So I haven't written in a while, so I guess I have a lot to say.
First off, last weekend in Phnom Penh was pretty fun and it is nice to be back in the city to mix things up, but over all I enjoy Sre Ambel more becuase it is just so pretty. Last weekend in the city was mostly spent relaxing, going to markets and hanging out with these two girls, Olivia and Nevine, from London who I've gotten to know pretty well. Its good have them around because most of the time I have to speak in very very limited English and after a while it starts to get to me. Also, talking to them I've learned a lot about the UK--small things that I didn't really know were so different, like our education systems and supermakets. I've also know fully embraced the words 'mental' and 'dodgy' into my vocab. As for the markets, I went to the Russian market and Central (or New) market last weekend. The Russian market is a small cramped place named such because for a while only the Russians imported clothes, music, etc to Cambodia. Now the market is filled with a wide variety of things, from DVDs, to china, to tourist souvenirs. The central market in contrast is significantly more open and much much larger. It has everything anyone could ever want, including tons of really trendy clothing stands. I am pretty bad bargainer though and need to be better before I can really buy stuff. The building that Central Market is in was built by the French well before the Khmer Rouge came into power and is now one of the prides and joys of the city. The structure is really beautiful and when an advertisement company put posters on it about 4 years ago the city people protested. I have also been to the Sre Ambel market, which is obviously small but much larger then I expected. It is often awkward for me to go out into the Sre Ambel town though because everyone stares at me and the children call me barang (foreigner). I usually don't mind but after a while it does get really weird.
As for the work I have been doing with ISLP, it has been really interesting. Right now they are rewriting the job descriptions and requirements because the previous ones were written by AFSC members who were not Cambodian and not really that involved with the program. So this is the first time the staff has really sat down to think about the work they are doing, what it means and what improvements can be made. The written descriptions and requirements however are to be written in English because it is AFSC sponsered. That is where I come in. They write ideas down, but the English is barely comprehensible so Tivea and I sit together and edit the lists. Along the way Tivea explains to me each one and I try to write it in a way everyone can understand. It is hard because sometimes they have phrases that don't really make sense in English but they are so used to I have to include them anyway. I can't think of any examples now...but there are a lot. I like this work though because I feel like I am really helping them but I am also learning how an NGO is organized, runs itself, and is essentially started. In Cambodia, there are Provinces, Districts, Communes, and Villages. ISLP works in Sre Ambel district in Koh Kong province. For every commune there is an ISLP Team Leader under whom a field officers for every village. The field officers work in the village and with each other to bring the whole commune together on issues. Often the communes are naturally seperated by their resources--so fisheries, forestry, etc. Next year, ISLP is probably going to become independent, like Khmer Ahimsa, so the work were doing now is their first steps in making that transition. It is also good timing because the election campaign just started and non political organizations are not allowed to hold big village meetings. As a result, I've just been in the office (which is outside) for the last week an not visiting any village. This weekend I am going to prepare an English lesson for the staff to teach on Monday or Tuesday. Its pretty strange to me, but some of the staff calls me Teacher. Keep in mind all of them are between the ages of 28 and 50something so its weird for me, especially since they talk in English only in the third and first person. So they will say things like, "Does Teacher want to go to the market?" or "Did Teacher sleep well?" The first time it happened I actually had no idea who they were talking about.
As for other Sre Ambel things, life it pretty simple and mostly consists of eating and teaching my housemates English. I almost always get food from these open air restaurants that have maybe 6 pots of food to choose from. Oh course nothing is vegetarian so I have to pick around the meat. There isn't a kitchen in my house so I don't really have a choice. There is no tofu either so I try to get in as much protein as possible while in the city and bring some soymilk back with me. Overall the food is simple and often some kind of soup with rice. It does get boring after a while but I've never paid more then 75 cents for a meal so I can't complain. The other week coming back from the city I did try a local delicacy though--fried red ants, black ants, termites and bee larvae. It was pretty strange to eat and I found the termites way too salty. And to answer someone's question...most of the food is eaten with a spoon and fork with the exception of noddles which require chopsticks. I have yet to see a knife in the countryside, but considering everything is soupy that makes sense.
Oh also, I don't know if I've mentioned this yet, but the animals in Sre Ambel are crazy. The cows often just sit in the road, the ducks are a bizarre looking species that I've never seen before and the pigs are terrifying. I swear that some of the pigs come up to my shoulder--now I know I've short, but you have to admit that is HUGE. And when the run...its horrifying. If it came between me fighting a pig or a tiger, I am not sure which I would choose. These weird farm animals and the fact that all of them women wear matching pajamas that are like scrubs but covered with ridiculous patterns, adds a certain humor to Sre Ambel that it difficult to describe.
Ok well I believe that is all for now but one last anecdote before I leave: Every once in a while I'll get this, "Oh right...I'm in Cambodia moments..." and I got a major one two nights ago. I was sitting on my porch with Narith and Minea, basically staring out into complete darkness, with these lights were flashing every now and then. I just assumed it was a moto, but then I remembered that across the street was just open fields. Minea then told me it was fishermen. I was SO confused, I was thinking really hard about it and just kept saying to myself...Fishermen? On the fields? What? And then I remembered that fields here are rice paddies that are knee deep or more depending upon the recent rain. It was bizarre for me to suddenly have to completely rethink the word ''field'' and understand it as something totally different.
Well then. Right now I am staying at a different guesthouse then the Boddhi Tree, which breaks me heart, because it was full. I stayed at this really horrible place last night, but moved this morning to Liv and Nevs' guesthouse because I couldn't bear to be there. I think next weekend I am actually going to the beach, which should be really exciting. Hope all is well! Do write!
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Saturday, June 21, 2008
The First Few Days in Sre Ambel
Hey! I am back in Phnom Penh for the weekend. I wanted to write last night but there was a downpour so heavy I wouldn't dare leave the guesthouse. Generally I find the weather to be quite wonderful here. It never gets too hot because it usually rains sometime before 10 and 2 in the afternoon. I really enjoy the rain though, because it makes the after-lunch nap cooler.
Wednesday I drove down Route 4 to Sre Ambel with Tivea because it was a holiday (the King's Mother/Queen's Birthday). The drive down was about three hours and decent enough. We pass a lot of small 'villages' whose main income centers around providing rest stops for travelers. It is hard to describe these villages because they are mostly constructed from random wood, straw and other construction material. What marks the poverty isn't the buildings themselves however, but rather the unbelievable amount of trash that lies everywhere. Everywhere you look there are just plastic bags and wrappers covering the ground. I know there is no garbage collection system here, but I am surprised that there is no disposal system, especially in the ones so close to the city. As the journey continues these small villages slowly fall away to countryside. The countryside is filled with rice paddies, as expected, and it beautiful in strangely flat sort of way.
And then come the mountains. The Cardamoms are actually impossible to describe. I have sat here for a few minutes to try and find the words, but I am afraid I must give up. I think it is that they seem to bream and thrive with wildness, indeed I wouldn't dare call it 'wilderness' for that seems too tame. Maybe it is because I am told there are tigers in the mountains, but I think I sensed their mystic before I knew that. Looking at the the forest one can see more shades of green imaginable (I kid you not, the grass at the bottom of the mountains is actually neon green). I don't even think crayola has made that many greens. Looking at them it is clear why the Khmer Rouge were able to build up their army here and why they held out here for thirty years.
Sre Ambel itself is in the valley of the mountains, in a low lying area a couple kilometers north of the delta. I can't tell if people are here because the earth is completely flat or if the land is flat because people are here--my guess is that it is a mixture of both. The main crop here is clearly rice production, but you can find cows, water buffalo, chickens, and pigs everywhere. Traffic jams are caused by herds of cows, not cars. Where I am staying is pretty nice, there is a gorgeous view of the fields and I have pretty big bed covered in the ugliest green anti-malaria mosquito net you will ever see. There isn't much to complain about except that there is a rooster outside my window that caws from 4:30am to about 7pm. It is actually the most annoying noise I have ever heard my life. I would trade sirens for that rooster any day of the week. Otherwise it is nice to have fresh air and be in the country.
My housemates are two Khmer Ahimsa staff, Narith and Minea (pronounced as if there was a 'k' between there i and n). They are both total sweethearts but don't speak much English. We generally sit around pointing at objects, while I say the word in English and they say it in Khmer. As for the rest of the Khmer Ahimsa staff, they are all very sweet. Three of them (including my housemates) are only a few years old then me. I knew I would get along with them when the first day Ramy (the third younger staff member) said to me, "Here we play a lot, eat a lot, and [be] crazy a lot." To clarify, Khmer Ahimsa is a local NGO that focuses on peace building within the communities; they used to be a branch of AFSC but now they are independent. The first day there I went with the Head Peace Manager to a local Muslim village that is having a land crisis. Nobody here speaks English very well, but from what I gathered a company has come in and kicked 68 families off of their land in order to create a sugar plantation. The people are clearly upset about this and Khmer Ahimsa is working with them to provide financial support so they can visit with government officials. Khmer Ahimsa also informs them of their rights and tells them what things they can say in resolution meetings. Cambodian people are known for not expressing anger, but it was clear even with the language barrier that these farmers are very very upset.
The second day I worked with ISLP, a branch of AFSC that works with land conflict issues as well as sustainable management. There I have a more concrete job, basically working as an editor and English teacher. All of the reports and case studies that ISLP writes are translated into English, but by people who barely speak English. As a result the reports are extremely confusing and almost impossible to decipher. I usually spend 20 minutes reading one page. Most of the problems comes from key differences between the language. For example, the Khmer language does not use articles (the, a, an) and does not use sentences like we do. Their idea of a sentence is our idea of a paragraph. It is hard work but I actually really enjoy because I get to learn about their work and reading each paper is like solving a puzzle. In the end, I will edit quite a few papers and present them to the staff, teaching them why certain sentences were grammatically incorrect and why certain phrasings are better. For this teaching part though I am going to need to buy an English grammar book...haha.
Overall I have really loved Sre Ambel so far. I probably won't come back to Phnom Penh next weekend, because I am going to Sihanoukville and then to see the community forest. I'll try to write soon though! Hope all is well!
PS In rereading this I realized that some of the phrasing seems a little awkward. For this I am sorry but please understand that my spoken vocabulary is limited to about 100 words!
Wednesday I drove down Route 4 to Sre Ambel with Tivea because it was a holiday (the King's Mother/Queen's Birthday). The drive down was about three hours and decent enough. We pass a lot of small 'villages' whose main income centers around providing rest stops for travelers. It is hard to describe these villages because they are mostly constructed from random wood, straw and other construction material. What marks the poverty isn't the buildings themselves however, but rather the unbelievable amount of trash that lies everywhere. Everywhere you look there are just plastic bags and wrappers covering the ground. I know there is no garbage collection system here, but I am surprised that there is no disposal system, especially in the ones so close to the city. As the journey continues these small villages slowly fall away to countryside. The countryside is filled with rice paddies, as expected, and it beautiful in strangely flat sort of way.
And then come the mountains. The Cardamoms are actually impossible to describe. I have sat here for a few minutes to try and find the words, but I am afraid I must give up. I think it is that they seem to bream and thrive with wildness, indeed I wouldn't dare call it 'wilderness' for that seems too tame. Maybe it is because I am told there are tigers in the mountains, but I think I sensed their mystic before I knew that. Looking at the the forest one can see more shades of green imaginable (I kid you not, the grass at the bottom of the mountains is actually neon green). I don't even think crayola has made that many greens. Looking at them it is clear why the Khmer Rouge were able to build up their army here and why they held out here for thirty years.
Sre Ambel itself is in the valley of the mountains, in a low lying area a couple kilometers north of the delta. I can't tell if people are here because the earth is completely flat or if the land is flat because people are here--my guess is that it is a mixture of both. The main crop here is clearly rice production, but you can find cows, water buffalo, chickens, and pigs everywhere. Traffic jams are caused by herds of cows, not cars. Where I am staying is pretty nice, there is a gorgeous view of the fields and I have pretty big bed covered in the ugliest green anti-malaria mosquito net you will ever see. There isn't much to complain about except that there is a rooster outside my window that caws from 4:30am to about 7pm. It is actually the most annoying noise I have ever heard my life. I would trade sirens for that rooster any day of the week. Otherwise it is nice to have fresh air and be in the country.
My housemates are two Khmer Ahimsa staff, Narith and Minea (pronounced as if there was a 'k' between there i and n). They are both total sweethearts but don't speak much English. We generally sit around pointing at objects, while I say the word in English and they say it in Khmer. As for the rest of the Khmer Ahimsa staff, they are all very sweet. Three of them (including my housemates) are only a few years old then me. I knew I would get along with them when the first day Ramy (the third younger staff member) said to me, "Here we play a lot, eat a lot, and [be] crazy a lot." To clarify, Khmer Ahimsa is a local NGO that focuses on peace building within the communities; they used to be a branch of AFSC but now they are independent. The first day there I went with the Head Peace Manager to a local Muslim village that is having a land crisis. Nobody here speaks English very well, but from what I gathered a company has come in and kicked 68 families off of their land in order to create a sugar plantation. The people are clearly upset about this and Khmer Ahimsa is working with them to provide financial support so they can visit with government officials. Khmer Ahimsa also informs them of their rights and tells them what things they can say in resolution meetings. Cambodian people are known for not expressing anger, but it was clear even with the language barrier that these farmers are very very upset.
The second day I worked with ISLP, a branch of AFSC that works with land conflict issues as well as sustainable management. There I have a more concrete job, basically working as an editor and English teacher. All of the reports and case studies that ISLP writes are translated into English, but by people who barely speak English. As a result the reports are extremely confusing and almost impossible to decipher. I usually spend 20 minutes reading one page. Most of the problems comes from key differences between the language. For example, the Khmer language does not use articles (the, a, an) and does not use sentences like we do. Their idea of a sentence is our idea of a paragraph. It is hard work but I actually really enjoy because I get to learn about their work and reading each paper is like solving a puzzle. In the end, I will edit quite a few papers and present them to the staff, teaching them why certain sentences were grammatically incorrect and why certain phrasings are better. For this teaching part though I am going to need to buy an English grammar book...haha.
Overall I have really loved Sre Ambel so far. I probably won't come back to Phnom Penh next weekend, because I am going to Sihanoukville and then to see the community forest. I'll try to write soon though! Hope all is well!
PS In rereading this I realized that some of the phrasing seems a little awkward. For this I am sorry but please understand that my spoken vocabulary is limited to about 100 words!
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Still in Phnom Penh
So I didn't actually go down to Sre Ambel on Monday because the village bought come water buffalo and was transporting them across the country and distributing them to the tribes. When Russell told me why I was staying in the city for two more days I couldn't help but laugh at the reminder that, well, I am in Cambodia. So I have just been chilling for two more days, working and visiting the sites. I still haven't finished reading about the hydropower project because Russell also wants me to read up about the current practices of both ISLP and the Race and Nationalism Project inorder to write an updated pamphlet. It is really interesting all of the things I am learning about Cambodian history and Khmer culture. There are many levels to the ethnic issues because of both modern history and ancient tensions. I don't feel comfortable enough with my understanding of the issue to write about it here, but hopefully I will be able to in the future.
As for what I have been doing the last two days...Yesterday I want to AFSC office and finally met the other office workers. Everyone is Khmer except for the Regional and Country Directors. They all seemed very nice, but seeing as I won't really be working with them the introductions were very short. I then went out with the company driver to buy a cell phone, which was an experience of itself. The whole time I basically had no idea what was happening because I am completely clueless to the language. One thing I was aware of however was that I had to pick my number. Meaning they gave me a list of about 50 phone numbers and told me to choose one...it was daunting and strange but I was later told this is because some people have lucky and bad numbers that they need to be able to select for.
After the phone purchase I went for lunch with Russell and this women from Singapore who is here as a consultant. I have no idea what her name is but she does some very interesting work. She just came back from Myanmar and had some really interesting stories to tell and pictures to show. She has been working in Southeast Asia for well over 30 years now, has been a lot of atrocities and feels that the Burmanese government is the most indignant and selfish government she has ever witnessed. She told me stories about how cyclone relief donations reach the government and stop there, or that they actually go towards supplies, food, and helicopter fuel (only helicopters can reach the region) but never leave the ground. On a hopeful note however, she was talking about how impressed she was with the local people and their drive to rebuild. Already many villages are rebuilt, donation cups are in restaurants across the country and supplies being distributed. While she sees the government as completely useless (indeed the head general's son took the helicopters out for his birthday right as the start of the crisis) she also acknowledges that the local grassroots movement is the most successful she has seen. I guess there are two sides to every coin. In this lunch I also learned that Cambodian history after 1973 is not taught in school. This means that there is an entire generation now that has not learned about the Khmer Rouge, the Vietnamese occupation, or the UN elections. I found this to be very sad, but it seems that the times were too controversial for text books. Some learn about the Khmer Rouge through their parents, but often the parents don't to talk about it or the kids simply do not believe it.
After lunch then I went to the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda. This was a bit of a surreal experience because it is an absolutely beautiful site, one of the main tourist attractions of the city, and the grounds were completely empty. There was only a handful of people there. I can't help but compare it to the Forbidden City, where you can barely walk. Indeed there are so few tourists here that I ran into one (Tim) that was on my tour at Toul Sleng the day before. While it was interesting to see a familiar face, Tim is a Hollander (?) who lived in Connecticut for a year, wears polos and khaki shorts and is extremely cheap...so I chose to continue looking through the Palace by myself. The whole place is indeed very beautiful and once I find an interest cafe that will let me upload the pictures I will be sure to put them up. The rest of the afternoon was spend napping and then having dinner with some staff and friends from the Boddhi Tree. They are all very nice, eager to tell me about Khmer culture, and really into cheezy pop. Indeed, you haven't lived until you've seen a large group of Khmer men belting along to Britney's 'Bottom of My Broken Heart.'
Today was then spent in a similar fashion, but without the lunch and with a visit to the National Museum instead. The Museum is extremely modest on the inside but absolutely beautiful architecturally. Many of the artifacts were destroyed by the Khmer Rouge when they first entered Phnom Penh and the museum stayed out of commission until 2002. I personally find it strange that the Khmer Rouge destroyed the artifacts (and murdered the curator) because they sought to create a pure Khmer culture with the Angkor Empire being the example of both how high the culture can rise and how far it can fall. Angkor Wat is the pride and joy of the Khmer people and to deface it is it deface the people. Granted there are artifacts from both pre and post Angkor, and there could have been modern art that was completely destroyed that I am unaware of, but the whole issue still leaves me curious.
Right before I come to write this all up I met with Tivea finally. He seems very friendly and speaks English sparingly...at best. There are two other people in the program who understand English, but cannot speak it well. Basically, I should really start learning Khmer, fast! In Sre Ambel I will most likely be sleeping on a mat on the floor in a wooden hut and I am told that everything closes by 7pm. Tivea said that the living there is very simple, even for a Cambodian. All of this made me very nervous, but all of your comments, emails and support are very encouraging. I can't thank you enough for it.
Again, I hope all is well with you and I'll be back in the city on Friday or Saturday to restock on food.
As for what I have been doing the last two days...Yesterday I want to AFSC office and finally met the other office workers. Everyone is Khmer except for the Regional and Country Directors. They all seemed very nice, but seeing as I won't really be working with them the introductions were very short. I then went out with the company driver to buy a cell phone, which was an experience of itself. The whole time I basically had no idea what was happening because I am completely clueless to the language. One thing I was aware of however was that I had to pick my number. Meaning they gave me a list of about 50 phone numbers and told me to choose one...it was daunting and strange but I was later told this is because some people have lucky and bad numbers that they need to be able to select for.
After the phone purchase I went for lunch with Russell and this women from Singapore who is here as a consultant. I have no idea what her name is but she does some very interesting work. She just came back from Myanmar and had some really interesting stories to tell and pictures to show. She has been working in Southeast Asia for well over 30 years now, has been a lot of atrocities and feels that the Burmanese government is the most indignant and selfish government she has ever witnessed. She told me stories about how cyclone relief donations reach the government and stop there, or that they actually go towards supplies, food, and helicopter fuel (only helicopters can reach the region) but never leave the ground. On a hopeful note however, she was talking about how impressed she was with the local people and their drive to rebuild. Already many villages are rebuilt, donation cups are in restaurants across the country and supplies being distributed. While she sees the government as completely useless (indeed the head general's son took the helicopters out for his birthday right as the start of the crisis) she also acknowledges that the local grassroots movement is the most successful she has seen. I guess there are two sides to every coin. In this lunch I also learned that Cambodian history after 1973 is not taught in school. This means that there is an entire generation now that has not learned about the Khmer Rouge, the Vietnamese occupation, or the UN elections. I found this to be very sad, but it seems that the times were too controversial for text books. Some learn about the Khmer Rouge through their parents, but often the parents don't to talk about it or the kids simply do not believe it.
After lunch then I went to the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda. This was a bit of a surreal experience because it is an absolutely beautiful site, one of the main tourist attractions of the city, and the grounds were completely empty. There was only a handful of people there. I can't help but compare it to the Forbidden City, where you can barely walk. Indeed there are so few tourists here that I ran into one (Tim) that was on my tour at Toul Sleng the day before. While it was interesting to see a familiar face, Tim is a Hollander (?) who lived in Connecticut for a year, wears polos and khaki shorts and is extremely cheap...so I chose to continue looking through the Palace by myself. The whole place is indeed very beautiful and once I find an interest cafe that will let me upload the pictures I will be sure to put them up. The rest of the afternoon was spend napping and then having dinner with some staff and friends from the Boddhi Tree. They are all very nice, eager to tell me about Khmer culture, and really into cheezy pop. Indeed, you haven't lived until you've seen a large group of Khmer men belting along to Britney's 'Bottom of My Broken Heart.'
Today was then spent in a similar fashion, but without the lunch and with a visit to the National Museum instead. The Museum is extremely modest on the inside but absolutely beautiful architecturally. Many of the artifacts were destroyed by the Khmer Rouge when they first entered Phnom Penh and the museum stayed out of commission until 2002. I personally find it strange that the Khmer Rouge destroyed the artifacts (and murdered the curator) because they sought to create a pure Khmer culture with the Angkor Empire being the example of both how high the culture can rise and how far it can fall. Angkor Wat is the pride and joy of the Khmer people and to deface it is it deface the people. Granted there are artifacts from both pre and post Angkor, and there could have been modern art that was completely destroyed that I am unaware of, but the whole issue still leaves me curious.
Right before I come to write this all up I met with Tivea finally. He seems very friendly and speaks English sparingly...at best. There are two other people in the program who understand English, but cannot speak it well. Basically, I should really start learning Khmer, fast! In Sre Ambel I will most likely be sleeping on a mat on the floor in a wooden hut and I am told that everything closes by 7pm. Tivea said that the living there is very simple, even for a Cambodian. All of this made me very nervous, but all of your comments, emails and support are very encouraging. I can't thank you enough for it.
Again, I hope all is well with you and I'll be back in the city on Friday or Saturday to restock on food.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Day Two in Phnom Penh
Today has been a pretty interesting and eye opening day. I am still extremely jetlagged so as a result I woke up at 4am with no idea what to do with myself and have consequently gone about the day in a haze.
Anyway, I got breakfast with Margaret this morning. Margaret is an Australian (oops, not British) librarian who was first sent to Cambodia in 1986 by the quakers and moved here permanently in 1990. She has done a lot of interesting stuff, like helping the local universities set up their libraries and worked on the war crime trails for Khmer Rouge. Since she has been here for so long she is a good source of information and took me on a little driving tour of Phnom Penh.
To start off with the tour, it should be established that there are no driving laws in Cambodia. I saw a couple of traffic lights and crossing signs, but they are generally completely ignored. Motos dominate the roads and the cars usually stick to their side but it not uncommon to find them driving on the wrong side or straddling lanes. While being both in a car and on a moto is a terrifying experience, in reality the drivers are more aware then any driver in the US and accidents are apparently rare considering the mass chaos.
The architecture of Phnom Pehn is very interesting as I learned. The buildings are an odd hodgepodge of stunning temples, beautiful french structures, dilapidated buildings, and brand new construction. During the Khmer Rouge regime, all of the people were kicked out Phnom Penh (except prisoners and soldiers). The Khmer Rouge sought to turn everyone into a working peasant class and deserting the cities was one way of doing so. As a result when the Vietnamese came into Phnom Penh they found a completely empty city. Vegetation had started to take over the city and eroded many of the building. The Khmer Rouge gouged out many of the stores and burned all the appliances (because they represented capitalism...?) and sorted the contents into huge story tall piles. They also bombed many of the significant buildings, like the National Bank and the Cathedral. Now, during the rebuilding process, everything is under construction. As a consequence however, there is a steel, brick and skilled labour shortage which has resulted in massive funding from the Chinese and Japanese (strings very attached) and not from local agencies. Margaret showed me all of the notable sights in Phnom Penh via the car and I am excited to look at each site up close. Margaret also has many connections in Cambodia and when I come back to the city she is going to set up a meeting with me and some environmental field worker. It should be interesting and exciting.
After Margaret dropped me off I went to see Wat Phnom. It is a very beautiful temple that I enjoyed very much. An elephant rested at the bottom of the temple and giant statues hide among the trees. Since only foreigners have to pay to enter ($1), most of the people there were Khmers. Being at the temple it was apparent to me the poverty that plagues this nation. Everywhere you go you see amputees and homeless children, many of whom are spooning water from puddles into dirty plastic bottles. The poverty indeed is overwhelming, disheartening and frustrating. While many NGOs have now established themselves in Cambodia, their work is clearly endless. On a slightly lighter note, there are also many monkeys who inhabit the wat and eat the offerings for the Buddha. They are very used to people and I even saw a monkey and child cuddling on a mother's lap. I found this site both cute and disturbing.
After Wat Phnom, I went to the genocide museum across the street from where I am staying. I spent a full day preparing myself for what I would see and as a result managed to get through the first half of the tour numb. The compound is composed of three buildings, with a strangely beautiful sitting area in the middle. The first building is the site of the torture chambers, the beds left as they were found with pictures on all the walls of the people found in each room by the Vietnamese. The second building is now a gallery of sorts, showing mugs shots of the people who passed through Toul Sloung. The pictures were never ending and the more and more I looked at them, the more surreal the whole place became. The last building was the hardest, with crude paintings of torture methods displayed along side instruments and skulls. Perhaps the saddest part of all however is that once the S-21 commander was put on trial, he admitted in a ball of tears that he had no idea why he did it.
I am sorry that this entry was rather sobering--but much in this city is. Tomorrow I will go down to Sre Ambel (pronounced more like Shry Am-Bal) and learn more about dams, fish and forests. Hurrah.
I have many pictures, but I am too lazy to attempt to upload them now. Another time, another time.
Anyway, I got breakfast with Margaret this morning. Margaret is an Australian (oops, not British) librarian who was first sent to Cambodia in 1986 by the quakers and moved here permanently in 1990. She has done a lot of interesting stuff, like helping the local universities set up their libraries and worked on the war crime trails for Khmer Rouge. Since she has been here for so long she is a good source of information and took me on a little driving tour of Phnom Penh.
To start off with the tour, it should be established that there are no driving laws in Cambodia. I saw a couple of traffic lights and crossing signs, but they are generally completely ignored. Motos dominate the roads and the cars usually stick to their side but it not uncommon to find them driving on the wrong side or straddling lanes. While being both in a car and on a moto is a terrifying experience, in reality the drivers are more aware then any driver in the US and accidents are apparently rare considering the mass chaos.
The architecture of Phnom Pehn is very interesting as I learned. The buildings are an odd hodgepodge of stunning temples, beautiful french structures, dilapidated buildings, and brand new construction. During the Khmer Rouge regime, all of the people were kicked out Phnom Penh (except prisoners and soldiers). The Khmer Rouge sought to turn everyone into a working peasant class and deserting the cities was one way of doing so. As a result when the Vietnamese came into Phnom Penh they found a completely empty city. Vegetation had started to take over the city and eroded many of the building. The Khmer Rouge gouged out many of the stores and burned all the appliances (because they represented capitalism...?) and sorted the contents into huge story tall piles. They also bombed many of the significant buildings, like the National Bank and the Cathedral. Now, during the rebuilding process, everything is under construction. As a consequence however, there is a steel, brick and skilled labour shortage which has resulted in massive funding from the Chinese and Japanese (strings very attached) and not from local agencies. Margaret showed me all of the notable sights in Phnom Penh via the car and I am excited to look at each site up close. Margaret also has many connections in Cambodia and when I come back to the city she is going to set up a meeting with me and some environmental field worker. It should be interesting and exciting.
After Margaret dropped me off I went to see Wat Phnom. It is a very beautiful temple that I enjoyed very much. An elephant rested at the bottom of the temple and giant statues hide among the trees. Since only foreigners have to pay to enter ($1), most of the people there were Khmers. Being at the temple it was apparent to me the poverty that plagues this nation. Everywhere you go you see amputees and homeless children, many of whom are spooning water from puddles into dirty plastic bottles. The poverty indeed is overwhelming, disheartening and frustrating. While many NGOs have now established themselves in Cambodia, their work is clearly endless. On a slightly lighter note, there are also many monkeys who inhabit the wat and eat the offerings for the Buddha. They are very used to people and I even saw a monkey and child cuddling on a mother's lap. I found this site both cute and disturbing.
After Wat Phnom, I went to the genocide museum across the street from where I am staying. I spent a full day preparing myself for what I would see and as a result managed to get through the first half of the tour numb. The compound is composed of three buildings, with a strangely beautiful sitting area in the middle. The first building is the site of the torture chambers, the beds left as they were found with pictures on all the walls of the people found in each room by the Vietnamese. The second building is now a gallery of sorts, showing mugs shots of the people who passed through Toul Sloung. The pictures were never ending and the more and more I looked at them, the more surreal the whole place became. The last building was the hardest, with crude paintings of torture methods displayed along side instruments and skulls. Perhaps the saddest part of all however is that once the S-21 commander was put on trial, he admitted in a ball of tears that he had no idea why he did it.
I am sorry that this entry was rather sobering--but much in this city is. Tomorrow I will go down to Sre Ambel (pronounced more like Shry Am-Bal) and learn more about dams, fish and forests. Hurrah.
I have many pictures, but I am too lazy to attempt to upload them now. Another time, another time.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Arriving
Why hello!
After two days of journeying, four different airports, mild food poisoning (go Continental Airlines), seemingly endless lines, and no sleep...I have finally arrived in Phnom Phen!
I haven't gotten to go around the city much yet, but everyone I have met so far has been extremely nice. Phnom Phen is a relatively dirty city, marked by a couple major paved roads and then dozens of unpaved roads that are supposidly identified by numbers which were assigned completely randomly. The guesthouse I am staying in, the Boddhi Tree Umma, is quite possibly the cutest place I've ever been. It has a cafe and a lobby that may or may not also be a rainforest. I find the cuteness of the Boddhi Tree rather ironic however because across the street is the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, also known as S-21. S-21 is the infamous prison of the Khmer Rouge, where 17,000 people were tortured and slain over the course of four years. I really want to take a tour of the museum, but I know it will have to wait until tomorrow when I am not so jet-lagged.
As for my internship, the director of AFSC Cambodia picked me up from the airport and immediately we got started in talking about what I will be doing. Russell, the director, is a 40something Australian who has been living in Cambodia since 1993, the year of the first election. Oh, I also found out that elections will be this July, which I am very excited to be here for. I am not fully aware of the political tensions that are surrounding the current election, but I was given the impression that everything should be very peaceful. One party, the People's Party, has reigned since 1993 and while there are many opposition parties the People's Party will probably win again. Many say that Cambodians are still more interested in stability then what the party actually stands for. Just last week the NGOs in Cambodia hosted a forum for all of the party representatives (of which the People's Party did not show) to discuss the environmental future and planning for the country. The newspaper article about it should be out on Monday, and I am interested as to see what key issues were discussed.
One thing I know that was brought up was the issue of hydroelectric dam construction (ok, now back to what I am actually doing here) by the people of Sre Ambel. Sre Ambel is in the Southwest region of Cambodia and it is which I will be living while I am here; AFSC has been working in the region for a while and Integrated Sustainable Livelihoods (ISL) has been working on forestry and fishery management with the locals for a number of years now. The area is plagued with land use issues as the government leases the land to big businesses who fill in the rice paddies to grow sugar cane. The area also happens to be the host of a newly approved hydroelectric dam that is intended to help power Phnom Phen. Unfortunately, no Environmental Impact Assessment was completed before the dam was approved. So AFSC and another local NGO (River something...) took it upon themselves to do an EIA report. The report has just gone through its second draft, and Russell gave me a copy of the report to look over. So my first assignment? Read the report and be able to simplify it for the local Khmer that work for AFSC. It turns out that Russell is the only non-Khmer working for the company so many of the NGO employees are having trouble understanding the report seeing as it was written in rather confusing english. (To clarify, AFSC hired an outside consultant to write the report and conduct the analysis.) I have already read about 20 pages and it is dense material, but what can I say, I love it! No, really. The report focuses not only on the environmental impact of the dam but on the potential for human rights violations that such a major construction could impose as well. I am learning a lot about the local region and I can't wait to go to Sre Ambel and finally discuss how the locals feel about the dam plans.
Ok, well I think that is all for now! Hopefully I will be able to write again tomorrow, but after that I honestly don't know when I will be able to write again. Tomorrow I am having breakfast with some Quaker librarian who has been living in Cambodia since the late 80s or so, and as result I know she'll have a lot of interesting things to say. Apparently she has been waiting for another Quaker to enter the country for quite some time now (no one at AFSC Cambodia is actually a Friend). She sounded like the jolliest British woman who ever lived when I talked to her on the phone, so breakfast should be fun.
Love you all,
Miss you more.
Oh and please forgive any misspellings or confusing sentences. Every-Single-Key sticks on this keyboard, and I am jetlagged. Oh well.
After two days of journeying, four different airports, mild food poisoning (go Continental Airlines), seemingly endless lines, and no sleep...I have finally arrived in Phnom Phen!
I haven't gotten to go around the city much yet, but everyone I have met so far has been extremely nice. Phnom Phen is a relatively dirty city, marked by a couple major paved roads and then dozens of unpaved roads that are supposidly identified by numbers which were assigned completely randomly. The guesthouse I am staying in, the Boddhi Tree Umma, is quite possibly the cutest place I've ever been. It has a cafe and a lobby that may or may not also be a rainforest. I find the cuteness of the Boddhi Tree rather ironic however because across the street is the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, also known as S-21. S-21 is the infamous prison of the Khmer Rouge, where 17,000 people were tortured and slain over the course of four years. I really want to take a tour of the museum, but I know it will have to wait until tomorrow when I am not so jet-lagged.
As for my internship, the director of AFSC Cambodia picked me up from the airport and immediately we got started in talking about what I will be doing. Russell, the director, is a 40something Australian who has been living in Cambodia since 1993, the year of the first election. Oh, I also found out that elections will be this July, which I am very excited to be here for. I am not fully aware of the political tensions that are surrounding the current election, but I was given the impression that everything should be very peaceful. One party, the People's Party, has reigned since 1993 and while there are many opposition parties the People's Party will probably win again. Many say that Cambodians are still more interested in stability then what the party actually stands for. Just last week the NGOs in Cambodia hosted a forum for all of the party representatives (of which the People's Party did not show) to discuss the environmental future and planning for the country. The newspaper article about it should be out on Monday, and I am interested as to see what key issues were discussed.
One thing I know that was brought up was the issue of hydroelectric dam construction (ok, now back to what I am actually doing here) by the people of Sre Ambel. Sre Ambel is in the Southwest region of Cambodia and it is which I will be living while I am here; AFSC has been working in the region for a while and Integrated Sustainable Livelihoods (ISL) has been working on forestry and fishery management with the locals for a number of years now. The area is plagued with land use issues as the government leases the land to big businesses who fill in the rice paddies to grow sugar cane. The area also happens to be the host of a newly approved hydroelectric dam that is intended to help power Phnom Phen. Unfortunately, no Environmental Impact Assessment was completed before the dam was approved. So AFSC and another local NGO (River something...) took it upon themselves to do an EIA report. The report has just gone through its second draft, and Russell gave me a copy of the report to look over. So my first assignment? Read the report and be able to simplify it for the local Khmer that work for AFSC. It turns out that Russell is the only non-Khmer working for the company so many of the NGO employees are having trouble understanding the report seeing as it was written in rather confusing english. (To clarify, AFSC hired an outside consultant to write the report and conduct the analysis.) I have already read about 20 pages and it is dense material, but what can I say, I love it! No, really. The report focuses not only on the environmental impact of the dam but on the potential for human rights violations that such a major construction could impose as well. I am learning a lot about the local region and I can't wait to go to Sre Ambel and finally discuss how the locals feel about the dam plans.
Ok, well I think that is all for now! Hopefully I will be able to write again tomorrow, but after that I honestly don't know when I will be able to write again. Tomorrow I am having breakfast with some Quaker librarian who has been living in Cambodia since the late 80s or so, and as result I know she'll have a lot of interesting things to say. Apparently she has been waiting for another Quaker to enter the country for quite some time now (no one at AFSC Cambodia is actually a Friend). She sounded like the jolliest British woman who ever lived when I talked to her on the phone, so breakfast should be fun.
Love you all,
Miss you more.
Oh and please forgive any misspellings or confusing sentences. Every-Single-Key sticks on this keyboard, and I am jetlagged. Oh well.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)