Party Central

4 hours south of Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville is Cambodia’s premier sea-side resort town. It’s pretty laid back, nice and cheap, and a great place to relax. So after arriving I spent 3 days in bed – unfortunately not by my own choosing.

Socialite Brad took my bed ridden state as a great opportunity to be out to all hours, soaking in the party atmosphere, and watching the World Cup finals (but I think he’s started to realize he’s not as young as he used to be). All in all Sihanoukville seems like a great place to have some time out, even though we didn’t get to enjoy it as much as we would have liked, so we’ll definitely have to visit again next time we’re in Cambodia.

Village Life

As is our modus operandi we found ALWS (Australian Lutheran World Service) through Google and by chance entered a dialogue with a woman in Adelaide. Over a series of days and possibly weeks, she contacted various field offices in SE Asia and eventually put us in contact with a partner in Phnom Penh. LWF (Lutheran World Federation - Cambodia) is currently in a transition towards local governance and will be a fully Cambodian entity in 2011. We met with the Deputy Director and were whisked away to a village about an hour away from Phnom Penh.

It didn’t take long to leave the modern city and enter rural areas where the infrastructure is severely lacking or simply non-existent. We were going to visit the Prachum Ang village in the Kandal province, South East of Phnom Penh. This village is where LWF had spent 10 years working with the community on a number of different levels and were now no longer required as the village had reached the point of self-sustaining management. Miriam and I were surprised and a little embarrassed when we arrived to find ourselves greeted warmly by the village council and seated ceremoniously at the head table. Even now, I’m still a little unsure whether the whole meeting was for our benefit or they had planned a visit previously and we were tagging along.

Various villagers told of the development of the village since LWF arrived a decade ago and it was diligently translated for us. 10 years ago the village was very poor. It had suffered under the civil war and there was no infrastructure. Illnesses were prevalent in the area and farming was difficult as there was not enough water during the dry season. LWF, along with other organizations helped initially by digging wells and latrines which reduced the sicknesses in the village. LWF then helped form a village council by holding elections amongst the 150 families. They educated the council on human rights principles, health practices, efficient farming techniques and formed a village bank.

The village bank is managed by 3 of the village council members who are given training in how to manage it. Initially LWF provided seed grants of US$30 to those villagers that could demonstrate savings of 12.5 cents per week for 8 weeks and presented realistic proposals for the use of the money and repayment. The loans were charged interest at 3% a month and generally were for 6 months. The majority of these loans were used for agriculture & animal husbandry. The capital and interest returned to the bank is then recycled to increase both the principal loaned and number of loans. Since its inception the bank has doubled the number of members, branched into emergency loans and now controls US$10,000 – more than 10 times the initial grant! This finance acts as a bridge to more formal loans with accredited micro-loan organizations and allows impoverished to avoid loan-sharks that charge crippling rates.

The village council is also educated in how to apply for various government and NGO grants and they are now empowered enough to manage their own future in a democratic and confident manner. This was demonstrated when the village, unprompted by external influence, formally applied for an LWF village sponsorship grant for an irrigation project they had in mind. The proposal was successful and the village council told us with great pride that they stipulated to the contractor that local labour was to be used and then instructed the labourers to take ownership of the project and make sure it was done properly – with a grin one council member even told us he instructed the labourers to put a bit extra cement in to make sure it was strong! We went and looked at the project and there was a sense of accomplishment and pride in what had been achieved and the farms are now able to produce 2-3 crops per year instead of 1.

We visited a woman who had arrived in the area from a refugee camp with nothing and with the help of the village bank was able to take loans to build a mini empire of a quarter-acre block, 7 cows and a large family! We asked what her hope for the future was and she replied “To provide for my children and marry the last 2 off!”. LWF encourage women to take part in the leadership by establishing a gender quota system in the village bank and council structures.

This was our first village visit and we were impressed at the level of involvement LWF had in the past and even more so that it was no longer necessary. The biggest factor in all of this was the education and empowerment of the village council who shared this with the rest of the village. In the early days, the village council members were taken to other villages to see the concepts in action – now the village sets an example for others to follow and regularly receives visits from nearby villages.

Phnom Penh

We were in Phnom Penh, Cambodia for 12 days and it was an interesting, horrific, fun, sad and educational time for us both. I think it is only travel that can bring so many emotions out in such a short time.

Phnom Penh was a surprise to us both – it is a modern city with wide, scooter-filled streets, shopping malls, 24-hour electricity (we’re still not used to this!) and more NGO’s and westerners than you can poke a bunch of sticks at. The foreign-fuelled riverfront area is a good place to go at night with plenty of interesting people to meet and share the highs and more highs of World Cup football with the German and Dutch travellers we befriended. It’s a cheap place to stay – only $6/night and meals+drinks are costing about $5-10. This fits into our budget, especially since we expect things to be cheaper as we move away from the capital.

We’ve visited the usual tourist spots, eg. the Palace & Silver Pagoda complex, the Russian & Central Markets, seen an elephant walk down the street etc. It’s not been a great place to meet locals – the only people we have spoken with are tourism-related which doesn’t usually make for the best conversations.

Unfortunately the main focus for tourists in Phnom Penh is the gruesome genocide museum and nearby killing fields from the Khmer Rouge period. For us, visiting these testaments to a brutal period in Cambodia’s history made us very heavy of heart. The fact that these events occurred during our lifetime somehow made them more real to us. Pol Pot and his cronies were ruthless in their desire to eradicate Cambodia of foreign influence and ordered the systematic killing of anyone with ties to the toppled government, academics, artisans and staggeringly even those with glasses were considered a threat!

No one knows for sure how many were killed between 1975-1979 but it is widely believed to be around the 1.5 million mark. This figure is truly unimaginable when face to face with a 10 metre high tower filled with more than 5,000 skulls of victims representing only a third of a percent of those who died...

Phnom Penh Projects

Our visits with aid organisations are going well – sometimes they are a little too spaced out and weather got in the way of one meeting but we’re trying hard to visit as many different types of organisations as we can. Below are some of the places we’ve had contact with whilst in Phnom Penh. The information is not at all comprehensive; if you want more information please visit their respective websites

New Future for Children is an orphanage on the outskirts of Phnom Penh with around 60 children ranging from 5-20 years old. Our introduction to the place was for a special evening event with dancing, magic and an art show (they sold 2 paintings!) and we visited a second time to get a bit more idea about the organisation. We met an American volunteer who has worked there for 3 years and spent quite a bit of time with him discussing the difficulties faced there and what plans they have for the future. As a result, Brad now has a small bit of computing work to do in his spare time.

A partnership between the Canadian government, Samaritan’s Purse and Hagar is introducing Bio-Sand Filters to rural areas in Cambodia. We met 3 young Canadian interns that were involved in different aspects of this project and they were all very enthusiastic about their 5-month stay in Cambodia. Part of my training with Australian Army Engineers was operating water purification units and I did a bit more research into the BSF technology. Basically it is a concrete tube with sand in it that filters out evil contaminants (I’m not a biologist) through physical (the sand stops the evil bugs) and biological means (there’s bugs in the sand that eat the evil bugs). Each unit costs about $50 and provides enough clean water for a family. It’s a pretty cool idea so we’re trying to organise a meeting with some water experts to learn more about the device and how successfully it can be deployed.

Habitat for Humanity has a branch in Cambodia and an American staff member met with us to brief us on the type of project work they are involved in. They are well-known internationally for their house building projects but some things we learnt whilst visiting is their approach is not to “give” the house away but donate much of the labour in conjunction with a 5 year, interest free loan. This gives the family a sense of ownership and “empowerment” as well as educating them about budgeting and finance. Habitat are also moving into income generation projects such as poultry farming – a project that just so happens to be sponsored by a friend’s church in Adelaide!

We met with a fellow Adelaidean yesterday who has spent 4 years living with his wife (and 2 year old daughter!) in a slum area of Phnom Penh and working with TASK, a local-based NGO supported by TEAR Australia and Servants in Asia. This organisation helps the urban poor in Phnom Penh with a range of services including HIV/AIDS education and support, sanitation projects and health initiatives. Because the Australian family slept, ate and related within the community they were helping, it made them acutely aware of the issues faced the group – it was pretty humbling to hear about some of the issues they’ve faced and the circumstances they were living in.

What On Earth Are We Doing?

That's a big question - I think we should all ask ourselves that question from time to time but I really just meant we'd let you know what are we doing in Cambodia...

Well, after our time at the orphanage in India we got to thinking that we'd like to see some other organisations that are doing good things for struggling communities. We had considered Africa and South America but as both funds and time are running out we decided to look in South East Asia instead. Whilst in Langkawi we contacted a number of organisations that we had researched on the Internet and organised for some visits. Cambodia seemed to have a great deal of attention in the NGO world so we thought that it would be a good place to start.

We have already visited an orphanage in Phnom Penh and are having dinner with one of their staff tomorrow night to learn more. Yesterday we met an Aussie & 3 Canadian interns working on a water project in rural Cambodia and also an American father-daughter team who were involved in a number of activities with aid organisations. In the next few days we have some more meetings scheduled with other organisations to learn about the range of projects that are offered. We also have contacts in Siem Reap and in Chiang Mai, Thailand who are primarily focused on school building projects.

We are learning a lot about what is out there and we hope to share this with you all in the coming weeks & months via this blog.

Where in the world have we been?

It’s been a whirlwind 3 weeks since we last blogged. Since then we’ve shopped in Kualu Lumpur, lazed by the beach in Langkawi, Jazzed it up in Hua Hin, been caught in flash flooding in Bangkok and are now comfortably settled in Phnom Penh.

We’ll do the highlights in point form to make it easier for those with poor attention spans:

Malaysia

• Getting back to “modern civilization” (KL) after hot, sweaty and chaotic Kolkata
• Miriam’s first breakfast – muesli, fruit & yoghurt
• Watching the World Cup with fellow travelers in Langkawi
• Romantic dinner on the beach on a tropical island

Thailand

• Spent 3 days being entertained by the annual Hua Hin Jazz Festival

• Meeting loads of interesting people at the festival -

 a UK couple who retired here after years spent in Dubai;

 a multi-millionaire businessman, his two Thai ‘maids’, his purple jack russell cross & snappy alsatian cross, (we popped back for drinks at his beachside villa);

 a guy from Florida, now teaching English at a school in a nearby town.

 the millionaire’s ex-wife at her Thai speaking home church, along with some other members (enjoyed some local cuisine, sticky rice, spicy dip etc.);

 a French & Thai couple at a seafood restaurant, who spend 6 months here, 6 months in France, and a lot of time in Bali by the sounds of it.

• Having dinner at a road-side café in Bangkok when the heavens opened and the water rose & rose and rose…watching the antics of a crazy guy, shopkeepers and foreigners was very entertaining, it wasn’t until the water reached our feet and the cockroaches started climbing onboard that we decided to leave, wading through knee deep water home.

Cambodia

• We only just got here but we did have a lovely wine & cheese night in our room whilst watching the New Zealand World Cup match last night

Goodbye India, it's been real....

Well, the Indian holiday is almost over now as we leave the cool Himalayan foothills tonight and endure a 14 hour bus ride, 18 hour train ride and then 4 hour flight. We’re not looking forward to the travelling as it will be through some of the hottest parts of India where the scorching summer heat is reaching +45C. Luckily on the train we are in an AC compartment – let’s hope it doesn’t break down. SE Asia here we come....

Manali

Our time in Manali was hampered by Miriam catching a cold and thus preventing us from doing some of the walks we had planned. This was no real problem though as our hotel was very good, the balcony view was awesome and even the room-service was better than average. For someone who has never been in snow (Brad), the alpine peaks beckoned and after Miriam’s cold had abated, we headed by bus to the nearest skiing slope to try and scavenge enough snow to make a snowman (or castle). Alas we were about a month too late and the only action on the slopes was zorbing and paragliding with the nearest snow a long way off. At least my favourite conversation piece is still intact – Northern Europeans/Americans are amazed by the fact that a well-travelled gentleman as myself has never been in snow…

Top 3

Awesome views from balcony – not bad for a $10 room

Momos (Tibetan Dumplings)

Long, strenuous walk up a hill and being rewarded with “Sound of Music” scenery

Bottom 3

Miriam’s cold (she’d recovered by the end)

Manali Cider – not nearly good enough

Lack of snow

Dharamsala / McLeod Ganj

Back in the 50’s things were getting a little bit hot for the Dalai Lama in Lhasa, Tibet so he decided to form a government-in-exile somewhere which turned out to be here in India. The town is at 2000m so escapes the relentless heat of the plains and has a pleasant, Tibetan feel. Large numbers of Tibetans have fled across the dangerous path between Tibet and India and most make their home here, waiting for the possibility of an independent Tibet so they can return home. Many of the cultural traditions and skills are being preserved here and the excellent museum (I’m usually not a big fan) offers an insight into an ancient society that sadly, might not be around for much longer. Having been to Lhasa, Tibet in 2007 I wish I had visited this place beforehand or at least read a few more books on the topic as to appreciate what I was seeing.

Since Miriam had been well for a few days, she decided to eat something toxic and then spent the next few days violently expelling it out. She’s really not had a good trip since the orphanage with 3 separate illnesses pretty much spanning the entire month away. As for myself I’ve been in good health most of time and have started to climb the nice, but predictable hotel room walls. This has been the most social of all places for me as I’ve had long talks with fellow Canadian, Iranian-German, Danish, American and Spanish travelers. The female part of a Canadian couple was feeling a bit like Miriam so the male part and I went for a great walk up a steep hill in manly fashion, neither of us daring to call it quits for fear of being un-manly. During the hike we discussed our deadly creatures and it’s been decided that bears, crocodiles and snakes are hardly worth worrying about but a badger-like critter called wolverines are just plain nasty.

Miriam eventually recovered and yesterday we went for a great walk, visiting 2 nearby towns and even played a bit of pool where Miriam soundly beat me twice in a row.

Top 3

Meeting lots of interesting people who have seen snow and can speak many languages

Learning about Tibetan history

Bacon & Eggs for breakfast….it’s been so long……

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Miriam sick…again

Met an elderly New Yorker with severe Parkinson’s disease – impacted me a bit

Missing out on seeing the Dalai Lama – Couldn’t go as Miriam was ill….