Jum-reap suor ya'll
I'm still loving it here and have seen so much more of it now.
The variety is thanks to Rach, Andy's sister. She's been an excellent guide around Phnom Penh city, showing us loads of local bars where we've subsisted on their generous 2-3 hour happy hours, taken us to some fine and reasonably priced restaurants, negotiated some great tuk tuk & moto rides, introduced us to heaps of locals and expats, and as you can imagine provided a plethora of advice in general. However, definitely my biggest thanks to Rach is for taking us to her home 2.5 hours outside of Phnom Penh in rural Svey Rieng. There we saw another side of Cambodia, a side that most tourist do not see.
What an experience, to see first hand rural life in Cambodia, smell the smells, see and occasionally meet to the people, and see how they live.
It's very rare for westeners to visit so they were equally interested in us. We had lots of random calls of 'hello!' from kids and adults alike as we wandered around, and of course the constant watchful eye. I've found the most translatable thing is a smile, so I beam and wave at most of them, most of which reciprocate with a big grin orspurt of an english saying they've learnt. Its a fantastic feeling just communicating.
She's has been working Svay Rieng for over a year now for the Rural Economic Development Association (REDA) via VSA, on a project with the goal of providing care for children orphaned by AIDS. There are approximately fifteen kids under their care between the ages 3 and 18 .
We visited the orphanage yesterday and got a feel for it. The kids live in very basic huts made from local materials and subsist on food from their own gardens and small fish from the ponds spotted around the village. Its a small place, with loads of chickens and dogs and small community labour tasks going on.
We shouted ingredients for a lunch for the kids as a little hello and thanks for having us. It was amazing what the cook could do with the basic veges we bought. A delicious eggplant stew, a mixture of pumpkin and garlic and chilli, a sort of fish curry, some salad, all with a very delicious lime and cracked pepper sauce, very common in Cambodia and of course all on rice.
We originally had our seats set up at the head of the table facing the kids, very formal 'fa fa' but Rach insisted that we sit with the kids, so we forced some room and settled in with them instead. It was a quiet affair, the kids were hushed by our strange presence but as lunch went on, we chatted and they eased up and responded to some of the silly faces I pulled at them and Rachs questions to them in khmer. They loved the fish curry, consisting of the sprats i saw them hammering to death earlier that day.
It was really cool just hanging out with them, grinning away at each other. We took loads of photos, and as soon as i showed them I was taking photos they started manically pulling the peace sign at the camera - haha. There was one little bald guy who quickly got over eating and went and stood next to Andy, just staring at him, fascinated by the hairy portugese beast in front of him. Ww've got a great film of this. Will try to get it on youtube.
It was serious stuff seeing these kids - They have such a lonely, hard reality being orphans of such a manner in a karma based society, - some believe their situaion is due to bad deeds of a former life - but not all of course. And on top of this they have already been through so much, loosing their parents and being alone. They aim to teach them so they can survive after the orphanage but it plagues Rach how they will really survive without this support.
Onto the nice side though... I'm so glad they have this project to keep them off the streets. Sure, it's not all roses, and there is room for a lot of improvement, and that is another thing that frustrates Rach as progess is slow and hard fought for here. But it comes down to - how much is enough? And in this case a little is a lot, what they're receiving warms me when i think of what situation they could be in.
On our way back to Phnom Penh we got a view of this potential reality on the streets. Our car was stopped waiting for the river ferry and along with the market people with baskets on their heads of their wares, and little girls and boys (along with the standard older disfigured beggars) were tapping on the window begging for money. We've had beggars this whole trip but seeing these kids was really sad. Some of the girls were carrying very little babies, the girls were under 10, and the babies under 2, so they must be their siblings. It's likely they were carrying them for the extra sympathy to tug on our heartstrings which ofcourse it did. But isn't that fair enough? It's a true reality.
It's a hard decision. It's likely their parents are putting them out to beg, which is a practice I don't want to support. I'd prefer it if they had some goods to sell, so they're earning their money by learning how to earn it. But with the poverty here, the lack of education and farming experience of many and simply no land or home to produce anything from what choice do they have? They cant produce so all they have is to beg.
As the tourist it's a really tough call to decide when is enough. If we gave $1USD to each beggar we've seen so far, our entire budget would be gone. This situation of begging and street life is very sad, and this is where the kids we meet would end up without REDA and people like Rach doing what she does. So three cheers to Rach!
I'm still loving it here and have seen so much more of it now.
The variety is thanks to Rach, Andy's sister. She's been an excellent guide around Phnom Penh city, showing us loads of local bars where we've subsisted on their generous 2-3 hour happy hours, taken us to some fine and reasonably priced restaurants, negotiated some great tuk tuk & moto rides, introduced us to heaps of locals and expats, and as you can imagine provided a plethora of advice in general. However, definitely my biggest thanks to Rach is for taking us to her home 2.5 hours outside of Phnom Penh in rural Svey Rieng. There we saw another side of Cambodia, a side that most tourist do not see.
What an experience, to see first hand rural life in Cambodia, smell the smells, see and occasionally meet to the people, and see how they live.
It's very rare for westeners to visit so they were equally interested in us. We had lots of random calls of 'hello!' from kids and adults alike as we wandered around, and of course the constant watchful eye. I've found the most translatable thing is a smile, so I beam and wave at most of them, most of which reciprocate with a big grin orspurt of an english saying they've learnt. Its a fantastic feeling just communicating.
She's has been working Svay Rieng for over a year now for the Rural Economic Development Association (REDA) via VSA, on a project with the goal of providing care for children orphaned by AIDS. There are approximately fifteen kids under their care between the ages 3 and 18 .
We visited the orphanage yesterday and got a feel for it. The kids live in very basic huts made from local materials and subsist on food from their own gardens and small fish from the ponds spotted around the village. Its a small place, with loads of chickens and dogs and small community labour tasks going on.
We shouted ingredients for a lunch for the kids as a little hello and thanks for having us. It was amazing what the cook could do with the basic veges we bought. A delicious eggplant stew, a mixture of pumpkin and garlic and chilli, a sort of fish curry, some salad, all with a very delicious lime and cracked pepper sauce, very common in Cambodia and of course all on rice.
We originally had our seats set up at the head of the table facing the kids, very formal 'fa fa' but Rach insisted that we sit with the kids, so we forced some room and settled in with them instead. It was a quiet affair, the kids were hushed by our strange presence but as lunch went on, we chatted and they eased up and responded to some of the silly faces I pulled at them and Rachs questions to them in khmer. They loved the fish curry, consisting of the sprats i saw them hammering to death earlier that day.
It was really cool just hanging out with them, grinning away at each other. We took loads of photos, and as soon as i showed them I was taking photos they started manically pulling the peace sign at the camera - haha. There was one little bald guy who quickly got over eating and went and stood next to Andy, just staring at him, fascinated by the hairy portugese beast in front of him. Ww've got a great film of this. Will try to get it on youtube.
It was serious stuff seeing these kids - They have such a lonely, hard reality being orphans of such a manner in a karma based society, - some believe their situaion is due to bad deeds of a former life - but not all of course. And on top of this they have already been through so much, loosing their parents and being alone. They aim to teach them so they can survive after the orphanage but it plagues Rach how they will really survive without this support.
Onto the nice side though... I'm so glad they have this project to keep them off the streets. Sure, it's not all roses, and there is room for a lot of improvement, and that is another thing that frustrates Rach as progess is slow and hard fought for here. But it comes down to - how much is enough? And in this case a little is a lot, what they're receiving warms me when i think of what situation they could be in.
On our way back to Phnom Penh we got a view of this potential reality on the streets. Our car was stopped waiting for the river ferry and along with the market people with baskets on their heads of their wares, and little girls and boys (along with the standard older disfigured beggars) were tapping on the window begging for money. We've had beggars this whole trip but seeing these kids was really sad. Some of the girls were carrying very little babies, the girls were under 10, and the babies under 2, so they must be their siblings. It's likely they were carrying them for the extra sympathy to tug on our heartstrings which ofcourse it did. But isn't that fair enough? It's a true reality.
It's a hard decision. It's likely their parents are putting them out to beg, which is a practice I don't want to support. I'd prefer it if they had some goods to sell, so they're earning their money by learning how to earn it. But with the poverty here, the lack of education and farming experience of many and simply no land or home to produce anything from what choice do they have? They cant produce so all they have is to beg.
As the tourist it's a really tough call to decide when is enough. If we gave $1USD to each beggar we've seen so far, our entire budget would be gone. This situation of begging and street life is very sad, and this is where the kids we meet would end up without REDA and people like Rach doing what she does. So three cheers to Rach!
On other aspects of our trip to Svay Rieng, I expereinced my favourite Cambodian meal so far is the Cambodian pancake, ban chao, which is something I had had before in NZ thanks for Vina, Vibol's mama's great cooking. Essentially it's a pancake which is stuffed with veges and meat and comes with a plate of flavousome greens and delicious peanut sauce. mmm! We had it at a local place near Rach's which had little outdoor shacks for eating in. During our meal we had many dogs, geckos and a few toads join us. haha. Gotta love the rural life. That night I had terrible tummy cramps... another factor of a city girls tummy in a rural setting. Touch wood though, thats the worst I've had yet. No real food poisoning as predicted yet. I am nervous now...argh...tempting fate.
We also visited the local market , cracked muddy roads with bikes and cows everwhere. Everything is in sections, food, clothes, and believe it or not electronics, all displayed in stalls.
The meat is displayed on outdoor tables, flys and all -my tummy could never cope with that sort of thing, (as with my pancake experience) but the hardened local tummies must be fine with it... The veges are great though, cheap and fresh, most just look a little different so you've got to be daring...like the passionfuit with a pink exterior.
photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=35512&l=b78a4&id=694561720
AND NOW ADDED....Shots of REDA
There are way more fantastic ones but this connection sucks so we'll have to wait!
Anyway - I better stop. This is ridiculously long and I congratulate you if you made it to the end of this rambling post. Funny enough...I HAVE SO MUCH MORE TO SAY! I'll save it. Love to all and keep those updates comming. I love hearing from you. xx
No comments:
Post a Comment