Cambodia so far...

This is my very first ever blogging experience and Sam has informed me it should be interesting, short and sharp (apparently he has seen my emails where I waffle too much), so here goes! I've now been in Cambodia for nearly 3 weeks and so much has happened already.

For example, people in Cambodia actually think I'm quite musical!!!

There are 16 of us in total now that Sam has arrived, including 4 accompanying partners. As it is September there are mostly education volunteers but also some health and livlihoods. Here's a picture of one of our many meals together (though we're not all there).

Me, Sam, Paul, Danny, Ingran, Dave, Kath, Jan

On the subject of food, so far Cambodian food is delicious although they do eat rice for every meal. In fact they love rice so much that their word for breakfast/lunch/dinner has 'rice' at the beginning: rice morning/rice noon/rice night! We found a Cambodian delicacy (see picture below) in the Phnom Penh market but so far I've held back! Apparently people started eating anything they could get there hands on during the Khmer Rouge time and the years afterwards and so acquired a liking for fried spiders and insects!

Yum Yum

To welcome Sam to Cambodia, we decided to take him on a long bike round around Kampong Cham province on our day off last Sunday.


We started late due to various faffing around and a small mechanical problem with Sam's bike which ended up taking an hour and a half to fix but only cost $2 so you can't really complain.

We cycled past these amazing floating villages.

We then cycled past rubber plantations, temples, women selling corn on the street, houses on stilts and other Cambodian countryside sights. By this time it was 2pm and we'd been on the go for hours in the boiling sun (we later found out we'd cycled 35 km) and I suddenly felt very faint and had to lie down on the side of the road. Did I mention that we really hadn't prepared for this journey at all and had had very little to eat and not enough water? Also it's so hot here during the mid day heat that everyone 'rests' between 12 and 2pm. Not us though, we were on a mission to see the sights on our day off. We were wearing appropriate head gear, however!

Paul, Me and Dave are wearing traditionl Cambodian scarves called 'krama' while Ingran is sporting a dishcloth all the way from London.

I ended up having to get a tuk tuk back with the other volunteers and abandoned the boys to another 20 km of cyling and island hopping in canoes with their bikes in order to get back to the town. We were all very exhausted and quite sunburnt by the time we got back to the hotel and celebrated our safe return (with only two casualities: me and Paul, who fell off his bike and scraped his knees and hands) with beers by the river.

This outside 'bar' is opposite our hotel and we spend quite a lot of time here in the evenings drinking beer, watching the volleyball games and aerobic sessions and the river traffic.

Gilly Lands

Thanks to everyone who joined us to give Gilly a proper send off last week, there were beers and tears all over.  I've spoken to Gilly a couple of times since she arrived last Thursday and, according to this photo, things have picked off in Phnom Penh just as they finished in London!

Gilly tells me the journey went very smoothly which is reassuring for my turn next week, and she also had an empty seat next to her on the plane.  She's just written a quick note about the experience so far which was cut short because there was no fan beside the computer she was using and it was too hot to write any more...

"...so far am having a great time. Phnom Penh is pretty chilled out as Asian capital cities go and VSO is taking good care of us. We've started our training which is going to be quite intense as there's so much info to learn. I'm quite eager to start language training next week which is going to be a lo more difficult than I thought. So far I've braved the crazy roads on the back of a motorbike and on a bike. You have more space than in London but there are a lot less rules, noone indicates and they often drive up the wrong side so it's easier to turn off - very crazy and apparently the number one cause of injury in Cambodia. I've also been to visit the museum of Genocide which was pretty harrowing."

[Gilly also texted today to say that she had a great haircut for just $4 so anyone planning to visit while we're there should bear this in mind and time it so that you can use the savings to put towards the cost of the flight...]

As for me it feels a little like I'm now just waiting to leave.  This is nice in that I still get to see people and celebrate my birthday but inside I really just want to get started.  My flight is next Thursday and judging by how quickly time has flown since we found out we were going to Cambodia I'm sure I'll be feeling the heat myself in no time.

PS. I've now updated the contact page of this site to give our postal address and skype details for keeping in touch while we're there.  You can also add comments to each entry on this blog if you want to share your message with everyone.

Vroom! Vroom!

Last week we headed down to Crystal Palace athletics stadium which was the surprising location for our motorbike training.  This is required because we will be riding bikes on a regular basis in Cambodia.  Following a couple of hours learning about clothing and a 'crash' course in basic motorcycle mechanics it was time to get our heads sized up before revving into action...

All smiles at the stadium, helmets in hand ready to tear up the tarmac.

Out on the road, those L-plates are there for a reason...

What is that idiot doing?

Instructor Pete briefs Gilly on her forthcoming U-turn manoeuvre...

...Which is executed with aplomb.  Next stop Kratie Town, Cambodia.

John Pilger: Cambodia

As part of preparing to start our placement Gilly and I are researching Cambodia, its culture and history.  This is referred to in VSO speak as 'self briefing'.  Although they are quite long (just over 50 minutes) these reports from John Pilger are real eye openers and show just how long lasting the problems have been in the country.

The first report:



And this follow up:

Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch found guilty

Yesterday chief Duch was sentenced in the first of a series of trials against members of the Khmer Rouge.  Here's the BBC write up.  More about him here and photos of the prison he ran here.  There is also a harrowing account from one of his former prisoners here.

Pub Quiz Report

Last night saw roughly 80 people assemble into 14 teams for a pub quiz to raise money for VSO.  There was also a raffle with some great prizes donated to the cause.  In total, on the night, we raised £931.50.  Added to raffle ticket sales before the event the whole thing pulled in £996.50, so let's call it a grand!  We're still a little way off our target so donations, however small, are always welcomed on our Just Giving page.

Thank you to everyone that turned up, showed their support and exerted maximum brain power over pints and pizzas in Camden.  Here are some photos from the event and congratulations to our winning and losing teams...read on to see who they were.

Gilly & Sarah laying the foundations for a smoothly run administration of the event.  Nice jacket Sarah, more of that later...

Team Gadgee's Duncan finds it hard to contain his excitement following the first question.

Your host for the evening in his favourite suit, Bobby [Orange] Dazzler!

If there was a prize for co-ordinated poses this team would have won it, more from them later...

Brain food in hand, Oli and his team get into gear.  'Slow down quiz master' says Jay.

Ben, Mary and Lisa battle on despite two team members being missing and Lisa sustaining an injury in her pre-event training...

Only Matt knows the answer, Jupiter is the 5th planet from the sun.

It's too tough they said, but the scoring suggested otherwise.

Over to the booths and the Tuff-Nells are making music...

...while this team work out which one was blind and deaf in See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Charlie remembers the scene where Richard Prior and Gene Wilder have to fight together in the bar to compensate for each others weaknesses.

Make some noise for the Pleather Coalition, fun times!

Gabriel and his team engaged in discussion, keen to put up a fight against those around them.

It wouldn't be fair to put their team name up online but it's giving a couple of its members a bit of a laugh.  They ended up finishing a very strong second with 70 points from 100, great performance.

Ponder, ponder, scribble, scribble, what was the actor called who played mini-me in Austin Powers?

Quiz masters Sam and Briony debate a technical point-based decision.  No conclusion is reached and the quiz rolls on.

Deep Thought Nine, how many goals were scored by african nations in the world cup finals 2010: 14, 15, 16 or 17?

Confidence personified as Kevin and Sarah buck the big team trend and enter as a double act.

Question 12, arrange quiz masters Briony, Gilly and Sam in height order.

Every point counts and team captain Oli pushes the brain food to one side to give 110% concentration to answering this question...

...and it pays off as Arse Over Elbow clinch glory at Gilly & Sam's VSO Pub Quiz with an astounding score of 79 points from a possible 100.  A post-quiz interview with team captain Oli suggests that strength in the picture round and wise use of their joker played a big part in reaching this momentus achievement.  Their reward, boxes of pound shop chocolates and a copy for each team member of Paul Arden's 'Whatever you think, think the opposite'.  Well done!

Not forgetting team Three Blondes, Two Brunnettes and a Bald Guy who are making L-shapes with their hands which we understand symbolises 'Losers', and they were with a score of 35 points from a possible 100.  That's just over one question in three answered correctly, even with the help of an iPhone in round three, but as the bottom team they recieve copies of 'It's not how good you are, it's how good you want to be' by Paul Arden.

And now over to Gilly to draw tickets for the raffle.  Everyone's a winner, well almost...

Thanks again to everyone for your support.  There are a few more pictures here and donations can still be made on our Just Giving page.  Keep checking back to this blog for news and updates of our adventure, thank you and goodnight!

Escaping the Khmer Rouge

A brief but insightful talk from Sophal Ear about his family's escape from Cambodia in the late 1970s.  From TED.

Raffle Prizes

We've now raised £430 through donations and the book sale so we're just over 20% of the way to our target of £2,000.  You can see how it's building up and make a donation on our Just Giving page.

The pub quiz is looking like it'll be a full house which is great for this fundraising and there will also be some money raised from the raffle.  Currently the prize list, mainly donated by different businesses, looks like this (click the links for more detailed information):

1. Wind-up powered 1GB mp3 player (donated by Good Energy)
2. Wind-up front and rear bicycle lights and good living book (also donated by Good Energy)
3. Afternoon tea for two at Grosvenor House (or other London locations)
4. Pair of tickets for any Everyman Cinema (donated by the Everyman Group)
5. Pair of tickets to any Odeon Cinema (donated by Odeon Holloway)
6. Pair of tickets to the Surreal House exhibition at the Barbican
7. One mixed organic fruit and veg box (donated by Abel & Cole)
8. Ten pin bowling session at Rowans, Finsbury Park (donated by Rowans)
9. Health club day pass for two.
10. One hour massage or other therapy session (donated by Reiki Massage London, Euston)
11. Set of five signed Arsenal player photos* (donated by Arsenal Football Club)
12. Annual magazine subscription (titles tbc)
13. Complete set of four 'Little Book of Business Bullshit' books
14. Set of four ecological soap bars
15. Time Out City Guides (donated by Time Out):  
• London 
• Paris 
• New York 
• Amsterdam 
• Rome 
• Prague 

*Fabregas, Arshavin, Denilson, Fabianski, Gibb

Book Sale, Part One

Sam & Gilly all set and ready to go.

Today we headed over to Gillespie Park and set up a stall outside as part of their craft fair and fete.  Thanks to generous donations from friends and family we had a lot of merchandise to sell.

Sales under way.

The trade came in bursts, it seems that as soon as a couple of people start browsing then there are soon others who get interested.

Our stall during a break in sales.

We sold quite a lot and raised £120 which is now up on our Just Giving page.  We're going to take some more along to some second hand book traders before the sale at the pub quiz but this was a good encouraging start to the fundraising.

Gillespie Park Fete

  Books, books, books

This Sunday, before the world cup final, we'll be manning a book stall at the fete in Gillespie Park to raise money for VSO.  We've already amassed quite a lot of merchandise and the pile will grow even more over the next couple of days.  The weather is set to be good so do pop along for food, fun and (mainly) fiction.

Date: Sunday, 11th July
Time: 12-3pm
Location: Gillespie Park Ecology Centre, 191 Drayton Park, N5 1PH

Early Thanks

We've had a good response so far to our initial fundraising efforts, £145 raised in direct donations via the Just Giving page, thank you to everyone who has been so generous.  This money will actually lead to slightly more going to VSO through the Giftaid scheme so we're well on our way, but there is more to do...

We'd also like to thank some companies who have responded to letters sent earlier this week and who have kindly donated prizes for the raffle we're holding at the pub quiz.  We'll reveal what these are on the evening but you can probably take some guesses based on who has donated so far...

Thank you to:

Rowans Leisure

Good Energy (Shop)

 

 Arsenal Football Club

Around the World in 80 Dumps

Around the World in 80 Dumps: Small Steps Project from Amy Hanson on Vimeo.

On our recent training weekend 'Preparing to Volunteer' we explored the concept of development, what it means and who are the winners and losers. In addition we considered the notion of 'sustainable development' and this brought into question the sustainability of the development that we in the West benefit from.  This forthcoming film from Amy Hanson's Small Steps project explores some of these themes through the very tangible output of this development, the waste that we produce.

Amy's project started in Cambodia which is where we're going to do our voluntary work, here is the film she made about her experience there.

Pub Quiz

We're kicking off our fundraising efforts for VSO with a pub quiz and raffle on Wednesday, 21st July in Camden, London.  Get your team together and sharpen your pencils and minds for a night of puzzles, pizzas and prizes.  Full details of the pub quiz here.

If you can't make it but would like to support our fundraising then you can do so via our Just Giving page.

Disability Rights in Cambodia

The Cambodian Government has confirmed that it will ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities after intervention from VSO’s Parliamentarian Volunteer Sharon Hodgson and pressure from development agencies.

Designed to abolish discrimination, the convention will encourage legislation and action plans protecting the rights of disabled people, many of whom have lost limbs after stepping upon un-cleared landmines.

A direct response to international pressure from VSO and other development charities, the policy shift paves the way for equal rights for disabled people and should open up education, health care and employment opportunities.

Sharon Hodgson, MP for Washington and Sunderland West, volunteered during her summer recess in Cambodia in 2009 as part of VSO’s Parliamentarian Volunteering Scheme. She worked with the Disability Action Council using her political experience to support the campaign, persuading previously reluctant Ministers to adopt the treaty.    She said:
 
“This is very good news and gives me hope for the future prosperity of disabled people living in Cambodia.  It is a huge milestone.“

Currently there are around 550,000 disabled people living in Cambodia, many of whom do not have adequate access to education, health care and employment and are often excluded from society.  Three decades of war has left a legacy of un-cleared landmines across Cambodia ensuring it has one of the worst landmine problems in the world.

The Convention currently has 145 signatories and was launched in December 2006.

Original story on VSO Website.
 

Sex Trafficking in Cambodia

This article offers a comprehensive and disturbing account of the severity and extent of trafficking women in and out of Cambodia to work in the sex industry.  It cites some shocking statistics along the way to back up the overall line of argument which is that the underlying social factors driving this trade need to be tackled alongside the introduction (and enforcement) of legal measures.  It is difficult to believe that this issue is regarded as lower priority than other human rights concerns in the country but this is what the author argues.  In conclusion we are given:

"Although the Cambodia government and local and international NGOs have made strides towards addressing Cambodia's trafficking problem, these efforts have focused primarily on legal solutions. Certainly stronger and more comprehensive anti-trafficking laws as well as better law enforcement are needed. However, legal solutions, acting alone will not be sufficient to address the underlying causes of trafficking namely poverty, gender inequality, corruption and under-education. Rather, legal responses must be complemented by prescriptive development measures focusing on widening the
knowledge, skill sets, and career options available to women. Only when women have enough viable alternatives to prostitution and the necessary education and political clout to serve as their own advocates will trafficking be abated."

Download and read here.

River of Time

Sam has just finished reading Jon Swain's River of Time.  The book describes his journey working as a journalist in Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand during much of the conflict and violence in the region during the 1970s.  It is a real eye opener and left both a sense of his love for the lands around the Mekong river (our placement is in Kratie which is on the bank of the river), but also the tragedy of what took place there.  It is almost impossible to comprehend the horror of what the Cambodian people went through in the years leading upto and during the rule of the Khmer Rouge.  This book offers some insight in a compelling and easy to read way.  Recommended.