Cambodia - The Good

In our last post, I painted a pretty dismal picture about the history, present state and future of Cambodia. I hope you’ll find this post a bit more uplifting as I briefly recap our experiences with those brave souls who have successfully committed themselves to providing hope by creating schools, employment and awareness of the issues.

Our friend Robin who volunteered with us in Rwanda suggested we visit Friends Restaurant when in Phnom Penh. So one afternoon, we lunched over there and read about all the good work the organization does (http://www.friends-international.org ). We spent about $25 (which was easily the most expensive lunch we had had since we had left Canada) but it absolutely worth the price. It was continental food with a Cambodian flair and it was scrumptious. The restaurant is staffed with street teenagers who are being groomed for employment in the hospitality industry. Their attention to detail, genuine politeness and sense of self-esteem reminded me how a little faith and investment in an individual is sometimes all that’s required. After our lunch, we went next door to their training school where other students are learning various vocations. Upon learning the beautician students were offering manicures and pedicures for about $6, Dal sat down for an hour long pampering. She noticed I looked bored, so she arranged for a foot massage and a male pedicure for me. I sat down..and after about 2 minutes, my beautician called in for backup and her manager came to provide additional support. I have no idea why. Nor do I care to speculate. [Sidebar – What’s appropriate facial/vocal encouragement for a male to give a female masseuse during a massage?  I’m always fearful of either coming off as unappreciative of the effort or, at the other end of the spectrum, as a creepy, lecherous old man looking for extra services. I typically wait for them to ask how it is and respond with ‘very good’, a 60% smile and head waggle (if in India) to show my appreciation and then go back to closing my eyes. And that brings me to another question. When the masseuse is in front of you while massaging, where is a male supposed to direct his eyes? Ideally, I’d be focused on reading my BlackBerry or a magazine. If those aren’t available, I just close my eyes to avoiding staring at the masseuse. But then I worry about how blissful I look…again trying to avoid looking like creepy, lecherous man. Anyone have a definitive/helpful/funny answer to the etiquette ?]

After our experience in Rwanda, Dal and I had decided to look for other volunteer opportunities during our trip. While in Luang Prabang, Laos we met a wise Dutchman named Leonard. He also went to McGill, had a career in advertising and consulting, was an avid globe-trotter and provided support for a couple of students and tuk-tuk drivers in Siem Reap, Cambodia (more details at http://AngkorTukTuk.net) . We traded contact info and when we arrived in Siam Reap, he let us know he was staying at Seven Candles guesthouse. I googled this place and discovered it was run by Ponheary Ly who was a finalist for CNN’s 2010 Hero of the Year! As a tour guide at Angkor Wat, she witnessed children skipping school to sell souvenir trinkets to make money and this drove her to start her foundation (http://www.theplf.org) . Step by step, she allocated her tips to children’s education and raised awareness to tourists. She now supports over 2,000 kids through four primary and five secondary schools. We called them up and told them we wanted to visit one of her schools for the day. The next day, we showed up at the guesthouse to meet Ponheary and her business partner, Lisa from Texas, and took an hour-long tuk-tuk ride into a village where one of the schools had been set up. The school reminded us a little bit of our Rwandan experience with Cathy and PREFER.  Shiny, smiling faces eager to learn led by enthusiastic local teachers intent on helping the children with the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic. Lisa explained some of the administrative and political finagling they’ve gone through in order to grow the foundation and acquire support from other major NGO’s such as the World Food Programme. Additionally we had an insightful discussion on the psyche of the Cambodian kids and parents and how poverty and living for daily survival drives their decision making. Recognizing the importance of children’s education is an evolving process itself amongst the communities. Writing this blog post reminds me that I’d love to connect Lisa with Cathy from Rwanda so that they can share their best practices on grassroots education programs.


Me, Ponheary Ly and Dal



One of classes in the primary school learning English



Lisa explaining to Dal about the area designated to teach farming

A volunteer (we can't remember her name) from Minnesota introducing the kids to sock puppets

My debut as a sock puppet king

I'm not sure if she's more unimpressed with my sock puppet, my raspy King voice or my Leafs ballcap.

The pose on the left is pure poster bad-ass

Mackerel donated by Saudi Arabia. This came from the World Food Programme

After leaving the school, Lisa took us to visit a family to inquire why one of their children had not been attending class lately. The child was confined to a wheelchair due to a case of Muscular Dystrophy. The family of six children were very poor although the father worked as a labourer to feed his family. The child in the wheelchair had a fantastic spirit and show off his skills manoeuvring a ball with his feet. Apparently the child hadn’t come to school because his wheelchair was broken so Lisa provided a bit of money to assist with getting the wheelchair repaired.

A clean-water project supported by Canadians !

The family house

I love the nonchalant lean against the wall. You lookin' at me ?

This child was amazing. Huge smile, huge spirit and nimble with his feet

One of the tours we did in Siem Reap was of the Cambodian Land Mine Museum. My entire knowledge of landmines had been acquired through watching the movie “The Hurt Locker” which made this tour even more riveting. It’s estimated that there may still be up to six million land mines scattered across Cambodia which cause around 35 deaths a month. Already 40,000 people have lost limbs due to land mines giving Cambodia the dubious distinction of having the most amputees per capita (about one in every 275 people have lost a limb!). A treaty to ban land mines was signed by over 100 countries in 1997. However, the USA, China and Russia who are the main producers all refused to sign the treaty so production continues to this day.

The museum (http://www.cambodialandminemuseum.org/) was started by a former Khmer Rouge child solider, Aki Ra, who used to lay mines for the army. In 1995, he received UN training on removing mines and began to clear them from his country with simple tools such as a knife and stick. The museum is a place to show all the decommissioned mines, bombs and other weapons and the impact they’ve had on the country. Proceeds go to Cambodians that have suffered loss due to landmines.  Aki Ra was also a finalist as a CNN 2010 Hero.

Cambodian service station. Not exactly Shell or Petro Canada.

Getting ready to fill the tank of our tuk-tuk

Child + wife beater shirt + messy bowl haircut + Fanta = awesomeness



A display of decommissioned bombs and mines

While Cambodia has many extreme blemishes to its name, there is good to be found. We’re in complete awe of heroes like Ponheary Ly and Aki Ra who have dedicated their lives to daily swimming upstream in their efforts to improve the lives of others.

- DP