Capacity Building in Cambodia

Everyone talks about “Capacity Building” out here, even Cambodian people who don’t speak English! My role at CoDeC is to help build the capacity of the staff. In turn, the staff aim to build the capacity of poor rural villagers. The main way that CoDeC tries to build villager capacity is through holding endless workshops for them! One village, Spien Krong, has been selected as a “model community fishery”, meaning that it is getting extra resources (thanks to Oxfam GB via CoDeC) and training to help it to manage and govern itself. A committee has been elected in the village, regular meetings are held, there is a united approach against illegal fishing, savings and credit groups have been set up and support for developing alternative and cooperative livelihoods is provided. This hut (see picture) has been newly built to provide a centre for all these activities – there’s no electricity, windows, door, furniture, water or toilet, but it’s a lot more than the village used to have. CoDeC is running three 2-day workshops in Spien Krong over a two week period, covering business awareness, financial awareness and animal raising! Villagers are given $1.50 per day to attend, which is probably more than they’d earn fishing. Some of the information covered is extremely basic, and also somewhat inappropriate for poorly educated fishing people, but they all seem to enjoy attending. I have pages of feedback to give to my colleagues on how they could improve the workshops, although I’m not sure how receptive they will be to this. I am also asked to give presentations at the workshops (using my translator, of course!), but these are difficult and probably not very useful, as the language and cultural context is so different from what I’m used to. However, the villagers seem to like the novelty of having an English person talking to them!

Water

It is now 2 months since the last rains, and it amazing how the landscape has changed in that time. Gushing rivers have subsided dramatically, leaving massive stretches of baked mud on their banks. What were lush green paddy fields have become brown, arid and dusty wastelands. When I stayed in Kampong Cham 2 months ago, the Mekong River was broad and fast flowing and could only be crossed by ferry boat, but the water is now so low that this week I was able to walk across the temporary bamboo bridge with a group of fellow VSO professionals. The dry season will continue for another 6 weeks, so the rivers will subside further, the dust will get worse and it will look like all the vegetation has died, but - hey presto! - the rains will then come with a vengeance to revive everything. Getting water for my house is becoming a problem. My water tank is filled from a pipe in the street, but this seems to be drying up quite regularly, so I am often left wondering when I am going to be able to flush the loo again!

Tailor-made clothes

In Cambodia, I am a giantess compared to local people and I find it virtually impossible to buy any ready-made clothes to fit me! Consequently, I have been visiting tailors in the market to have clothes made. When I first arrived here and my Khmer language was non-existent, my visits were a painful experience and sometimes produced terrible results. However, now that I can make myself understood a bit better, I have been pleased with my commissions. An average garment costs $2 for material plus $2.50 for the tailoring - bargain! There is a market in Phnom Penh with ready-made clothes which cater for Western sizes, so I usually have a rummage there when I’m in town, but as I can’t try things on properly there, some shopping disasters have occurred! Because it’s so hot and dirty here, clothes take a real beating. Fortunately, Rachel, Bram and I give a bag of washing to Lily each week, and she does all our washing and ironing for us - fab!