Cambodia: a dark past and a hopeful present

Our time in Cambodia was very enjoyable. It's unthinkable how just a
few decades ago this country was in complete disorder. In most ways
the country has just moved on, I guess what else can you do. There is
a high percentage of disabled people compared to what we are used to
seeing and have seen other places on our travels. In our time in Phnom
Penh we visited the Tuol Slung museum. This is an old school in the
center of Phnom Penh that the Khmer Rouge turned into a torture
grounds and prison. One of the members from the Harmony farm commented
how a location as ordinary as a school could so quickly be turned into
a place of terror, I agreed with his comment. During the height of the
Khmer Rouge takeover there were one hundred people a day being killed
a day at this location. Ironically, during the reign of the Khmer
Rouge one quarter of the population died in the name of creating an
equal society. Upon first entering the museum I had an uneasy feeling,
barbed wire is coiled around the courtyard, you walk through the
school rooms and there is a bed in each room and a method of keeping
the prisoners shackled to the bed. There is old Khmer Rouge black and
white photographs used for documentation in some of the rooms showing
a prisoner looking extremely malnourished and sometimes covered in
blood. As the day moves on it becomes difficult to believe the
atrocities that occurred here, the sun is fully out and children can
be heard playing from all parts of the museum and Phnom Penh moves
about like all the other Asian cities we have visited. Although it was
a difficult morning I found this to be important to learn about the
what the people of the county we visited have been through.

There are still signs of inequality in Cambodia. I don't think I have seen so
many SUV's in all of Asia including a few Hummers (seems very
impractical for narrow Asian city streets) as well a some larger
living accommodations protected by big fences and barbed wire. On the
other end a larger amount of beggars than we have seen in other places
as well. We also noticed a higher level of corruption in Cambodia.
Every trip into Siem Reap the truck driving us into town would be
pulled over and be required to pay a "fee" before being allowed to
proceed. I'm not sure what the consequences would be if you didn't pay
but when Harmony Farm was getting charged "fees" to move their house
the director was adamant that they be payed. Another example of
Cambodian people hurting themselves, is the lady's booth who is setup
close to Harmony Farm selling school book packages to tourists and
that she says go to the school, but when the tourists leave she puts
them back out on her shelf to be sold again taking from the children
of her own village. Given what the country has been through I think
it's doing very well. Aside from the few incidences of corruption the
people were all very good people who have suffered what is
unthinkable. For a good historical biography on what has happened here
in Cambodia Marina and I both read and recommend "First they killed my
father". This is the story of Khmer Rouge told through the eyes of a
five year old girl.

Fire

On Thursday afternoon there was a wild fire on the land adjacent to Harmony Farm. Sam, three of the boys, and the monks from the nearby pagoda fought the fire and were able to keep it, for the most part, off Harmony Farm's land. David and I arrived at the farm for our afternoon's work very soon after the fire passed. It had burned right up to the fence on three sides of the land, but only burned a few square meters of the farm. When we arrived the land around the farm was still smoldering and the fire flared up in several places.

Marli surveying the damage

The neighbours lost everything but their houses. Their banana trees should grow back, but they have lost this season's crop. I imagine that they do not have any savings to see their family through this time and it will be a very difficult year for them.

The following afternoon the fire flared up again and this time it burned part of Harmony Farm. The chicken house was completely lost, and many of the chickens died. Many young fruit trees were burned as well. The fire came within a few meters of the house, but thankfully it was not burned.

The chicken house

If anyone would like to donate some money towards rebuilding after the fire, or for any of Harmony Farm's other programs, you could set that up by emailing Marli at marli@harmonyfarmcambodia.org

Harmony Farm

We have just finished our three weeks at Harmony Farm. We have really enjoyed our time at this farm and would have stayed longer but we must move on before our Vietnam visa expires. One of the greatest strengths of this organization is that it run locally by a Cambodian director. There is lots of projects on the go right now. They have just purchased an old house and are in the process of having it relocated on to the farm. They also have plans to build a plant nursery on the farm. They have a moto shop and a hairdresser that give the older students a chance to learn some skills that could lead to potential jobs. This also raises money for the organization.



On friday we decided to get our hair cut. It was perhaps the first time they have cut red hair and I found myself surrounded by the locals waiting at the hairdresser. I decided which hair style I wanted by pointing at a poster. One man that lived at the house we were staying at and happened to be at the hairdresser said I chose the "Thailand Cut".

The young man seemed particularly awkward when Marina asked to have her hair cut also. I was very pleased with the cut and it feels good to have short hair again. Marina wasn't quite as happy with her cut but thinks that if we get some scissors and touch it up it will be good. I usually go for cheap hair cuts according to Marina but this a new low with both cuts costing us 6000 Riel (about $0.75 each). If you are interested there is more information about the farm on their website http://www.harmonyfarmcambodia.org/.

Living in small town Cambodia

We are volunteering at Harmony Farm. Two weeks ago, when we set out for the farm, we intended to stay for one week. Now it looks like we will be here for nearly three weeks instead. Harmony Farm is located in Beng Mealea, Cambodia. It is less than one hundred kilometers from Siem Reap.

Beng Mealea is a very small town, and is quite remote. In town there is the fantastic ruins of a temple built by Suryavarman II the same guy who built Angkor Wat (I'm sure that both were actually built by his servants and he never got his fingernails dirty). Beng Mealea temple is amazing. There are giant trees growing through the intricately carved stones.






As a result of the temple Beng Mealea gets some tourists and is able to generate some income from them, but most people in the town are quite poor. Harmony Farm is an important part of this community. It is an orphanage that houses more than twenty children. It is a free school that teaches English and vocational training to any children who are able to attend. This is really important because many kids are not able to attend the government school for various reasons including the cost of the uniform. Harmony Farm provides free breakfast for any children who come each morning. Finally, Harmony Farm is also a farm. They are starting a permaculture farm so that one day they can be self sufficient. This is where David and I spend our days. They have some big plans for the near future including building a new residence for the children, and building a nursery for plants. It looks like these projects will not get going during our stay at the farm, but we are able to help with some of the preliminary work, and we have been spending some time preparing more garden beds for planting. The work that we are doing at the farm is not that exciting, but it is giving us the wonderful opportunity to, for a short time, be a part of a charming community.

Beng Mealea is a small community. We are already beginning to recognize many of the people who we pass one the streets when we walk from the house we stay in to the farm. Many of the locals are beginning to recognize us too (not just because we are white; they can tell us apart from the other tourists). When we walk to and from the farm, children yell hello and wave to us. A group of girls has learned my name and they chase me down in the street calling out "Malina, Malina". The children of one family we pass each day get their English confused and they yell bye bye as we approach then hello as we walk away after we pass their house. Many of the locals have let us know in various ways that the work that Harmony Farm does is valuable to their community.


In a typical day in Beng Mealea, we wake up early and see the red sun rising in the smoky sky while we get dressed and ready to go. We walk down the street to have a hot bowl of noodle soup for breakfast while the restaurant owners' giggling youngest daughter plays peek-a-boo with us.


We walk half an hour to get to the farm where we work a few hours until the sun and the heat chase us back into town for a lengthy lunch break in the shade. It is approaching the hot time of year here and the temperatures are in the high thirties at midday. We often spend our break reading or catching up on little things that need to get done. In the middle of the afternoon we walk back to the farm and work again until around five o'clock when we head back home. On the way we often walk with a group of children heading home from the government school. They practise their English on us. How do you do? What is your name? How old are you? On our way we often stop to buy a mango. The shop owner peels and slices it and we use toothpicks to eat slices of mango. Juice drips down our chins as we eat. When we get home "Ma" prepares dinner: usually stir fried vegetables with egg and pineapple over rice. After dinner we bathe in a small room made from grass panels. Inside there is a very large clay jar full of water and a plastic scoop. You scoop water over your head to shower. I wear a sarong tied just below my armpits the whole time I bathe (it would be indecent not to). David can shower just wearing his underwear. The rules of modesty are not as strict for men. After we have cleaned off and cooled down in the water, we have a cup of green tea, chat with the other volunteers, and head to bed early. Bed is a mat on the floor beneath a mosquito net. It takes a little bit of getting used to. The thinsulate mattresses that we use while camping provide more padding.

We are really enjoying our time at Harmony Farm and are appreciating the unique opportunity that it provides for us to see Cambodia in a way that most tourists cannot. Village life seems happy and quiet. It is amazing that in a place where genocide occurred so recently (beginning in 1975, I'm not sure exactly when it stopped) people can seem so content.

Peace and Harmony

After a few days of shopping in Bangkok we took the train to the Cambodia border where we went through the border and caught a bus on to Siem Reap. The guide book warns that the bus may try to make your journey as uncomfortable as possible in hope that when they drop you off at the guesthouse of their choice you will be tired enough to crash there for which they will receive payment. Our bus seemed to be doing strange things like taking us ten minutes away from the station where there is food,water, and a bathroom only to park and wait for a hour. When we arrived in town they took us to a parking lot five kilometers out of town and then sold Tuk-Tuk rides to everyone on the bus to take us to the center of town. A little frustrating but we made it to Siem Reap and stopped off at the Peace Cafe where we had made our initial WWOOF contact. It doesn't seem like there is much we are able to help with at the cafe they have a small garden that doesn't require much work. Tomorrow we will head out to harmony farm to help in the building of mud brick houses.