Cambodia has 23 provinces, one of which is Prey Veng, lying to the East of Phnom Penh. It is one of the three poorest provinces in Cambodia. Desi and Alison (one of the newest volunteers and an occupational therapist by profession) are now working there for VI. Coincidentally, I am involved in a monitoring and evaluation project which took me there last week.
I am very glad of the opportunity to see what some people refer to as "real Cambodia", a Cambodia which remains largely untouched by the rest of the globe, and that lets the globe in only by virtue of its access to CNN and the Internet. It differentiates itself from Phnom Penh by its dialect, by its lack of tuk tuks and by its lack of any significant western influence other than rudimentary technology. The moto drivers drive a little faster (there is virtually no traffic), the roads are a little dustier and the geckos a fraction the size of their city cousins. Horses and traps are not a rare site and give the place a feeling that it is somehow existing in another century.
Nonetheless, the people are as friendly as ever, serving up the 1000th plate of fried rice with a sugary drink and a toothy grin.
Where PP is full of cosmopolitan distraction, Prey Veng offers relative tranquility and space for thought, and opportunity for you to get creative with all your free time, and there's lots of that. Desi has taken to running, a little incongruously and to the amusement of the locals around the roads of the town. Alison on the other hand has taken to getting things done that she didn't when she was in PP getting her arm easily twisted into a socialising opportunity! Both are consuming rice by the field full. Both are doing very worthwhile and unique work, dealing with many Cambodia-specific problems.
In PP, you count how many people you can see slotted, wedged and shoehorned onto the back of a moto, in the back of a lorry, in a tuk tuk or in the boot of a Camry. In PV, you count how many passengers manage to climb into one of the many taxis taking you there. My van held 20. Beat that Desi!!
Bunthon (my Khmer colleague) and I went to PV for two days, to interview two clients, two commune counsel chiefs and two NGOS, with a view to gaining an overview as to how LSCW and its lawyers are perceived in terms of competency and to see whether LSCW has sufficient exposure to ensure that victims of domestic violence, rape, trafficking and labor exploitation are aware that they can be helped.
Meeting the victims of these crimes brings you uncomfortably close to too many Cambodian women's reality. With the potent and dangerous cocktail of alcohol and poverty to blame, amongst other things, there is a very high incidence of domestic violence in PV. It is the key reason for divorce proceedings. Sometimes mediation is the only way forward due to lack of evidence and justice seems only to be visible on a distant hill. It is not hard to understand how alcohol might offer a temporary relief from what is a very harsh reality.
With this as the backdrop for LSCW's work, I need not say more about the significance of its providing free legal services to these women. In this case "free'" can be interpreted literally. It means that all the transportation fees are covered, that legal representation is covered and that the individual lawyer will dip his or her hand into his/her own pocket to make sure that the women are fed throughout their court ordeal.
Rape is not a frequent occurrence in Prey Veng. Child rape less so still. Of course this is good news, but especially so when you hear that even the authorities are not educated as to the laws they are supposedly implementing. So even if the laws theoretically have teeth, in terms of their application, there is a frighteningly long way to go.
All of this just emphasises the strength and bravery of these women who even when meeting you forget themselves and their situation for long enough to ask you where you are from, to tell you that you speak Khmer very clearly and that you are pretty. Social graces for sure, but nonetheless remarkable.
So with a renewed perspective, that perhaps the loss of my credit card isn't worth panicking about, the three Phnom Penhers (not sure what you call us PP dwellers) took motos to Ba Prom for the morning. Desi forewarned me that the roads were a bit bumpy. Scoffing, I reminded him that I have done several lengthy moto trips and that my body is well braced. With that, I proceeded to eat my words as I bunny-hopped my way to my next pagoda. More colourful and raw than Oudong (former royal capital), Ba Prom boasts great views and, predictably, less barang.
I am very glad of the opportunity to see what some people refer to as "real Cambodia", a Cambodia which remains largely untouched by the rest of the globe, and that lets the globe in only by virtue of its access to CNN and the Internet. It differentiates itself from Phnom Penh by its dialect, by its lack of tuk tuks and by its lack of any significant western influence other than rudimentary technology. The moto drivers drive a little faster (there is virtually no traffic), the roads are a little dustier and the geckos a fraction the size of their city cousins. Horses and traps are not a rare site and give the place a feeling that it is somehow existing in another century.
Nonetheless, the people are as friendly as ever, serving up the 1000th plate of fried rice with a sugary drink and a toothy grin.
Where PP is full of cosmopolitan distraction, Prey Veng offers relative tranquility and space for thought, and opportunity for you to get creative with all your free time, and there's lots of that. Desi has taken to running, a little incongruously and to the amusement of the locals around the roads of the town. Alison on the other hand has taken to getting things done that she didn't when she was in PP getting her arm easily twisted into a socialising opportunity! Both are consuming rice by the field full. Both are doing very worthwhile and unique work, dealing with many Cambodia-specific problems.
In PP, you count how many people you can see slotted, wedged and shoehorned onto the back of a moto, in the back of a lorry, in a tuk tuk or in the boot of a Camry. In PV, you count how many passengers manage to climb into one of the many taxis taking you there. My van held 20. Beat that Desi!!
Bunthon (my Khmer colleague) and I went to PV for two days, to interview two clients, two commune counsel chiefs and two NGOS, with a view to gaining an overview as to how LSCW and its lawyers are perceived in terms of competency and to see whether LSCW has sufficient exposure to ensure that victims of domestic violence, rape, trafficking and labor exploitation are aware that they can be helped.
Meeting the victims of these crimes brings you uncomfortably close to too many Cambodian women's reality. With the potent and dangerous cocktail of alcohol and poverty to blame, amongst other things, there is a very high incidence of domestic violence in PV. It is the key reason for divorce proceedings. Sometimes mediation is the only way forward due to lack of evidence and justice seems only to be visible on a distant hill. It is not hard to understand how alcohol might offer a temporary relief from what is a very harsh reality.
With this as the backdrop for LSCW's work, I need not say more about the significance of its providing free legal services to these women. In this case "free'" can be interpreted literally. It means that all the transportation fees are covered, that legal representation is covered and that the individual lawyer will dip his or her hand into his/her own pocket to make sure that the women are fed throughout their court ordeal.
Rape is not a frequent occurrence in Prey Veng. Child rape less so still. Of course this is good news, but especially so when you hear that even the authorities are not educated as to the laws they are supposedly implementing. So even if the laws theoretically have teeth, in terms of their application, there is a frighteningly long way to go.
All of this just emphasises the strength and bravery of these women who even when meeting you forget themselves and their situation for long enough to ask you where you are from, to tell you that you speak Khmer very clearly and that you are pretty. Social graces for sure, but nonetheless remarkable.
So with a renewed perspective, that perhaps the loss of my credit card isn't worth panicking about, the three Phnom Penhers (not sure what you call us PP dwellers) took motos to Ba Prom for the morning. Desi forewarned me that the roads were a bit bumpy. Scoffing, I reminded him that I have done several lengthy moto trips and that my body is well braced. With that, I proceeded to eat my words as I bunny-hopped my way to my next pagoda. More colourful and raw than Oudong (former royal capital), Ba Prom boasts great views and, predictably, less barang.
As I sat at the bottom of the steps leading to the pagoda, having burnt my feet at the top, I wondered what was going through the Khmer man next to us's mind as he was swinging away in his hammock, when his exposure to the rest of the world is an occasional trip to PP and the rest of the time will be virtual exposure via the internet and CNN. I am assuming this is the case and think it is a relatively safe assumption. He's possibly wondering what I was looking at!
That day CNN told me that Barack Obama was embarking on the first day of his tour of South East Asia and had touched down in Japan. I remember this as he referred to human trafficking in his opening speech.
Refreshed by coconut juice courtesy of Desi and Alison's Khmer colleague, I arrived back in PV town from where I took yet another moto back to the ferry, so that I could return to PP, a very different reality, with Wats of its own (see pics attached: Wat Phnom).
That day CNN told me that Barack Obama was embarking on the first day of his tour of South East Asia and had touched down in Japan. I remember this as he referred to human trafficking in his opening speech.
Refreshed by coconut juice courtesy of Desi and Alison's Khmer colleague, I arrived back in PV town from where I took yet another moto back to the ferry, so that I could return to PP, a very different reality, with Wats of its own (see pics attached: Wat Phnom).
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