Days 19-20: This Is The End

The trip has drawn to a close. The last two days have been spent reflecting on, and solidifying the mountains of things we have seen, done, experienced, heard, learned, tasted, people we’ve talked to, places we’ve been, and more.

Yesterday we spent the morning doing an exercise prioritising the different elements of development. Education, health, economic growth and development, governance, human rights, rural development, gender equality, law and order, and infrastructure, which one do you prioritise over which? Of course there is no correct answer, but it did generate some interesting discussion and healthy debate.

Following on from this we discussed our roles back in Australia, what we do in our jobs, and in a broader sense, how do we affect and influence the world around us. This was an interesting exercise that got us thinking about the broader implications of our jobs. For example, on the face of it, a lead miner isn’t a very ‘humanitarian’ occupation. But dig a little deeper (pun intended) and you will find that in most homes in rural cambodia, there will be a car battery, filled with lead, powering lights, televisions, and telecommunication devices. It will be allowing children to do homework and parents to continue work after it gets dark, communities and families to communicate, and of course allow families to watch their soap operas! The world is far from black and white.

The evening brought together pretty much all the EWB volunteers we have come across during our time in Cambodia. Together we jumped on a boat and enjoyed a pizza party floating down the Mekong.

Pizza party on the Mekong.

This morning we reconvened to show some five minute videos we have been working on over the last week. The productions made by the three groups were outstanding considering the limited time and technology available to shoot and edit them. At one point I found myself sitting on the bathroom floor in the dark (so that the fan wouldn’t make noise) with Kate, from our group, playing a song out of the speakers of one phone and recording it with another, for our soundtrack. Making do with appropriate technologies! (I’ll see if I can make our masterpiece available on the blog later).

We continued with a recap of every day we have spent in Cambodia. Going through it blow by blow just highlighted the incredible amount we have done in just three weeks.

Our final workshop.

Finally we finished with a discussion about culture shock. The original definition of the term “culture shock” was actually used by anthropologists to describe returning home from an extended period in another country. Life is incredibly different in Cambodia, and the amount we have grown and learned in such a short amount of time is mind-boggling. Returning home has the risk of overwhelming. Being able to at the very least be conscious of the fact that you will have some degree of culture shock is an important first step. I know I am going to struggle with the lack of Khmer curry for breakfast…

That’s all for the moment. I will be writing a final post in the next few days, an epilogue focusing on ideas and concepts rather than events and experiences. I hope you have enjoyed the journey so far.

Day 18: Cambodian School of Prosthetics and Orthotics (Community Partner 5)

Back in Phnom Penh and visiting the Cambodian School of Prosthetics and Orthotics (CSPO), our fifth and final community partner. Actually I should say ex-community partner. CSPO has grown so much, and have become so self-sufficient that they no longer require the help of EWB!

Cambodia has one of the largest populations of disabled people in the world, largely due to landmines and diseases such as polio. The CSPO provides training in prosthetics and orthotics for students from Cambodia and other countries. Students at the CSPO learn how to prescribe, manufacture and fit artificial limbs and orthopaedic braces. The school was established in Cambodia in 1994 and is run by Exceed (formerly Cambodia Trust), a UK registered charity. The aim of CSPO is to create the foundation of sustainable physical rehabilitation services by producing qualified specialists with the skills and knowledge to provide support for people with disabilities.

Some of the devices the students learn to create.

CSPO are internationally recognised by the International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics and ISO 9001 (quality) certified. They currently have over 40,000 registered clients and fit over 20,000 prosthetics and orthotics each year (most need them replaced/adjusted yearly). The majority of patients used to be landmine victims, but due to the likes of Bill and Aki Ra (from my previous post), these cases have drastically dropped. Most now come from accidents, and diseases like polio and diabetes. Their patients have included an elephant who trod on an animal trap, and a 102 year old man (who was brought in by his 76 year old son). The prosthetics and physical rehabilitation are provided free of charge, as is the course for the students; funding comes from all over the world.

Our tour of CSPO could have been of a school in Australia, their setup is so professional. They have around 15 students in each of the three years the course runs for. The students finish with an internationally recognised diploma, however as part of the conditions of acceptance, the students are required to have employment in their own countries for the three years after course completion. The aim of this requirement is to send the knowledge back to the countries the students come from.

The workshop for the students.

The lecturers and even the director of CSPO are former students. The lecturers have gone overseas to get bachelors degrees and CSPO is actually planning to upskill some of these lecturers to masters and PhDs in order to be able to offer a bachelors degree at CSPO in Phnom Penh in the future.

CSPO are such a success story, and a great final community partner to visit. The story from this and every other community partner we have visited is one of hope and a brighter future ahead. There are some truly incredible people here in Cambodia, doing some truly incredible things.

Day 10: FOOD!

Fresh coconut milk, salted duck eggs, turmeric root and galangal, bundles of Asian basil, banana flowers, taro, tropical fruits and vegetables, beans, nuts, spices, chillies, meats, sweets, fish… heaven! Phnom Penh’s markets put Melbourne’s to shame.

We had a free day in Phnom Penh yesterday, and the plan for the morning was a cooking class to learn some traditional Khmer cuisine. Nara, our Khmer cooking teacher with a curious hint of a Manchester accent (especially when he said “poe-tay-toe”), met us in the morning after breakfast and a coffee. He took us to the market close-by to pick up a few of the remaining ingredients: banana leaves, fresh coconut milk, and some kaffir lime leaves. The market was cramped, busy, and incredible. Cambodian’s predominantly don’t have fridges, so will often go to the market twice a day to stock up on fresh produce to cook.

A small section of the market; just the beginning.

The Khmer cuisine is one of the oldest living cuisines in the world. The fertility and diversity of the Mekong river, the Tonle Sap lake and river, and the associated flood plains explain why water, rice, and freshwater fish are at the core of Khmer cooking. The Tonle Sap lake alone is believed to have more fish than any other lake in the world, and is second only to the Amazon river in biodiversity. Modern Khmer food shares much in common with neighbouring Thailand and Vietnam. French colonisation has been a large influence, and to a lesser extent so has China, India and even Spain (who introduced chillies and peanuts in the 16th century).

For our class, we cooked five dishes:

1. Spring rolls, stuffed with carrot, sweet potato, and taro
2. Banana blossom salad, with basil, tofu and a sweet and sour dressing
3. Khmer curry, with vegetables and chicken
4. Amok, a curry in a banana leaf, the national dish
5. Pumpkin custard, custard inside a hollowed out pumpkin

Everything turned out beautifully, but the salad and amok in particular were outstanding. The amok involves creating an amok paste from lemon grass, kaffir lime, shallot, turmeric, garlic, shrimp paste, fish sauce, egg yolk, chilli paste, and palm sugar. Add to that some coconut milk, peanuts, and diced fresh fish, or tofu and pour the mixture into the banana leaf folded into a cup. The dish is steamed for 20 minutes and served with rice. SO GOOD!

My tofu amok and banana blossom salad.

Day 5: RainWater Cambodia (Community Partner 2)

Two and a half hours outside of Phnom Penh there is a particular commune, whose name I cannot remember, made up of 11 villages. In this commune an NGO by the name of RainWater Cambodia (RWC) has been doing some impressive work (and I’m not easily impressed).

RWC was established in 2004 to formalise and promote rainwater harvesting in order to help improve access to safe water sources and sanitation in rural areas throughout Cambodia. In many areas throughout the country there is no accessible ground water, or it is unsuitable for drinking due to high salinity, high iron levels, or other contaminants such as arsenic. Traditional rainwater collection provides limited supply and allows contamination that RWC seeks to prevent.

RWC is estimated to have assisted over 300,000 people in accessing safer drinking water through rainwater harvesting. RWC is managed by a group of only ten, with technical support from EWB Australia. Despite the small numbers, they are currently working on over 32 projects with rural communities. Their two main programmes are their Water Supply Programme, and Sanitation and Hygiene Programme.

So back to the commune that I totally know the name of. We visited with the Commune leaders and then walked to visit one of the 11 villages. RWC’s Sanitation and Hygiene Programme is about education and changing behaviours. A number of villages have been successfully declared open defecation free (ODF) through the education effort and the assisted constructed of toilets. The village we visited had recently been declared ODF. Go them! Through education and a bit of gentle prodding (the leaders told us that they don’t grant marriage certificates any more unless the couple have a toilet for all their guests), the number of toilets increased enough to remove any temptation to use the bathroom in the open. 11,143 people (about 2,516 families) live in the entire commune. Initially they owned a combined 682 toilets, as of 2014 that number has increased to 1,005. Cambodia’s national goal is to be ODF by 2025.

The teams strolls through the recently ODF village.

At this particular village, RWC has also constructed a water filtration plant. Water from the river is pumped to tanks and filtered through gravel, sand, cloth, and finally through UV treatment. 20 L bottles of pure, drinkable water are able to be sold to the community for USD $0.30. At the moment, 80% of the community is utilising this convenient and safe source of water.

The water filtration system is an excellent, simple solution. So simple in fact that back in Melbourne, we helped some young Sudanese kids to create the exact same system (sans the UV filtration) as part of the SAIL Engineering Workshops in association with EWB. The simplicity of such a solution means that the technology can be installed and maintained with local materials, by local people. Empowering a community to be able to create their own safe drinking water is incredibly powerful.

(From left to right) the tanks, gravel, sand, and cloth sections of the filtration system.

The water filtration system is part of the Water Supply Programme. This programme includes the design and implementation of rainwater harvesting systems that are also able to prevent contamination. Since conception, over 2,500 household systems and over 130 institutional systems have been installed throughout Cambodia.
The second visit of the day was to a school in the same commune. RWC, with funding from Japan, has installed a rainwater harvesting system (in the form of roof plumbing, first rain capturing, and a large water tank), new toilets, and hand washing stations. An earlier WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) campaign had previously taught the children about using a toilet as well as sanitation and hygiene, so they took to the new infrastructure with gusto. The number of the children at the school has increased since the system was installed, and children who had previously had to bring water from home now didn’t need to. The librarian at the school also cheerily noted that the children were washing their hands before touching her books.

The new rainwater harvesting system at the commune school. The blue drainage can be seen to the right, and the toilets to the left of the water tank.

Each programme run by RWC, and indeed all programmes with EWB involvement, emphasise the need for participatory development, and appropriate technologies. A successful project can only occur if the community is first and foremost involved in the process; the needs of the community are clear; and the chosen solution is able to installed and maintained during its entire life-cycle, either by the community or by local organisations/businesses. This is all of course easier said than done…

If you have any questions or comments post them below!

Also, tomorrow I’m heading for Kratie province in northeastern Cambodia. There we will be doing a homestay on an island, getting our hands dirty helping out the community, and searching for Mekong river dolphins. #lifeishard #whatevs. There will also be no internet (OH NO!), but through the mystical power of various technologies, I have set up some posts for while I’m away. You should be entertained by the second, third, and final parts of “A Brief History of Cambodia” (assuming nothing goes wrong). Magic!

Day 4: Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (Community Partner 1)

Sahmakum Teang Tnaut’s (STT) vision is “a society in which urban inhabitants enjoy adequate housing within a sustainably developing city.” STT currently undertakes two main programmes: a technical program which includes mapping of poor urban areas, urban planning for these areas, and research into relevant statistics of these areas; and an advocacy program which includes community, youth, and media based projects.

We visited the STT office bright and early in the morning, looking very fancy in our presentable office attire (if you ignored the growing sweat patches). The focus of today’s visit was around one project in particular. The government is looking to upgrade National Highway 5, which runs northwest along the Tonle Sap river. Between the current road and the river there are around 1,200 homes on land that is considered to be owned by the government. Some of the families have lived there for decades, but the upgrade of the road requires the demolition of a significant portion of the land on either side.

Satellite image showing National Highway 5 and the Tonle Sap river. In between are the communities we visited.

When you don’t have tenure over your land, there is not only the risk of forced eviction, but also a lack of many of the basic services afforded to someone who has a legal address. Things like power, water, sanitation, emergency services, health services, and even the right to vote are more often than not, unavailable to these families. STT’s role in these particular communities along the banks of the Tonle Sap river is two-fold. Firstly they have a very small budget to be able to help the community to upgrade particular infrastructure, things like toilets, good quality roofing, and power poles. Secondly, STT are working on an alternative plan to that of forced evictions and displacement…

A member of the community constructs a new toilet with support and funding from STT. STT provides the materials and know-who to empower the community to develop their own solutions.

Forced land evictions are commonplace in Cambodia. Senior officials, security forces, and government-connected business leaders have confiscated land from hundreds of thousands of Cambodians over more than a decade. Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) estimates that “770,000 people have been adversely affected by land grabbing covering at least four million hectares of land that has been confiscated”. The Land Law, enacted in 2001, attempted to address the issue by giving anyone who lived on a piece of land for at least five years, ownership and the right to a legal title. As with many of these types of laws in Cambodia, the enabling regulations were never written and the government generally chose not to enforce the law or even abide by it themselves.

A view of a Cham Khmer woman and the Tonle Sap river from amongst the houses. Cham Muslims, a minority in Cambodia, account for 90% of this communities population (<2% for all of Cambodia).

The STT’s answer to the threat of forced eviction with minimal compensation (around $5 per metre squared, on land that is worth around $300 per metre squared), is to develop the area into modern three or four storey buildings where the tenants are those that previously lived on the land illegally. They will pay rent each month, ranging from US$50 to US$132 (depending on the size of the dwelling) and in return gain tenure. After 15 years, they own the property. For many of the families, they do not pay rent, so the added expense can potentially be crippling. But with the promise of tenure, most are willing to do whatever it takes.

A view from among the houses. The housing is dense, but many of the buildings are quite modern, with concrete/brick construction; the families here are well established.

My initial thought when presented with this proposal was that there has got to be a better way of helping these communities. Surely bulldozing their homes is the last thing we should be doing. But the Cambodian government has so much power, especially over the courts, that it seems as if this “lesser evil” is the absolute best outcome these communities can hope for. The alternative is displacement away from family, community, and livelihood.

If you have your own thoughts, or know of any similar instances of compulsory land acquisition (in Australia especially), put it in the comments.

Interlude: A Brief History Pt. I

Reposting for consistency (ignore if you have already read)…

I need to begin to explain the history of Cambodia as it puts into context many of the current challenges the country faces today. I’m going to do it in four parts over the next week, so as not to overload you!

Cambodia as a country began to properly form between the 3rd and 5th centuries. The Khmer people originated from India and came together in the area that is now Cambodia and southwestern Vietnam. The Khmer Empire was established in the 9th century when Jayavarman II declared independence from Java and declared himself a god-king. Clearly a humble man, Jayavarman II and his followers began a series of conquests that formed a flourishing empire.

During the 12th century, the Khmer Empire was the largest in Southeast Asia. A study in 2007 concluded that Angkor, the capital of the empire, was the largest pre-industrial city in the world, sprawling an estimated 1,000 square kilometres. This lies somewhere around the size of modern day Berlin or Hong Kong. The city was capable of supporting a population of 1 million and housed the most famous site in Cambodia; Angkor Wat. The empire began its decline in the 15th century. Angkor was sacked by the Ayutthaya Kingdom and abandoned. Cambodia had entered its dark ages.

The Khmer people re-established in the south and over the next four centuries moved between the rule of the Siamese (Thai) and the Vietnamese. In 1867, King Norodom I, who had been installed by Thailand, signed a treaty with France to protect Cambodia against Thai rule. In 1941, the throne became vacant with the death of King Sisowath Monivong. France decided that Monivong’s son, Monireth, was a little too independently minded for their liking, so instead enthroned Norodom Sihanouk, Monivong’s maternal grandson. Sihanouk showed France the true meaning of irony by leading Cambodia to independence 12 years later in 1953.

Part II coming soon…

Day 3: The Killing Fields

Today we went to the killing fields…

This pretty much sums up the experience (taken from inside the memorial stupa).

I’m just going to put it out there that the following paragraphs are not my usual, happy-go-lucky ramblings. So apologies if it’s a bit much, but it’s worth a read (just maybe not right before dinner…)

“To keep you is no benefit. To destroy you is no loss.” This was the philosophy of the Khmer Rouge towards the “New People” who had been evacuated from Cambodia’s cities to work in the countryside. “The Killing Fields” site we visited is actually more a symbolic representation of the true killing fields that stretched across most of Cambodia. The fields where Cambodia’s people died of starvation, exhaustion, disease, and at the direct hand of the Khmer Rouge. The site we visited, Choeung Ek, was one of hundreds of execution sites around the country, in particular it serviced the notorious Toul Sleng prison, or S-21 (though I’ll talk about that another day).

The site itself was quite serene. Butterflies fluttered over the grassy, uneven ground of the excavated mass graves, and a lake at the back of the site served as a peaceful place to sit and reflect. At Choeung Ek though, you have to be careful of where you tread. The rainy season raises the water table and swells the ground, bringing the contents of the graves to the surface. Bones, teeth, and clothing can be seen just off the well worn path.

Just under 9,000 victims were buried here. In one particular grave, perhaps 5 x 15 metres, 450 victims were uncovered. The most disturbing sight though, is the beautiful “killing tree”. Here the children were held by their legs and swung into the tree, then dumped into a mass grave. Bullets were expensive, so the executioners got creative with whatever they could find.

The killing tree.

It’s understandably very difficult to convey in words the experience of Choeung Ek, and even more difficult to even begin to comprehend what happened there. So I’ll leave it at that, but I encourage anyone who decides to visit Phnom Penh to visit this site.

Day 2: Sua-sdei from Phnom Penh!

Sua-sdei! Knyom chmuah Patrick. Knyom sok-sab-baay o-kun. Knyom mook-bpii Australi. Knyom jia vwi-swak-go.

I know what you’re thinking, “oh my god, Patrick is already fluent in the Khmer language!” Alas no, but we did have a great two hour session today giving us the basics, such as: “Som sraa-bia muay tho”, or, may I please have one jug of beer (and obviously other, more useful things).

I have realised I am going to have far too much to write about in my time in Cambodia, so I’m going to try to be a bit selective rather than bombarding you.

We had a great introductory day involving our Khmer lesson, a chat from an Australian living in Cambodia (and working with one of the community partners we will be visiting), and an Amazing Race style trip around the city in the back of a tuk tuk (which included a nibble on some local crickets, worms, frogs, and a beetle). But in the name of keeping it brief, one part of the day definitely stood out to me.

Brains getting wrinkled with Khmer lessons and more…

A rep from Friends-International came to talk to us about being ChildSafe travellers. I’m an engineer, so the best way I can think of communicating what we learnt to all my lovely readers out there, is with some trusty numbers:

1. There are 24,000 children living on the streets in Cambodia; 150 million around the world.
2. There are over 300 orphanages in Cambodia, but only 20 of them are defined as legal.
3. It is estimated that 72% of the children living in orphanages still have parents.
4. There has been a 65% increase in the number of orphanages since 2005.
5. Every $ you give to a child begging on the streets, is keeping them on the streets.

The last one is a bit counter-intuitive; at first glance it seems incorrect. Surely by giving these young kids money I am helping them. They can go and buy food, and perhaps a place to stay for the night. What it is actually doing is maintaining their life on the street. It prevents them from going to school, or getting any practical training, keeping them trapped in the cycle of poverty.

The same story exists in the orphanages, but there the children are made to put on a show (singing and dancing), or made to sit and play with the foreigners that visit. It may sound like a wonderful idea to be “going to help out at an orphanage in Cambodia”, or Vietnam, or India, or wherever it may be. But be aware of the fact that you may be contributing to the problem rather than helping to solve it.

Child exploitation and abuse is a disturbingly large problem in Cambodia. The country is a haven for the lowest predators, and the cruellest opportunists of society. Friends-International have a hotline in Cambodia and a few other countries around the world for reporting instances of child abuse, or children at risk of harm (and I’m sure there are similar hotlines in the countries FI don’t cover). It’s something good to keep in the back of your mind and preferably even put into your phone when travelling.

Anyway I don’t want to keep going on about it, but I felt it worthy of it’s own post. And don’t be deterred, there are plenty of amazing organisations like Friends-International who are doing genuinely great work around the world. I encourage everyone to get involved if you ever get the chance!

Now what you were all no doubt waiting for, me eating a grasshopper in the back of a tuk tuk…

Me eating a grasshopper in the back of a tuk tuk (before and after). Crunchy.

Day 1: Sweet Home Phnom Penh

Day 1! I flew into Phnom Penh International Airport and was greeted with a considerably different scene to the chaos of Bangkok. The flight path gave me a great view of the red and blue roofs poking out from between fields and dirt roads on the outskirts of the city. While Phnom Penh isn’t small by any means (population of over 2 million), it is a quiet country town compared to Bangkok, both in scale and in feel. It is definitely more relaxed, which to be honest I am quite enjoying. Though I am starting to get the feeling the “road rules” (emphasis on the sarcasm) are a common theme across Asia…

I was greeted at my hotel by the gracious Mr. Lady, given my complimentary sim card and 20 L jug of water (going to be super hydrated), and taken to my humble, yet comfortable room I’ll live out of for the next few days.

I’ve met the 15 other friendly folk who I’ll have the pleasure of sharing this adventure with. They have come from all over Australia and each have a different something to bring to the table. We had an excellent dinner and a few beers, and are excited to get stuck into the activities tomorrow will bring!