Happy One Month Anniversary!
* This is in the court yard of the National Musuem*
*Voleak and I searched for lace in the market!*
*I was helping with tonlè's vintage collection this week for a sample sale*
*These are some of my coworkers at tonlè*
This post marks one month of living in Phnom Penh!! I’m one third of the way through my internship and I’m surviving! I finally feel adjusted and like I truly live here now. Honestly I can’t believe I’m even here most days and this month has flown by! I have learned so much about myself, about tonlè, and about the people who live here. I’m so thankful to be in Phnom Penh and I’m trying to take in everything around me that I can.
My Saturday was a thrilling Netflix binge session, which was much need after a long week. When I finally left my apartment to grab dinner it hit me that I’m even in Cambodia. This happens almost everyday. When you step out of a western apartment into the streets of a market buzzing with people, music, and traffic- it’s surreal. Surreal has been the theme of this trip thus far. I’ve mastered (mostly mastered) getting around on Tuk Tuks, explored Phnom Penh, and have had beautiful and meaningful conversations with coworkers at tonlè. I love smart conversation and admire strong women and it’s inspiring to be surrounded by so many at the workshop. We talk Khmer and American politics and culture, I’ve learned a lot from our lunch conversations. Cambodian politics aren’t unlike America’s, there’s corruption and a huge division of wealth and power, but it’s much more extreme here. I was asked if Cambodia was what I thought it would be like, and I said no. I knew there was poverty but it’s a totally different thing to see it first hand. In Phnom Penh you can turn down a busy street that has huge Lexus dealerships and high-end everything, only for the next turn to be in extreme poverty, where people don’t have the means to eat and children are playing naked in dirt piles on a construction site. That’s what I can’t adjust to. This even shocks people who are Khmer as well. I’ve learned that a lot of people want to change the division and help the poor who need it, but the rich are selfish and they’re the ones with the power. It sounds a lot like America. Sadly corruption is everywhere. I recently experienced children no older than 10 years old begging for money while they have sleeping infants in their arms… something I was warned about before arriving, but again it’s very different once it’s happening to you.
I was told of an accident this month where a person hit a child with their car and ran them over again on purpose to insure the child died. This really upset my coworker and she was outraged that a person could be heartless and kill a child like that. She explained that sadly, incidents like this happen pretty commonly here. Healthcare is very costly and it is more expensive to pay for the victim’s hospital bills than it is to pay the fine for killing someone. That kind of corruption breaks my heart, and it’s even sadder to think the people are faced with such desperation that taking a life “is the only option”. There’s a lot to be thankful for, growing up in a wealthy country sets you up for a very different life. We spoke about how money or lack of leads people to have incredibly different lives, and that is unfortunately true for every country.
Cambodia has approximately 75,000 people living with HIV in just one of the providences, according to stats from 2014. There was a huge outbreak of HIV in this country in the early 90s. Thankfully the spread has drastically decreased in present day, but much of the older community has been infected and can’t afford treatment. A coworker explained that a lot of poverty HIV positive Khmer are left homeless and sick because there is a stigma attached to the virus. This results in them pretty much being left for dead. Later on I was informed that the majority of the sewers in the workshop have HIV. My young coworker said they all inspire her to work hard and stay positive because they remind her life could be much more challenging, and she admires their work ethic in the face of difficult circumstances and illness. This was a beautiful reminder to be thankful for the good things in my life, and to keep fighting when things get tough. Phnom Penh has already taught me so much and the people are so kind. I’m excited to see what the rest of my adventure will look like and daily I’m reminded to count my blessings.
