If you enjoyed the read, please feel free to share it “And there’s no help for it: you only find out what you ought to have known by pretending to know at least some of it already” Christopher...
Read MoreIf you enjoyed the read, please feel free to share it They’re in the heart of Phnom Penh, within the Ministry of Social Affairs...
Read MoreIf you enjoyed the read, please feel free to share it “When the axe came into the woods, many of the trees said: ‘At least the handle is one of us.’” Old Turkish...
Read MoreIf you enjoyed the read, please feel free to share it This ol’ girl had both her legs blown off some 25 yrs ago (she can’t remember, which is common – PTSD). She was in the forest (which doesn’t exist anymore) collecting the fronds that they use to thatch the sides and, sometimes, rooves of their huts. Boom. She lives alone, tho her son, who is also an amp (landmine) comes by when he’s not working the fields. She chews betel nut or pan and was constantly bending low in posture of prayer, but it was only to spit the flagrantly purple betel juice between the bamboo slats whereupon the chickens lapped it up. Nothing is wasted here. Except lives and limbs. Handicap International built her a nice loo with a ramp … there’s a grab-on bar inside there for her too. Nice work. That’s Ramon and Sovan, his assistant. She was in love with both of them; they check on her at least once a month to make sure she’s still kickin’ and give her rice and other small things from time to time to help her along. She tends her own little vegetable garden, if you can believe that. She says she only gets uptight when the rains come, cuz she’d rather not get washed away. These people are...
Read MoreIf you enjoyed the read, please feel free to share it One of my most powerful (and pleasant) experiences on this trip was to chance into the acquaintances of a couple of young Spaniards who are volunteers for what is called (if a bit lugubriously) ‘The Apostolic Prefecture of Battambang’. Henceforth I’ll just refer to it as ‘The Mission’ (as opposed to ‘My Mission’!). They are on the Right Bank (as, I suppose, you might expect) of the Sangkter River just North of the town of Battambang. As elsewhere in the world, these Catholics have found the nicest piece of real estate in the region; and it’s not small. But here the tongue-and-cheek stops because, and, mind you, I’m a soap-box atheist, the GOOD they do is formidable. And not once in my multiple visits here, was I hit with a bible, see a crucifix or, for that matter even hear the words ‘saviour’ or ‘sin’. They are just simply and effectively all about the very hands-on business of helping downtrodden brothers and sisters. It’s so CLEAR, and these guys get it. There’s plenty of proselytizing in Cambodia, and it pisses me off to no end. But these people are faithful, but soundly and quietly good. Sadly, a rare combination. The Grand Poo Bah there is an actual Bishop nicknamed ‘Quique’ for Enrique, I believe. I also believe he’s been running the prefecture in Battambang for over twenty years, despite the fact that he’s now only in his fifties. He’s totally, and it seems joyfully, devoted to improving the lot of Cambodians. Chapeau! They run a bewildering number of programs out of the mission in Battambang. The one young Spaniard, a volunteer by the way, is Yago and he runs a school for disadvantaged kids within the mission. Among the students are 39 handicapped kids who live there. Maybe half to 2/3s polio and the rest amputees, from a variety of causes. All these kids are schooled, tutored, counseled and loved and finally encouraged into either college schooling or a vocation and then set free, in most cases, with an education and, for sure, a sense of pride or destiny. ‘Outreach ‘ another program and another young Spaniard, Ramon,...
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