Wednesday 21 August 2013

Best office I've ever sat in

So many wonderful things have happened over the last few weeks.  Where to begin!!

Top events

I've helped Sohim get an internship with the Cambodian Women's Entrepreneur's Association.

I've helped Nat with accommodation concerns linked with her graduating from Harpswell shortly.  Her company works 30 minutes outside of Phnom Penh and has "dormitories" fo staff (6 beds but 8 to a room with shared communal facilities).

Cambodian Centre for Human Rights came and talked to the Harpswell girls about access to junior level politics.  They discussed real life examples of four women working at commune level.

Documentation Centre for Cambodia -  Roith really wants to get into movie making.  I took her to meet the director of DC Cam. One of the most inspirational men I have ever met.  He has an insanely cool office, all distressed dark wood, well places piles of books with lamps in soft neutral shades and cotton fabrics with the odd piece of modern artwork thrown in.  Here's a picture.  I digress.  We talked to him for an hour or so and Roith is now going to film documentaries with DC Cam.



He talked to us about the process for interviewing survivors of The Khmer Rouge atrocities.  How sensitive you have to be not to cause further damage to people when talking and asking questions.  This book took five years of research and only this week are they finally in a position to be able to meet the women to gain further insight, so fragile is her state of mind.   

The director explained that with enough research and study into just one person's life it is possible to bring about national change for a country.  They hope to establish country wide mental health initiatives to work with the enormous number of people suffering from PTSD and other forms of mental illness.  There are only a handful of people qualified to help, for a population of 14 million people, and where 30 years ago 1 in 4 people were killed and many more abused by the Khmer Rouge.

Boat Party along the riverside was awesome.  We hired the whole thing and danced, ate and played music really loud.  



Kandal Province is where Sodalin and Soklida live.  They came second in the Community Project Awards (see tab on the main page for the blog all the details!).  They are going to fix the toilets in the school so that there is actually somewhere to go. Impossible for girls in particular to study otherwise.  

They are only about to fix the one with three doors on their budget (they've only officially won $150 but it's not enough and I felt so awful when I got there I agreed to give them the extra $50 they need).




If anyone has a spare $1000, they could really do with fixing the second larger toilet (the one with six doors).  The roof is about to collapse and no one uses it. Grotty huh.  I also got stung by TWO hornets while standing next to the far right of the six doors so I have a personal interest in clearing it (killing all hornets in the vicinity) and turning it into a functioning toilet again.

Prey Veng Province is where Rachana comes from.  I went with her last Friday.  Her family welcomed me in and cooked one of the best lunches I have ever eaten.  Here is a picture.  She said she hadn't ever taken another leadership resident to her home and really valued all the time I had spent with her. She's an amazing girl.


Stupid question of the week

Has got to be me asking the street vendor whether one of his bags meets hand luggage requirements.  He had evidently never flown or taken hand luggage and probably never even been to the airport.  Jon would have guessed right, I bought it anyway because it was yellow and reallly cool. Luckily it does actually JUST meet Cathay Pacific restrictions...



I am taking 12 Harpswell girls to the killing fields today.  It's really hard going to see it all, let alone when your family actually died there or in places similar to it.  Please think of us. 

Coming back on Wednesday next week.  It's going to be a real wrench.

Rach xx

1 comment:

  1. Rachel, I just stumbled upon your blog and love your updates! What fantastic work you and all the Harpswell students are doing. I can't wait to meet everyone next month! Sending love and luck from Atlanta.

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