Update from the field

Euson and Crystal continue to work in Phnom Penh doing interviews with several NGOs that provide some rehab services, primarily in the cities.

They have met with both the NCDP (National Centre for Disabled People) and Cambodia Trust this week. These organizations are both running very good Community-Based programs for disability awareness and support as well as providing rehabilitation services for persons with disabilities.

In addition to these organizations there is in fact a physiotherapy school or rather a "Technical School of Medical Studies" that has been functioning in Phnom Penh since 1987. This is interesting news to me since the school does not seem to be well known outside of Phnom Penh. The school graduates 12 students per year. The two graduates that have spoken with Euson and Crystal are both working for Rose Charities in Phnom Penh. They work primarily with people who have received free surgeries from Rose Charities and also acid burn victims. There is a good short video on the Rose Charities site.

From the interviews Euson and Crystal have conducted this week it appears that there are some rehab services available in the larger cities. The work is being run by NGOs and carried out by local Cambodians.

A Comment on Angkor Beer?

While in Kep we spent several evenings relaxing and chatting over a glass of the local Angkor Beer. On one of those evenings, just as Euson was reaching for his drink, we were all startled when it erupted in a spontaneous splash! My initial thought was that the effort of a day in the hot sun must have affected Euson's co-ordination, but something about the shocked look on his face made me realize that wasn't the case. The three of us crept forward to peer into the glass to discover a black blob floating in the glass. What the? We broke out into fits of laughter as we realized that Euson had been the victim of a miraculously accurate Tokay Gecko's droppings. Who would have thought a shot from at least 15 feet up would land in the center of a 3 inch diameter cup? Euson did not finish his beer.

Bokor Pictures

I've finally got around to posting some of my Bokor National Park pictures.

Phnom Penh

We are safely back at Kozyna guest house in Phnom Penh. We had a nice send off this morning from Roth, Wooth and Mr Sen who had been our moto drivers and interpreters during our stay. The bus ride from Kep to Phnom Penh was relatively uneventful and I was able to ignore the bumps along the way while watching dubbed Chinese slapstick/action movies.

The water festival is on this weekend so the city is very busy. Our guest house is right in the middle of all the chaos so it will be interesting to see what things look like in the morning. We were told all kinds of horror stories about how crowded it would be but it doesn't really seem too bad all things considered. Still I'm happy our room is at the back of the guest house, away from the street noise.

We spent the afternoon visiting the Tuol Sleng Museum. The museum contains photographs and biographies of some of the hundreds of thousands of people killed during the Khmer Rouge's rule of Cambodia. It is a tragically sad place to visit but I think it is a very valuable place and could certainly use a bit of funding to assist in its upkeep. According to the pamphlet handed out at the door, the government has stopped funding the museum and it is now in danger of falling into dangerous disrepair. They are also concerned that many of the documents and photographs will not be adequately preserved and may not survive to be seen by future generations. I was surprised that there wasn't a stronger effort by international organizations to help fund the museum.

Last Day in Kep

Today is our last day in the Kep community. It is hard to believe that we will be leaving first thing in the morning. We have a couple more meetings scheduled for the afternoon with the Director of the Kep Health department and the Director of Social Affairs. We had a productive meeting with the Director of Social Affairs last week and hope to use this meeting to provide a bit of an update on what we found while doing the visits to individual villages. The clear story is that there are a lot of needs but very few easy answers.

We will miss the peace and serenity of the Kep area. Heading into Phnom Pen just in time for the water festival will be a dramatic change of pace. We've been told that the water festival draws millions of Khmers into the city so we are expecting a very noisy stay. With a bit of luck we might see a few of the racing boats that are the main attraction although we will probably miss the race itself.

Now, we are off to our final feast of local seafood with our translators and colleagues.

Microcredit as a solution for Poverty?

Thanks to N for bringing this New Yorker article on Microcredit to my attention. The article is particularly timely since we have encountered a few situations here where the approach just might work. Some of the people Euson and Crystal have interviewed believe that they just need a small amount of money to get a bike to get to school, or to build a fence so they can raise some livestock etc. That little step might allow them to climb above basic poverty levels.