2011 – WHERE ARE WE AT?
1 month of 2011 vanished already then!! January has been spent with Mother Molloy – her first visit to Asia and a chance to investigate this foreign land that her daughter abandoned the UK for. We made it to 6 provinces – here’s a little snapshot amongst my updates and news:-
The start of any New Year refocuses decisions about what to leave behind and sets fresh thoughts visions and the future. This has strongly been the case for me this year as I find myself 1 month off completing my year at AFESIP and 1 month off an unknown future.
Busy finishing up at AFESIP and preparing to hand over to Hayley from Australia who will continue my role for another year, this month I have completed a funding proposal for the UN, found and liaised with 2 candidates with Trauma Care/Clinical Supervisor experience who are interested to come and volunteer for 1 year on the psychology project (fingers crossed) and begun writing AFESIP’s 2010 Annual Report.
Kampong Thom province - Sambor Prei Kuk - the temples that pre date Angkor
The fact is development jobs are scarce and competition is high as a couple of friends of mine have been finding applying for positions for the past 6 months and one of them has the ever required Masters degree to her name.
Mum on a sunrise horse trek in Siem Reap
One thing this International search brings home, along with the book I’ve read ‘Half The Sky’ is the number of countries in this world we refer to as ‘Modern’ which still treat a whopping 1/2 of their population in controlling, abusive and disrespectful ways. I can honestly say the enormity of the situation never came close to sinking in back in London where the majority of conversations regarding equality seem to revolve around pay, maternity leave and career sacrifice.
Consider these issues next to the fact that more woman die or end up severely disabled each year through domestic violence than through war or through malaria or cancer. Or the fact that around 6000 girls every day are enduring genital mutilation. Where are the conversations and the outrage about this? That that we can dedicate a week high profile media coverage about a referee and the off side rule points to the fact an entire nation is missing the biggest point.
Duck stampede
News about terrorist attacks in the West that kill small groups of people does not fail to reach us. Have you ever been made aware that the widespread lack of priority that is given to maternal health care is killing 5 jumbo jets’ worth of women every single day? And for each of those woman, at least 10 more suffer significant injuries such as fistulas. This awful condition effects millions of woman globally per year and yet University educated, 27 year old me had never heard the word until a few months ago.
The Pnong tribe and their elephants in Mondulkiri province
And the list goes on….41 million girls worldwide are still denied primary education. For no other reason than the fact they are female. Really – these aren’t matters to shoulder shrug about any longer. It’s 2011 and we can fund and carry out moon expeditions. We need the kind of outrage that we seem able to stand up and give to matters of far less significance. This is not about being a feminist, it’s about basic caring towards the human race and it needs men and women, young and old to start addressing it; to governments, to children and to each other.
Beautiful sunset on the pier in Kep
So that is where my New Year thoughts and visions lie on the larger scale. On a smaller scale, I wish for a nice paid fulfilling job please. And plenty of good health to each and every person reading my blog. And probably more chocolate and high heels in 2011 as well!
A breath of fresh air in the jungle in Koh Kong province
SOMEONE SAID IT WAS CHRISTMAS…
…so I wanted to send some festive wishes out from a sparsely tinselled Cambodia! I think Khmers are a bit bemused by this Christmas thing we Barangs do and the big red “Father who is the giver of the presents” . One thing they do get however is New Year – even though their New Year happens in April. And lights. Cambodia likes to keep it bright, well, for a couple of hours but then the electricity bill factors in!
Modest decorations outside residential apartments
You’ll be happy to know that I am going to get roast potatoes AND mash and stuffed poultry for my Christmas dinner. Our wonderful friend is the coveted owner of a rare kitchen appliance – the oven – and we will be taking full advantage of it’s cooking powers. Sunset will be spent with 60 other Phnom Penh Christmas orphans floating down the Mekong and dancing to music that is strictly non festive!
My little Sugar Plum Fairies on the night of their performance at the Winter Festival. They shone!
I’d like to wish you a very peaceful Christmas and New Year, close to loved ones. My Festive thanks this year is reserved completely for everyone who has supported me - read my musings - sent positive vibes – I’m a very lucky girl and everything has been deeply appreciated and has kept me here when things have felt tough. Thank you.
Our appropriately random Cambodian tree
I’ll leave you with a little insight into the world of the Bodge. Rare to be caught on camera – this little event which happened in PP is not actually that surprising to those of us living here. The rules of the road revolve around size of vehicle and/or how much money the driver has.
This happened at the end of October and was caught by LTO Cambodia (Long Term Observer). The story begins when the Land Cruiser was driving up the wrong side of the road and knocked into a guy on a moto. After getting out of the land cruiser and assessing that the moto guy was still breathing, he made to drive off. Moto guy stood his ground and called the attention of some nearby traffic police who came over and upon spotting no special license plates protecting this guy, asked him to get back out of the car. One of the policemen then drew his moto up in front of the car which is when this happened:-
The Cambodian Daily follow up to this said:- “Phnom Penh traffic police temporarily detained a senior government official on Thursday afternoon for aggressive driving….
…he berated police officers as he drove over a motorcycle belonging to a military police officer and drove to Olympic Stadium, where police stopped him using two police trucks as a barricade. His wife told police that he has a mental disorder since having optical surgery.”
Well of course! Merry Christmas and lots of love xxx
WHAT CAN I DO?
The Bridge the day after the Water Festival tragedy took place
The death and injury of over 600 Khmers out celebrating the biggest festival in Cambodia this week is a shattering tragedy that has affected the whole of the country. Many of you will have seen the footage and know the detail. In fact many of you knew about about it before I had woken up.
This was the state of the traffic during the day...
Sadly, this wasn’t the only unnecessary loss of life in Cambodia to take place simply out of the blue. On Tuesday 16th November, 13 people were killed in Battambang Province when the truck they were travelling in ran over a landmine. The main road had been cut off due to flooding so the driver took a different route, the victims included a 7 month baby girl and a 4 year old boy who’d been with their families picking chillies in the fields.
Family members of the landmine victims. Photo by MAG photographer Sean Sutton
Sean from Mines Advisory Group (MAG) met Rik Lee, grandmother of two-year-old Kam Ned and his sister, aged six, who lost both their parents in the blast. Through her grief she explained how she will strive to care for them both now, but that it will be a struggle:
“I will take care of them for as long as I am alive but it will be very hard for me to feed two more. Kam doesn’t understand. He thinks his parents are still picking chillies.”
Rik Lees words about future survival is a critical and often overlooked point about the legacy that has been created by both of these terrible accidents. Family members provide vital income for each other to live and eat. The deaths and the serious injuries of all the people crushed on the bridge and blown up by the landmine are not just that, they are the beginnings of a long struggle for their family members.
A quiet group gathered by the bridge the next day - all of us doing nothing but thinking a lot and just being there acknowledging those who had struggled there the night before
When a terrible disaster happens in any country in the world and we watch people suffering – I think the majority of us are struck by one main feeling – helplessness – and by one internal nagging question – What can I do?
For many of us the answer is to give money, hold an event, attend an event, send over funds. This money is nearly always crucially needed and as long as each donor takes that extra time to check exactly which organisation their funds are going to and that it has the required skills, expertise and existing infrastructure to respond effectively and immediately then giving money is a both fundamental to the cause and helps fill this internal sense of human compassion we find ourselves flooded by.
On Thursday a day of National Mourning was held with a city wearing white shirts and a procession starting from the Independance Monument pictured, down to the bridge
Even living in Phnom Penh I was struck by the same sense of helplessness that I would have felt if I had been watching this on the TV back in London. I’m not a doctor, going down to the hospital would have resulted in me getting in the way. I’m not fluent in Khmer, I can’t offer words of comfort to families nor help those frantically searching bodies to see if their loved one is wrapped in a sheet. It got me to thinking about other possible benefits that could come out of these terrible events which will continue to happen as long as humans are on the earth. I’ve given money along with AFESIP staff and being a Khmer organisation, I trust that they will know the best place to direct that money and that it will reach a place where it is needed. But thinking about the long term futures of these families in the same way that the long term futures of whole communities that are devastated by disasters and the fact that this is often overlooked once the initial crisis is under control and after a new disaster takes over the media coverage, I’d like to put forward one other suggestion additional to giving money…
Sunday night of the Water Festival, we watched boat parade from the safety of a roof top.
Quoting Mother Teresa who spent her lifetime confronting suffering, “Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty”.
Next time you are stuck to the television, saying to others in the room ”how terrible, it’s just so sad”, how about considering acting upon that connection we feel to our fellow human beings and looking closer to home to do something that will truly count and impact upon someones life. Perhaps it’s contacting a local clinic or hospice and spending 1 hour a week talking or reading to a stranger in hospital who has no other visitors and is sitting out their days in pain and solitude thinking that no one cares. Or finding a local charity that needs volunteer help to support it’s programs to provide relief for parents coping with severely disabled children. Perhaps it’s just going around to your grandparents house and doing that job that they asked you to do months ago but you have been too busy to get round to.
Words, thoughts and money are all crucial but at the end of the day, I think it is small considered actions by everyone of us, that reach out to others we wouldn’t always touch, that will create the biggest and most sustainable change to the world around us and the world we create for our children.
Katy Actually Lost In Cambodia (plus a Celeb)
Lost somewhere in an Arabian Night
Hmm – I’m actually wondering if the choice of this blog title, made over a year ago, actually pre-destined the situation I find myself in today – Lost from myself in Cambodia. I’m writing this post from a little wooden pontoon in Kampot, 3 hours south of Phnom Penh where I have literally ‘done a runner’ to be on my own for a few days, out of a serious need to restore my disintegrating health and mental state and gain back some of the perspective I have utterly lost sight of amongst the daily bombardment of tasks, questions and demands.
In my haste to leave I failed to read the accommodation details thoroughly...
Some may have noticed the giant gap in posting. This has been for an accumulation of reasons, all of which laid the path to the most testing stretch by far that I’ve had since making the decision to leave home/ the career and resulted in what I’ll refer to as The Current Situation (TCS!). Not that I expected this year to be easy peasey, but as per usual with me, I’ve bashed ahead protected by sheer naivety trying to do everything and do it all well and as the wise oracle could have predicted months back, the debits of borrowed energies, trying to please everyone and bury emotions hastily in order to keep up with the next thing, have all lurked and then crept back and resurfaced with a unified bang!
My super cute ballet students - a 1 hour class a week I took on to earn a little income and which became more testing then it should have been!
Before I get too lyrical (sitting by the river seems to have that effect), here’s a download of a few of the factors contributing to ‘TCS’. Please don’t mistake this as a list of whining, just some honesty as to my experiences here, a bit of therapy for me and a form of explanation for the gap in communication!
My river escape. Doing some yoga, a lot of deep breathing, sleeping and some job catch up's that have been in my mind for weeks
1) I’ve realised that I have been living out of a suitcase and moving beds a minimum of once a week for over a year now. Novelty gone – gets pretty tiring. Actual alone time = zero!
Look closely - yes they are bugs. Yes it is perfectly normal to be presented with bamboo and bugs to eat in Cambodia
2) 4 months from now, I have no idea where I will be working or what country I will be living in. The time to start sorting out this significant issue has, as yet, to reach the top of the ‘immanent’ to do list.
I can assure you that Angels drink frozen margaritas
And all Angels are beautiful (some even have questionable moustaches)
3) Proper friendships as an expat are hard to find and more precious than gold, living in the challenges that a country like Cambodia throws at you. I know 100% that without the group of amazing friends I have had around me, I would be back in the UK by now. Despite having known me for a matter of months, they have been there for me with the same level of friendship we only expect from friends who we have grown up with. The temporary nature of being an expat means that people you rely on will eventually leave, sometimes vanishing unexpectedly at short notice. I’ve been through this 3 times now, twice in very upsetting circumstances. Learning to cope with this as part of the expat deal is emotionally difficult and a significant reminder that ultimately, you have to be able to stand on your own. Which is hard.
My amazing Karen with her Monkey obsession! I miss you
4) Communication has become both a pleasure and a burden. As well as amazing friends and family back home who deserve long e-mails I wish I had time to write, there are strangers who contact me via the blog or through friends who have shown great kindness and/or an interest in learning more about trafficking. Passing on the generosity that has been shown to me this past year is something I feel obliged to do and something I want to do…and something that’s difficult to fit in and prioritise!
Most Beautiful Bride Gilly. Thank you so much mum and dad for allowing me to share this magical day with her.
5) The extended thought process which goes into purchases when the money is not your own generated income, is painful!
During my trip home, and thanks to the amazing kindness of my friend Steve and my old school Westholme, we raised £640 for AFESIP which will be spent on the salary of a peer worker for 1 year
6) Pretty much ANYTHING that would be straightforward back home is simply not straightforward here. This is draining and causes great feelings of frustration, which of course you swallow – we are the visitors in this country and my Khmer is not fluent. Daily questions such as ‘Where/ when will X take place?’ or ‘How is X going to happen’ have both resulted in hours and hours (no joke) of eliciting and then deciphering information, notch this up to days/weeks when it comes to more complex matters at work.
7) Work is insane. The sheer volume of tasks on my plate as someone who is viewed both internally and externally as reliable (ie Replies. Solves questions and problems with logic) seems to grow daily to the point where I can only describe my work approach as ‘fire fighting’ and feel I have lost the ability to prioritise effectively. Feelings of solid achievements are difficult to determine. Unlike the days back in advertising when quite frankly my dear, I didn’t give a dam, I very much give a dam and therefore happily take work home with me and plunge into it at weekends. Life/work boundaries are, at times, non existent. Factor point 6 into this equation!
The baby of a wonderful resident who is being reintegrated and who I will not get to see again. I wish her luck for her new start and will think of her always
8 ) My lack of training and support for entering this field of work does effect me at times. Despite keeping myself tucked in the office as much as possible, I have inevitably formed connections with some of the residents and gaining insights into the unfairness and horror they’ve experienced and knowing the difficulties they are likely to face in their futures leaves me bewildered and justifying why I should not be trying to help them more on a personal level.
THE LOU CARPENTER!! Actor Tom Oliver is to be the ambassador of a new charity set up in Australia to raise funds for AFESIP. Tom and the founders Kate and Debs came to see AFESIP's work in Cambodia. Their time spent learning about the issues of both trafficking and Cambodia and their qualities of transparency and responsibility are examples of excellent donors that I wish every funding organisation would follow.
I did consider an affair, running to Oz and buying a dog called Bouncer! You can view the charity at www.connectinghands.com.au
9) The final note I choose to add to this list concerns the injustices within development work. Witnessing organisations out there who care first and second about prestige and the amounts they can raise, and somewhere down the list, the effectiveness of that money and the individuals who ultimately, they exploit in order to promote their cause. Understanding of things like ‘reality’ aren’t something they concern themselves with. This kind of gets depressing when you work with the people who are dedicating their lives to directly helping the cause and doing so much with very stretched resources and for very little personal return.
Me and my wonderful sisters who are always there for me : )
To conclude this epic ‘dear diary’ I’d like to say:-
- Despite TCS I have never once questioned my decision to come out here and volunteer. I am learning a huge amount which will help me immeasurably in the future and am still totally committed to a career in Counter Trafficking.
Thank you will never be a big enough word for everything my amazing and inspirational parents have done for me.
- THANK YOU! Thank you to my family, especially my Saint Mother without whom nothing would be doable. Close friends near and far, acquaintances and total strangers have helped me in a million different ways far too long to list. I am deeply grateful to each and everyone of you and it has without doubted helped me to get this far. In the next post, I aim to have TCS well under control!!
THE TRUTH HURTS
Human Trafficking – I’ve always thought this to be what I’d call a dinner party term. It reveals nothing about imprisonment, abuse, physical pain, slavery, withdrawal of basic human rights like freedom, destruction of trust and of a persons identity.
What you will watch and read below will make you feel uncomfortable however I strongly believe that in order to tackle this issue, there has to be widespread acknowledgment about the reality of what is actually happening. This is what sexual exploitation is, this is what millions of children, girls and woman all over the world and possibly in your neighborhood are experiencing. Yet, whilst it’s still socially accepted that a man has a need and a right to buy a body for as long as he wishes and a blind eye is turned to who the women are that ‘choose’ to work in the seedy massage parlor you pass on the way to work, the traffickers and the pimps will continue to make a good living from doing what they are doing. Some experts now believe the trade in human flesh is more profitable globally then the trade in weapons.
The story of Elana (who inspired Emma Thompson’s video above) and the story of the girl below in Asia are known – millions of others around the world are not and never will be. Whilst reading this, please don’t think of faceless victims that bad things happen to. Think of your best female friend, your sister, or your daughter, in her late teens, sharing the same emotions and experiences that all women of all backgrounds around the world experience. These girls laughed, cried and held personal dreams the same as the teenage girls that we know. Meena is not her real name.
Meena was one of 5 children. There was no money to pay for doctors and both her parents died when she was young. Her Aunt took responsibility for her and her siblings but aged 10 she was required to work as a domestic help for a family to bring income.
She worked 7 days a week day for 4 years, cleaning, washing, cooking – her pay was $25 per month, she wasn’t always fed.
After this she went to work in a garment factory. She made a friend there who said she knew of a factory elsewhere that paid more money. Unsure, she agreed to go with her. The girls arrived at the house of the friends Aunt and the friend went to buy food. She never came back. When she began asking questions she was simply informed she had been sold and needed to do jobs to repay her debt. After more questions, a man came and shoved in a room locking the door behind her.
Hours later the woman’s voice from behind the door informed her that there was a man to see her and not to be hopeless. Imagine if you can at this point that Meena will never have had a conversation about sex in her life and no concept of what it involves.
He forced her onto the bed, fought her to remove her clothing and raped her. She was in pain and confused as to what had happened. She was told not to cry as she had more work to do. A Chinese man came and bought her for 1 week. He made her watch porn films and copy the women in them. She was 14.
The Chinese man sold her on to a brothel where 10 men a day were sent to her room. She cried in front of men, she resisted, each time she was either starved or tortured until she accepted the men with no fight. Aged 15 she was sold on again. Most brothels around the world keep customers interested by having someone new to offer. After being locked in a room for 4 days, she was sent 12 to 14 men a day. Men were sent into her room every day including the days of her period and when she got sick, they gave her narcotics so she could keep going.
A customer helped her escape when she was 16, she lived with him and became pregnant. At 5 months pregnant, the beatings from this man got so bad she ran away. After the birth of the baby she went to work in one of the many karaoke bars. She needed money, she put make up on and smiled and laughed, that’s how girls get picked and make the crucial ‘tips’ which feed their families. All the girls you see working in girly bar, massage palours, karaoke etc act the same way. How could you or any one else have know her history if you’d seen her? Would you have assumed she was their by choice? Would you have considered the abuse she’d experienced. It would be impossible to know how she had come to be there.
It was whilst working here that the police came and arrested her and thankfully, she was presented with an opportunity be taught skills that would give her a different way to bring in an income.
Every case I read reminds me of the anger I felt when I first read Somaly Mam’s book and discovered the hard truths behind the term ‘Human Trafficking’. Those facing exploitation right now need people, governments, legal systems, purchases of sex and police to acknowledge this is not acceptable and then to act however we can.
CAMBODIA IN COLOUR WITH FRIENDS
For this post, I asked some of the lovely friends I’ve met here to send me a few of the pictures they’ve taken that sum up the life, colours, shapes, and images of Cambodia. It also gives me the perfect opportunity to show you Cambodia through other peoples lenses so to speak.
Photos by Max Shapira
Max is working as a director for Cambodia’s leading film and video company – www.cambodiafilms.com
Max recently worked on the filming and recording of the Khmer Rouge, Duch Trial. During its eight-month broadcast run, the half-hour summaries and analysis attracted audiences of between two and three million on CTN, Cambodia’s number one TV channel.
Without Khmer media coverage like this, millions of Cambodian people would not have had access to the information and the course of justice which was supposedly conducted precisely for their benefit.
The next few images are by Miss Jane Heng. Jane’s parents are Khmer and moved to Australia over 30 years ago. I have met quite a few young people similar to Jane who’s parents we’re effected by years of the Khmer Rouge and moved away and towards opportunities they could not have accessed by staying in Cambodia. The people I’ve met have grown up abroad but felt drawn back to learn more about their heritage and in the majority of cases, to contribute to helping the people here now.
Outdoor Areobics takes place all over the communal spaces of Phnom Penh every morning and evening.
Trained in design, not only is Jane volunteering her time at two charity organisations, AFESIP Fair Fashion and MDSF which helps women with AIDS, she is looking into the possibility of starting up her own social enterprise which will create job opportunity and empowerment for Cambodian women who otherwise would find themselves discriminated against and in servere poverty. It’s really worth checking out her fashion focused blog at http://blog.greenfables.com/
I think most of us have seen more serious road accidents in Cambodia than all the road accidents we’ve ever seen elsewhere added together. And where there is a scene – there is always a crowd.
Jane’s boyfriend Michael came to Cambodia with ‘‘Engineers Without Boarders”, a really impresssive organisation.
Recently Micheal was out in the provinces doing fieldwork for a project which involved testing the water in a river. Just when him and his colleagues were setting up the equipment, a giant poo floated right past them, giving them strong pre test indication that the river may well be contaminated!
Quote from Miss Ella Humphrey who is coming back to the Penh very shortly to work on an early learning program:- ”Cambodia is its children ”
The next (very professional looking) images are taken by Dustin Barter who is working with Oxfam Australia
This was taken in Takeo province, the lady pictured has 4 children and the family lived by selling their labour to anyone near by who required it. Their house is on the edge of the road which means that it is not a permanent land plot and the government will take it back one day in the future.
Before Oxfam, her family’s daily average income was around about $1.75 US, not enough to cover daily diet for 6 people and they could only send 2 of the 4 children to school.
Through Oxfam Village Development Committee – the family got a cow and could instantly sell it’s manure. The cow acted as collateral enabling them to borrow money from the Micro Finance Institute. By saving on these 2 incomes they bought a motorbike which began her husband’s motorbike taxi business. Daily average income is now around $2.5 – 3 US and the family only face food shortages for 4 months of the year now as oppose to ten. All their children go to school.
This is NOT an Oxfam cow, nor a picture by Dustin. Karen Smith sent me this one. Unfortunately, it represents the majority of the cattle you tend to see in Cambodia.
Also from Karen – this drawing was created by one of the women that she works with who is a survivor of sex trafficking
And finally 2 fabulous snaps by the equally sunny Sonya Kim which demonstrate for me the quirkiness that Cambodia holds within it’s powers. Now and again, you will pass by a scene which will make your head spin around and your mouth pop open. One is your first glimpse of Sambo when you see him on his walkies amongst the motos, sniffing at the cafe tables along the river front.
And this phenomenon I have yet to witness in person but I’m told St. 21 is where it tends to be parked. This is one tuk tuk driver phone number I will be saving!
Very big thanks to everyone for taking the time to send me their snaps and also to Samira who sent me hers but in a file I only just realised I can’t open. So in recognition to Samira, who is also someone that I’ve met here that has totally filled me with inspiration, here’s a pic of the beautiful lady herself!
KEEPING IT REAL AT THE PICTURES
- Screening of “The Virginity Trade”. Subtitles:- If I had not been raped I would be married. I could have had a better future
British director Matthew Watson spent 10 months in Cambodia producing 2 films documenting the experiences, stories, opinions and beliefs of victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation. By representing the background and culture of Cambodia and it’s people and through the many stories of different girls, he communicates powerfully the fact that a girls future here is over as soon as her virginity is taken, be through sex trafficking or rape, or because her mother was dying and she made the brave decision to sell the only thing of value the family had in order to try and cure her. This was the reality of one of the girls featured in The Girls Of Phnom Pehn.
Stuck for an NGO representative, Matt asked if I would help introduce the films and answer peoples questions afterwards. After discussing the issue of what needs to be done to educate men about the realities of what they are funding, 2 men I spoke to later doubted this and commented that sex work was just an inevitable result of poverty and the girls lack of education.
- Somaly Mam spoke of how pornography is a frequent motivator for men not just to buy sex workers but in many casese, to inflict great pain upon them. AFESIP’s shelters were also featured.
The director managed (after months and months of trust building) to gain footage of interviews with the buyers of sex, something I haven’t seen in any other trafficking film. One man talked about how he will save up to purchase sex with a virgin because he truly believes that this is responsible for his good health and young looks. Another group of friends in their 20’s joked about as they explained how it’s entertaining to share one girl between them all and how if 4 of them are still waiting for their turn and the girl begins to refuse them, they will threaten and beat her until she complies “It doesn’t matter” one of them explained “because she’s only a sex worker”.
- Meta House, the Arts centre was packed despite it being the 2nd showing in Phnom Penh
My aim is to get this film screened prominently in London when I’m back with an audience of people who have the real potential to make a difference if they choose to act. I would like to think it will refocus the opinions and conceptions a lot of us hold about both the sex industry and the girls who we see as optionally choosing to work in it.
Phnom Penh - The White Building
This infamous building is right opposite Meta House where the films were screened. Many of the ‘rooms’ in here are used by sex workers who stand out in the public parks. These sex workers tend to be the older woman, 25 + who have usually been exploited for the majority of their youth in a closed brothel, karaoke or guest house. Only able to charge $1-$3 dollars, this is how the poor Cambodian men also have access to the purchase of females.
Drying the washing - Daily life same same but very very different.
HAPPY TIMES
As my last few posts have been a bit heavy I’ve kept this one light in both subject and words : )
Here’s a bit about my recent break away from the office and computer to spend time with the AFESIP residents.
Birthday Celebrations in Siem Reap - the guesthouse I stayed at made me a cake with 2 chickens on it..
I have no idea why?!
On the 7th July, all the residents from Kampong Cham and Tom Dy traveled up to Siem Reap to stay with the girls at Siem Reap centre – around 200 girls in total. AFESIP’s shelter model means that the girls live and train at the centres, only venturing out accompanied for a family visit or for external medical care if required. Hence a 3 day trip is a rare and very exciting event.
Walking up to the magnificent Angkor Wat temple. Cambodia's biggest tourist attraction by far and a monument of culture and heritage that all Cambodians are rightly very proud of. Entry free for the Khmer as it should be.
It’s occurred to me before when showing some of the residents pictures on my camera of me in Spain/France etc that the concept of travelling from country to country is something almost innate to us and something which they cannot relate to. Obviously none of them own a passport, most of them wont know what one is. Personally, I struggle even trying to imagine how this reality would alter my perspectives, views and concept of the world….can you?
Descending the towers of Angkor Wat temple looking down towards all the girls
Head of finance - Mr. Rith
Bayon Temple built 12th CE by Jayavarman VII
After the heat exhaustion of walking round the temples, we went to laze down by the Lake.
Mmm fried crickets anyone? All the residents LOVE these. 2 big plates full was a massive treat. Sadly Katy will have to be really lost and at starvation point before this becomes appealing!
On the second day we went to the Kulen National Park for picnics and swimming in the beautiful waterfalls.
After the waterfalls we went to visit a Pagoda up on a hill side – an experience I would never have had as a traveller.
In the pagoda, incense was lit, prayers were chanted and offerings were made to Buddha. I wondered what the each girl was praying for.
THE ORACLE! We stumbled across this guy, sat at a table full of miniature Budda's, elephant tusk trinkets and even some animal skulls. Now if I'm going to get my palm read, I want it to be by the guy dressed in white sat up a mountain in Cambodia who hasn't cut his hair for the past 50 years...
Luckily one of our donors who was there is Khmer and was able to translate. Apparently I am going to be a great leader in the future - so watch this space...(of course, leader of what I have no idea. Could be the local brownies?!)
We walked up to a monk sat in a shrine on a hill top and prayed whilst he chanted. It felt pretty spiritual actually.
And now to more local and equally happy events. Comedy and sex trafficking aren’t 2 topics you are likely to come across in joint partnership – however – a certain young gentleman I used to work with at Seven Squared used his talents to make people laugh whilst raising money to help both me and AFESIP on Wednesday 14th of July.
I awoke to 3 e-mails and 2 texts from friends back home who had been to support the event RAVING about both James’ skill and charms as the compere and the quality of the night as a whole. Tickets raised over £400 and then one inspired friend did a whip around at the end!! An additional kind donor upped the final total to make a tidy £600. Wow. I feel like Thank you is not a big enough word.
Mr. James Hickie in action. Unsure if any booking agents are reading this blog (Lindsay Howarth?!) but if they are, snap this man up now : )
Seriously, since I began on this journey – it really has opened me up to seeing and appreciating just how many outstandingly amazing and generous people there are in this world. I feel privileged to know these people and hope that whenever they are in need of help in the future they will stick me at the top of the list so I can try to begin to repay their kindness. People may admire what I have done but it would have remained a utter dream if it was not for these people and their support. A massive heart felt thanks to James, everyone at Seven Squared and the friends who rallied their friends to come down to the event
K xx
Photographic evidence that the comedy was indeed funny and a beautiful pic of my wonderful friend Duncan. Made me smile lots!
Matters Of The Mind
Calm before the storm in Kep
One of the projects I am now working on is to put together a 5 year plan/ proposal for funding to develop the therapy and psychology services that AFESIP offers.
In the past week I’ve attended 2 meetings on Mental Health. One was the ‘Trauma Healing Initiative’ a 4 year project which AFESIP took part in and which has helped to train and build the skills within Cambodia to treat victims of trauma.
In a western practice for trauma therapy, a practioner is likely to be working with 5 clients maximum at any one time. AFESIP currently has 1 psychologist and 1 counselor to cover the 160 girls in the shelters, the sex workers who visit the drop-in clinic and all the reintegrated girls. It’s an impossible task.
One of the main issues, aside from funding, is the lack of mental health skills within Cambodia and the lack of understanding as to how crucial treatment is for serious injuries of the mind and the soul. As was the case not too many decades ago in the UK, to see a psychologist here means you a loopy head case. There are currently 25 qualified psychologists in the whole of Cambodia.
As you've gathered - I have no real appropriate imagery to match this post so I'm showcasing some of my more scenic shots
Members of the ‘Transcultural Psychosocial Organisation’ (TPO) completed a study that interviewed 130 Cambodians, average age 56. Out of this sample group across 3 provinces and during the years of Khmer Rouge :-
92% had been separated from their families
84% had been close to death
69% witnessed the death of a friend/member of family
52% had been tortured
I’ve raised the fact in other posts that it’s not difficult to understand why issues like rates of domestic violence here are so high and family values that we take for granted in other societies, don’t always function the same. With the ‘norm’ being that everyone has suffered horrific situations, it’s very much expected for everyone to just get on with life and for the need for psychological help to seem unnecessary.
Shoes belonging to one of the residents at Kampong Cham centre
Victims of trafficking have not just been abused physically but have been mentally shattered through abuse of their ability to trust, conditioning from their owners or ‘boyfriends’ and the repetitive treatment, not as a human being but as a saleable object, to be selected like a fish at the market, used and discarded. As a coping mechanism, many have normalised the situations they’ve ended up in and the treatment they receive.
The beautiful new building at Kampong Cham centre. One of the rooms will provide space for the new therapy resources and treatment.
Calls from centre staff are frequently made to head office reporting that residents have become disobedient and lazy following sessions with the psychologist. Part of the 5 year project will include a new care model for the centres that will provide all staff working directly with victims the knowledge and tools to be able to react to residents needs on a psychological level so that when this happens, it is immediately recognised that the resident is likely to be dealing with the emotions and stress of their past experiences and need to receive a certain set of responses.
Plans for a meditation garden will also be looked at for Kampong Cham centre which has plenty of surrounding land. The above is the veg patch
As well setting up a fully kitted therapy treatment room, an effective case management system and services to support the staff and care givers whose jobs are beyond draining, we also need to get the funding to support at least 3 members of counseling staff PER centre as well as a Trauma care specialist and a Clinical supervisor, skills we are unsure we will be able to find within Cambodia.
Just like the Cambodian society as a whole, the process is going to be a long one to put into place but at least the direction is the right one and the first steps have been made.
FINANCE MODELS
More Voluntary work!
Remember complaining about the recession? In 2009, 146 garment factories closed down in Cambodia making around 40,000 people unemployed, the majority of those being young girls. Jobless with little education and a family already relying on their tiny income, those looking to traffick and/or sexually exploit girls to make money were placed in an excellent position.
In the places that the outreach team can access, they saw the numbers of girls increase with every garment factory closure. I met 6 girls working in the park who’d lost their jobs in the factory. Their parents had no idea about the closure or their new job, the one thing they could try and save was rejection from family and their community and the hope of still being able to find a husband one day.
The recession also hit a large number of other business and economies meaning that there are students in Cambodia who’ve received full education from primary through to university who cannot find jobs. How does an organisation make a 19 year old girl with the literacy levels of 6 year old more competitive to a job employer than the graduate? Oh, and all within a couple of years as the family need her income…
If the government goes ahead in the coming years with the proposal of 2 dam builds in the Mekong, the livelihood of around 2 million people will be effected. Families who have only known fishing for generations and have upward of 4 children to support would be placed in an impossible situation. If a child is seen by someone else as an asset, does it make you a better parent to send 1 child away to work and to be able to keep 4 safe and fed or a better parent to let all 5 starve whilst you work out how to compete for income with the other thousand people in your neighbourhood who are also out of a job?
Fishing boats out on a Sunday morning in Kep, down beside the sea
One of many solutions which the Western world is well placed to help with, is to put funds into developing a social enterprise which essentially means that the profit generated from the businesses does not make a limited number of directors and shareholders richer (shock horror) but partly goes toward helping a set of socially vulnerable or disadvantaged people by funding their education and training as well as investing into the expansion of the business to increase the number of people that can then be employed.
AFESIP Fair Fashion (AFF) is exactly this kind of enterprise. The workshop in Phnom Penh employs over 20 survivors of sex trafficking offering the girls a guaranteed salary, free childcare, training development and placing the profits back into growth in order to provide more jobs to more survivors. My fabulous friend Jane is volunteering with them to consult on the designs of clothing desirable to a Western market and developing the customer base from abroad as well.
This is a sneak preview of the new look book which features the above outfits and beautiful homeware, children’s soft toys and cooking aprons etc. It’s a few months off ready but e-mail Jane if you’d like to be informed once it is completed, or, even better, if you know of a retailer who might like to order a batch of items – aff.cambodia@gmail.com
Credit and thanks for these pretty pics goes to Max, Jane, Michael and Srey Toech
