Cambodia Diaries - 10 July 2009

Work, Rest & Play

After an all too brief visit to the UK soon saw me return to PP more knackered then when I left, I could have done with preparing an answer sheet to the many questions faced, well after a year here, a little update on where we are at currently.

Work

Just like any organisation, these are challenging times for CT. I think that the reality of the current economic downturn is something which I’ve been largely anesthetized to whilst being here in PP.  However, that does not mean to say that dark clouds are not on the horizon for all of us who are reliant on the generosity of others.  And thus to conclude on the monies raised from the Berlin marathon we have put them into the pot to support our operations.

CT is one of the 5 organisations which provide prosthetics and orthotics in Cambodia and on the whole, we all do a tremendous job, often in challenging circumstances.  However, something like this cannot sustain itself on donations alone and with the Government we are all working towards 2011 when their aim is to take full control and to be fair, they are working hard to do so. 

My role has been working with other organisations on matters concerning disability legislation and initiatives designed to get people with disabilities into education, work and normal life as enjoyed by the rest of Cambodian society. It has its challenges and its moments but one of the things that has been really hard to adjust to is the fact that things work at a different pace out here and to be honest, its taken a year to get used to it as opposed to getting frustrated by it.  However, the challenges are varied and at times, you just have to get stuck in.  

For example, I have been called upon to do some lecturing and it has taken some time to get used to being called ‘teacher’ (well at least it was something beginning with T that I was called).  CT is hoping to start building new premises soon.  It’s a long story, but we are currently renting and the costs are burdensome and so my colleagues and I have been wading into architectural designs, discussions with Japanese donors, architects and Australian builders.  Fingers crossed - but after a meeting on 7 July we’re getting closer to an agreement which will hopefully marry the plans and a seven figure sum to build our grand design and thus, create a fitting legacy to what CT has done in Cambodia.  

Just prior to my return to the UK, as a favour, I acted as a judge in the annual mock trial competition between Cambodian law schools.  Needless to say, of the two cases that I was the presiding judge in, one ‘kicked off’ between the rival teams and I was up to my neck in objections and a little chancer deliberately trying to obstruct the opposition by feigning a sudden sore throat as the massed ranks in the gallery started to laugh at his impudence. 

Anyone who has spent any time in Asia knows it is important to handle ‘diferences’ with the locals in such a way that they do not lose ‘face’, regardless of how at fault they may be. It’s better to say “Oh that was unfortunate.” as opposed to venting your spleen.  Nonetheless, I tucked into the upstart and quite unashamedly playing to the audience myself, told him in no uncertain terms that as he seemed perfectly fine immediately prior to cross examination “...that if you do not sort your throat out by the time the next question is asked, I will penalize your team! Now, would you care for some water, or has that helped clear your throat up?” After the gallery stopped laughing and my co-judges exhaled, the cheeky chap took it on the chin and sang like a canary thereafter.

In also concluding the story of the painting day with orphans before Christmas 2008 we finished helping the orphanage paint their new café which will hopefully see funds being raised and skills being taught to the older kids.  It was another great day of painting the Rabbit Café (on 278 Street in case you are passing) albeit that my contribution was to mix paints and clean after the rabbit I painted looked like it had contracted myxomatosis.

Easy Tiger - the wall that CT & KPMG painted

The Rabbit Café – Phnom Penh

Rest

The literal translation of PP into English is ‘old lady hill’.  Seemingly, an elderly lady used to live on the one hill in the city back in the day and thus, we have the name Phnom Penh!

Now it used to be the case that no building could be built higher then the Wat that sits atop Phnom but as I look down from it on the 7th floor of my gym, that law seems to have gone the way of the old lady.  PP could do with a good scrub to restore the charm and beauty of its colonial buildings which are under threat from rapid development.  The current vogue is for big glass blocks and you just hope that they get the balance right.  If they do then PP may yet reclaim the tag of the ‘Jewel of Asia’.   But progress is noticeable from when I first came here in 2006 and although Cambodia still has a bloody long way to go, it certainly is making a go of it and whilst one encounters exasperation, one also sees a lot of encouragement.  

It is said that you should carry a camera because what you encounter often defies physics let alone common sense a lot of the time and in the case of the newest edition to the coffee scene, potentially trade mark law as well.

Cambodians don’t get too worried about things and the first Starbucks opened in PP, clearly displaying the company’s trademark symbol, but with the legendary caveat around the sign ‘The Place does not possess Starbucks© license, is not a Starbucks© representative but merely sell genuine Starbucks© coffee bean made coffees’.  Which they confidently predict will stop any legal challenge of passing themselves off as a Starbucks…its enough to make you want to drink there, but for the bloody Starbucks© fancy prices

Welcome to double shot skinny Cambodian copyright law 

Travel within the country remains slow and what are relatively small distances at home are hours here. As holiday time is precious, it’s restricted my ability to get out and see more of the country as some of the remote and interesting places are the best part of a day to get to. PP has its own pace, which is slightly pedestrian which also takes time to get used to it. It is frustrating at first, but when you get with the Cambodian flow of things it helps.  That said, we maybe donated an automatic vehicle soon and the prospect of me driving around town is going to be a blog all to itself.   

The Cambodians in my opinion are a rather insular race insofar as they tend to focus on their own family and not worry too much about anyone else under the pretence that it is up to you to look after you and yours.  This might offer an explanation as to why the Khmer Rouge ensured that when executing ‘spies’ they also took out that person’s immediate and extended family to avoid later challenges.  But a challenge is taking place with the Khmer Rouge tribunal that some 30 years after Pol Pot was ousted, commenced earlier this year.

Current guesstimates predict that by the time it is all concluded, some $150 million dollars will have been spent on what is currently, the trial of a mere 5  old people.  My understanding is that there are 12 regional courts covering Cambodia and their average monthly budget is purportedly $10,000 per month.  On a pure cost benefit analysis of the UN’s money it’s hard to see what is being achieved by a trial itself mired in allegations of corruption and especially as according to a survey carried out by a Californian University, 85% of the country does not even know that the trial is taking place! 

Whether that is through the logistics of news finding its way amongst the poor and rural is one thing, whether it is because the Cambodians have decided to move on and forget about it is another thing.  With something like 50% of the population being under 25 and thus born after the horrors of the Khmer Rouge may well mean that many see no relevance to it all.  Many it seems are also frustrated that only 5 people on trial shields some individuals who ought to be answering for their actions as well.

Play

And so finally to the thing you have been all waiting for, news about what is definitely the beginning of the end.  At 6am on American Independence Day, the body was roused and the first steps on the road to Central Park were taken for what will be my last marathon hurrah! 

I had done some advanced training ahead of my return to the UK because experience tells you that whilst you may have dined in some fancy restaurants around Planet Honneywood and you may even fancy your chances in the kitchen, Ma Honney’s cooking cannot be whacked.  Indeed, whilst many have tried, no one gets out of No 29 with an empty stomach if she has anything to do with it.  So when I went on the scales ahead of my return to training to find a weight gain of a mere 4kgs is indeed a case of ‘getting off with it lightly’. 

As is now the custom, I am off booze and choccy until 1 November.  The eve of training gathering of the troops for pre-training drinks at my new fave bar in PP, the Chinese House, took place on 30 June.  Whether I wanted it broadcast or not, the one telling line of the night from Adam, one of the chaps that ran in Kep back in March: “My word Honney, you’ve drank them out of Pimms!” soon heralded the time when I glanced at my watch to find that we were indeed now in July and thus, my next order would be soft one.

You’re my best mate lets go for a run? Richard Pullen getting the hard sell

There are five World Marathon Majors, four have been completed and only New York is left. But as I set forth on the first run on a bloody hot morning, it occurred to me that for the first time in 5 years I have started my training in the same place that I started training for the previous marathon in. This was an odd feeling and certainly not one I necessarily expected when I started off running around London SW1 back in 2004. Neither did I envisage that I would be running along Mao Tse Tung Boulevard preparing for the final two of the Majors. Hell, I didn’t even know of the World Marathon Majors at the time. 
 
At times it’s been as painful as it has been wonderful and whilst some poor souls I have ‘encouraged’ to run are talking up my comeback, at this moment in time I can state that what I am really looking forward to is hanging up the running leg on 1 November and then having a cold one in the Big Apple. 

Cheers

JH