The Flooded Forests

The first full week of work has begun in the rusty and dusty (sounds like two dudes from Virgina) Town where I exist in the Suntha Guesthouse, which is visited by a few straggling tourists now and then. 

I managed to end up at the local police station on day one and gave my first solicited bribe.  Meaning I can give what I wish if I wish, so maybe I should wish a little $5.00 if I want my moto (motorcycle) back.  It seems that there was miscommunication -quelle surprise- regarding where I could leave my moto overnight. 

I had a conversation with my translator, and he thought it would be fine to keep the moto at my office all the time as he indicated that the security guard was a friend of his, as I believe everyone in town is. 

My office is a wooden house on stilts where two of my work colleagues live, or more, I am not sure.  Somehow along the lines not everyone who lives at the office was informed and the moto was removed for fear it was stolen.  That’s a fair shake, and it’s nice to see they are lawful.

The other different event on day one of work was that everyone was around the meeting room table looking at reports and pictures of the moon the night before.  To give you the context, the former King of Cambodia died last week and the country has been in a state of mourning for seven days and everyone is wearing black ribbons, EVERYONE.  The loyalists noticed the face of the King in the moon shining down on them.  This would explain why I saw so many people staring at the night sky, and why the street lights were all turned out.  My boss asked me if I saw the moon King, where I replied “I was only looking at the people looking at the sky!” and wondering why said I. 

Day two is a holiday that I was not informed; day three was a funeral of a sister-in law of a co-worker I don’t know, but I did not have to go.  Day four was the best as it was time to conduct my first field visit.  I travelled to an island that is within the area of concern that my NGO oversees called the Ramsar Site.  I was casually inquiring about the issues of the people on the island from my colleague across from me in the office.  He casually mentioned that people on the island have been dying of a strange disease.  He couldn’t pronounce disease right, so I said, “You mean DISEASE?!” and he gleefully said “Yes.”   

I was a bit panicked, as I already have malaria and dengue fever to worry about as they are very typical and serious threats.  About 10 volunteers this year have gotten something in Cambo, and my job takes me directly into the nasty bits were critters dance.  Needless to say, I went on my Khmer long boat and met the Village Chief of the people on the island and researchers who had conducted an extensive cataloguing of native species.  I saw the village fish ponds that my NGO helped create filled with African catfish in the middle of the Mekong.  I networked with another NGO group from Burma, who were wetlands experts, and we all were amazing at the flooded forests throughout the river.  This is a unique habitat where during most of the rainy season and much of the dry season there are pockets of great trees that are submerged. 

We maneuvered around and also saw many small scale fishing traps that were marked with floating plastic bottles.  Please don’t get me started on the plastic garbage issues, plastic burning issues and plastic-plastic so not fantastic issues.

I definitely had a lot of questions, and it may take me-my placement to get some answers.  It was a great feeling as I finally felt I had begun to establish my presence and start figuring out what capacity building I may be participating in. 

This is day five and I am getting mosquito bites in my office and...ok that's enough... 

First Island Field Visit- Kaoh Snaeng

Stung Treng Town- Where Three Rivers Meet

I am staying in a guest house and typing in the lobby and a Khmer (Cambodian) girl is watching me type.  I really don’t know how to tell someone to leave me alone even if it is a little girl.  OMG now she wants me to add her to facebook.  Anyways, today I met my Manager and the Executive Director of the Culture and Environment Preservation Association.  They both were smiling and very friendly even my Khmer standards so I felt right at home. 

Next I went with my translator for a little trip in the afternoon.  He told me that he would show me his grandmother’s farm.  I didn’t know what he meant was that he wanted me to do manual labor in the fields and plant sugar cane!  Of course my ego told him (Porm) pronounced Pom, that I ran through a desert so the heat is no problem, (insert moron here).   I soon needed to sit under a tamarind tree with his family and eat some pomello with my dirty hands which made it even better!  Just in case you didn’t know, the pomello is similar to a large dry grapefruit.  Yes it was a novelty, but I told Porm I will help him again to learn more how to use the land.  I am understanding the stories of hard life and resilience, and thank goodness I DO have my strength for my future field visits with my work, which will take me into villages to see community development projects.

While I was in the field, I got a call from Edwin who is in Paris for a fashion show.  The polar opposite of what I was doing and it put a big smile on my face to know we were both doing our YOLO. 

I also saw the Mekong River from over the Sekong River bridge where it is more remote and lovely, I hung out in a village where we tried to get our own coconuts because we were thirsty, I met Porm’s mom who chews bitter leaf (I may be wrong in the name) but it makes your whole mouth red and doesn’t look so good, and tomorrow I will see a silk farm and find my accommodation.  It is all very different and it can be lonely, but it will give me the drive to learn the language, how difficult and obscure Khmer it may be.

Back to Phnom Penh on Friday for more training….