It is late and I am heading to bed, but I wanted to briefly post some of the highlights from my weekend trip to the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. It was a really fun trip and a nice break from Phnom Penh for a few days:
- On our first day, we stumbled across an IMAX theatre in a giant mall which was showing the new Harry Potter movie on its first day in Malaysia. Not only was it our first movie in a proper theatre in quite a while, but it was Harry Potter, so that was pretty great.
- Taking over the Mikado karaoke bar on successive nights.
- Climbing the KL Tower, the 4th tallest telecommunications tower in the world (#1 is CN Tower) and getting a good look around the city.
- Getting a free guided tour of a small rainforest sanctuary at the base of the KL Tower. Unfortunately we didn't spot any monkeys but it was pretty awesome to escape into the rainforest in the middle of the city.
- Checking out the Petronas Towers, the 2nd and 3rd tallest buildings in the world (I get a little confused about the distinctions in tallest world towers between KL and Petronas, but I trust their claims). Unfortunately all the tickets for going up the Petronas Towers were sold out, but the view from KL is apparently better.
- Making it to an Asian Cup soccer match between Malaysia and Uzbekistan. Better yet, tickets were just over $3 and we were able to sit wherever we wanted in the stadium. Uzbekistan killed Malaysia 5-0, but it was still a fun night out.
Those were the big highlights. I will try to post some pictures soon. Meanwhile, we are in the second last week of the internship here. It looks like I will be teaching some of our HIV/AIDS lessons next week to a couple of groups. This weekend I am also headed to Bokor Hill National Park in southern Cambodia with a few other interns for a quick getaway. June 30th I am off to Bangkok and then some of the Thai islands for about 10 days, and then I fly home on August 9th!
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Weekend Update
So, things have been pretty slow here the last week or so, but I thought I would update on what is going on. I have about 3 weeks left in my internship, then I plan on traveling in Thailand for about 10 days until I fly home a month from now.
Work has been somewhat slow as my HIV/AIDS group is finishing up our manual. However, we are planning to meet this week with some other organizations involved in HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention. We are also planning to teach some of our lessons to see how they work, hopefully at some of these organizations.
I am headed to Kuala Lumpur on Thursday with about 8 other interns for a long weekend. It will be excited to check out a different city, see the world's second-tallest building, catch the new Harry Potter movie, and watch an Asian Cup football match between Malaysia and Uzbekistan hopefully.
We finally made it to the Killing Fields on Saturday. There were actually many Killing Fields all around Cambodia where the Khmer Rouge executed people and left them in mass graves, but this was the biggest one, called Choeung Ek, and also where a memorial site has been set up. Choeung Ek affected me in a different way than the Tuol Sleng prison. At Tuol Sleng it was easy to imagine people being tortured and killed, as things were essentially left as they were during the genocide. However, at the Killing Fields, the setting is very peaceful, it is very green, and there are a lot of trees around. It is hard to imagine that thousands and thousands of people were killed there. There is a big shrine in the middle of the site which has many skulls of people killed by the Khmer Rouge, and that is emotionally affecting, but the rest of the site is not as intense. I think it is a very nice site to remember all those people who were killed by the Khmer Rouge and reflect on the horrible effects of the genocide.
Finally, a few lessons learned from a Friday night in Phnom Penh:
A) Do not go ride home from a bar by yourself
B) Do not carry your credit card, bank card, and driver's license out with you if you don't need to (and you almost never need to)
Yep, I was robbed on Friday night. Two guys pulled in front of my moto just about a block from my house and took my wallet and watch. I was not hurt and the guys were clearly just after my cash, but obviously it was a very scary incident, and I was very stupid to be headed home alone. Anyway, ultimately I realize it is just a big inconvenience and the most important thing is that I am OK.
So that was a bummer and definitely a crappy way to end off what was a long and somewhat boring week. But, there is a lot to look forward to, especially the Malaysia trip, so I am very excited for the last few weeks of my internship!!
Work has been somewhat slow as my HIV/AIDS group is finishing up our manual. However, we are planning to meet this week with some other organizations involved in HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention. We are also planning to teach some of our lessons to see how they work, hopefully at some of these organizations.
I am headed to Kuala Lumpur on Thursday with about 8 other interns for a long weekend. It will be excited to check out a different city, see the world's second-tallest building, catch the new Harry Potter movie, and watch an Asian Cup football match between Malaysia and Uzbekistan hopefully.
We finally made it to the Killing Fields on Saturday. There were actually many Killing Fields all around Cambodia where the Khmer Rouge executed people and left them in mass graves, but this was the biggest one, called Choeung Ek, and also where a memorial site has been set up. Choeung Ek affected me in a different way than the Tuol Sleng prison. At Tuol Sleng it was easy to imagine people being tortured and killed, as things were essentially left as they were during the genocide. However, at the Killing Fields, the setting is very peaceful, it is very green, and there are a lot of trees around. It is hard to imagine that thousands and thousands of people were killed there. There is a big shrine in the middle of the site which has many skulls of people killed by the Khmer Rouge, and that is emotionally affecting, but the rest of the site is not as intense. I think it is a very nice site to remember all those people who were killed by the Khmer Rouge and reflect on the horrible effects of the genocide.
Finally, a few lessons learned from a Friday night in Phnom Penh:
A) Do not go ride home from a bar by yourself
B) Do not carry your credit card, bank card, and driver's license out with you if you don't need to (and you almost never need to)
Yep, I was robbed on Friday night. Two guys pulled in front of my moto just about a block from my house and took my wallet and watch. I was not hurt and the guys were clearly just after my cash, but obviously it was a very scary incident, and I was very stupid to be headed home alone. Anyway, ultimately I realize it is just a big inconvenience and the most important thing is that I am OK.
So that was a bummer and definitely a crappy way to end off what was a long and somewhat boring week. But, there is a lot to look forward to, especially the Malaysia trip, so I am very excited for the last few weeks of my internship!!
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Happy Canada Day!
Happy Canada Day to everyone back home in Canada, and I hope everyone is enjoying the day, especially in Ottawa on Parliament Hill and in Newfoundland at the O'Shea Canada Day party.
I was able to celebrate Canada Day here a few days ago. The Canadian Embassy held a reception on Friday night at one of the nicer hotels in town, the Grand Royal. Every Canadian in the country was invited-all I had to do was go to the embassy with my passport and I got an invitation. There are several Canadians in the internship program so we got dressed up (the dress code was "business attire") and headed out on Friday night.
We definitely felt a little out of place at the reception as the crowd was mostly businesspeople and diplomats, but the food was good and the drinks were free, so we didn't mind. There are rumors that the embassy is going to move to Bangkok, and the Ambassador, Donica Pottie, said in her speech that she is leaving Cambodia soon, although I wasn't sure if it was because her term was finished or because she is moving to Thailand.
Anyway, it wasn't a bad way to spend Canada Day away from home, although I do kind of wish I could be in Ottawa or St. John's this weekend.
I was able to celebrate Canada Day here a few days ago. The Canadian Embassy held a reception on Friday night at one of the nicer hotels in town, the Grand Royal. Every Canadian in the country was invited-all I had to do was go to the embassy with my passport and I got an invitation. There are several Canadians in the internship program so we got dressed up (the dress code was "business attire") and headed out on Friday night.
We definitely felt a little out of place at the reception as the crowd was mostly businesspeople and diplomats, but the food was good and the drinks were free, so we didn't mind. There are rumors that the embassy is going to move to Bangkok, and the Ambassador, Donica Pottie, said in her speech that she is leaving Cambodia soon, although I wasn't sure if it was because her term was finished or because she is moving to Thailand.
Anyway, it wasn't a bad way to spend Canada Day away from home, although I do kind of wish I could be in Ottawa or St. John's this weekend.
High-Powered Meetings
First of all, I apologize for the lack of updates. The last week has been a bit slow here, but I will try to post more, perhaps talking a little bit about day-to-day life in Phnom Penh and Cambodia.
I will talk about a couple of neat encounters I had on Friday. First, my group, which is working on the HIV/AIDS legal rights manual, took a field trip to visit NCHADS, which is an off-shoot of the Cambodian Ministry of Health and responsible for, among other things, the country's response to HIV/AIDS. We were lucky enough to meet with Dr. Mean Chhi-Vun, the director of NCHADS, who spoke with us for about 45 minutes about the status of Cambodia's fight against AIDS. Cambodia has struggled a lot with AIDS in the past few years and in fact has the highest AIDS rate in Asia. However, apparently things are starting to turn around and recent statistics showed that the infection rate is slowing down.
NCHADS has been involved with and received funding from, among other groups, the Clinton Foundation and it seems they have become focused on the care of persons with AIDS in addition to the prevention of AIDS, which dominated the government's early work on HIV/AIDS. More and more anti-retroviral (I hope that is correct) drugs are becoming available and there are more and more HIV clinics opening up all over the country.
My second interesting encounter of the day was a presentation we saw on Friday afternoon from Richard Rodgers, who is a lawyer and deputy head of the Defence Support Section at the Khmer Rouge Trials. The trials are finally scheduled to get underway early next year after a lot of debate and disagreement about the rules and structure. Richard gave us the background on the trials and talked about some of the challenges in working for the defence side in a genocide/crimes against humanity trial.
Some people find it hard to believe that anyone could work for the defence of someone like Duch, who ran the Tuol Sleng prison and is the most senior member of the Khmer Rouge still alive. However, for these trials to be effective and fair, the defendants need to have a good defence to ensure that the prosecutors and the judges do their jobs.
There are a lot of obstacles in the way of making these trials fair and effective. Since the KR genocide happened about 30 years ago, it can be harder to obtain evidence. Further, most of the senior members of the Khmer Rouge have already died. Pol Pot, for example, died in 1998. Also, there are concerns about impartiality. Unlike other international tribunals, the KR trials are taking place in Cambodia (just outside Phnom Penh) and with Cambodian judges, many of whom likely had some connection to the genocide, either with family members who were killed or perhaps their own involvement with the KR. So, there are concerns that the judges may be somewhat biased and will not conduct a fair trial.
In any case, it was really interesting to hear about the background to the trials. It is definitely a unique time to be in Cambodia with the KR trials about to start. This marks a significant point in Cambodia's history and it is fascinating to be in the country to witness all of this happening.
I will talk about a couple of neat encounters I had on Friday. First, my group, which is working on the HIV/AIDS legal rights manual, took a field trip to visit NCHADS, which is an off-shoot of the Cambodian Ministry of Health and responsible for, among other things, the country's response to HIV/AIDS. We were lucky enough to meet with Dr. Mean Chhi-Vun, the director of NCHADS, who spoke with us for about 45 minutes about the status of Cambodia's fight against AIDS. Cambodia has struggled a lot with AIDS in the past few years and in fact has the highest AIDS rate in Asia. However, apparently things are starting to turn around and recent statistics showed that the infection rate is slowing down.
NCHADS has been involved with and received funding from, among other groups, the Clinton Foundation and it seems they have become focused on the care of persons with AIDS in addition to the prevention of AIDS, which dominated the government's early work on HIV/AIDS. More and more anti-retroviral (I hope that is correct) drugs are becoming available and there are more and more HIV clinics opening up all over the country.
My second interesting encounter of the day was a presentation we saw on Friday afternoon from Richard Rodgers, who is a lawyer and deputy head of the Defence Support Section at the Khmer Rouge Trials. The trials are finally scheduled to get underway early next year after a lot of debate and disagreement about the rules and structure. Richard gave us the background on the trials and talked about some of the challenges in working for the defence side in a genocide/crimes against humanity trial.
Some people find it hard to believe that anyone could work for the defence of someone like Duch, who ran the Tuol Sleng prison and is the most senior member of the Khmer Rouge still alive. However, for these trials to be effective and fair, the defendants need to have a good defence to ensure that the prosecutors and the judges do their jobs.
There are a lot of obstacles in the way of making these trials fair and effective. Since the KR genocide happened about 30 years ago, it can be harder to obtain evidence. Further, most of the senior members of the Khmer Rouge have already died. Pol Pot, for example, died in 1998. Also, there are concerns about impartiality. Unlike other international tribunals, the KR trials are taking place in Cambodia (just outside Phnom Penh) and with Cambodian judges, many of whom likely had some connection to the genocide, either with family members who were killed or perhaps their own involvement with the KR. So, there are concerns that the judges may be somewhat biased and will not conduct a fair trial.
In any case, it was really interesting to hear about the background to the trials. It is definitely a unique time to be in Cambodia with the KR trials about to start. This marks a significant point in Cambodia's history and it is fascinating to be in the country to witness all of this happening.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Pictures From The Kep Trip
View from the porch of my bungalow as the sun sets on the Gulf of Thailand
I show off my mad farming skills at the demonstration farm in the village
Some of the kids in the kindergarten English class that I helped teach for a couple of days
One of the classrooms at the village school. The two teachers are 2 girls from Ireland teaching in the village for the summer. The class was for kids around 7-8 years old.
My bungalow in Kep...pretty sweet huh?
Looking down the beach on Rabbit IslandThe Rural Trip
In case any of you are wondering why there have been no updates in about 10 days, the reason is that I have been out of Phnom Penh for the last week on an outreach trip to see some of Bridges Across Borders' other projects in the Kampot province.
A group of about 12 interns left last Monday morning to take a bus ride to Kep, a beautiful sea-side town in Kampot province where we stayed for the week. However, the purpose of our trip was to spend time working in a small village about 45 minutes away from Kep. I would love to tell you what this village is called, and I asked several times, but I seemed to get a different name every time I asked. In any case, it was a very small village in an area that had formerly controlled by the Khmer Rouge, and the whole area is very close to the Vietnam border.
Bridges Across Borders runs a number of Community Development Programs, including one in this particular village. In the village there is a school building with 2 classrooms and a plot of farmland behind the school. This is the base of the BAB program in this town. The program focuses on 3 areas: education, agriculture and health. The school runs several English classes for children and apparently some health education classes for adults too. Behind the school, the program is setting up a demonstration farm, and I believe they are planning to start a co-operative farm there and sell crops for the villagers and to support the development programs.
During our week, we helped out with the farming and education. Several of us had the chance to teach English classes to kindergarten-aged children in the mornings. The kids are unbelievably cute but very rambunctious, so the teaching was exhausting, but obviously very rewarding too. I will post some pictures of the kids soon.
We were asked to help out with some farming as well, but we only did this in the mornings as it got too hot to work by mid-day. Our normal routine was to wake up around 5:30 AM at our beautiful bungalows in Kep and take the 45 minute moto ride into the village as the sun was rising. We would generally get to the school at about 7 and do some farming and/or teach an English class. Sometimes another group would stay back in the morning and then come in the afternoon to teach English classes in the afternoon and evening, but I enjoyed waking up early, working in the morning, and then spending the afternoons reading and relaxing. The farming was actually really enjoyable...it can be nice to do some manual labour once in a while and it certainly made me appreciate a little bit the life of a farmer.
The whole week was a great chance to get out of Phnom Penh to some clearer, cooler air and to see a very grassroots development project. The first few days in the village were a little bit frustrating as they didn't seem to have much work for us to do, the language barrier was evident, and the whole experience seemed unorganized. But, I soon figured out that the trick was to let go a little bit and go with the flow. The project is still in the early stages so I understand that there will be some bumps in the road early on. As well, I realized more and more that development work is a slow process and the village cannot be transformed overnight and certainly not just because a few law students come into town for a few days. Of course, as usually is the case with these types of things, I took more out of the experience than I was able to contribute, but I think that was the whole point in going in the first place. They certainly didn't need us to plant the corn and there were several English teachers working there for the summer already, but it was a very educational and enlightening experience.
Not to mention that we were staying in a beautiful guesthouse overlooking the ocean, got to eat fresh crab, squid, and shrimp every night, and had the chance to stay Friday night on a virtually deserted island called Rabbit Island, about 30 minutes away by boat from Kep. We finally returned on a hellish bus ride (no A/C) Saturday afternoon, exhausted but also recharged by the change of scenery. It was a great week and I am ready to get back to work, finish up our HIV manual and hopefully move on to some more tasks, including perhaps teaching some of the lessons we have written.
I will post some pictures from our week shortly.
A group of about 12 interns left last Monday morning to take a bus ride to Kep, a beautiful sea-side town in Kampot province where we stayed for the week. However, the purpose of our trip was to spend time working in a small village about 45 minutes away from Kep. I would love to tell you what this village is called, and I asked several times, but I seemed to get a different name every time I asked. In any case, it was a very small village in an area that had formerly controlled by the Khmer Rouge, and the whole area is very close to the Vietnam border.
Bridges Across Borders runs a number of Community Development Programs, including one in this particular village. In the village there is a school building with 2 classrooms and a plot of farmland behind the school. This is the base of the BAB program in this town. The program focuses on 3 areas: education, agriculture and health. The school runs several English classes for children and apparently some health education classes for adults too. Behind the school, the program is setting up a demonstration farm, and I believe they are planning to start a co-operative farm there and sell crops for the villagers and to support the development programs.
During our week, we helped out with the farming and education. Several of us had the chance to teach English classes to kindergarten-aged children in the mornings. The kids are unbelievably cute but very rambunctious, so the teaching was exhausting, but obviously very rewarding too. I will post some pictures of the kids soon.
We were asked to help out with some farming as well, but we only did this in the mornings as it got too hot to work by mid-day. Our normal routine was to wake up around 5:30 AM at our beautiful bungalows in Kep and take the 45 minute moto ride into the village as the sun was rising. We would generally get to the school at about 7 and do some farming and/or teach an English class. Sometimes another group would stay back in the morning and then come in the afternoon to teach English classes in the afternoon and evening, but I enjoyed waking up early, working in the morning, and then spending the afternoons reading and relaxing. The farming was actually really enjoyable...it can be nice to do some manual labour once in a while and it certainly made me appreciate a little bit the life of a farmer.
The whole week was a great chance to get out of Phnom Penh to some clearer, cooler air and to see a very grassroots development project. The first few days in the village were a little bit frustrating as they didn't seem to have much work for us to do, the language barrier was evident, and the whole experience seemed unorganized. But, I soon figured out that the trick was to let go a little bit and go with the flow. The project is still in the early stages so I understand that there will be some bumps in the road early on. As well, I realized more and more that development work is a slow process and the village cannot be transformed overnight and certainly not just because a few law students come into town for a few days. Of course, as usually is the case with these types of things, I took more out of the experience than I was able to contribute, but I think that was the whole point in going in the first place. They certainly didn't need us to plant the corn and there were several English teachers working there for the summer already, but it was a very educational and enlightening experience.
Not to mention that we were staying in a beautiful guesthouse overlooking the ocean, got to eat fresh crab, squid, and shrimp every night, and had the chance to stay Friday night on a virtually deserted island called Rabbit Island, about 30 minutes away by boat from Kep. We finally returned on a hellish bus ride (no A/C) Saturday afternoon, exhausted but also recharged by the change of scenery. It was a great week and I am ready to get back to work, finish up our HIV manual and hopefully move on to some more tasks, including perhaps teaching some of the lessons we have written.
I will post some pictures from our week shortly.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Update and Travel Plans
In the last few days I have been able to get a better sense of how I will be spending the last month or so of the internship, specifically in terms of travel plans.
First, I found out a couple of days ago that I will be spending next week working in the Cambodian village of Kep. My NGO, Bridges Across Borders, has several outreach programs in Kep, including a school, so we will be working on various projects in the community. I'm pretty excited because it is a nice chance to get out of the city for a while, do some different work, and also see what life is like in a Cambodian village. We're actually going to be staying in the provincial capital, called Kampot. After our week of work there we will have the chance to spend the weekend on a small island called Rabbit Island, which apparently has some nice beaches, so all in all it should be a really fun week.
I will definitely write a lot about this experience when I get back on the 24th and share pictures as well.
I also made some travel plans for July today. Several interns were making plans to go to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, for a long weekend in July. The flights were pretty cheap and we found a promotion through Malaysia Airlines, so I decided to join the group and go! I also found out that Singapore is only about a 2 hour bus ride away from KL, so we might go there for a day and have Charis, who was ending her internship just as we arrived, show us around her hometown.
Better yet, I checked online today and found out that there will be an Asia Cup football (soccer) match played in KL while we are there. The Asia Cup is the big soccer tournament for Asian countries that happens every 4 years, similar to the European Championships. Malaysia is playing Uzbekistan while we are there at the National Stadium, which was built for the Commonwealth Games a few years ago and seats 100,000 people!! Now, Malaysia v. Uzbekistan is not exactly a clash of the titans, but I found tickets for the game online for only $6, so I think we are going to buy a Malaysian t-shirt and a big Malaysian flag and go to the game!!
I don't have a definite date on when my internship will be wrapping up, but I suspect it will be around the 24th or so of July. My plans are tentative so far, but I am pretty sure I am going to be travelling in Thailand for most of the time after the internship. I would like to make it to Laos as well, but apparently flights are pretty expensive, although I might be able to take a bus from Bangkok.
So, that is what is in the works for me in the next few weeks! I will try to update some more this weekend before leaving for Kep, and then will definitely write more when we get back the following weeks about my adventures in a Cambodian village!!
First, I found out a couple of days ago that I will be spending next week working in the Cambodian village of Kep. My NGO, Bridges Across Borders, has several outreach programs in Kep, including a school, so we will be working on various projects in the community. I'm pretty excited because it is a nice chance to get out of the city for a while, do some different work, and also see what life is like in a Cambodian village. We're actually going to be staying in the provincial capital, called Kampot. After our week of work there we will have the chance to spend the weekend on a small island called Rabbit Island, which apparently has some nice beaches, so all in all it should be a really fun week.
I will definitely write a lot about this experience when I get back on the 24th and share pictures as well.
I also made some travel plans for July today. Several interns were making plans to go to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, for a long weekend in July. The flights were pretty cheap and we found a promotion through Malaysia Airlines, so I decided to join the group and go! I also found out that Singapore is only about a 2 hour bus ride away from KL, so we might go there for a day and have Charis, who was ending her internship just as we arrived, show us around her hometown.
Better yet, I checked online today and found out that there will be an Asia Cup football (soccer) match played in KL while we are there. The Asia Cup is the big soccer tournament for Asian countries that happens every 4 years, similar to the European Championships. Malaysia is playing Uzbekistan while we are there at the National Stadium, which was built for the Commonwealth Games a few years ago and seats 100,000 people!! Now, Malaysia v. Uzbekistan is not exactly a clash of the titans, but I found tickets for the game online for only $6, so I think we are going to buy a Malaysian t-shirt and a big Malaysian flag and go to the game!!
I don't have a definite date on when my internship will be wrapping up, but I suspect it will be around the 24th or so of July. My plans are tentative so far, but I am pretty sure I am going to be travelling in Thailand for most of the time after the internship. I would like to make it to Laos as well, but apparently flights are pretty expensive, although I might be able to take a bus from Bangkok.
So, that is what is in the works for me in the next few weeks! I will try to update some more this weekend before leaving for Kep, and then will definitely write more when we get back the following weeks about my adventures in a Cambodian village!!
Monday, June 11, 2007
Which Way To The Beach?
I definitely did not expect to wind up this summer lazing around a beach on the south coast of Cambodia, but I guess that just shows you never know where you are going to end up. This past weekend most of the interns got out of the heat, noise, and smell of Phnom Penh for the small town of Sihanoukville. We took a cheap but decent 4-hour bus ride and had a great weekend doing nothing but hanging out on the beach, swimming, reading, and relaxing.
Grace, Jenny, Carlton and I were lucky enough to snag rooms at a great little bungalow guesthouse literally about 10 metres from the beach. The first picture is essentially the view from our rooms. And, better still, the rooms were dirt cheap, which is kind of the theme of things in Cambodia.
Anyway, it was great to get out of town, recharge our batteries, and have some fun. The last two pics are continuing the ridiculous trend Ariel, Carlton and I started of the mustaches, but also with very silly Hawaiian shirts and shorts we picked up at the market before we left Phnom Penh. As you might expect, we got a lot of strange looks on the beach, but it really wasn't that far from what a lot of other people were wearing...
View from our guesthous on Serendiptiy Beach
Looking up the beach at sunset
The boys...
And another one of many ridiculous pictures we took this weekend
Grace, Jenny, Carlton and I were lucky enough to snag rooms at a great little bungalow guesthouse literally about 10 metres from the beach. The first picture is essentially the view from our rooms. And, better still, the rooms were dirt cheap, which is kind of the theme of things in Cambodia.
Anyway, it was great to get out of town, recharge our batteries, and have some fun. The last two pics are continuing the ridiculous trend Ariel, Carlton and I started of the mustaches, but also with very silly Hawaiian shirts and shorts we picked up at the market before we left Phnom Penh. As you might expect, we got a lot of strange looks on the beach, but it really wasn't that far from what a lot of other people were wearing...
View from our guesthous on Serendiptiy Beach
Looking up the beach at sunset
The boys...
And another one of many ridiculous pictures we took this weekendThursday, June 7, 2007
Korsang Pt. 2, More Visits, and Cambodia Chic
So, I need to make a quick correction to a previous post. I found out today that Korsang actually means "to rebuild" in Khmer, although "using the old to make the new" is a good description as well. Grace, Brad and I went back to Korsang today for another outreach. This time we visited two sites, both also slums, in order to hand out more hygeine kits. We got to hear more of Big Head's story and thoughts on Cambodia, NGOs, drug users, the NBA playoffs, and pretty much everything else under the sun.
As we were driving around with the outreach team, I kept thinking what a great documentary the story of Korsang would make, perhaps for a show like The Passionate Eye or 60 Minutes. Well, when we got back to the Korsang headquarters and spoke with Holly, Korsang's director, we also met David, a filmmaker from Boston who, it turns out, is making a documentary about Korsang! We got to see a preview of the movie, and it looks amazing, although really intense. Apparently he already has 50 hours of footage filmed and is planning to film more in order to get a feature-length movie made, partially funded by the World Health Organization. Hopefully we will be able to see it in North America pretty soon.
A bunch of us also took a trip to a drop-in center and school for kids who live close to the Phnom Penh dump. Horrifically, there are a large number of people, including little kids, who live out at the dump and spend all day picking through the garbage looking for stuff to use or sell. We walked through the dump to see these people and I can honestly say I have never smelled anything as bad in my life, but to see people living out there was even harder to handle. I can't imagine getting up every morning knowing you will just be picking through trash all day, and knowing your kids are running around barefoot through the dump as well.
Luckily there are a number of NGOs who run schools and centers for the kids there. The kids are absolutely beautiful (I can see why Angelina Jolie adopted a child from here) and just begging for some attention and physical contact. We played with them for a little while yesterday and let them climb all over us, but it was pretty heartbreaking to leave them and to know there is only so much attention we can give each kid. Hopefully we will get the chance to go back there a few more times this summer.
Outside of work, we are headed to the beach this weekend! Tomorrow most of the interns are hopping on a bus to go to the little town of Sihanoukville, which apparently has some pretty nice beaches around it. Pictures and stories to come after the weekend.
Finally, we've got this going on....
Yep, apparently mustaches and aviator sunglasses are Cambodia Chic this summer...but don't worry Mom and Carly, the mustache will be gone by August.
Monday, June 4, 2007
"Using The Old To Make The New"
If you had told me at the beginning of law school that I would be spending one day during the summer after my first year hanging out in Phnom Penh with a bunch of Cambodian ex-gang members and ex-cons, I would have thought you were crazy.
But, that's exactly what I was doing today, and hanging out with them to pass out hygeine kits in a Phnom Penh slum no less...
Let me start from the beginning. I spent today doing an outreach with my group partners, Grace and Brad, at an organization called Korsang. The organization was started by a woman named Holly, who I mentioned once before. Holly is an ex-drug user from Boston who moved to Cambodia a few years ago. While here she met up with a group of Cambodians who had been deported from the U.S. under new immigration rules brought in after 9/11. Basically, most of these guys had been in gangs in the U.S. and caught up in drug use. They were all convicted of felonies, most spent some time in jail, and they were deported back to Cambodia, although many of them had spent almost their whole lives in the U.S.
Here in Phnom Penh they started Korsang, which loosely translates to "using the old to make the new." The organization's main goal is harm reduction, especially for intravenous drug users. The main "harm" they are seeking to reduce is HIV and AIDS. The group does needle exchanges with heroin users, distributes condoms to sex workers, does general HIV awareness and training, and operates a drop-in center for at-risk youth.
Today we hung out with our new friend "Big Head" and his group on an outreach to a slum in Phnom Penh. Big Head moved to California from Cambodia when he was very young and lived there for about 27 years, but was in jail for almost half of that time. However, he wasn't bitter at all about his deportation, and actually said that he thought it was a blessing rather than a curse, because he had the opportunity to get a second chance and give back to try and help others.
At the slum Big Head and his outreach group handed out hygeine kits with toothbrushes, toothpaste, condoms, and other items to the slum's residents. The slum was one of the most desperately poor places I have ever seen. Apparently the residents were evicted from their home to make way for a high-rise apartment complex and now they live in awful conditions. Trash lay everywhere, and the homes were shabbily constructed huts covered in tarps.
There were many many children around the site, and they followed us around the whole time we were there. The kids were beautiful (I can see now why Angelina Jolie came here to adopt) but almost all of them were barefoot and there was tons of broken glass and I'm sure many other dangerous objects poking out of the garbage. I can't imagine the disease that infests this place.
This was our first exposure to the work of Korsang, but by no means the last. Because Grace, Brad and I are going to be working on developing an HIV/AIDS manual, we will be doing a lot of work with Korsang and other agencies working on HIV education and harm reduction.
The whole experience was almost a little difficult to process, but hopefully more of it will sink in when we go back on Wednesday for another outreach. What I do know, though, is that this was one of the most eye-opening experiences of my life, and Korsang is one of the most incredible organizations I have ever seen.
But, that's exactly what I was doing today, and hanging out with them to pass out hygeine kits in a Phnom Penh slum no less...
Let me start from the beginning. I spent today doing an outreach with my group partners, Grace and Brad, at an organization called Korsang. The organization was started by a woman named Holly, who I mentioned once before. Holly is an ex-drug user from Boston who moved to Cambodia a few years ago. While here she met up with a group of Cambodians who had been deported from the U.S. under new immigration rules brought in after 9/11. Basically, most of these guys had been in gangs in the U.S. and caught up in drug use. They were all convicted of felonies, most spent some time in jail, and they were deported back to Cambodia, although many of them had spent almost their whole lives in the U.S.
Here in Phnom Penh they started Korsang, which loosely translates to "using the old to make the new." The organization's main goal is harm reduction, especially for intravenous drug users. The main "harm" they are seeking to reduce is HIV and AIDS. The group does needle exchanges with heroin users, distributes condoms to sex workers, does general HIV awareness and training, and operates a drop-in center for at-risk youth.
Today we hung out with our new friend "Big Head" and his group on an outreach to a slum in Phnom Penh. Big Head moved to California from Cambodia when he was very young and lived there for about 27 years, but was in jail for almost half of that time. However, he wasn't bitter at all about his deportation, and actually said that he thought it was a blessing rather than a curse, because he had the opportunity to get a second chance and give back to try and help others.
At the slum Big Head and his outreach group handed out hygeine kits with toothbrushes, toothpaste, condoms, and other items to the slum's residents. The slum was one of the most desperately poor places I have ever seen. Apparently the residents were evicted from their home to make way for a high-rise apartment complex and now they live in awful conditions. Trash lay everywhere, and the homes were shabbily constructed huts covered in tarps.
There were many many children around the site, and they followed us around the whole time we were there. The kids were beautiful (I can see now why Angelina Jolie came here to adopt) but almost all of them were barefoot and there was tons of broken glass and I'm sure many other dangerous objects poking out of the garbage. I can't imagine the disease that infests this place.
This was our first exposure to the work of Korsang, but by no means the last. Because Grace, Brad and I are going to be working on developing an HIV/AIDS manual, we will be doing a lot of work with Korsang and other agencies working on HIV education and harm reduction.
The whole experience was almost a little difficult to process, but hopefully more of it will sink in when we go back on Wednesday for another outreach. What I do know, though, is that this was one of the most eye-opening experiences of my life, and Korsang is one of the most incredible organizations I have ever seen.
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Our House (In The Middle Of The Street)
Wherever I live, whether it is my college dorm room, Casa Bart in Phoenix, or my apartment in Ottawa, my parents always inevitably ask me to send pictures so they can see the place where I am living. This time, I thought I would pre-emptively strike and post some pictures of the volunteer house and office where I am living and working in Phnom Penh.
View from outside the volunteer house/Bridges Across Borders office. The main office is on the first floor, the balcony on the second floor is outside our conference room, and the third floor is our rooftop balcony.
My lovely room, my bed is on the right. I normally have both the A/C and the fan blasting at night...that's how hot it is here.
The conference room, also known as the "social justice sweatshop." This is where we do most of our work, where the best wireless signal is, and where I am writing this post. It can get a little cramped sometimes, though, so interns will often escape to the roof to do work or to stealthily watch episodes of The Office as "team building breaks."
The volunteer house kitchen
The rooftop, which is the best place in the house to hang out, day or night. A great place to have a beer, watch the lightning, read, listen to music, sit in a hammock, complain about the inefficiencies of Bridges Across Borders,.....
....or play a game of chess, as Abi and Stanley demonstrate, with Brian looking on.
View from outside the volunteer house/Bridges Across Borders office. The main office is on the first floor, the balcony on the second floor is outside our conference room, and the third floor is our rooftop balcony.
My lovely room, my bed is on the right. I normally have both the A/C and the fan blasting at night...that's how hot it is here.
The conference room, also known as the "social justice sweatshop." This is where we do most of our work, where the best wireless signal is, and where I am writing this post. It can get a little cramped sometimes, though, so interns will often escape to the roof to do work or to stealthily watch episodes of The Office as "team building breaks."
The volunteer house kitchen
The rooftop, which is the best place in the house to hang out, day or night. A great place to have a beer, watch the lightning, read, listen to music, sit in a hammock, complain about the inefficiencies of Bridges Across Borders,.....
....or play a game of chess, as Abi and Stanley demonstrate, with Brian looking on.Thursday, May 31, 2007
What I'm Up To All Day Long
So I haven't really had an eventful week, but I realized that I haven't talked much about the work I am doing over here. Essentially the program we are working on develops curriculums to teach basic legal rights to Cambodian citizens. Education is limited here and there is not a lot of trust in the legal system or knowledge of basic legal rights, so Bridges Across Borders is aiming to teach what is called "street law", which consists of really simple, interactive lessons on legal rights.
Some of my fellow interns are working on such things as promoting children's rights, awareness of domestic violence laws, and land rights, especially against forced evictions by the government.
As for me, I will be working this summer on editing and reformatting a labor law manual and creating a manual to promote rights for persons with HIV/AIDS.
Right now I am finishing up the labor law editing with my group, so I will talk a little bit about this work. Our manual consists of 10 sections dealing with topics ranging from basic labor rights to special protections in the Cambodian Labor Code for women, children, and plantation workers. The more I research this work, the more I have realized that many workers are not aware of the rights they have which are built into the law and there are a lot of abuses which go on in the workplace.
One of the biggest industries in Cambodia is the garment and footwear industry, which makes all those Gap clothes and Nike sneakers, and also allowed me to buy a pair of Pumas for $12 and 2 Adidas shirts for $10 at the local market. There are a lot of problems in this industry with workers being forced to work long hours without overtime pay, unsafe working conditions, and sexual harassment in the workplace. Further, there is a serious anti-union climate here, and some union organizers have been killed in recent years.
I don't know how much of an impact our work will have, but hopefully it will allow some workers, especially workers in the garment industry, to recognize the basic rights they have to be protected in the workplace and paid a fair wage. There is a small chance we will get to work with some union leaders and garment workers and potentially even teach a class to some workers, but much more of our time will likely be spent on the HIV/AIDS manual, and we will definitely be doing some direct research and site visits for that topic.
Hope all is well back in North America. Good luck to the Senators, hopefully they can come back in the next couple of games. We are having a pretty low-key weekend here after our Angkor Wat adventures last weekend. Best wishes to everyone from Phnom Penh and thanks again for all the comments, facebook posts, and e-mails, I appreciate them a ton.
Some of my fellow interns are working on such things as promoting children's rights, awareness of domestic violence laws, and land rights, especially against forced evictions by the government.
As for me, I will be working this summer on editing and reformatting a labor law manual and creating a manual to promote rights for persons with HIV/AIDS.
Right now I am finishing up the labor law editing with my group, so I will talk a little bit about this work. Our manual consists of 10 sections dealing with topics ranging from basic labor rights to special protections in the Cambodian Labor Code for women, children, and plantation workers. The more I research this work, the more I have realized that many workers are not aware of the rights they have which are built into the law and there are a lot of abuses which go on in the workplace.
One of the biggest industries in Cambodia is the garment and footwear industry, which makes all those Gap clothes and Nike sneakers, and also allowed me to buy a pair of Pumas for $12 and 2 Adidas shirts for $10 at the local market. There are a lot of problems in this industry with workers being forced to work long hours without overtime pay, unsafe working conditions, and sexual harassment in the workplace. Further, there is a serious anti-union climate here, and some union organizers have been killed in recent years.
I don't know how much of an impact our work will have, but hopefully it will allow some workers, especially workers in the garment industry, to recognize the basic rights they have to be protected in the workplace and paid a fair wage. There is a small chance we will get to work with some union leaders and garment workers and potentially even teach a class to some workers, but much more of our time will likely be spent on the HIV/AIDS manual, and we will definitely be doing some direct research and site visits for that topic.
Hope all is well back in North America. Good luck to the Senators, hopefully they can come back in the next couple of games. We are having a pretty low-key weekend here after our Angkor Wat adventures last weekend. Best wishes to everyone from Phnom Penh and thanks again for all the comments, facebook posts, and e-mails, I appreciate them a ton.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Siem Reap/Angkor Wat Pics
Bayon Temple
One of the famous faces at Bayon
Some of the ruins at Preah Khan, my favorite temple because there were no tour groups when we were there
Me and a giant tree amongst the ruins at Ta Prohm
Singing "Summer of 69" at the Dead Fish Tower in Siem Reap
The Ugly Head makes its first appearance in Cambodia at Angkor WatAngkor What?
It is Sunday night here and our group recently got back from a weekend trip to the town of Siem Reap, in northern Cambodia, and more importantly to visit the Angkor temples.
We had 16 interns going on this trip, so we ended up chartering a "bus", which turned out to be a large van. The trip was pretty cramped but we at least had A/C and a good driver who took us around everywhere we needed to go. We made the approximately 5 1/2 hour drive on Friday to Siem Reap, which is basically a tourist town feeding into the Angkor temples. We found a really nice guesthouse for only $7/night (we are getting spoiled really quickly by these cheap prices) and then explored Siem Reap. One highlight: we ate at a great Khmer restaurant called the Dead Fish Tower which featured live entertainment by a Cambodian duo who knew a ton of Western songs. After some prodding from my fellow interns, I was invited up to the mic to sing "Summer of '69." It was a pretty fun night, and I will try to post some pictures soon.
Saturday morning we woke up really early to head to the Angkor temples for the full day. Angkor was the capital of the Khmer empire from about 800 A.D. to 1432. Many of the temples were created by the founder of the Khmer empire, Jayavarman II. They include likely the most famous one, Angkor Wat, which is the world's largest religious building, and Ta Prohm, a temple famous for having appeared in the Tomb Raider movie with Angelina Jolie, a fact we were unfortunately reminded of quite often by postcard sellers and tour group leaders.
It is really hard to describe the Angkor temples. There are quite a few of them, spanning a vast area in the forest. It would take 4 or 5 days to see all the temples, so we were only able to make it to 4 temples, but they were the more famous ones. It was fascinating to see all of the temples, however, and realize that you are walking on ruins that were built well over a thousand years ago. All of the temples have incredibly detailed and intricate carvings and etchings in the stone. One of them, the Bayon temple, has amazing carvings of faces on almost every pillar. It will be easier to see what I mean when I put up the pictures.
Seeing all of this stuff was great, but unfortunately we picked an extremely hot day to visit Angkor. We were all sweating from the moment we left our guesthouse, and there was no respite from the heat until finally a rainstorm hit at about 3 PM. As well, a couple of the temples, especially the Tomb Raider temple, were absolutely flooded with tour groups. This was really annoying because the groups would be taking pictures of everything in sight and generally clog up the temple. However, there were a couple temples we got to where there were virtually no other tourists around. When we had a chance to sit and take in the temple in peace and quiet, we could begin to appreciate how amazing these places were and are.
I'm not sure anything else I could say would do this trip justice, so I will post some pictures soon of our trip. We went out again last night in Siem Reap, although we were also overrun by other tourists in the bars and restaurants there. We had a very long drive back today to Phnom Penh, all of us exhausted but finding it difficult to sleep in the cramped van. All in all, however, we had a great trip and some of us are already starting to plan our next excursion!
We had 16 interns going on this trip, so we ended up chartering a "bus", which turned out to be a large van. The trip was pretty cramped but we at least had A/C and a good driver who took us around everywhere we needed to go. We made the approximately 5 1/2 hour drive on Friday to Siem Reap, which is basically a tourist town feeding into the Angkor temples. We found a really nice guesthouse for only $7/night (we are getting spoiled really quickly by these cheap prices) and then explored Siem Reap. One highlight: we ate at a great Khmer restaurant called the Dead Fish Tower which featured live entertainment by a Cambodian duo who knew a ton of Western songs. After some prodding from my fellow interns, I was invited up to the mic to sing "Summer of '69." It was a pretty fun night, and I will try to post some pictures soon.
Saturday morning we woke up really early to head to the Angkor temples for the full day. Angkor was the capital of the Khmer empire from about 800 A.D. to 1432. Many of the temples were created by the founder of the Khmer empire, Jayavarman II. They include likely the most famous one, Angkor Wat, which is the world's largest religious building, and Ta Prohm, a temple famous for having appeared in the Tomb Raider movie with Angelina Jolie, a fact we were unfortunately reminded of quite often by postcard sellers and tour group leaders.
It is really hard to describe the Angkor temples. There are quite a few of them, spanning a vast area in the forest. It would take 4 or 5 days to see all the temples, so we were only able to make it to 4 temples, but they were the more famous ones. It was fascinating to see all of the temples, however, and realize that you are walking on ruins that were built well over a thousand years ago. All of the temples have incredibly detailed and intricate carvings and etchings in the stone. One of them, the Bayon temple, has amazing carvings of faces on almost every pillar. It will be easier to see what I mean when I put up the pictures.
Seeing all of this stuff was great, but unfortunately we picked an extremely hot day to visit Angkor. We were all sweating from the moment we left our guesthouse, and there was no respite from the heat until finally a rainstorm hit at about 3 PM. As well, a couple of the temples, especially the Tomb Raider temple, were absolutely flooded with tour groups. This was really annoying because the groups would be taking pictures of everything in sight and generally clog up the temple. However, there were a couple temples we got to where there were virtually no other tourists around. When we had a chance to sit and take in the temple in peace and quiet, we could begin to appreciate how amazing these places were and are.
I'm not sure anything else I could say would do this trip justice, so I will post some pictures soon of our trip. We went out again last night in Siem Reap, although we were also overrun by other tourists in the bars and restaurants there. We had a very long drive back today to Phnom Penh, all of us exhausted but finding it difficult to sleep in the cramped van. All in all, however, we had a great trip and some of us are already starting to plan our next excursion!
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Wat Phnom Pics
Here are a few pictures from Wat Phnom, the most famous temple in Phnom Penh. Wat Phnom is actually the supposed founding place of the city. The legend is that in 1372 Lady Penh took a floating tree out of the Mekong river, which inside had 4 statues of Buddha. She then built a phnom, which in Khmer means "hill" and a small temple (or "wat") on the hill. So, the city is named after the hill (Phnom) and its founder and creator (Penh).
The view from the top of Wat Phnom.
Me in front of the Wat.
View from the outside of Wat Phnom.
An elephant available for rides at the bottom of Wat Phnom.
The view from the top of Wat Phnom.
Me in front of the Wat. 
View from the outside of Wat Phnom.
An elephant available for rides at the bottom of Wat Phnom. Phnom Penh Celebs
Just a quick story about last night: Bridges Across Borders threw all the interns a party last night at Talkin to a Stranger, which was a nice time. But, after that, a few of us decided to go out to a club to try and dance or maybe find some karaoke. We ended up at the Gold Star club, which was just off the Riverfront, the touristy section.
Anyway, lo and behold, we were the only white people in the bar. We felt a little unsure at first and didn't recognize any music, but then "Sexy Back" by Justin Timberlake came on and so we hit up the dance floor. Immediately people were looking at us and a bunch of people came over to dance with us. It was a pretty young crowd, probably mostly Khmer teenagers, but they clearly found us pretty interesting. Even better, I was the tallest person in the whole place!! We hung out for a while and heard quite the interesting mix of Western songs like "My Humps" and "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" and Cambodian techno songs. It was quite the night out...we felt like celebrities!!
Besides that adventure, we have still been doing orientation for the last couple of days. We are getting more and more adjusted to the work we'll be doing, but I think everyone is getting a little tired of the orientation work. Luckily we decide on our groups tomorrow and the topics we will be focusing on and then get to work on Tuesday. I am excited to get going and start developing some real lessons.
I heard this morning that the Senators made it to the Stanley Cup Finals!! Let's Go Sens!!
Anyway, lo and behold, we were the only white people in the bar. We felt a little unsure at first and didn't recognize any music, but then "Sexy Back" by Justin Timberlake came on and so we hit up the dance floor. Immediately people were looking at us and a bunch of people came over to dance with us. It was a pretty young crowd, probably mostly Khmer teenagers, but they clearly found us pretty interesting. Even better, I was the tallest person in the whole place!! We hung out for a while and heard quite the interesting mix of Western songs like "My Humps" and "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" and Cambodian techno songs. It was quite the night out...we felt like celebrities!!
Besides that adventure, we have still been doing orientation for the last couple of days. We are getting more and more adjusted to the work we'll be doing, but I think everyone is getting a little tired of the orientation work. Luckily we decide on our groups tomorrow and the topics we will be focusing on and then get to work on Tuesday. I am excited to get going and start developing some real lessons.
I heard this morning that the Senators made it to the Stanley Cup Finals!! Let's Go Sens!!
Friday, May 18, 2007
Getting Oriented
Today was our first actual day of work, the first day of a 4-day workshop to get us oriented to what we'll be doing as interns with Bridges Across Borders. While we had to suffer through a number of icebreakers and introductions, today was useful in getting a sense of exactly what we will be doing here.
Basically our main job is to develop interactive lessons in what is called "street law." Street law is basically a program run by Bridges Across Borders to teach basic legal concept to the average Cambodian citizen, especially citizens living in rural areas. The lessons generally utilize a number of interactive teaching methodologies besides the basic lecture format, including role-playing, visual demonstration, games, songs, and other ways to really make the legal concepts stick.
The lessons will generally be in areas of the law that will be important in the day-to-day life of Cambodians. So, there are some existing lessons in topics such as family law and the law of battery, but we will be mainly working in 5 different areas: property/land rights, housing rights, children's rights, domestic violence, and rights for persons with HIV/AIDS. I'm not sure which area I will be working in yet, but I should find out soon. I am pretty excited to have the chance to do this. One of my least favorite things about the law is its inaccessibility to the average person, so this is a good way to try and simplify things and make the law easier to understand for people, especially for people in a country without a strong legal tradition. Hopefully we will also get the chance to see some of these lessons being implemented and put into practice later on in the summer.
Thanks for all the comments and support so far...while I am physically on the other side of the world, I still feel quite connected to everyone at home and in N. America through the wonders of the internet, e-mails, and blogs!!!
Basically our main job is to develop interactive lessons in what is called "street law." Street law is basically a program run by Bridges Across Borders to teach basic legal concept to the average Cambodian citizen, especially citizens living in rural areas. The lessons generally utilize a number of interactive teaching methodologies besides the basic lecture format, including role-playing, visual demonstration, games, songs, and other ways to really make the legal concepts stick.
The lessons will generally be in areas of the law that will be important in the day-to-day life of Cambodians. So, there are some existing lessons in topics such as family law and the law of battery, but we will be mainly working in 5 different areas: property/land rights, housing rights, children's rights, domestic violence, and rights for persons with HIV/AIDS. I'm not sure which area I will be working in yet, but I should find out soon. I am pretty excited to have the chance to do this. One of my least favorite things about the law is its inaccessibility to the average person, so this is a good way to try and simplify things and make the law easier to understand for people, especially for people in a country without a strong legal tradition. Hopefully we will also get the chance to see some of these lessons being implemented and put into practice later on in the summer.
Thanks for all the comments and support so far...while I am physically on the other side of the world, I still feel quite connected to everyone at home and in N. America through the wonders of the internet, e-mails, and blogs!!!
Thursday, May 17, 2007
More Pics
We saw a real elephant at Wat Phnom today, pictures to come. In the meantime, enjoy this fake elephant shrubbery from the National Museum.
Good example of the French-style architecture in Phnom Penh.
Typical market street, just off the Riverfront
Statue of Buddha at a wat in Phnom Penh. This is where an older Khmer man blessed Jenny and me with holy water and had us put incense sticks in front of the Buddha.
Independence Monument, around the center of the city.Tuol Sleng
It is definitely hard to describe this sensation, but there is a noticeable undercurrent of influence from the Khmer Rouge genocide still felt in this country. I think it certainly underlies the work we are doing here and obviously much of the development and social work in Cambodia as well.
This undercurrent was made even more clear to me upon visiting the Tuol Sleng Genocide museum here in Phnom Penh. The museum is actually only about a 5 minute walk from the volunteer house and right next to one of our new favorite restaurants in the city, the Boddhi Tree.
Tuol Sleng was formerly a high school, but when the Khmer Rouge took over in 1975, they turned the school into a detention, interrogation, and torture facility known as S-21. There are varying reports as to the number of people who were detained at S-21, but they range from about 12,500 to 20,000. What is clear, however, is that only 7 people who were detained at S-21 survived.
The Khmer Rouge detained people from all walks of life, including farmers, engineers, teachers, and students. Many diplomats and officials under the former regime were held and tortured, along with their entire families. Generally the people were held at S-21 and interrogated, and then transported to the Killing Fields for execution.
Today Tuol Sleng has been turned into a genocide museum, but it is unlike any other historical museum I've ever seen. Unlike some other museums commemorating traumatic historical events, this one was incredibly stark and felt very real. It was very easy to picture the former high school classrooms being used for torture. Each room was essentially kept as it was during the Khmer Rouge regime, with one bed in the center of the room with just a metal frame and various instruments of torture around the room. Most rooms had a gruesome picture of a detainee in the room. However, the most chilling part of the museum for me was a room displaying the mugshot pictures of many people who had been detained at S-21. It is very hard to stare into the faces of often very young-looking people who were captured and tortured for no reason besides the fact that they held a certain position in the old regime or that they were considered "intellectuals" by the Khmer Rouge.
Clearly the process of trying to digest the impact of the war and the genocide on this country will take a long time and likely will not be completed during my few short months here. Nevertheless, I am already thinking about how a genocide must affect a country. I wonder what Canada would be like today if we had experienced a genocide within the past few decades. And I wonder what the long-ranging after-effects of current Western interference with foreign countries will be. It is worth remembering that the Khmer Rouge rose to power following the American invasion and secret carpet bombing of Cambodia, which killed an estimated 250,000 people. Despite this horrendous intrusion onto the country, the western world turned its back on Cambodia after the Khmer Rouge came into power. Will that happen again in Iraq or Afghanistan?
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
1st Set of Pics
Me at a Wat (temple) in Phnom Penh
Big temple at the Royal Palace
Picture of the King at a temple close by the Royal Palace
Average busy intersection in Phnom PenhExplorations
So I had a excellent blog post, pictures and all, ready to go this morning, but when I went to post it, the entry disappeared, and of course I hadn't saved it. I got mad and left the computer room, which was also about 150 degrees, adding to my discomfort. Anyway, the wireless isn't working this afternoon so I will write up some experiences from yesterday and then post some pictures this evening. Of course, all of this is irrelevant for you, since it's about 5 in the morning, and I assume no one will be checking this for several hours, except of course for Stringer, who checks my blog every 5 minutes for updates, or Professor Sugunasiri, who has been known to answer e-mails at about quarter of 5 in the morning.
Anyway, I woke up yesterday morning feeling pretty refreshed and so decided to explore the city with 2 interns, Jenny, from Vancouver, and Francisco, from Mexico City. We decided to walk to the Riverfront area, which is the main tourist part of town.
The first two most striking things about Phnom Penh are the humidity and the traffic. We are just starting the monsoon season here, so temperatures are actually not as bad as they were in April, when it was generally 40 degrees celsius each day. But, it is still incredibly humid, so you basically start sweating as soon as you wake up in the morning. Once you start walking outside you immediately notice the traffic, mainly because if you didn't, you get hit by a motorbike.
The roads are essentially filled with motor scooters, called "motos" here and you can't walk two feet without someone asking if you need to hire one. I have no idea how the city supports so many moto taxis. The slightly more expensive form of transportation is called a "tuk-tuk" which is basically like a rickshaw being towed by a moto. These vehicles seemingly obey no discernible traffic laws. Motos cruise on both the right and wrong side of the street and there are really no stop signs or traffic lights, everyone just sort of glides into the intersection and avoids everyone else. Remarkably, this seems to work OK, and I haven't witnessed any accidents just yet.
Anyway, we eschewed these options to take a quite sweaty 45 minute walk through the city. Along the way we stopped at a couple of "wats"or Buddhist temples. The most famous one, of course, is Angkor Wat, a few hours away, but there are many in Phnom Penh. They have pretty incredible architecture and a lot of Buddha statues. At one wat we were taken inside a little pagoda by an older Khmer man, who proceeded to bless us with some kind of holy water and gave us incense sticks to place in sand in front of the Buddha. Of course, he could have been saying "Stupid white people, you are so gullible" over and over, but it sounded good to us.
Closer to the Riverfront we visited the National Museum, which I will post a picture of tonight. The museum is mainly filled with statues of the Buddha, some of which date back to the 6th century. The statues are beautiful but you can get a little bit Buddhaed-out at times, kind of like being in Italy and seeing 8 million Madonna and Child paintings.
Jenny and I also checked out the Royal Palace, which is also pretty impressive. The palace is actually made up of a number of wats, pagods, and other statues and buildings spread out over a big big property in the middle of the city. Again, it is easier to see this than for me to describe it, so I will post pics tonight.
We also took in the Riverfront street, AKA Sisowith Quay. This is a pretty Western area, filled with a lot of Western-style bars and restaurants. Interestingly, there are no western chains here, no McDonald's or Burger King, which is kind of a relief actually. You will be happy to know that Coca-Cola has made its way to Cambodia. It is nice to see a small, scrappy company like that break into a foreign market for once....
Last night we met a few of the other interns who had arrived yesterday, had dinner at a Khmer/Thai restaurant and then drinks at an Australian-run bar called "Talkin To A Stranger", a name I loved. There we met Holly, a very cool woman from Boston who runs a harm reduction clinic in town. In her words, she works with Khmer ex-cons deported from the United States after 9/11 to try and prevent HIV among heroin addicts in Phnom Penh. We are going to visit the clinic next week, so that should be pretty interesting.
So that was my day!! I apologize for the extremely long post. I will try to post more frequent, shorter entries in the future. Tonight I will get some pictures up from yesterday and also maybe write about our visit to the Tuol Seng genocide museum after I've had a chance to digest what I saw there a little bit.
I hope all is well in North America. Let's go Senators and Suns!!! (by the way, for those of you who think I'm roughing it, there is a tv in my room here with about 60 channels, including ESPN International and CNN. I watched part of the Golden State-Utah basketball game this morning LIVE!!!! Hockey coverage is unlikely though)
Anyway, I woke up yesterday morning feeling pretty refreshed and so decided to explore the city with 2 interns, Jenny, from Vancouver, and Francisco, from Mexico City. We decided to walk to the Riverfront area, which is the main tourist part of town.
The first two most striking things about Phnom Penh are the humidity and the traffic. We are just starting the monsoon season here, so temperatures are actually not as bad as they were in April, when it was generally 40 degrees celsius each day. But, it is still incredibly humid, so you basically start sweating as soon as you wake up in the morning. Once you start walking outside you immediately notice the traffic, mainly because if you didn't, you get hit by a motorbike.
The roads are essentially filled with motor scooters, called "motos" here and you can't walk two feet without someone asking if you need to hire one. I have no idea how the city supports so many moto taxis. The slightly more expensive form of transportation is called a "tuk-tuk" which is basically like a rickshaw being towed by a moto. These vehicles seemingly obey no discernible traffic laws. Motos cruise on both the right and wrong side of the street and there are really no stop signs or traffic lights, everyone just sort of glides into the intersection and avoids everyone else. Remarkably, this seems to work OK, and I haven't witnessed any accidents just yet.
Anyway, we eschewed these options to take a quite sweaty 45 minute walk through the city. Along the way we stopped at a couple of "wats"or Buddhist temples. The most famous one, of course, is Angkor Wat, a few hours away, but there are many in Phnom Penh. They have pretty incredible architecture and a lot of Buddha statues. At one wat we were taken inside a little pagoda by an older Khmer man, who proceeded to bless us with some kind of holy water and gave us incense sticks to place in sand in front of the Buddha. Of course, he could have been saying "Stupid white people, you are so gullible" over and over, but it sounded good to us.
Closer to the Riverfront we visited the National Museum, which I will post a picture of tonight. The museum is mainly filled with statues of the Buddha, some of which date back to the 6th century. The statues are beautiful but you can get a little bit Buddhaed-out at times, kind of like being in Italy and seeing 8 million Madonna and Child paintings.
Jenny and I also checked out the Royal Palace, which is also pretty impressive. The palace is actually made up of a number of wats, pagods, and other statues and buildings spread out over a big big property in the middle of the city. Again, it is easier to see this than for me to describe it, so I will post pics tonight.
We also took in the Riverfront street, AKA Sisowith Quay. This is a pretty Western area, filled with a lot of Western-style bars and restaurants. Interestingly, there are no western chains here, no McDonald's or Burger King, which is kind of a relief actually. You will be happy to know that Coca-Cola has made its way to Cambodia. It is nice to see a small, scrappy company like that break into a foreign market for once....
Last night we met a few of the other interns who had arrived yesterday, had dinner at a Khmer/Thai restaurant and then drinks at an Australian-run bar called "Talkin To A Stranger", a name I loved. There we met Holly, a very cool woman from Boston who runs a harm reduction clinic in town. In her words, she works with Khmer ex-cons deported from the United States after 9/11 to try and prevent HIV among heroin addicts in Phnom Penh. We are going to visit the clinic next week, so that should be pretty interesting.
So that was my day!! I apologize for the extremely long post. I will try to post more frequent, shorter entries in the future. Tonight I will get some pictures up from yesterday and also maybe write about our visit to the Tuol Seng genocide museum after I've had a chance to digest what I saw there a little bit.
I hope all is well in North America. Let's go Senators and Suns!!! (by the way, for those of you who think I'm roughing it, there is a tv in my room here with about 60 channels, including ESPN International and CNN. I watched part of the Golden State-Utah basketball game this morning LIVE!!!! Hockey coverage is unlikely though)
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
A Good Day For Beginnings
Well, it's after midnight and I am finally settled in Phnom Penh after one of the longest days ever...approximately 30 hours of flying time starting 6 AM on Sunday. I got into Phnom Penh at 10 PM on Monday night. Anyway, I need to go to sleep, but I will say that the city seems nice, a lot of French-style architecture. It is quite humid but apparently the "hot"months are over and we are entering the cooler monsoon season. I am staying at the Bridges Across Borders volunteer house with about 5 or 6 other interns and I think a few other BAB volunteers and workers too. The house is also the main BAB office so it's where I will be doing most of my work. I am a little overwhelmed, unsurprisingly, but also really excited to be here and get going. We don't start orientation for a couple of days so tomorrow I plan to explore a little bit with some of the other interns.
Time for bed...
Time for bed...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)