Dead Ancestor Day???

Or Pchum Benh as it is called here in Cambodia is a very important holiday.  It falls on the fifteenth day of the tenth month of the Khmer calendar.  Many Cambodians pay respects to their dead ancestors.  Monks can be heard chanting at all hours of the day or night.  Food offerings are made to the ancestors' ghosts directly (throwing rice into the air) or to Buddhist monks, generating merit for the deceased.  

Everything is closed.  Get stocked up. Seriously... FOOD, DRUGS (advil, silly!) TP, and TAMPONS because you won't be able to find anything this week.  

Oh by the way, I am sitting in a lovely coffee shop here in Phnom Penh (really, I'm not being sarcastic) and I just had the pleasure of seeing a mouse run out from underneath the couch I am sitting on... Good thing Mar isn't here!!!  Or Theresa for that matter ;)

L I V E

What are you waiting for?

Don't be afraid your life will end; be afraid that it will never begin.
-- Grace Hansen

'You don't need no reason or a three piece suit to argue the truth.'

So I'm back in school :) really excited to learn and incredibly thankful for the opportunity.  I just finished a large chapter in my cultural anthropology book and decided to take a little breather and catch up on some International news. 

Don’t you wish that just once in awhile you could hear something positive on the news?  Something happy?  Are these the things the public demands, wants to hear?  Or is this just reality?  Is our world full of so much more pain, hurt, and evil than smiles, joy, and love?

Somehow it always comes back to the same things. 

The SAME things that are happening on every street, in every village, town, and city in every country on this planet.  It isn’t just developing countries. It’s all around me and it’s all around you.  Don’t assume or claim that the majority of us are ‘good’ and would never hurt or exploit a child. 

According to the Chicago Alliance against Sexual Exploitation the majority of johns are college-educated, have wives or girlfriends, and earn more than $40,000 a year.  That means it’s the people that looks just like you and me.  The man you are walking past in your office.  The man sitting next to you in that church pew.  The man that never misses his kids’ soccer games.  The man that is stitching up your head in the emergency room.  Don’t assume it’s the men in the ‘bad’ parts of town, the men who are poor,  or the drug addicts.   

It’s all around us.

It IS exploitation as the average age of entry into the industry in the US is 13 years old.  From the time they are initiated, sexually exploited girls live, on average, only seven more years.  And it isn't just girls.  The average age of entry for boys and transgender youth is 11-13 according to the U.S. Dept of Justice.

'Chaos and commotion wherever I go, love I try to follow.'

I’m sorry I talk so much about this.  It is what fills my heart and my soul.  What I hear and see and can’t keep inside. 

Thank you to the organizations that ARE making a positive change.  Thank you to the outlets that are sharing those changes.  They are everywhere and are not to be ignored.  There are too many to list.  But we have to do our part in spreading awareness and not averting our eyes while children are being assaulted.

Looking for Hope. 

'Love will come and set us free'

WHY CAN'T I TAKE THEM ALL HOME WITH ME?!?!?

how much?

I am quite certain that I have never bought an item without being asked about the cost by a Cambodian J Whether it be a desk, an office chair, a $5 rattan coat rack or bookshelf, a $1 moto or $2 tuk tuk ride the question is always there!  Their frankness is endearing.  The tone and the smile with which it is asked never allow room for anger or annoyance.  It is not just a question to foreigners either, whenever someone drops you off after giving you a ride, the other drivers around will ask what he was paid! 

I actually find it refreshing, to know that people are at least saying what they are thinking.  It is also a great reminder of where you are and the impression that you make on people everyday.  I don’t feel proud of spending what is an average months wage for someone here on one piece of furniture.  I always justify it in my mind…Western style…I NEED a desk for doing schoolwork and other things (it is also what holds all papers, receipts, documents, pens, tape, scissors, schoolbooks, etc…) and everyone has one right? Yet out of thirteen million people in this country, how many get by without a desk? Maybe 90% J These are things that stop me every day.  That make me wonder “Who am I? Why I was born where I was born? How do I define ‘normal’ or ‘average?’ Why do I think I need, deserve, or am entitled to so many THINGS?”  I just got back from visiting a village of over 1,000 families and not one of them has a bed with a mattress, a fridge, a bathroom, or even a light in their home so why do I need so much and want so much? Not even just physical things, I think I am entitled to making ‘my own decisions,’ to personal freedom at the expense of others, to eating until I am full and throwing the rest out, to learning more and more about the unspeakable issues and injustices of today without lifting a finger against them because what?  I’m lucky? Or blessed?

That is a joke. I know what I have been given; the rest is up to me. I know I have messed up in the past, what matters now is what I do today. And tomorrow.

What matters is if I take the ‘blessings’ and hoard them in my closet or pass them out to the crowds that call out to my heart every day. The crowds of women with aids that look 70 years old, but are only 29.  The crowds of babies without parents to feed them and love on them.  The crowds of people that are missing legs and arms or use of their ears or eyes, or maybe are mentally disabled.  The crowds who would give anything for a sip of water or a handful of rice.  WE ARE SURROUNDED BY THE POOR AND HUNGRY, THE WIDOW AND THE ORPAN.  Poor in every way, mentally, physically, and spiritually.  So don’t tell yourself that Jesus ONLY meant to serve those who are spiritually poor, it seems to me that it is usually a package deal.

How much did that cost?

How much will I give? Or will I keep it all for me and in the end lose everything.

A Smile Speaks Every Language :)

Hey guys!

Just wanted to post an update!  I spent some time traveling this past week and just wanted to share the experience.

I went with the school that Mar and I volunteered with (CWF - Conversations with Foreigners).  With the incoming tuition money from the students (of which there are about 800 at any given time), CWF supports Cambodian Rural Development Team (CRDT). 


CRDT has three different projects, one in Kratie, one in Stung Treng, and one in Mondulkiri.

Last year the group I volunteered with visited the project in Kratie.  We had such a great time!  This year I was able to take advantage of the opportunity to visit another one of their projects in Stung Treng. Stung Treng is in Northeast Cambodia, very near the Laos border.  The mission of CRDT is ‘To improve food security, incomes, and living standards of poor rural communities in support of
environmental conservation in Cambodia.’

CRDT works with poor villages that have various and extreme needs.  In each of the projects they train people how to properly dispose of waste; how to generate an income (in different ways depending on location) through either raising and breeding livestock (cows, buffalo, pigs, chickens, or ducks), having a fish farm, or growing a garden; how to collect rainwater so that they have clean water for drinking (which massively decreases diarrhea and sickness), brushing their teeth, cooking, bathing, etc.; they provide families that own 8 or more cows with bio-digesters which gives them light for the evening and also energy for indoor cooking; they provide training for proper hygiene and give them the resources for building outhouses so they don’t just use the bush (which then washes into the river when it rains); they teach how to save their income; they have implemented homestays and eco-tourism as an excellent source of income for families; they train people about the Irrawaddy  freshwater dolphins.  

Technically…

“CRDT’s areas of focus: Food Security; Income Generation; Water & Sanitation; Renewable Energy; Environmental Education & Waste Management. These activities are carried out in line with a five-year implementation strategy that empowers beneficiary communities to seize control of their own livelihoods and to continue improving their lives after CRDT’s active involvement ceases.”

The result of these projects is massive.   These families are now able to teach their children about livestock and gardening and sanitation and with even a small income are able to provide their children with an education.  The villagers have learned to respect the habitat of the freshwater dolphins (the Mekong), which is also a huge resource for them. They are learning not to throw all of their garbage in the river and not to leave unused nets, which can trap and kill the dolphins.  If you know me, you know I'm not focused on saving animals in a country where people are dying of preventable starvation and preventable diseases everyday, but I do care because these freshwater dolphins are a critically endangered species.  This fact means that many people would like a chance to see them for themselves. Although tourism is not the most sustainable income, it is better than nothing and a HUGE, huge income for people in Cambodia.

Lastly, Cambodian people are the most hospitable people I have met so far J They are so excited to have you into their homes, to feed you and tell you that you are beautiful (in Khmer of course).  Their smiles light up their whole faces and it is impossible not to smile back!