Holiday!

The other week we spent four nights away from home. Basically we drove around the huge lake that is in the middle of Cambodia. See map.

First we drove north to a town called Battembang. We stayed 2 nights, bought some famous Battembang oranges, then drove east to Siem Reap. After staying 2 nights and buying a particular dried fish product (see above) that is best bought in SR it was time to go back to Phnom Penh.

I enjoyed walking around these 2 towns. They some smooth footpaths, some even with trees for shade!
Walking is something I miss here in Phnom Penh. I don't mean hiking, I'm just talking about strolling along a footpath. The streets near us don't really have footpaths, and its always too dusty or muddy to be enjoyable. And there there is the lack of shade and abundance of motos zooming around.

This is what we saw in Bantemean Chay province as we drove between Swai sisophan and Siem Reap....

and this...

Above you see Battembang oranges for sale (yes, they are actually green- we also eat green tomatos, green mangos, green skinned bananas.) And below is the sight that greets you as you come into Battembang town from Phnom Penh.

Battembang and Siem Reap are both towns in provinces of the same name.

Cambodian History books

Alongside language study I have been trying to study Cambodia in general. In the first half of 2008 I read some books about Cambodian history, here is list, some titles are clickable.




Cambodia: Report from a Stricken Nation, Henry Kamm, Arcade Publishing, 1998


Covers 1970-1998. Very readable and put together lots of different events that I didn’t know how they were related. Let me tell you about the first chapter and the afterword.

“Hope is for the unborn” (chpt 1) talks about the state Cambodia was in 10 years ago, when the book was written. It was in such a bad state that a UNICEF worker concluded there was no hope for the people who are here now, only for those who will be born in the future.

“How much can be expected from an education system that started from zero in 1979? After the Pol Pot years, in which schools were abolished, only three hundred Cambodians with a higher education were left in the country.” (pg 11)

“Cambodia today is also a ward of untreated psychiatric illnesses that have their principle origin in the four years of the genocide. Twelve psychiatrists practiced in Cambodia before 1975; none were left after the despots fall.” (pg 14”)

And in the afterword…

“Over the past century its (Cambodia’s) life has been grossly tampered with by many outsiders. By France…By Japan… By the United States…By China…By Vietnam…By the Soviet Union…” (pge 251)

“Cambodia looks mortally ill, and experience has shown that its own doctors are not up to the task of curing it. When a powerful Cambodian falls ill he goes abroad to be treated. I fear “abroad” would have to come to Cambodia to try to pull the stricken nation through. I see no other way but to place Cambodia’s people into caring and disinterested hands for one generation, administer it for its own sake, and gradually hand it back to a new generation of Cambodians , who will have matured with respect for their own people and are ready to take responsibility for them.” (pg 252)

A bleak diagnosis! I wonder what Kamm would say ten years on?



Christians and the Church in Cambodian History


The Tears of my Soul, by Sokreaksa S. Himm, Monarch Books, 2003
After the Heavy Rain, by Sokreasa S.Himm, Monarch Books, 2007

The author of these books lived through Pol Pot time. After crawling out from under his dead family members he managed to survive the rest and eventually made it to Canada. Recently he has shown his forgiveness to his family’s killers in very tangible ways (building a school).

From Phnom Penh to Paradise, by VarHong Ashe, Hodder and Stoughton, 1988

This is an autobiographical account of the Khmer Rouge time. This lady was a new Christian, living in Phnom Penh in 1975 when the city fell. She and her extended family are forced out of the city, along with everyone else. Its hard to imagine all the horrible things that happened to them are real.

Where blood flows the heart grows softer, by Jeanette Lockerbre, 197?

This book was written during Pol Pot time about the first half of the 1970’s when many Cambodians became Christians.

Killing Fields, Living Fields, by Don Cormack, Monarch Books, 1997

History of the church. Spans

Remember Cambodia


The 1990’s in Cambodia


Gecko Tails, by Carol Livingston, Phoeix, 1996


Written by a journalist who was here during United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC). Writes about life, especially the political scene, in the early 1990s. I’m amazed that things were so different here such a short time ago.

Off the rails in Phnom Penh, Amit Gilboa, Asia Books, 1998


Written mostly about a particular group of ex-pats (“adventurers” and “misfits”) who lived in Cambodia in late 1990s. Includes the author’s experience of the coup in 1997.


Pol Pot Period

Movie: The Killings Fields

When Broken Glass Floats , by Chanrithy Him, W.W. Norton & Company, 2007


First they killed my father, byLoung Ung, Harper Collins, 2000

These two books are both written by Cambodian women who were about 5 and 9 years old when Phnom Penh fell to the Khmer Rouge. They tell us about their families being forced out of the city, and the years that followed of hunger and fear and death.




Year Zero, Francois Ponchaud, 1977


A short history of Cambodia, by Francois Ponchaud , 2007

Hun Sen, Strongman of Cambodia, by Mehta, Graham Brash, 1999
Sihanouk, Prince of Light Prince of Darkness, Milton Osbourne, Silkworm Books, 1994

Today

Today in Cambodia... click to find out more.

Elections today, border issue talks tomorrow.

20 people bus equals a 12 seater

Two weeks with 11 Aussies

If you want to see photos of when the team was here go to Village Visit. If you want to read about my experience of hosting a team of 11 Aussies for 2 weeks then keep reading.

The group was from one of my churches in Australia. Soeun and I really enjoyed their visit, and felt really encouraged to know this church is partnering with us. I've been on this sort of trip before, but I've never been the one organising it. Before I nervous, wondering what it would be like. It was exciting and exhausting to have them here. They were all very eager to learn and had many questions.

Some random things in no particular order:

*A Cambodian hired a bus for us. It was a bus for 20 people, so I told the team it would be big enough for us and our bags (11, plus a Khmer friend, plus me and driver=14 people). However the night before I was told it only had 16 seats! When the bus turned up in the morning it actually had only 12 seats!!!!

A bus for 20 people does not mean a bus with 20 seats. Even though I know that Cambodians pack more people and things into a smaller space than I'm used to, I didn't realise what was going on here until I saw the bus.

When buying a seat in an interprovince taxi ex pats usually buy 2 seats each , just so they can get what we would call a full seat.

So I guess that's an example of how different cultures/different mindsets can have misunderstandings. So if you know any people working cross culturally, this is something to pray for them.

*When we visited places the team did an Australian presentation. I really enjoyed it it! It was also fun for me to listen to the translation. From this I learnt the Khmer word for "state" (as in what Australia has instead of provinces) and Indigenous people as well as hearing 4 different translations of life guard/lifesaver (surf). I only understood 3 of them though.

*Team members kept commenting on things I've never noticed, like the way people modify their moto engines, and that cows here are skinnier than in Oz. I don't remember seeing cows up so close in Oz, and I never really look at motos.

There is a big gap between rich and poor here, many team members were seeing this for the first time. This was interesting for me to see as I guess I've gotten a bit used to it.

I learnt more about Cambodia by watching them learn about it, I guess different people see different things.


*I think I felt a bit of reverse culture shock when they left. Three Cambodians and I went to the airport to say goodbye to the team, then the four of us went out to dinner afterwards. As soon as the team left I found my 3 Khmer companions began to speak Khmer language! I could only understand a little of what they were saying, and I couldn't contribute to the conversation. This continued over dinner and I felt frustrated and left out.

At first I felt surprised that this was happening. But actually that's what my life is like most of the time, it was just a surprise because I had been part of an English speaking group for two weeks.

*Before they left one of them must have gone around our house putting clip on koalas everywhere. I keep seeing them in the strangest places all over our house.

Going to school

My in laws are in high school, so the issue in here is one we often think about. Parents pay teachers bribes.

Today in Cambodia...

If you want to find out the latest about the Cambodia/Thai tension you may have heard on the news this month or the national election this Sunday, try these links:
Phnom Penh Post
Everyday
Asian Observer
Mirror (mirrors Cambodian language media)

Some blogs that have political/ sensitive Cambodian news: KI media and Khmerization

Village visit

I have just come back from a visit to a village. I went with a group from Australia. Some of them had a go at planting rice and making Khmer noodles.

Some also tried their hand at using a weaving loom.

We saw lots of palms and banana trees. Some of our transport was by cow or donkey cart. At one point the cow got excited and ran away, while it was supposed to be pulling the cart!

It has been great having the group visit. I've had fun showing them around my world, including walking to my local market and a bus out to visit my in laws. These are things I usually do by myself. Many of the group members I already knew before this trip, but I hadn't seen them for about 10 years, so its been good to get to know them again. One member has spent some time with Soeun talking about the music stuff we wrote about the other month in an email, as well as bringing some resources to help him with it.

I haven't checked my email for about 2 weeks, so don't be offended if I haven't answered you yet!

Cricket season

Fried crickets for sale at the market.

Our food: His and Hers

Alfresco shower Khmer style

Well, was going to tell you that I went back in time and took this photo of Soeun when he was little. But he just told me in his village they didn't have a pump like this, but a well. He had to pull water out of the well with a bucket.

Political debate blog

A blog by a Cambodian living in Australia. It's an interesting blog, here is why its written:



" people are talking freely and daringly about the injustices around the world, and particularly about the current state of affairs of their motherland, Cambodia. For this reason, and this reason a lone, that I decided to create my own blog in order to enter into the political debate about the injustices, human right abuses, corruption and poverty in order to make a contirbution to improving things in the world, but particularly in my motherland, Cambodia."

Fish Massage

There's kind of a moat (is that how you spell it?) around the hall on campus. Recently students have started sitting with their feet in the water. Small fish with 7 colours "nibble" at their feet as you can see here. There is actually a massage place in town where you sit in the water and fish massage your whole body. I tried sticking my feet in the school moat but it just felt ticklish.

Some more links

Blog of a Aussie Christian girl who works at a kids centre, I don't know her but her blog is interesting.


And this blog has comments about everyday issues here, such as dogs (for food) , crocs (for pets) , corruption and more.

Waterfall picnic

One Saturday we went to have lunch on a hill. It was about a 2 hour drive from Phnom Penh. Soeun’s small group had prepared a picnic lunch of beef rice and veggies. The rice was in our rice cooker, just cooked that morning. The beef was cut up and marinating in our big saucepan. We also took an esky (ice box) full of drinks and ice, as well as our huge water container.

We got out of the school’s bus at the entrance. After paying the gate fee we packed the picnic on an ox- cart and began the 3.5 km walk to the waterfall. It was nice to be walking through bush, not something you can do in the city!

However after about 1km we found we had to unpack the picnic from the ox-cart. The rest of the walk is too steep and rocky. So the rest of the way we carried everything. Between the heat, the slope, the rocks and the heavy stuff it wasn’t pleasant walk anymore. We had to keep stopping for breaks, we were all so exhausted.

The last straw for me was when my shoe broke. By that time we were already at the top. But I was so exhausted I couldn’t imagine how I was going to walk back down again.

Sunshine Centre links

There are a few Aussie CMS missionarys in Cambodia. One of them works at a centre for kids. There are heaps of orphanages in Phnom Penh, but this is a bit different.
It was started when some CMSers saw kids working as rubbish collectors. They opened a place kids could wash, eat, get medical care etc.
I understand that many of the children in orphanages in Cambodia do have parents still living. Sometimes if parents can't look after their kids they end up living in orphanages.

Sunshine Centre tries to help the children and their whole family too, so the kids can grow up in their family.

If you want to know more you can visit their new website Sunshine Centre and have a look at the Sunshine blog.