Cambodia - Part 18

20th September 2007

Blood lines

So I have now been here for six months. It seems like the time has flown by, but at the same time it feels like it has been so long since I left home. Things are going well though. I feel like I have really settled into things now – both at work and at home.

I do miss home though. I miss the familiarity and the ease of it all. I especially miss my friends and family and the ease of conversation that you can have with them. It is strange though. It comes in waves, often when I least expect it...

I am well known around Kampong Thom now. Out of a population of over 50,000 there are about 8 foreigners, and given my height and pale complexion I tend to stand out. At the local restaurants the staff often come up and talk to me, occasionally I get caught up in an importune English lesson or they teach me some Khmer words. Some of the younger guys like to hug me from behind and rub my belly (I think they thick it is good luck). It is kind off putting when you are trying to eat, but that is how they are here. It is a sign of affection and acceptance, so it is kind of nice. I still find it funny that guys can be so openly touchy and feely toward each other, but if they touched a girl there would be uproar.

A few weeks ago Shin’s NGO organised a HIV/AIDS workshop for local NGO workers dealing with HIV/AIDS. The workshop was run by a Nigerian girl who was an expert in HIV/AIDS. I decided to go along and learn a bit more about HIV/AIDS and to see what the Khmer people thought about it. There were definitely some naive and funny questions. But my favourite was “If a man puts on a condom and they sneezed wouldn’t it fly off?” Of course, we weren’t suppose to laugh about this, but it was hard not to. I learnt a bit myself though, I didn’t know much about the anti-viral treatments used to treat people living with HIV/AIDS and how they worked. It also put into my head what a really terrible disease it can be and how much people must suffer both physically and mentally after acquiring it. It is a death sentence - a slow and painful one. It is really quite scary.

As part of the workshop we went out to visit the local VCCT Clinic at the local hospital. The VCCT clinic offers free blood tests and counselling for people who want to get tested for HIV. The doctor there told us that about 6% of the people that come through the clinic are infected with HIV. That is a massive figure for any disease, but for a disease that is practically a death sentence, it is horrifying.

Throughout the course it became apparent that many of the participants were a bit shy about talking about some of the subjects, especially sex and were unsure of how the whole blood tests worked. So, after checking with the course convener that it was safe to do so, I volunteered to go through the blood test and counselling in front of the group.

Now there is a new experience. Sitting in a room with a doctor, translator and a group of Khmer NGO workers talking about my sex life – I could tell when the personal questions were coming because the room would giggle before I got the translation and then giggle again after I answered. The good news is that I don’t have HIV. Even though I was pretty sure I didn’t, it was still a nerve racking 15 minute wait (I can’t imagine how it would have been like to wait for weeks like in the bad old days) with the images I had been looking at over the past few days whirling though my mind. Made worse by the fact that everyone kept coming up to me and asking ‘aren’t you scared?’ - well, I wasn’t. But now you guys are making me nervous. When I went back in for the results my translator, Song, jumped in the air, cheered and high-fived me. I assumed all was good at that point – but checked the test results anyway.

After I demonstrated to the group how easy it was a few other of the participants also decided to get blood tests while we were there. And I suspect a few went back after. I think it was a great relief, especially for the women, to know they were negative (they just don’t know whether there husbands are playing safe of not and it is not cool for them to ask). So, I am happy that I choose to lead by example.

That night Shin (who also took the test after me) and I decided to celebrate the Khmer way by getting drunk and picking up some hookers at the local Karaoke Bar – I am joking. About the drinking. OK - And the hookers.

Aside from the training I have been quite busy at work. I am progressing on my ‘sustainable communities’ project – putting together concept notes, training plans and proposals. I have started to organise the start of a strategic planning for my NGO – we are going to go on a staff retreat in October to put it together. I have been doing background research on databases and monitoring the information flows throughout the organisation so I can build an effective database. It is good – I feel like things are progressing well and that I am going to achieve a few things before I wrap up. If I had left now I would not have been close to getting any of these near completion.

Aside from my work, I have also been to a few more community meetings after hours and I managed to organise a few days away to show Lainie’s NGO a little about databases and Access. In return, Lainie gave me some information on Quickbooks (a financial management program). I plan on integrating Quickbooks into a management database for my NGO, so all the information about the NGO is just at their finger tips. I hope. I am really learning on the run myself.

Aside from work and my visit to Poipet, not a lot has been happening. I have just been hanging around Kampong Thom a lot. It gets tedious travelling so much and sometimes it is nice just to kick around the house and hang out with my friends Kampong Thom. Although, I am usually bored out of my mind by the time Sunday night comes around. There are only so many times I can get drunk and sing Karaoke. Aside from travelling, drinking, reading or watch crap TV there ain’t a whole lot to do in rural Cambodia.

One thing that I did do the other day was drink snakes blood. We were at one of the guys houses drinking when they pulled it out. O had mentioned previously that I was keen to try the snake blood drink. Don’t get any romantic visions of them draining a snake into my drink. It was in a dirty old Johnny walker bottle. Apparently blood layers if you leave it for long enough – the congealed bits settle to the bottom. So you have to give it a good shake before you pour it. Just like a popper! I won’t lie – it looked and smelt foul. They poured the blood into my glass then topped it up with some whisky. I could feel the bile rising in the back of my throat as I looked at the glass, so I snatched it up and downed it in one go before my body stopped me. And the taste – well, surprisingly, it didn’t taste that bad. The whisky flavour dominated so I didn’t actually taste the blood. Apparently drinking snakes blood makes you more virile. So, look out ladies…

I also heard the other day that men here drink fermented baby deer antlers as a kind of natural viagra. I am not joking – it sells for about $100 for a little bottle and Khmer friends (educated men) swear it works. But they did warn me, if you take it and you are too young (i.e. not yet a man) then you will start bleeding from your eyes and ears. I might give that one a miss then…

On a completely different topic - I was reading a book the other day that mentioned that Pol Pot grew up in Kampong Thom. I was a bit spun out by this and started to make a few subtle enquiries, thinking that I might be able to go and check out his house. It turns out his childhood house is on the same street that I work on! It is a long street, but I must have gone past it a few times. Apparently his brother and sister still live there. I am still quite keen to check it out, but word on the street is – is that his brother is still quite pissed off about his brother being Pol Pot and is not exactly welcoming to the attention.

The brother only found out that Pol Pot was his brother after the Khmer Rouge’s brutal reign. He didn’t know Pol Pot was his brother because Pol Pot is not his real name – he changed from Salot Sor to Pol Pot after he returned to Cambodia from studying in Paris and hooked up with the Khmer Rouge. When the Khmer Rouge took over the country they destroyed television and news papers, so the family of Salot Sor had no idea that Pol Pot was there brother. The family of Salot Sor were treated the same as everyone else during the Khmer Rouge – they too were forced from their homes and into labour camps. Many of Salot Sor’s family died during the Khmer Rouge period, no doubt hoping that there brother was still in Paris and avoiding all the horror. So when the pictures of Pol Pot and his the story of his past came to light, after the regime had fallen, the remanets of Salot Sor’s family finally found out that their brother was the leader of a regime that brutally killed many of their family and friends. I can understand why he might be pissed off about that…it ain’t like your sister taking your CD without asking.

I hope my family and friends are well. Happy Birthday Helen!

Take care
e.