Free range cows

Cows are wonderfully laid back here and roam all over the place looking for food. If my front gate is open, they sometimes come in to graze on my plants, and there are often several cows wandering around the CoDeC garden. I saw the baby cow in this picture being born; the owners just watched and let the mother cow get on with it. The other picture shows a cow which has recently taken to sleeping outside my gate at night. Unfortunately Cambodian cows are very stupid and don’t have any road sense. Not being fenced in, they wander in front of fast traffic on the main road. I was recently on a bus which hit and killed a cow. There was barely a murmur of interest from my fellow passengers. There is no sentimentality about animals in Cambodia.

Carting the kids around

Children are transported by their parents in ways that would be considered far too dangerous and uncomfortable in the UK. Tiny tots are often seen in the front basket of bicycles or motorbikes, and slightly older ones on the luggage racks. I have seen up to 7 people perched on one motorbike. Another difference here is that parents don’t provide a private taxi service for their children as they do in the UK. The children are responsible for making their own way to school or anywhere else, usually taking their smaller siblings with them. If they don’t have use of a bicycle, they walk.

None of your business

On TV’s “Blind Date”, Cilla Black famously asks her contestants “What’s your name and where do you come from?” Here, the first question I am asked by strangers is “How old are you?”, followed by “How many children do you have?” There is a great deal of surprise that I am not married (“Why not?”), and while this explains why there are no children, I am sometimes asked if I don’t have children because I am lazy! I am often asked about money (“How much do you earn? How much is your rent? How much do your clothes cost?”). As I walk past, people I have never seen before call out to me “Where are you going?” and “Where have you been?”

In the UK, the response to many of these personal questions would be “None of your business!”, but here everybody knows everybody’s business, and it would be rude not to give the information asked for. Now that I am used to being quizzed in this way, I don’t mind at all, and it’s refreshing for me to be able to ask local people the sort of questions that would be taboo back home. I can ask poor people about how much money they have, how much they’ve lost to money lenders or gambling and how they cope with the challenges of their lives. I can ask sick and disabled people (including those with HIV) how they got their illness or disability, how it has affected their lives, what sort of treatment they get and how much this costs. Many people are willing to talk about their experiences during the Pol Pot regime, and I have heard some desperately tragic stories. I can even ask women how often their husbands beat them. The people seem to be pleased that I am taking an interest in their personal affairs. It is such a privilege to learn so much about their lives and culture in this way.

What I can’t ask them about, though, is politics and corruption. People are afraid to openly speak out against the government, or to complain about the corruption that is ruining their lives. Printed copies of a recent UK report by Global Witness on the role of the “kleptocratic elite” controlling illegal logging are banned. The Cambodian language news media (TV and newspapers) is at the mercy of the government, so news is often skewed. On these issues, people tend to just accept what they're told and not ask questions.

Wells Update

A grand total of 11 open wells, funded by the generosity of family, colleagues and friends from England, are now providing water to hundreds of needy people in the Stoung District of Kompong Thom. Around 40 people are benefiting from each well, and they are using the water for drinking, cooking, washing and watering crops. It has been an immensely satisfying experience for me to see the project all the way through, from the fund raising stage, to identifying the needs, agreeing the plans with the communities, watching the work progress and now to the final stage of seeing the people enjoying using their lovely new wells. The final cost was around $200 (₤100) per well, which I think is money extremely well spent. Each well has been inscribed with “Donated by Alison Ridout’s family and friends, England” - not my choice of words, but we couldn’t list everyone who had contributed.

If in the future you happen to be traveling on National Highway 6 through Stoung, keep your eyes open, as at least four wells can be seen from the road! Stop and say “suasadey” to the people you have helped – they would love to meet you! The photos show the before, during and after stages of one of the wells, plus another shows how some families collect their water.