There
is no doubt that Cambodia is poor: so very poor in so many of the places we
have visited, that it is heart wrenching but it is not depressing and we have
seen very little begging and a lot of determined, hard work that results in people
making enough to eke out a basic existence. There are maimed beggars on the
streets of Phnom Penh but very few of them. The street kids, who work and sell
trinkets, food, books, toys and mostly “friendship bands”, are the ones that
really break my heart. They are a visible force in both Phnom Penh and Siem
Reap. I can’t help but wonder if these working street kids ever have time to
play and it is obvious that they will never go to school. It strikes me that it
is ironic that many are selling toys for other children to play with.
Remembering
the Child Safe Travel rules we refuse to buy from them but it is so hard to say
no and not even give them food or money. If they are able to earn their keep
they will never be taken off the streets. I know that. It is always better to
buy from the many charities that sell products made by parents so that their
children can go to school. Nice reasoning but seeing those skinny kids with dirty
faces and imploring eyes, is a different story.
In
Battambang we saw more homeless people and more outright begging than in any
other place we have been. It is impossible not to wonder about a communist
system that has no safety net for its citizens. At the bus station and around
the market place, young women carrying babies stand silently before you and wordlessly
beg for handouts. We saw young boys openly sniffing glue and others sleeping in
the street and yet there are as many NGOs and aid agencies operating there as
anywhere else in the country. Why the greater numbers of people who are vulnerable,
and disadvantaged? I cannot explain it.
Although
there is wealth in Cambodia, there is also glaring poverty. Still, desperately
poor, elderly people smile, sometimes with black lacquered teeth and continue
to work and be productive members of their communities. Retirement is not a
known concept as far as I can see. I actually don’t think they would even
understand why it exists. Instead they sell flowers at the temples, run stalls
in the markets, weave bamboo and rattan, man the shops when someone needs to
dash out, sell bottled water from roadside ice-chests and are the primary child
minders, as is the case in many Asian societies.
Young
children wave and shout hello at every available opportunity. A couple of days
ago a couple of kids walking home from school as we rode by on bikes shouted
"Hello Vietnam! Happy New Year!" I can only assume that they had a
Vietnamese delegation visit their school and were taught to say that. Speaking
of schools we have seen so many children who do not have the chance to attend
school here, even if they are not working. What is their future, if they never
get an education? How must they feel watching others attend school and knowing
they will not?
As
we have bussed around the country we have noticed the many newly built schools
often funded by Korean or Japanese agencies and seen hoards of school children going
to and from schools in even the most remote of villages. There is a wide
variety of different types of schools and at least Khmer, English and Chinese
medium schools as far as we have seen, but still some children simply fall
through the net and never get there. Those that do attend seem to understand
that it is a privilege and they have been proud to speak to us and answer our
many questions in their halting English.
73.9
% of the population aged 15 and over can read and write according to The CIA World
Fact Book statistics. (Why should I trust that source and what other stats are
actually available?) The New Internationalist claims it is officially 85% but
more likely 70%. Even that figure is better than some and worse than other
countries in the region, with Myanmar at 92.7% according to The World Fact Book,
and Laos at 72.7% and Bhutan at 52.8%. I personally see Myanmar and Cambodia to
be similar in terms of literacy levels but what do I know. I have only my subjective observations to rely
on. I am forced to doubt that the stats reflect anything of the real situation
in most of these countries. They don’t seem to paint an accurate picture and
may be based on nebulous data. Regardless it still means those children, who
don’t get an education are even more disadvantaged.
Not
for the first time in South East Asia we are shocked about the plight of many
of the children and wonder just how anyone can change that. How much does it
cost to send a child to school? How unattainable is that figure when the lack
of the child’s own income is also factored in? I don’t have the answers.
It
is obvious that the vulnerability of these children is often exploited and the
government agencies are trying to implement policies to provide protection but
it just doesn’t seem to be making progress. There are also numerous international
agencies working here to bring about lasting social change by empowering the
people and providing training and the necessary skills to enable them to improve
their lives and earn an income with which they can support their families, but
I wonder about how successful they are in the long term and how far reaching
their impact is.
We
have certainly come to think that there may be a role for us to play in
Cambodia at some point in the future.
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