Saturday 16th June 2007
I am sorry about the delay in posting, but Kampong Thom has been without electricity for most of the week. The romour floating around town is that the head of the electiricty company wants a pay increase (i.e. better kick back) and is effectively holding the town to ransom and will increase the price next week (we already pay twice as much as people living in Phnom Penh). The other story is that the machine broke and that it will take them a week to get the spare parts. Both st0ories are quite pluasible, so it is hard to tell. What it has meant is that i have had no fans (it is still very hot - even at night - the first night of the blackout I dehydrated during my sleep and spent the whole next day drinking rehydration drinks till I stopped feeling dizzy) and have had to do most things in the evening by candle light. It has also meant very little work getting done at work when the computers are down. The joys of living in a developing country....
Monday 11th June 2007
The big 3-ohhh and other misadventures
I don’t know what is going on today. But I turned up to work this afternoon and only three staff are here. Only one of whom actually appears to be working. I must have missed the memo. I have finished all my work, so I figure I might as well write another blog instalment…
It has been a hectic few weeks and I am absolutely exhausted.
Last week we decided, along with two other local NGOs, to pursue a women’s rights and domestic violence program (we dropped the land rights one in the end) through the European Commission. Unfortunately, the proposals were due yesterday, which gave us a week to create, discuss, budget and write a detailed proposal. One week is not a long time to do this, particularly when it involves coordinating three Khmer NGOs and making it fit in with an International NGOs program. Fortunately, all three NGOs had international volunteers working for them who had sufficiently English skills to churn something out quickly. One of the other NGOs working on the program was CoDeC which is the NGO that Shin (my housemate) is working for. So Shin and I spent nearly every night last week, with a beer in our hands, tapping away at our key boards until all hours (We got a break one night when the power went down). Both our Khmer teacher and our cleaner took pity on us and bought us food which was very nice of them. Yesterday we had to throw Shin in a taxi to Phnom Penh to hand the proposal in on time – he got there late, after the moto driver got lost, but thankfully, they accepted it anyhow.
Domestic violence is a pretty big issue in Cambodia; it is still seen by many as a private or family issue, one that should be resolved within the confines of the household. One statistic, from a national survey, found that almost 60% of people believe that it is ok for a husband to shoot or throw acid on his wife if she disrespects him. In more extreme examples; some men would tie their wives feet together, hang them from the roof and systematically torture them. I found these stories and statistics quite surprising, given how respectful/gentle people appear to be in public and the fact that the country is predominantly Buddhist. It seems that despite the peaceful teachings of Buddha, the recent extremely violent history still lingers in many people’s minds and there is no clear boundary on what is acceptable behaviour.
Our program is aimed at complimenting a program by GTZ (a German Technological Development organisation). GTZ is targeting Kampong Thom – working with the judiciary, government agencies and the police to create a better understanding of domestic violence and to spread awareness of the new anti-domestic violence laws. Our program will compliment this, by working with the community and local officials to create a better understanding of domestic violence, encourage open discussion, coordinate support for victims and to empower communities to deal with domestic violence in a better way. As part of the ‘awareness raising’ I suggested that we get some local actors to act out the issue of domestic violence in a little dramatic production. Everyone thought it was a great idea, so it got put in the proposal. I was pretty happy with that.
So from working really hard, I also turned 30 last week. Shin and I decided to have a BBQ at our place to celebrate. A few of our friends came up from Phnom Penh and Lainie came down from Poipet. Most of the staff from both MODE and CoDeC also came along, as did our cleaner, some neighbours, Khmer teacher and some of the other expats living in Kampong Thom. In all we had about 50 people, a good mix of Khmers and expats. We had it in the back yard and decorated the trees with fairy lights, lanterns and candles (bought from the market), and laid out some big khmer matts on the ground for people to sit. As the sun set, it was quite picturesque…
It was touch and go for a bit on the BBQ front, but my friends Tim & Ags came through at the last moment with both a BBQ and a pile of meat. Legends. It took me and Tim several beers and a good hour to put the little red BBQ together, which ended up lopsided (ahh, quality Asian products), and the paint started falling off when we put the hot coals in, but it held together. There was a lot of interest from the Khmers in the BBQed food (some hadn’t seen a BBQ before) and after I demonstrated how to make a sausage sandwich (with a sufficiently charcoaled sausage of course), they went at it with much gusto. When I first told them I wanted to have a BBQ, it took me quite a while to explain the concept. Thankfully my boss had done a bit of travelling and was able to explain it for me. The potato salad was also rather popular – so much so, that I missed out on getting any. I am on a winner there.
So the party went quite late, with the music blaring through the massive speakers I borrowed off my boss. There was a lull for about 10 minutes when the power went out – but the neighbours came to the rescue a generator and the party kicked on, while the rest of Kampong Thom descended into darkness. At one point we put on the Khmer music and got everyone to
dance around the table, that was quite fun. The Khmers loved that all my AYAD friends got up and danced too.
It was about 2 am in the morning when the party wrapped up. All the Khmer, even Mab, had gone home and there was about eight of us sprawled out on the mats sinking Mekong Whiskey (not as bad as it sounds), by candle light, when the dogs turned up scavenging for left overs (they didn’t even bring anything to contribute to the party - scabs). We decided to take this as an omen and hit the hay.
The next morning I woke up sweating profusely from the heat and my hangover. I had that moment where you wish that someone else would clean up, but you know that you have to get up and clean. I could already smell the stale beer, cigarettes and all these little bits of food going rancid in the sun. I scraped myself out of bed and went to the back window to survey the damage, only to find, to my surprise, that the backyard was absolutely spotless. The cleaner had turned up early and cleaned everything up for us. She had even done the washing up. Shin and I were well chuffed. We have decided to buy her a present.
The weekend before last, I went to another 30th in Battambong. Another volunteer, Amy, was born a few days before me and she was having a party. Battambong is on the other side of the Tonle Sap lake, so it took me 8 hours to get there. Admittedly, I went the long way via Phnom Penh, because it was also Tim’s birthday that week, and he was going disco bowling. But it was a good way to break up the trek.
Battambong is the second biggest city in Cambodia, which isn’t saying much. The name means ‘big stick’ and there is a big statue of a guy holding a big stick at the entrance to the city. By Khmer standards it is quite a nice city – there is clearly a French influence in the architecture and there is a big river that cuts through the town with little moto/footbridges that cut across it - but there are far pretty cities in south East Asia. There are four AYADs based there, all girls, and they all live in a massive three story house with a huge balcony – where the party was held. We sat out on the balcony drinking beers, giving each other haircuts and dancing. It was fun. I was particularly happy because I also got to catch up with Lainie for the first time in three weeks.
The day before I went to Battambong was International Children’s Day and as part MODEs ‘happy children’ program I was invited down to my Khmer teachers school (she is the school principal) to help out. When I got there I was shuffled into a seat in the front row with all the local dignitaries for what turned out to be a bit of an awards ceremony. MODE had provided the school with ‘prizes’ for the best students in each class and each of the dignitaries took turns presenting the awards to the kids. It was quite odd – I was sitting next to the District Governor, the Village Chief and the local Police Commander handing out awards – clearly I am moving up in social circles in Cambodia…
I hope all is well back home.
Erin
I am sorry about the delay in posting, but Kampong Thom has been without electricity for most of the week. The romour floating around town is that the head of the electiricty company wants a pay increase (i.e. better kick back) and is effectively holding the town to ransom and will increase the price next week (we already pay twice as much as people living in Phnom Penh). The other story is that the machine broke and that it will take them a week to get the spare parts. Both st0ories are quite pluasible, so it is hard to tell. What it has meant is that i have had no fans (it is still very hot - even at night - the first night of the blackout I dehydrated during my sleep and spent the whole next day drinking rehydration drinks till I stopped feeling dizzy) and have had to do most things in the evening by candle light. It has also meant very little work getting done at work when the computers are down. The joys of living in a developing country....
Monday 11th June 2007
The big 3-ohhh and other misadventures
I don’t know what is going on today. But I turned up to work this afternoon and only three staff are here. Only one of whom actually appears to be working. I must have missed the memo. I have finished all my work, so I figure I might as well write another blog instalment…
It has been a hectic few weeks and I am absolutely exhausted.
Last week we decided, along with two other local NGOs, to pursue a women’s rights and domestic violence program (we dropped the land rights one in the end) through the European Commission. Unfortunately, the proposals were due yesterday, which gave us a week to create, discuss, budget and write a detailed proposal. One week is not a long time to do this, particularly when it involves coordinating three Khmer NGOs and making it fit in with an International NGOs program. Fortunately, all three NGOs had international volunteers working for them who had sufficiently English skills to churn something out quickly. One of the other NGOs working on the program was CoDeC which is the NGO that Shin (my housemate) is working for. So Shin and I spent nearly every night last week, with a beer in our hands, tapping away at our key boards until all hours (We got a break one night when the power went down). Both our Khmer teacher and our cleaner took pity on us and bought us food which was very nice of them. Yesterday we had to throw Shin in a taxi to Phnom Penh to hand the proposal in on time – he got there late, after the moto driver got lost, but thankfully, they accepted it anyhow.
Domestic violence is a pretty big issue in Cambodia; it is still seen by many as a private or family issue, one that should be resolved within the confines of the household. One statistic, from a national survey, found that almost 60% of people believe that it is ok for a husband to shoot or throw acid on his wife if she disrespects him. In more extreme examples; some men would tie their wives feet together, hang them from the roof and systematically torture them. I found these stories and statistics quite surprising, given how respectful/gentle people appear to be in public and the fact that the country is predominantly Buddhist. It seems that despite the peaceful teachings of Buddha, the recent extremely violent history still lingers in many people’s minds and there is no clear boundary on what is acceptable behaviour.
Our program is aimed at complimenting a program by GTZ (a German Technological Development organisation). GTZ is targeting Kampong Thom – working with the judiciary, government agencies and the police to create a better understanding of domestic violence and to spread awareness of the new anti-domestic violence laws. Our program will compliment this, by working with the community and local officials to create a better understanding of domestic violence, encourage open discussion, coordinate support for victims and to empower communities to deal with domestic violence in a better way. As part of the ‘awareness raising’ I suggested that we get some local actors to act out the issue of domestic violence in a little dramatic production. Everyone thought it was a great idea, so it got put in the proposal. I was pretty happy with that.
So from working really hard, I also turned 30 last week. Shin and I decided to have a BBQ at our place to celebrate. A few of our friends came up from Phnom Penh and Lainie came down from Poipet. Most of the staff from both MODE and CoDeC also came along, as did our cleaner, some neighbours, Khmer teacher and some of the other expats living in Kampong Thom. In all we had about 50 people, a good mix of Khmers and expats. We had it in the back yard and decorated the trees with fairy lights, lanterns and candles (bought from the market), and laid out some big khmer matts on the ground for people to sit. As the sun set, it was quite picturesque…
It was touch and go for a bit on the BBQ front, but my friends Tim & Ags came through at the last moment with both a BBQ and a pile of meat. Legends. It took me and Tim several beers and a good hour to put the little red BBQ together, which ended up lopsided (ahh, quality Asian products), and the paint started falling off when we put the hot coals in, but it held together. There was a lot of interest from the Khmers in the BBQed food (some hadn’t seen a BBQ before) and after I demonstrated how to make a sausage sandwich (with a sufficiently charcoaled sausage of course), they went at it with much gusto. When I first told them I wanted to have a BBQ, it took me quite a while to explain the concept. Thankfully my boss had done a bit of travelling and was able to explain it for me. The potato salad was also rather popular – so much so, that I missed out on getting any. I am on a winner there.So the party went quite late, with the music blaring through the massive speakers I borrowed off my boss. There was a lull for about 10 minutes when the power went out – but the neighbours came to the rescue a generator and the party kicked on, while the rest of Kampong Thom descended into darkness. At one point we put on the Khmer music and got everyone to
dance around the table, that was quite fun. The Khmers loved that all my AYAD friends got up and danced too.It was about 2 am in the morning when the party wrapped up. All the Khmer, even Mab, had gone home and there was about eight of us sprawled out on the mats sinking Mekong Whiskey (not as bad as it sounds), by candle light, when the dogs turned up scavenging for left overs (they didn’t even bring anything to contribute to the party - scabs). We decided to take this as an omen and hit the hay.
The next morning I woke up sweating profusely from the heat and my hangover. I had that moment where you wish that someone else would clean up, but you know that you have to get up and clean. I could already smell the stale beer, cigarettes and all these little bits of food going rancid in the sun. I scraped myself out of bed and went to the back window to survey the damage, only to find, to my surprise, that the backyard was absolutely spotless. The cleaner had turned up early and cleaned everything up for us. She had even done the washing up. Shin and I were well chuffed. We have decided to buy her a present.
The weekend before last, I went to another 30th in Battambong. Another volunteer, Amy, was born a few days before me and she was having a party. Battambong is on the other side of the Tonle Sap lake, so it took me 8 hours to get there. Admittedly, I went the long way via Phnom Penh, because it was also Tim’s birthday that week, and he was going disco bowling. But it was a good way to break up the trek.
Battambong is the second biggest city in Cambodia, which isn’t saying much. The name means ‘big stick’ and there is a big statue of a guy holding a big stick at the entrance to the city. By Khmer standards it is quite a nice city – there is clearly a French influence in the architecture and there is a big river that cuts through the town with little moto/footbridges that cut across it - but there are far pretty cities in south East Asia. There are four AYADs based there, all girls, and they all live in a massive three story house with a huge balcony – where the party was held. We sat out on the balcony drinking beers, giving each other haircuts and dancing. It was fun. I was particularly happy because I also got to catch up with Lainie for the first time in three weeks.
The day before I went to Battambong was International Children’s Day and as part MODEs ‘happy children’ program I was invited down to my Khmer teachers school (she is the school principal) to help out. When I got there I was shuffled into a seat in the front row with all the local dignitaries for what turned out to be a bit of an awards ceremony. MODE had provided the school with ‘prizes’ for the best students in each class and each of the dignitaries took turns presenting the awards to the kids. It was quite odd – I was sitting next to the District Governor, the Village Chief and the local Police Commander handing out awards – clearly I am moving up in social circles in Cambodia…I hope all is well back home.
Erin
