Hello to All.
I've been here for nearly one week and here is the status:
weather: HOT
cold showers: 25
sampling loads of the local cuisine: check (its fantastic food)
apartment: check
1st ride on a moto: check
getting lost on the back of a moto and having to call for help: check
boat down the of the banks mekong river: check
Garden party at the U.S. Embassy: check
Asian karaoke: erg...check
buy bicycle and brave the roads.... in progress
I'm nearly there.
It really has been a fantastic week. I was immediately immersed into a fantastic group of people who are all mostly working for local NGOs as well. I have been very lucky to be able to jump straight in to a wonderful group of people.
I've only completed two days of work, but I'm really pleased with the role and the potential for what I can contribute. Thursday morning began with a visit to the HCC centre in Kandal (just outside of Phnom Penh). The centre houses around 50 sexual abused, prostituted, or labour exploited girls. Most of them are quite young. The biggest shock was walking into to meet their newest girl. She couldn't have been more than 4 years old, had her 2 front teeth nearly completed rotted out, and was rescued from a village where a local villager had sexually abused her. This, for me, was the first reality check. The women who are working at the centre, teaching them vocational skills and providing counselling and rehabilitation services are the real heroes here. The work that they do is unrivalled in so many way.
Another horrible shock took the form of the dormitories that they sleep in. As HCC depends entirely on outside donors to support its 4 centres around Cambodia, there are certain basic items that just aren't possible to attain. They of course have safe shelter, protection, food, access to medical care, ect. But, there are 2 rooms with tile floors where 50 girls sleep on the hard floor. Often they are sleeping very close together in hot weather. Hopefully in the next week we can find some money for 30 bunk-beds, but we've been quoted at $3000 to get them made, complete with mattresses and delivered to the centre.
We also visited the local school in Kandal, which is located just next to the HCC centre. The school cuts a deal for the HCC girls and their education is free. The way this works is that occasionally the school will ask HCC for something, a computer, a desk, a chalkboard, ect. It was very funny to walk past all of the classroom, because at the sight of white people, all of the children ran to the windows and were staring at my colleague and I. I suppose they don't get many visitors like us.
The HCC office in Phnom Penh is also lovely, and the group of people working their are fantastic. n
The Flat:
I've just moved into my first PP flat yesterday morning. I'm still just next to Tuol Sleng, and have moved into an open air apartment with a French and Italian guy. The flats here are quite funny, as they are huge, and also quite open air. I presume it is because of the heat, and also because air conditioning is quite expensive. The bedrooms all have 4 solid walls, but the rest of the flat has aerated walls. What does that mean? There are squares cute into the wall that let you see directly outside. Its like having many little windows with no glass. I have also met the local family of bats who occasionally chill out right next to our flat.
The boatride last night was really lovely. It was one of the girl's birthdays and so we got a boat, brought our own beer, and sailed for 2 hours on the mekong. It was lovely to be able to see the city from the water, and also to enjoy a cool breeze for the first time in about 3 days.
The Karaoke, well, that was an experience. Karaoke here is very different from what you might expect. We walked into what looked like a trashy, boudoir hotel, and it is actually just a karaoke joint..nearly. You go into a private room with your group and sing just to eachother, from a very strange list of songs. Apparently it is really big with Koreans (as 3/4 of the song book was in Korean). But, that wasn't the shocking point. It turns out it is also a sort of brothel. As we walked up to our room their was a queue of 10 girls waiting for a client to choose from them. Apparently, this is very commonplace in Cambodia. There is apparently hardly any hotel, bar, ect that you walk into that doesn't have some semblance of a brothel. I have to say that will be my last journey to that place.
Other than that, I'm going to buy a bicycle today and try to brave the roads for work. The tuk tuks and motos are really making a dent in my budget, as there are hardly any sidewalks here- and it is too hot (and often dodgy) to walk anywhere. Thus, bicycle it is.
Many Thanks to all readers, and photos will come shortly.
From Phnom Penh,
Sabrina
