I’ve now been in Cambodia for just over a month, and I
absolutely cannot believe how quickly it has all gone by. Again, in some ways I feel like I’ve been
here forever, but in others, it seems as though I’ve just arrived. It’s a strange dichotomy, but Cambodia is a
special place.
You’ll be disappointed to learn that my Khmer still isn’t up
to scratch. Its all of those symbols,
and the different dialects that people use.
I can’t seem to get my head around it, but will certainly make it a goal
this month. I can finally hear when one
word stops and another begins, so that is progress.
The last few weeks have been quite busy as I am sort of
creating my role within HCC (Healthcare Center for Children Cambodia). I’m learning a lot about the different ways
that NGOs work, and the many different dynamics that are required to make it
successful. I suppose in a way you have
to run it as you would a business, but due to the human rights nature of the
work, it needs something really special—entirely in the form of people. I cannot express enough how lovely the staff
at HCC are. There is nothing but
kindness, compassion and incredibly hard work.
In the last month, approval to open another shelter for trafficked
victims has been approved. I had nothing
to do with it, but am amazed at watching it all come together. We are also in the process of finding $2,700 USD to buy beds for the 51 girls we
currently have housed in one of the shelters.
The women and girls have all been victims of either human trafficking, exploitation
or sexual abuse (some are as young as 4 years old), and we are trying to make
the shelter more comfortable for them.
At the moment they are all squeezed on mats onto a hard tile floor,
scrunched together. Hopefully we will
find a generous donor in the next week or two.
So what am I doing?
Well, I’m trying to reinvent the wheel.
Not totally, but I’ve found a nice productive point to work in. I’m spending a lot of time creating legal
documents to ensure confidentiality and protection of the clients, working on
the way research is conducted, and am trying to write an article for
publication for HCC (separate from the article that I will submit in
London). I am really enjoying it, and am
really getting into research methodology, drafting sensitive and thorough
questionnaires, analysing data, ect. I
sort of feel as though I am in my element.
The last month really reassures what I have thought about for a long
time, and that is increasing my experience and professional capacity as a
researcher. (Hopefully the school’s
reading my PhD application will feel the same—but that’s another chapter to
explore when I get back to London).
Phnom Penh, again, I can only say that it is an amazing
city. I don’t know what it is about this
place, but I really love and am planning my return next summer (if optimism is
enough to fly over on). The sights, the
sounds, the food markets (I’m becoming a good barterer in my weekly market food
shop—although usually I’m staring at a fruit/vegetable trying to figure out
what it is). I’m settled in well in my
flat, and have even made friends with my local moto/tuk tuk drivers. They are very sweet and finally give me a
reasonable price when I want to go somewhere.
Last weekend I finally went to see John at his new place on
Batam Island, Indonesia. After
torrential rains and wondering if I was going to have to swim to the airport in
PP (and one change of clothes later), I finally got on a plane for
Singapore. Poor John was waiting for 2
hours while I queued for eternity in customs, then found a lost child in the
terminal. But, we finally made it, a
real “Love Actually” airport moment. The
really funny moment was when we arrived at our backpackers hostel. Singapore is an extortionately expense place,
so we decided to splash out for a double room in a hostel. To our surprise our private room had 2 tiny
beds with bars in-between them. (I’ll
leave you to laugh on that one). But,
the evening was great-we went out for drinks on the river and saw some
incredible places and beautiful Singapore by night. The next day was spent sight-seeing (drinking
our favourite beer—Erdinger), drinking Singapore Slings in the famous Raffles
Hotel, and finally getting on the ferry through turbulent waters back to Batam
Island. I won’t bore you with the
details, but it was beautiful—sunshine, beaches… and then the funny side. On Saturday we spent the day exploring Batam's scenery and going to the other 3 island attached by bridge to Batam (which was incredibly, breathtakingly beautiful). There aren’t many Boule’s(western people) on
Batam Island, and so everywhere we went, we were greeted with 20 or so
screaming girls asking to have photos with us.
This was very strange. After 1
day of trying to mix with the locals and have a real Indonesian experience, we
ended up escaping to a quiet resort beach.
It was the strangest feeling, all of these people watching you,
chattering after you, ect. The Khmer in
Cambodia are too reserved, polite and/or shy to do such things. I really understand what John means when he says
he is totally isolated. He really
is. It is a beautiful island, but unless
you aren’t western, searching for prostitutes, or old, there really isn’t much
to do. (He has since made a few younger
friends).
Sadly, the weekend came to an end far too soon at 5am on Monday
morning when John had to bring me back to the ferry. Then began the most adventurous journey to
the airport that I have ever had. First,
the ferry left 30 minutes late, then it stopped in the water for 15 minutes
(letting a shipping boat pass), then I was shoved out of the way on the race to
get to immigration, waited in another queue 45 minutes, raced to a taxi, got
stuck in traffic, and finally made it to Singapore airport 15 minutes before
check-in closed. It was certainly an
adventure, but you cannot always plan for disasters.
I’ll leave you with that.
I know you are all asking for photos, and they are coming, but I have to
find another lead that goes from my camera to the computer as I’ve lost
mine. I will make it a priority this
week.
Thank you again for reading, it is really lovely to share
this with you, and especially with those of you that I’ve lost touch with.
X S
