seemed totally quiet. My friend quickly brought it to my attention that we were being followed very purposefully and the guy was hurrying up as he approached us. I turned around quickly and it was pretty obvious what the man’s intention was. We started to walk faster and turned quickly into the alley of the building, hoping that he would realize that we were going inside and not follow. The last time I turned around he had just appeared at the start of the alley still following us. After that my friend told me to run and we sprinted up the stairs to his door and quickly went inside. It was disturbing because would-be-thief knew that we were watching him, we all knew what was going on, but he was not at all deterred.
Apparently if you are being robbed here and you yell “JOW” (khmer for thief) and there are any people in the streets they will just mob the guy and beat the hell out of him. There is a strongly felt sense of justice and right and wrong. Unfortunately for us there was no one around that night and by the time anyone came outside it would have been too late.
The next thing that happened was up at Olympic Stadium while I was playing soccer. I ran to get the ball and when I turned around no one was paying attention. Everyone had gathered - probably a hundred people and about 30 motorbikes – and there were two groups of people each trying to hold back two guys who clearly wanted to fight. One of them had picked up a metal pole that is used as a goal post and eventually broke away from the group and started chasing the other guy. It was crazy because everyone was just kind of watching and no one seemed that bothered. Interested, but not bothered. The guy eventually ran to the bbq and tried to get a knife from the girl there that was cooking. She wouldn’t give it to him so he went back to chasing the guy with the metal pole. Eventually it all dispersed but there was definitely a potential for violence and it didn’t seem like anyone was going to step in to stop it.
And finally… same day at soccer, a group of guys came out of the gym-ish building next to the dirt area where we play soccer. I guess they saw me playing soccer – a girl playing sports is still a huge ordeal/scene for everyone there – but they gathered on the edge of the field on the side where I was playing (definitely a moment where I was glad that I don’t speak Khmer). I knew that they were watching me but generally whenever western people are up at the fields playing everyone is gathered watching, so I wasn’t really paying attention. Then one of the guys started to follow me around, ON the field. He kept about 5-10 feet away at all times, but he was physically on the field, in the middle of the game, following me around. The look in his eyes was what really creeped me out. His eyes were dead cold, leering with contempt. He looked like he wanted to kill me. He would look down at my legs (I was wearing shorts to just above my knee), then up at me again and even when I looked at him with a look that was like ‘get the hell away from me’ he would just stare blankly back at me. It really freaked me out, and more than that no one else that I was playing soccer with did anything about it – well, none of the Cambodians. The male intern (Nic) that I go up to the field with noticed and made a motion for the guy to leave me alone – but what can we do? He was with a group of 10 of his wrestler friends, and there was no general feeling that what he was doing was offensive. It got to the point where I felt too uncomfortable to keep playing and had to get Nic to leave with me. That was really my first bad experience playing soccer. Other than that it had been really positive and fun.
I guess what it comes down to with all of these little incidents that have colored my impression of the city is that sometimes the cultural gap feels exhausting and oppressive. There just isn’t that sense of security, cleanliness, access to medical care etc that I don’t even think about when it is there. It is easy to forget that sometimes I’m walking on thin ice here - because it is a great place and the people are generally overwhelmingly friendly. Especially at night though, attitudes change and the man on the corner who smiles at me during the day and says hello will turn into the man glaring at me and thinking about stealing my bag. The attitude towards women just becomes completely disrespectful and almost contemptuous.
Then there is the shady shady bureaucracy. I had to get my visa renewed this week, because I have been here almost one month. First of all, the fee is $40 (give or take, and depending who you ask), which seems steep for a one month extension on a single entry visa – which means that I can’t even leave the country in this coming month without paying extra. Anyways, I couldn’t find the right travel office to do it and I was feeling nauseous traveling around on a very slow moto in roughly 38 degree heat and intense humidity, so I went to a regular tourist travel agency. They took my passport, filled out some form and I paid them. 10 minutes after leaving my phone rang and it was the passport office. Apparently I cant pick up my passport until Saturday… and I couldn’t understand why. He was trying to explain but it was lost on me. It is only supposed to take one day. Whatever, nothing I can do. It was hot and I just could not understand what was going on. That happens regularly here. I end up just staring at someone and they are staring back at me and there is no comprehension whatsoever.
So otherwise things here are going great. It is an amazing place and aside from having to be really careful at night I love it. I am getting lots of work done on the children’s rights manual/lesson plans, and also helping with other projects in the office. Trying to get BAB to organize for some of us to teach some classes at the Centre for Children’s Happiness. I think I would enjoy doing some teaching while here and it is always inspiring and uplifting to be around the kids there.
Speaking of teaching, I went to the largest slum in Phnom Penh yesterday to teach a class to some kids there. In January of this year BAB helped to set up a classroom in the slum to teach additional classes to children in the afternoons – kids go to school for 4 hours in the morning here. It was great, the kids were awesome and they enjoyed spending time with us. It was a huge contrast from the orphanage near the dump where they mob you when you walk in. They were well behaved and eager to learn.
The slum itself was shocking. It is a maze of streets and huts built on a huge shallow lake in the north of the city. The water is thick with garbage, including medical waste from a hospital in the city. If that wasn’t bad enough, the government sold the whole lake area illegally to a corporation for development. This means that the area is threatened with eviction, which would leave thousands of families with no home and nowhere to go. The corporation plans to fill in the lake and built a resort. There is a huge legal battle right now over the planned evictions.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
orphanage and the dump
yesterday i went on a trip to an orphanage on the edge of phnom penh. the kids there were so excited to see us. i dont know if its just a learned response, or they know that western people will be nice and play with them, but they jump on you as soon as you get there. "whats your name!!!" all of them fighting each other to hold your hand, be picked up, talk to you, dance for you... anything for some attention. we stayed for a while doing dances and playing games, swinging them around in circles. the place itself was small and cramped, and clearly overcrowded. the kids seemed happy enough, but anywhere is better than the dump, which is where a lot of them came from.
in the dump on the outskirts of phnom penh small villages of families live and spend their lives scavenging for garbage. the small children trudge through mountains of trash all day, with no shoes, walking right over broken glass, used needles, and burning garbage. they burn all the plastic and whatever else will burn, so the stench is absolutely unbelievable. i guess you can never really imagine what it would be like - people talk about the families living on the dump, but it is impossible to envision.
after the orphanage we took a trip out there. it was not that far away. maybe a 10 minute walk. all of a sudden you are surrounded by endless rolling hills of garbage. there is one sludge road that garbage trucks roll constantly in and out of. when they reach the heart of the dump they unload the trash and people fight each other to get to it and scavenge through it for anything valuable. they sell the garbage to make money to eat. their homes are huts built right on the garbage. the family, including the children, spend their entire days and nights in the garbage.
the smell and the horrific reality of it was really shocking. it is impossible to empathize, i have no idea how awful that would really be. to make it worse, apparently in rainy season the rain creates sinkholes in the garbage, and people have actually sunk in and drowned in the garbage. the place is so bleak and helpless that i was fighting the urge to just turn and run out of there. it is also strangely silent. people are everywhere picking through trash, but no one speaks. i guess there isnt much to say.
some of the children do get rescued, and go to places like the orphanage, or the center for children's happiness. but there are always more living there, and the adults have no way out.
in the dump on the outskirts of phnom penh small villages of families live and spend their lives scavenging for garbage. the small children trudge through mountains of trash all day, with no shoes, walking right over broken glass, used needles, and burning garbage. they burn all the plastic and whatever else will burn, so the stench is absolutely unbelievable. i guess you can never really imagine what it would be like - people talk about the families living on the dump, but it is impossible to envision.
after the orphanage we took a trip out there. it was not that far away. maybe a 10 minute walk. all of a sudden you are surrounded by endless rolling hills of garbage. there is one sludge road that garbage trucks roll constantly in and out of. when they reach the heart of the dump they unload the trash and people fight each other to get to it and scavenge through it for anything valuable. they sell the garbage to make money to eat. their homes are huts built right on the garbage. the family, including the children, spend their entire days and nights in the garbage.
the smell and the horrific reality of it was really shocking. it is impossible to empathize, i have no idea how awful that would really be. to make it worse, apparently in rainy season the rain creates sinkholes in the garbage, and people have actually sunk in and drowned in the garbage. the place is so bleak and helpless that i was fighting the urge to just turn and run out of there. it is also strangely silent. people are everywhere picking through trash, but no one speaks. i guess there isnt much to say.
some of the children do get rescued, and go to places like the orphanage, or the center for children's happiness. but there are always more living there, and the adults have no way out.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
life
Since getting back from siem reap I have settled into a routine here. I am starting to meet a lot of the other western people here and am getting to know the hangouts. Last friday was the party 'first friday' which happens on the first friday of every month. it is a huge expat party at an outdoor garden bar. it was a good time, very overwhelming with people from everywhere. i met a canadian who informed me that he does not like canadians - which was a first. a bunch of people from france, england, ireland... i have already run into some of the people that i met out and about, at the grocery store and a restaurant - which gives some idea of how small of a city phnom penh is.
probably the most interesting people i met that night were two guys that work at a program here for deportees from the US. one of them was born in a thai refugee camp, moved to the US as a child refugee, spent his life there and then was deported after committing a felony. (new laws put into effect after 9/11 make this standard policy in the states). he was sent back to cambodia even though he had never lived here. a bunch of the deportees have a program here to help the other new deportees who arrive in the country feeling displaced, with nowhere to go, no family, no friends, and unable to speak the language.
i have also spent some time driving around the country just around phnom penh. there is a lot of development going on, although none of it is very logical. housing projects that no one lives in. huge mansions planted randomly next to a wooden shack on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. my favorite is finding abandoned colonial era buildings. they look haunted and historical. lots of the kids from the villages would chase the motorbike as we drove through, yelling "money". they rarely see white people and i guess the immediate assumption is that we are prime candidates for a handout. it doesnt really get any easier saying no, no matter how many times you have to, but if you do give them money you can see their parents sitting 100 feet away gambling away whatever money their kids collect.
this weekend a bunch of us went swimming again, which is great for a hot sunday afternoon. day to day life is just work from 830 to 5, then soccer or yoga, then dinner and usually going out somewhere to play pool or else hanging out on the roof deck.
last week i went to the Center for Childrens Happiness, which is a childrens home and school that was started by one of the co-founders of bridges across borders. it was an amazing place. the kids were friendly, outgoing, motivated and happy. all of them have been rescued from the dump, where they worked scavenging for garbage. some of them came from families where their parents had tried to sell them into the sex trade. alot of them were orphans whose parents had died of Aids.
today after work we are all going to a candlelight vigil/demonstration to mark the 1 year anniversary of a forced eviction of a slum in the city. one year ago today the military forcibly evicted 1000 families from a slum area and transported them 30 kilometres outside of town and dumped them in a field. the military just arrived in the middle of the night and started burning houses and throwing people onto trucks. the families are still living in the field under tarps and with no access to clean water or any other basic services. the government built a huge and ornate government building on the site where the slum had been .
probably the most interesting people i met that night were two guys that work at a program here for deportees from the US. one of them was born in a thai refugee camp, moved to the US as a child refugee, spent his life there and then was deported after committing a felony. (new laws put into effect after 9/11 make this standard policy in the states). he was sent back to cambodia even though he had never lived here. a bunch of the deportees have a program here to help the other new deportees who arrive in the country feeling displaced, with nowhere to go, no family, no friends, and unable to speak the language.
i have also spent some time driving around the country just around phnom penh. there is a lot of development going on, although none of it is very logical. housing projects that no one lives in. huge mansions planted randomly next to a wooden shack on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. my favorite is finding abandoned colonial era buildings. they look haunted and historical. lots of the kids from the villages would chase the motorbike as we drove through, yelling "money". they rarely see white people and i guess the immediate assumption is that we are prime candidates for a handout. it doesnt really get any easier saying no, no matter how many times you have to, but if you do give them money you can see their parents sitting 100 feet away gambling away whatever money their kids collect.
this weekend a bunch of us went swimming again, which is great for a hot sunday afternoon. day to day life is just work from 830 to 5, then soccer or yoga, then dinner and usually going out somewhere to play pool or else hanging out on the roof deck.
last week i went to the Center for Childrens Happiness, which is a childrens home and school that was started by one of the co-founders of bridges across borders. it was an amazing place. the kids were friendly, outgoing, motivated and happy. all of them have been rescued from the dump, where they worked scavenging for garbage. some of them came from families where their parents had tried to sell them into the sex trade. alot of them were orphans whose parents had died of Aids.
today after work we are all going to a candlelight vigil/demonstration to mark the 1 year anniversary of a forced eviction of a slum in the city. one year ago today the military forcibly evicted 1000 families from a slum area and transported them 30 kilometres outside of town and dumped them in a field. the military just arrived in the middle of the night and started burning houses and throwing people onto trucks. the families are still living in the field under tarps and with no access to clean water or any other basic services. the government built a huge and ornate government building on the site where the slum had been .
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)