Wednesday, May 24, 2006

In spite of the myriad of "Hun Sen-this" and "Bunrany-that" schools built, children in Prey Peay village never saw a school nor a teacher in 20 years

More than 400 families in Prey Peay village are worried that their children did not receive schooling

22 May 2006
By Kampuchea Thmey newspaper

Translated from Khmer by KI-Media

Kampot – Under the house of Phauk Nam, a villager in Prey peay village, Trapeang Phlaing commune, Chhouk district, Kampot province, a group of about 40 children are sitting on the dirt floor studiously learning to write Cambodian letters from another villager who is a volunteer teacher.

Khieu Sam Oeun, the volunteer teacher for the children, also belongs to the same village, He stressed that he has only little knowledge, however, because he cares about these children, he is willing to spend some of his own time to teach the children some rudimentary Cambodian language. He said that he does not receive any fee for his teaching.

Khieu Sam Oeun said that in the past 20 years, villagers and children in this area have never seen a teacher or a school, that is why everybody there is illiterate.

Following the farming season, Khieu Sam Oeun helps teach the children in the morning, in the afternoon, he dedicates his time to teaching several dozen of adults.

Phauk Kham, the Prey Peay village chief, said that he does not have the ability to resolve this problem. Even though he has reported the case to higher authority, no one ever pay attention. Therefore, all he can do is to request the government to help provide his village with a school and a rural health center. He said that the village does not even have an access road. During rainy season, people have to swim across forests and rivers in order to reach a market located several kilometers from there.

Khem Tith, a 41-year-old villager, said that his children never knew school since their birth. Furthermore, when they are hit by malaria, they must be carried out across the forest for several kilometers to reach a health center.

Srey Aun, a sad-looking young girl said that she wanted to learn to read and write like everybody else, however, she is doubtful that she can accomplish that in this life because since her birth up to her current 14-year-old age, she had never seen a teacher nor a school at all.

Srey Aun said that she also joined the class organized by the volunteer teacher, however, she has no hope of learning much because of lack in teaching material.

Heng Kan, a 45-year-old villager, said that each afternoon, he is also joining the literacy class so that he can read some Cambodian. However, what worry him most are the young children who still have a long future in front of them. He is begging for some generous donors to help provide his village with a school and a health center. He said that he will be forever grateful to them with these donations.

Phauk Nam, the village chief, expressed his regret to see that even though Cambodia is advancing everywhere else, his village still did not receive any attention, and it does not even have a school or a health center. Nevertheless, the villagers will continue living there because it was their ancestral lands.

Prey Peay is located in the middle of a forest in Chhouk district. It is located about 50 kilometers from Kampot and inhabited by about 400 families including 300 newly relocated families. The area is infested with malaria. Most of the villagers were former Khmer Rouge defectors, and another large number consist of newly relocated people who came from different villages in the province of Kampot. In addition, the village is also encountering land problems with a private land concession company (World Tri-Star). The villagers claim that the company is clearing and grabbing their land causing continual disputes between the company and themselves. There was never any intervention [by the government] to resolve this land problem as of yet.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Who should we blaime doud?
not Hun Sen gorvernment?

Anonymous said...

Prey Veng province is the birthplace of Heng Samrin and Mr. Sam Rainsy. During Sihanouk era, some of Cambodia's influential educated people were from Prey Veng.

It seems that under Hun Sen's administration, his policy of developing Cambodian human resources is to brag loudly of building top-notched schools for the people, but the people are expected to learn the knowledge from praying for the real schools and teachers to come down from the divine sky. Hhahah.

Anonymous said...

Prey Veng province will be the next battle ground for AH HUN SEN! Any Cambodian land that are near the Vietname border and somehow are being neglected! All Cambodian people along Cambodian-Viet border tend to be very poor than the rest of Cambodian people! AH HUN SEN economic policy never reach Prey Veng province and the Cambodian people of Prey Veng are being starved economically and of course in all other field including education, healthcare, and house. Actually most Cambodian people along the Vietname border go to see the Viet doctors for their health problem.

But the Vietcong have the upper hand over Cambodian land along the Viet border! These Vietcong came in and chopped down Cambodian forest! They annexed many of the Cambodian land from poor Cambodian farmers without a protest from AH HUN SEN! Somehow AH HUN SEN and AH VAR KIM HONG never uttered a word about the Vietcong encroachment!

It seems like the Vietcong told AH HUN SEN to ignore any issues that deal with Cambodian border issues and AH HUN SEN being a good Vietcong's slave did just that! Cambodian people don't need an enemy when they have AH HUN SEN! ahaha

Anonymous said...

I think Anonymous 8:15 has some truths in this text. Similiar to the Cambodians along Ah YOUN border, the Cambodians along Ah Siem border also do the same thing. That is they go to Ah Siem side just to get basic health treatment. Some even enjoy learning Ah Siem language. In fact it is really hard for those Cambodian along Ah Siem border to even identify themselves with the Cambodians because of Ah Siem continued brainwashing over the years. This clearly shows that Ah Kwang Mkack is a loser in improving the general Cambodian livelihoods. On top of it all, Ah Kwang Mkack is even deadly quiet on border encroachment by Ah YOUN Kontorp. The Cyclops has got to go and live out the rest of his life in the shithole of Hanoi. Yeah that is all said.