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Cambodia: Thoughts and reflections

Hey Dy lan, how w as Cambodia? Um... Y ep. I s till dont hav e a good ans w er to this ques tion. Its getting a little r idic ulous ac tually . For s omeone that w or ks in c ommunic ations to not be able to ans w er a s imple ques tion like how w as y our tr ip? is a little lame. How ev er , its not as lame as y ou think... ok, may be it is . How ev er , the ques tion is a little mor e dif f ic ult to ans w er than y ou might think. Its the equiv alent of as king w hat s tar ted Wor ld War 1? or as king w ho is to blame f or the global ec onomic c r is is ? or w hy the hell is A us tr alia c ontemplating pic king Simon Katic h in its one day team? Thes e ar e all ex c ellent ques tions that y ou c an giv e one line ans w er s to ( Fr anz Fer dinand w as as s as s inated, Bill Clinton s c r ew ed up, and bec aus e Jamie Cox is a muppet ar e the one line ans w er s ) but they dont do jus tic e to the big pic tur e. Thats how it is w ith Cambodia. I c ould ans w er w ith It w as amaz ing, and unlike any thing Id ev er done bef or e, w hic h is tec hnic ally tr ue, s hor t and c onc is e... but it does nt quite c aptur e w hat I w ant to s ay . Henc e this c olumn. This one goes out to all the poor people w ho as ked me how my Cambodia tr ip w as and w er e gr eeted by the ans w er , A maz ing. So her e goes . I hav e to s ay , I c ame aw ay w ith thr ee major per c eption s hif ts f r om my Cambodian ex per ienc e. But bef or e I go into ex ac tly w hat they w er e, Ill giv e a one par agr aph ov er v iew to w hat the hec k I w as ac tually doing ther e. I w ent w ith 16 other A us tr alians to Siem Reap in c entr al Cambodia f or tw o w eeks . We w ent as par t of a team to w or k w ith an or ganis ation c alled Habitat f or Humanity to build a c ommunity c entr e f or a loc al... er ... c ommunity . The c ommunity c entr e w ill be us ed as a building to teac h Englis h les s ons to the... er ... c ommunity , as a homeles s s helter f or the... er ... c ommunity , and a meeting hall f or the elec ted of f ic ials w ho r epr es ent the... er ... c ommunity . Ev er y one w ith me? Good. So, w hat w er e y our thr ee per c eptions , Dy lan? I hear y ou as king. Well, they w er e as f ollow s : 1: Cam b o d ia is a co u n t r y in s e ar ch o f an id e n t it y. I think the bes t w ay to ex plain this point is f or a s mall illus tr ation... w ith w or ds . The build s ite w her e w e w er e w or king eac h day w as an hour and a half f r om Siem Reap. We tr av elled by bus eac h day , and the r oad w e took w as , w ithout a doubt, the bumpies t and leas t maintained r oad in the his tor y of eas ter n c iv ilis ation. Ev er y thr ee s ec onds the bus dipped mor e than the f ir s t dr op on the Cor ks c r ew r oller c oas ter at Sea Wor ld, and as a r es ult w e w er e inv oluntar ily leaping out of our c hair s mor e than Les lie Niels en in Wr ongf ully A c c us ed w hen he tr ies to s teal a hy dr aulic c ar . Near by the w or k s ite w as a s mall loc al mar ket. Ther e w er e about s ix or s ev en s hops and the people w ho oper ated them w er e obv ious ly not ear ning ex ec utiv e s alar ies . Thes e w er e f amilies w ho all liv ed in tiny hous es , pr obably all s har ing the s ame bedr oom, and r unning w ater w as a lux ur y f or eign to eac h of them. So, w hat do y ou think they w er e s elling? Keep in mind that this w as an hour and a half f r om the tour is t ar ea, and it is doubtf ul that mor e than 16 tour is ts v is it her e in a y ear , let alone in a s ingle day . What did they s ell? Mobile phones . Not jus t mobile phones though! They s old DV Ds , t- s hir ts w ith gangs ter ex pr es s ions on them and other things that the people s elling them w ould hav e no pr ac tic al us e of . This A typical sight out the bus w indow - oxen. From day one I w as hard at w ork.

them and other things that the people s elling them w ould hav e no pr ac tic al us e of . This illus tr ation s ums Cambodia up in a nuts hell. When the Khmer Rouge des tr oy ed mos t of the c ountr y and killed thous ands of nativ e Cambodians , mor e than jus t liv es w er e los t. A c ultur e w ith r ic h his tor y w as als o har med in a mos t pr of ound w ay . With their loc al ec onomy and mos t of the loc al inf r as tr uc tur e des tr oy ed bey ond r elief , ther e w as only one w ay to c atc h bac k up. In a r egion w her e the ec onomic pow er hous es ar e Singapor e, Japan and China, the only w ay Cambodia w as going to f ind s ome s or t of quic k f ix w as to s ell its s oul. Suddenly , the only w ay loc als s eem to s ur v iv e is by peddling c heap mer c handis e to tour is ts . This is immens ely s ad, but ther e s eems a hint of inev itability about it. Id alw ay s thought that globalis ation w as , w ell, ov er r ated. I thought the only people w ho had pr oblems w ith it w er e hippies and the s or t of people y ou s ee pr otes ting at f or ums like A PEC. In other w or ds ; uneduc ated muppets . How ev er , Id nev er r eally bother ed to c ontemplate the notion that may be, jus t may be, s ome of the gar bage they w er e pus hing may hav e an... *gulp*... element of tr uth to it. Seeing the per s onif ic ation of globalis ation in Cambodia, I hav e s tar ed the w or s t par ts of c apitalis m in the ey e and it w as nt pr etty . How ev er , bef or e y ou s tar t pr otes ting that Dy lans s uddenly enr olling in the Communis t Par ty and has taken out a s ubs c r iption to Bob Br ow n Monthly , I hav e to s ay that the s olutions people ar e of f er ing about this pr oblem ar e mas s iv ely inf er ior . Some people might s ay Lets make ev er y thing f air tr ade, thatll s olv e it! Uh, no. No it w ont. Other s w ill s ay , lets make the Gov er nment s ee r eas on and under s tand that they c ant allow f or eign c ompanies in to us e s lav e labour . Uh, thats not going to happen. If ther es any thing I lear nt f r om Cambodia, its that ther e ar e no eas y s olutions to the r elentles s pull of c apitalis m and A mer ic anis ation. While the USA is the w or lds only s uper pow er , ther e is no s olution in s ight to the w ay the w or ld c ur r ently oper ates . The people w ho elec ted Bar ac k Obama in a f anf ar e ( w her e he only got 53% of the v ote by the w ay ) thinking that the w or ld w ould s uddenly bec ome a nic e plac e, they w er e w r ong. Dont mis under s tand me, its not Obamas f ault! Hes s imply a nic e guy in a s y s tem that is ter r ibly br oken. A nd unf or tunately , it w ill be quite s ome time until its f ix ed. A nd until then, the poor c hild w ho does nt know w her e his nex t meal is c oming f r om w ill s till be s elling c ounter f eit DV Ds to any one w ho w ill buy them. Its s ad... v er y s ad... but thats jus t the w ay things ar e. 2: Act u ally vis it in g t h o s e w h o ar e le s s f o r t u n at e t h an yo u is n t a w as t e o f m o n e y. It s g o o d . Re al g o o d . I s pons or a c hild in Rw anda and his name is A lphons e. Y ep, A lphons e. What an aw es ome s pons or kid name. I'll never buy into anything Bob Brow n is selling.

Tr uth be told, thats w hy I c hos e him. I w as y oung and s tupid and I didnt bother looking w her e he w as f r om, w hat his is s ues w er e, or how old he w as . I s imply s aw the name and thought, Y ep, this kid r oc ks . So I s pons or him thr ough an or ganis ation c alled Compas s ion. It w or ks w ell, the money gets automatic ally debited out of my ac c ount eac h month and Compas s ion giv e me detailed s tatements on w hat eac h c ent pay s f or . Its legit. Now , I know plenty of people w ho s pons or c hildr en, and s ome of them dec ide that, af ter a w hile, they ll tr av el ov er s eas and go to meet their s pons or c hild. Iv e alw ay s appr oac hed this w ith a hint of s c eptic is m. Oh w ho am I kidding? Iv e been abs ur dly s c eptic al! Why s pend thous ands of dollar s to go and s ay hi f or 24 hour s w hen y ou c ould us e all that money to buy pr ac tic al things to help impr ov e his lif e c ir c ums tanc es ??? Well, I f inally got my ans w er on this tr ip. No, I didnt v is it my kid hes in A f r ic a, not South Eas t A s ia, hav ent y ou been r eading c ar ef ully ? No, w hat I did s ee though w as the w ay in w hic h our teams v is it br ought abs olute joy to the kids that liv ed in the loc al c ommunity . A ll y ou had to do w as s mile at them, and it w as as if it w as the gr eates t moment of their lif e. The kids on the build s ite w er e s o happy to s ee us ev er y day . They w ould be w aiting out the f r ont of the half c ons tr uc ted hous e eac h mor ning and r un along bes ide the bus as w e ar r iv ed. They w ould be eager to help us per f or m w hatev er w or k w as r equir ed bec aus e they w er e jus t s o happy to hav e us ar ound. Eac h day w hen w e lef t the s ite, it w as like the kids w er e s ay ing goodby e to Santa Claus , only Santa Claus w as als o taking all his pr es ents bac k w ith him too. How ev er , in their s adnes s w as als o joy , bec aus e they knew w ed be bac k the nex t day , and they d be ther e w aiting w ith s miles a mile w ide. My per c eptions hav e def initely s hif ted in r egar ds to how muc h of a dif f er enc e it c an make in s omeones lif e s imply to be w ith them. With a s imple s mile, it w as as if their liv es had been br ightened like nev er bef or e. On the las t day w hen w e lef t, the kids had no idea

been br ightened like nev er bef or e. On the las t day w hen w e lef t, the kids had no idea w hat to do. Some w anted to hold onto us to pr ev ent us f r om going, s ome people c r ied ( mainly the gir ls on the team though) , and s ome s imply w ouldnt s top s miling w hile hugging us s o tightly that y ou f elt like y ou w er e going to pas s out like one of thos e c or s ets that Keir a Knightly w ear s near the beginning of Pir ates of the Car ibbean... *ahem* So, my mes s age to thos e of y ou r eading ( y ep, all tw o of y ou... inc luding me) is that if y ou s pons or a c hild and ther e is a c hanc e y ou c an go and v is it them; go. Go! Y ou w ont r egr et it, and the dif f er enc e y ou make to s omeones lif e w ill be mor e than money c an buy .

3: Do in g p r act ical w o r k t o h e lp a co m m u n it y is als o g o o d . Re al g o o d . I gues s I s hould add a 3a, though. If I w er e to add a 3a s ec tion I s uppos e the title w ould be s omething like Cons tr uc tion w or k is damn har d, and Cambodia is damn hot! Y ep. When it w as time to go bac k to Siem Reap eac h day , I w as s or e. I w as tir ed. I hav e nev er w or ked s o har d in my lif e. It w as c ompletely phy s ic ally ex haus ting. Within 20 minutes of s tar ting w or k eac h day , the s w eat w as like a w ater f all c as c ading f r om my f or ehead. I dr ank about 10 bottles of w ater eac h day and I bar ely w ent to the bathr oom onc e. The heat, c ombined w ith ex haus ting w or k w as s er ious ly intens e. So, w hat w as the c ons tr uc tion w or k? Well, it c ons is ted of ; digging, s if ting s oil, mix ing mor tar , c ar r y ing heav y loads , meas ur ing, w eighing, s aw ing, br ic k thr ow ing, telling bad jokes ( that w as me) , mor e digging, w heelbar r ow ing heav y loads , getting w ater f r om the w ell, mor e digging, mor e bad jokes and a little mor e digging. Har d w or k all of it. The ques tion that r emains , how ev er , is : did it ac tually do any thing? The ans w er is : kind of , but mos tly y es . Ill ex plain. While w e didnt get the c ommunity c entr e f inis hed ( w e got half w ay ) , w e got a hec k of a lot done and it w as nt jus t the c entr e that w as being built. We als o made br ic ks . Lots of br ic ks . A hell of a lot of br ic ks . We av er aged ov er 100 per day by the end of the tw o w eeks . Thes e br ic ks w ill be us ed f or f utur e building pr ojec ts and w ill make a tangible dif f er enc e to the ability of Cambodian c ons tr uc tion w or ker s to build other s tr uc tur es in the ar ea. A ls o, the f ac t that w e got half of the c entr e built is s till a mighty ac hiev ement f or jus t tw o w eeks w or k. The tools w e w er e us ing w er e har dly w hat one w ould c all, good. The language bar r ier betw een the on- s ite engineer , the Cambodian w or ker s and us Habitat f olk w as mor e dif f ic ult than w e imagined ( as they didnt s peak any Englis h) , and none of us Habitat f olk w er e any thing c los e to being c ons tr uc tion w or ker s ( as ide f r om Deano and A ndr ew y ou guy s ar e aw es ome) . So, w hen y ou c ons ider thes e f ac tor s , the tr ip c ant be c las s if ied as any thing els e than a r es ounding s uc c es s . A s s uc h, I think that going to another c ountr y to do s omething pr ac tic al to help other s is def initely a good thing. I know that s ounds c lic hd, but bur y y our c y nic is m f or a moment. Eac h day w hen I w oke up, I knew that, f or today any w ay , I w as going to do s omething pr ac tic al to help make s omeones lif e a little bit better . I c ant ex plain w hat that does to y ou, but lets jus t s ay the dr ead of a Monday mor ning w hen y ou head of f to y our des k job is the c omplete oppos ite of w aking up know ing that y oull be doing s omething good f or s omeone that day . A nd if y ou dont know w hat I mean, w ell, y oull jus t hav e to tr y s omething like this . Caus e then y oull know w hat I mean. A nd y ou w ont get the gr in of f y our f ac e f or quite a w hile. So they w er e my thr ee per c eption s hif ts f r om my Cambodian ex per ienc e. It w ould be r emis s of me though to let this c olumn s lip by w ithout a pas s ing mention of Bangkok though, as I s pent tw o nights ther e ( one on either s ide of the tr ip) . Bangkok is aw es ome. I hav e to go bac k. For s tar ter s , it has the c ooles t air por t Iv e ev er been to ( and Iv e been to a lot of air por ts ar ound the w or ld) . Its s ur r ounded by s uper highw ay s jus t like the one that Optimus and Bonec r us her f ight on near the end of Tr ans f or mer s . Plus , the Thai people ar e inc r edible. They ar e the f r iendlies t, kind, and lov ing people y ou w ill ev er meet. Im going bac k to Thailand s ometime, and I hope its s ooner r ather than later . That s aid, the Cambodian people w er e lov ely as w ell but dif f er ent. Ther e w as a hint of c ons er v atis m about their joy the adults any w ay . Ev en if I didnt know that the Khmer Rouge c onduc ted one of moder n his tor y s w or s t genoc ides ther e, I w ould s till be able to tell that s omething w as up. Dont get me w r ong, they w er e f r iendly , s miling and lov ely . But I c ouldnt help but f eel that they w er e all a little bit s ad on the ins ide. Whether this is f r om the Khmer Rouge, or Yep, that's me saw ing w hilst w earing a high visibility shirt. The kids w ere alw ays happy to see us.

s imply that c apitalis m is des tr oy ing their c ountr y , w ho know s ? A ll I do know is that I hav e a s pec ial af f inity f or the Cambodian people now . If I do mor e mis s ion w or k, I think ther es a good c hanc e Ill go bac k to Cambodia. the c ountr y its elf . For all its f aults , Cambodia has a s pec ial plac e in my hear t. I dont know w hen Ill be bac k, but all I c an s ay f r om this tr ip is that Iv e c hanged a little bit. Iv e c hanged f or the better . Clic k her e to email Dy lan about the abov e c olumn. Clic k her e to go bac k to the homepage. They v e lef t quite an impr es s ion on me, as has

The team - me in the high visibility yellow .