The new school year has begun or is about to begin. As always, each year students need to register for their new classes. High school student Srey Lea (that ubiquitous name for Cambodian girls) wanted to change school from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh as her grandparents who had raised her had moved there. She was quite astonished to learn, however, that the new school would charge her about $150. She would also have needed to get her transcripts from the old school, which of course would have cost some more money. It goes without saying that she didn’t have it. So in the end she stayed in Siem Reap and will finish her senior year there.
Srey Lea is the younger of two children. At age 30, her father died of liver cirrhosis when she was 3 or 4. Needless to say, they were poor, and the mother was left to fend for herself and her two young children. Her mother remarried shortly thereafter and had five more children with her second husband over the next 15 years. Srey Lea and her older brother were then raised by the grandparents as the mother could not handle that many children, not to mention she and her second husband didn’t have any money either and lived hand to mouth. Actually, they were their adoptive grandparents as they had adopted the mother when she was age 8. For all intents and purposes her mother abandoned them.
When Srey Lea graduates from high school, which will cost her money again for the diploma, she won’t have the approximately $200 it costs per semester to go to college. Her path is marked for her. She will either get married right out of high school, have children, or will get a low-paying job as a waitress, seamstress at a garment factory, or similar. She is poor so is not considered a good catch by eligible young man. Consequently, she will probably get married to someone with a similar background. Her grandparents, without money or income themselves, who found shelter with their niece, can’t be of help any more either.
Can Srey Lea break out of that poverty cycle? Not likely. She is trapped in that vicious cycle of poor people all over the world. First, her parents were poor and uneducated; consequently, had no idea of birth control; they just kept on having babies although they couldn’t even feed their children. This left Srey Lea without the means to better her own fate. Only a better education would have gotten her out of that cycle. So she will also be poor and, despite her high school education, mostly ignorant about family planning. More likely than not, she will follow in the footprints of her mother.
This is the malaise that still besets Cambodia today. Children are born into poor families, and despite their own best efforts, they have no options of finding a way out of poverty. This can only change if they will not have to worry about school fees or money for textbooks. Public schools are free of charge officially, but teachers’ pay is so low they are dependent on unofficial ‘contributions’ from parents. This can amount to about $20 to $30 a month, plus fare for a motodup if the school is a not within walking distance. Parents in the cities are looking at about $60 a month just to send their children to school. It is self-evident many cannot afford this on an income of $160 or so a month. Hence, there is still a rather high share of children who leave school after four or five grades, if that at all. This is the dire truth and, unfortunately, this means social progress will be very slow in materializing.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Kem Sokha in the U. S.
This VoA report caught my eye. http://www.voanews.com/khmer-english/news/Party-Leader-Urges-US-Cambodian-Political-Participation--101644263.html
He said:
“I am here today to inform you that if you feel tired and lose hope, I, who am inside the country, have no chance and no ability to fight to save our country. We need all of you to continue to support us. This is the last breath of our nation, because until now all major issues that we are seeing have not been solved.”
All of 20 people showed up for his speech in Virginia. It rather seems that this is his last breath in the U. S. instead.
But maybe Kem Sokha doesn’t live in Cambodia. He probably didn’t read the relevant reports. The country is doing much better economically judging by the statistics put forth by banks, government agencies, and not the least, the ADB. The ‘last breath of our nation?’ Poor choice of words. By trying to create a doomsday picture he certainly isn’t helping his image, if he has any to begin with.
I guess he is trying to duplicate the SRP’s efforts. Now that party has at least a few chapters registered there and all those visits by party functionaries are nothing but fund-raisers. The question is how long will even those die-hard overseas supporters foot the bills of pretty lame and uninspiring politicians. The VoA writes there is declining interest among Cambodians in the U. S. for Cambodian politics. No wonder – with these protagonists.
He said:
“I am here today to inform you that if you feel tired and lose hope, I, who am inside the country, have no chance and no ability to fight to save our country. We need all of you to continue to support us. This is the last breath of our nation, because until now all major issues that we are seeing have not been solved.”
All of 20 people showed up for his speech in Virginia. It rather seems that this is his last breath in the U. S. instead.
But maybe Kem Sokha doesn’t live in Cambodia. He probably didn’t read the relevant reports. The country is doing much better economically judging by the statistics put forth by banks, government agencies, and not the least, the ADB. The ‘last breath of our nation?’ Poor choice of words. By trying to create a doomsday picture he certainly isn’t helping his image, if he has any to begin with.
I guess he is trying to duplicate the SRP’s efforts. Now that party has at least a few chapters registered there and all those visits by party functionaries are nothing but fund-raisers. The question is how long will even those die-hard overseas supporters foot the bills of pretty lame and uninspiring politicians. The VoA writes there is declining interest among Cambodians in the U. S. for Cambodian politics. No wonder – with these protagonists.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Practical Advice for Internet Users
This is just in case somebody out there doesn't know about this yet but my personal experience with the two major providers in Cambodia leads me to share this with you.
Mobitel still beats everybody in Cambodia with their latest low-cost high-speed offer. You get 1 GB in month for just $5. Nobody can beat that. If you happen to own a 3G phone you get really fast speeds - 460.8 Kbps. Watching videos, however, is still an arduous task. This speed is still too slow for streaming.
The one drawback is that Mobitel covers only three areas with 3G - Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville, and Siem Reap. Outside these areas it drops down to 105 or so Kbps. The price, however, is unbeatable. Even if you exceed your bandwidth you just buy another one-month subscription even if the previous month is not up yet.
Metfone is the next largest competitor. They practically cover all of Cambodia with their cable provided connections; you can get speeds from 128 Kbps up to 2048 Kbps, but it comes at a price. The slowest connection will set you back $50 a month, the fastest $510.
You take your pick.
Mobitel still beats everybody in Cambodia with their latest low-cost high-speed offer. You get 1 GB in month for just $5. Nobody can beat that. If you happen to own a 3G phone you get really fast speeds - 460.8 Kbps. Watching videos, however, is still an arduous task. This speed is still too slow for streaming.
The one drawback is that Mobitel covers only three areas with 3G - Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville, and Siem Reap. Outside these areas it drops down to 105 or so Kbps. The price, however, is unbeatable. Even if you exceed your bandwidth you just buy another one-month subscription even if the previous month is not up yet.
Metfone is the next largest competitor. They practically cover all of Cambodia with their cable provided connections; you can get speeds from 128 Kbps up to 2048 Kbps, but it comes at a price. The slowest connection will set you back $50 a month, the fastest $510.
You take your pick.
Traffic
I always thought I should not write about the traffic situation in Phnom Penh, or Cambodia in general. This is better left to travel sites; and this is not a travel site. But I am now going to comment on it anyway.
Anybody who has ever been to Cambodia knows how chaotic traffic here is. Bangkok is chaotic too, but in a different way. You just get stuck for hours on end; so much so that some savvy entrepreneurs even offer mobile toilets along the roads. But the big difference is that most Bangkok drivers still adhere to most of the traffic laws and rules; e. g. don’t go down the wrong way in a one-way street; and motorists also usually stay in their lanes.
Ho Chi Minh City is another good comparison. About 20 years back traffic was just as horrendous there as it still is on Phnom Penh. People just went every which way without regard for their own lives, let alone for other participants. This has changed also. At least mopeds and cyclos stay in the right lane whilst cars, buses, and trucks stay in the left lane.
But Cambodia is a different story altogether. I would have thought with more vehicles on the road people would see the necessity for some order in using the roadways as it would definitely increase the flow of traffic, safety, reduce toxic emissions, and lessen stress.
But nothing could be farther from the truth or reality. One must make a great distinction between mopeds and cars. Whereas many of the former are clearly suicidal, the latter surely want to maintain their prized possessions in their pristine condition, never mind that most of them are older models. They do this by driving at the slowest speed possible even if there is no other traffic far and wide.
I guess the majority of the owners of mopeds or motorcycles don’t have any idea that there are traffic laws on the book; and if they do they don’t realize that the laws are there to make life easier, notwithstanding the penalties they proscribe. Mopeds/motorcycles always seem to be in a hurry. Red lights are just seen as a nuisance that keeps them from getting to their destination quickly. Consequently, running red lights is the order of the day. Sometimes they do this at such speeds that if indeed there were cross-traffic it would surely end in a fatal accident. I have yet to see one, but the number of traffic deaths speaks for itself. Another favorite driving style is to cut in in front of oncoming vehicles; don’t ever cross over the intersection behind the oncoming vehicle; goodness, that would be too safe. Better yet, don’t even think there might be another, as yet unseen, vehicle passing the oncoming car on the right, at breakneck speed at that. No, they need the thrill of looking death in the eye.
Of course, coming down the wrong side of the road with a divider, or riding in the middle of the road although there is plenty of room on their right, is minor in comparison. In Phnom Penh you have street lighting so you can at least see mopeds without head or tail lights. Drive at your own peril on country roads at night, though. You drive too fast you might end up rear-ending a moped, a truck, or an oxcart with unwanted but clearly imaginable consequences.
Now cars are a different matter. First of all, everybody just loves a Toyota Camry, the sedan of choice for the less affluent. The more affluent and rich people have developed a clear preference for the Lexus brand. I am sure everybody needs one to go off-road to their land holdings in the countryside. But they are also so much more practical in the city. An 8-cylinder engine driving that LX470 at 15 kph, guzzling about 25 ltr/100km is definitely the most economical way of moving your 120 lb. frame forward. Lately, the new Landrover has come into style. The Mercedes S500 is definitely an understatement in Cambodia. At least the LX470 or Landcruiser have a nice size that can’t be overlooked. Well, I guess people just need status symbols, I can understand that; especially people of smaller size. In the West older man who can afford it like to own a Porsche, which is generally interpreted by most as a way of compensating the decreased virility that accompanies the aging process. In the U. S. I tend to think it’s the pick-up truck, which along with SUVs hardly ever see anything else but city streets and freeways that proves that a man is a man. So here it might just be the LX470 or the Landcruiser. Never mind that these golden calves set you back around $150K if bought new. A shiny SUV beats a nice villa any time, right?
So you have the chaotic moped riders weaving their way through those slow-moving behemoths in Phnom Penh, among them those ultra-sensible trucks that General Motors recently sold to a Chinese company. I even saw a real Hum Vee the other day. Now that sure is an absolute must for the discerning auto enthusiast.
Additionally, you will find that cars are not averse to driving on the wrong side of the street either, or running red lights, especially during lunch hour, on weekends, or at night, when the police are safe at home watching TV, if they are not in a beer garden drinking away their hard-earned traffic fines.
The role of the traffic police is really hard to understand in this country. Once the helmet law was passed they were, and still are, busy stopping moped riders to instruct them of the danger of not wearing one. Of course, the passenger on the pinion is not in as much danger, as the law makes no mention of that. Naturally, any small contribution towards the policeman’s well-being was never scoffed at.
Then came the mirror law; and the police had another reason for stopping all those mopeds. But that has all been some time ago, and I still see the police stopping them, although there was nothing noticeably wrong with them; they wore their helmets and had their mirrors in place.
Car drivers are not immune from being stopped either, though. Another addition to the traffic laws was that seat belts needed to be worn. Although I religiously put them on in the West, I was rather negligent in Cambodia. So I got pulled over twice. They reminded me politely of my negligence and were just standing there smiling. 5,000 riel released me from their smiles.
Running red lights, going against the traffic, though, was not one of their concerns. Gridlocked intersections can’t faze them either. They just look on with uncomprehending eyes, probably wondering how this all happened.
But the lasting impession about all this is the stoicism with which all participants, both car and motocycles, endure this chaos, notwithstanding the almost permanent use of the most cherished part on their vehicles – the horn.
I am pasting a YouTube video by a young man names Daniel which gives a pretty good impression.
Anybody who has ever been to Cambodia knows how chaotic traffic here is. Bangkok is chaotic too, but in a different way. You just get stuck for hours on end; so much so that some savvy entrepreneurs even offer mobile toilets along the roads. But the big difference is that most Bangkok drivers still adhere to most of the traffic laws and rules; e. g. don’t go down the wrong way in a one-way street; and motorists also usually stay in their lanes.
Ho Chi Minh City is another good comparison. About 20 years back traffic was just as horrendous there as it still is on Phnom Penh. People just went every which way without regard for their own lives, let alone for other participants. This has changed also. At least mopeds and cyclos stay in the right lane whilst cars, buses, and trucks stay in the left lane.
But Cambodia is a different story altogether. I would have thought with more vehicles on the road people would see the necessity for some order in using the roadways as it would definitely increase the flow of traffic, safety, reduce toxic emissions, and lessen stress.
But nothing could be farther from the truth or reality. One must make a great distinction between mopeds and cars. Whereas many of the former are clearly suicidal, the latter surely want to maintain their prized possessions in their pristine condition, never mind that most of them are older models. They do this by driving at the slowest speed possible even if there is no other traffic far and wide.
I guess the majority of the owners of mopeds or motorcycles don’t have any idea that there are traffic laws on the book; and if they do they don’t realize that the laws are there to make life easier, notwithstanding the penalties they proscribe. Mopeds/motorcycles always seem to be in a hurry. Red lights are just seen as a nuisance that keeps them from getting to their destination quickly. Consequently, running red lights is the order of the day. Sometimes they do this at such speeds that if indeed there were cross-traffic it would surely end in a fatal accident. I have yet to see one, but the number of traffic deaths speaks for itself. Another favorite driving style is to cut in in front of oncoming vehicles; don’t ever cross over the intersection behind the oncoming vehicle; goodness, that would be too safe. Better yet, don’t even think there might be another, as yet unseen, vehicle passing the oncoming car on the right, at breakneck speed at that. No, they need the thrill of looking death in the eye.
Of course, coming down the wrong side of the road with a divider, or riding in the middle of the road although there is plenty of room on their right, is minor in comparison. In Phnom Penh you have street lighting so you can at least see mopeds without head or tail lights. Drive at your own peril on country roads at night, though. You drive too fast you might end up rear-ending a moped, a truck, or an oxcart with unwanted but clearly imaginable consequences.
Now cars are a different matter. First of all, everybody just loves a Toyota Camry, the sedan of choice for the less affluent. The more affluent and rich people have developed a clear preference for the Lexus brand. I am sure everybody needs one to go off-road to their land holdings in the countryside. But they are also so much more practical in the city. An 8-cylinder engine driving that LX470 at 15 kph, guzzling about 25 ltr/100km is definitely the most economical way of moving your 120 lb. frame forward. Lately, the new Landrover has come into style. The Mercedes S500 is definitely an understatement in Cambodia. At least the LX470 or Landcruiser have a nice size that can’t be overlooked. Well, I guess people just need status symbols, I can understand that; especially people of smaller size. In the West older man who can afford it like to own a Porsche, which is generally interpreted by most as a way of compensating the decreased virility that accompanies the aging process. In the U. S. I tend to think it’s the pick-up truck, which along with SUVs hardly ever see anything else but city streets and freeways that proves that a man is a man. So here it might just be the LX470 or the Landcruiser. Never mind that these golden calves set you back around $150K if bought new. A shiny SUV beats a nice villa any time, right?
So you have the chaotic moped riders weaving their way through those slow-moving behemoths in Phnom Penh, among them those ultra-sensible trucks that General Motors recently sold to a Chinese company. I even saw a real Hum Vee the other day. Now that sure is an absolute must for the discerning auto enthusiast.
Additionally, you will find that cars are not averse to driving on the wrong side of the street either, or running red lights, especially during lunch hour, on weekends, or at night, when the police are safe at home watching TV, if they are not in a beer garden drinking away their hard-earned traffic fines.
The role of the traffic police is really hard to understand in this country. Once the helmet law was passed they were, and still are, busy stopping moped riders to instruct them of the danger of not wearing one. Of course, the passenger on the pinion is not in as much danger, as the law makes no mention of that. Naturally, any small contribution towards the policeman’s well-being was never scoffed at.
Then came the mirror law; and the police had another reason for stopping all those mopeds. But that has all been some time ago, and I still see the police stopping them, although there was nothing noticeably wrong with them; they wore their helmets and had their mirrors in place.
Car drivers are not immune from being stopped either, though. Another addition to the traffic laws was that seat belts needed to be worn. Although I religiously put them on in the West, I was rather negligent in Cambodia. So I got pulled over twice. They reminded me politely of my negligence and were just standing there smiling. 5,000 riel released me from their smiles.
Running red lights, going against the traffic, though, was not one of their concerns. Gridlocked intersections can’t faze them either. They just look on with uncomprehending eyes, probably wondering how this all happened.
But the lasting impession about all this is the stoicism with which all participants, both car and motocycles, endure this chaos, notwithstanding the almost permanent use of the most cherished part on their vehicles – the horn.
I am pasting a YouTube video by a young man names Daniel which gives a pretty good impression.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Final Act
The Cambodian Daily wrote about the Mu Sochua case in Friday’s paper reporting that by some people’s account it enhanced her stature, especially among women. One person was reported as saying that about 50% agree with her while the other half does not. Be that as it may – I don’t believe for one moment that this ‘drama’ was on the forefront of people’s thoughts – one thing is for certain.
By impounding her salary the court avoided a greater political international scandal. Domestically, the whole case was just old hat. Internationally, of course, it caught a few headlines, although by and large it wasn’t something that aroused great interest in the Western press.
If the court had had her arrested that would certainly have produced outrage among the Western international community with possibly some consequences. The government would really have had a hard time explaining this. So far, it was just a lawsuit, a personal matter as a spokesman said. But prison for insulting the Prime Minister? It would also have made a martyr out of Mu Sochua, a person who is probably liked best within Cambodia among the opposition politicians. That was not something the government really wanted. So they found this way out. A little beyond what is generally accepted as good democratic practice, but, hey, this is still a 'fledgling democracy'. The good thing is that it is over; Mu Sochua said as much. Turn to the real issues now.
By impounding her salary the court avoided a greater political international scandal. Domestically, the whole case was just old hat. Internationally, of course, it caught a few headlines, although by and large it wasn’t something that aroused great interest in the Western press.
If the court had had her arrested that would certainly have produced outrage among the Western international community with possibly some consequences. The government would really have had a hard time explaining this. So far, it was just a lawsuit, a personal matter as a spokesman said. But prison for insulting the Prime Minister? It would also have made a martyr out of Mu Sochua, a person who is probably liked best within Cambodia among the opposition politicians. That was not something the government really wanted. So they found this way out. A little beyond what is generally accepted as good democratic practice, but, hey, this is still a 'fledgling democracy'. The good thing is that it is over; Mu Sochua said as much. Turn to the real issues now.
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