By Ouk Savborey
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Click here to read the article in Khmer
Villagers reported that a man living in Borset district, Po Angkrang commune, Kampong Speu province, recently died of hunger.
The villagers said: “Each year, during the harvest season, he did not even have a cup of rice in his house because he owes people, and on the rice planting season, he owes rice to other people. Each year, we heard that he owes 12-13-14 rice measures from his shortage during the rainy season. He had to pay back his old debt and he has to continue on with his work.”
When RFA arrived in the isolated village, along the road, the villagers’ houses are mostly made out of wood and covered with leaves. These houses are surrounded with rice fields covered with sandy soil, the lands here do not seem to be fertile for agriculture production at all.
In the village, we met Mrs. Sum Lay, the wife of the man who died on Tuesday 12 May. She lives in a hut covered with tree leaves measuring about 4-meter-by-4-meter. She claimed that lack of daily food and shortage of money needed for medical care led to her husband’s death.
Sum Lay said: “We did not have rice to eat. When he was alive, we never have enough to eat because we did not have enough rice to cook. We did not have money to buy food, sometime we just ate salt mixed with hot pepper.”
Her family counts 4 children, they came to live at the Trapaing Kak village in the past 10 years only, therefore, the family does not own any land to plant crops, unlike other families who received land from the authority in the past. Sum Lay indicated that her mother-in-law gave them a house and 1-are (1/10th of a hectare) of rice field land, but the production was too low as the soil is too sandy and lacks nutrient. During harvest season, the rice is just enough to pay back the debt the family owes, therefore, they have to work as laborers to pay back the money they owed and to survive daily. She said that her husband was hired to climb palm trees (to collect palm juice) and to cut down palm trees. He children are hired to carry soil and they all earn about 5,000 riels ($1.25) to buy rice to eat and medicine they need.
Horm Kien, the 18-year-old son of the couple, claimed that because his family is so poor, a hoodlum kidnapped his 10-year-old sister, raped her and killed her in 2004. His parents were desperate after the killing because the law did nothing to find justice for them. Therefore, the young man went to work as a laborer with his older brother to earn some money while his father suffered until he died.
Horm Kien said: “We don’t own land to plant crops or rice, we don’t own cattle. It’s extremely difficult, we lack everything, we have to borrow rice to eat, at the end of the month we have to pay it back and continue owing more later.”
Horm Los claimed: “Each year, our neighbors would help us 3-4 times by giving us rice. But, it’s far and in between that they help us. When Dad died, I didn’t even know. I was working at a factory in Phnom Penh, I didn’t even get paid yet, so I came back home empty-handed. I didn’t get my pay yet, I did not have money for his funeral.”
Authority and villagers in Po Angkrang commune indicated that fertile agricultural soil is being washed off, and only sandy soil remained, meanwhile, the number of villagers keeps on increasing. The village and the commune authorities no longer have social land to distribute to families, even those who just got married recently.
Sum Huon, an official from Trapaing Kak village, added that there are many causes to poverty: some families don’t have a father, some families suffer from AIDS, and some families came to live in the village after all the land was distributed already. Others had to sell their lands when they fall ill. He said that the village does not have land to distribute anymore.
Sum Huon indicated that the rice crop produced by the family of Mean Kongkea, the man who recently died, is only enough to pay their debt. The man’s family is deeply indebted, and even the community had to help build their house. Sum Huon said that the community had collected donation to help 30 extremely poor families. He also said that request for food from the Cambodian Red Cross did not receive any reply yet.
Sum Huon said: “This family is extremely poor, they don’t have food at all. They can find very small amount of food, we have to help them.”
Dr. Nhean Sarin, who works for the human rights group Licadho, said that emotional distress could weaken people also. Furthermore, if food is not supplemented by vegetable, meat, salt and sugar, there is not enough nutrient and people could weaken and die. Nhean Sarin said: “When they don’t have enough food to eat, and they lack protein, vitamins, they could have vertigo and weaken, they don’t have strength and they could die.”
Pov Chin, the No. 2 Po Angkrang commune councilor, said that his commune counts 300 families spread in 19 villagers, and they all live below the poverty line. He said that the commune reported the number of needy families to the Cambodian Red Cross and the Department of Disaster Management, but there was no answer from these two institutions. With the replies delayed one month after another, the villagers have collected money to help the needy families once every so often. He said that each year, the villagers could only help 1 to 2 families only.
Pov Chin said: “The district conducted a meeting already, and we set up a name list to distribute rice to the poor, but this was planned since last month, and now we still don’t have anything to distribute to the needy poor yet.”
Even though medical doctors and villagers claimed the man died from hunger, Kang Hean, the [CPP] Kampong Speu provincial governor, denied this fact. He added that he received the food request to help the poor people already. He said that he will send a committee to go visit the location.
SRP MP Nuth Rumduol from Kampong Speu said that the government should distribute farmland to poor families who did not receive land from the government yet. This is preferable to giving out tens of thousands of hectares of lands in concession to private companies. He said that farmers who need land to plant their crops ended up with no land at all, and this situation led to people dying because they don’t have enough to eat, or their diet is too poor.
Recently, the World Bank issued a report claiming that those who live below the poverty line amounts to about 30% of the population, i.e. 4 million people live with less than 2,00 riels ($0.50) per day in Cambodia.
At the same time, financial institutions in Cambodia have expressed their concerns in the increasing number of poor people in Cambodia, especially during the current world economic crisis. This poverty rate increase is attributed to joblessness, as well as lack of agricultural land and the growing family size.
The villagers said: “Each year, during the harvest season, he did not even have a cup of rice in his house because he owes people, and on the rice planting season, he owes rice to other people. Each year, we heard that he owes 12-13-14 rice measures from his shortage during the rainy season. He had to pay back his old debt and he has to continue on with his work.”
When RFA arrived in the isolated village, along the road, the villagers’ houses are mostly made out of wood and covered with leaves. These houses are surrounded with rice fields covered with sandy soil, the lands here do not seem to be fertile for agriculture production at all.
In the village, we met Mrs. Sum Lay, the wife of the man who died on Tuesday 12 May. She lives in a hut covered with tree leaves measuring about 4-meter-by-4-meter. She claimed that lack of daily food and shortage of money needed for medical care led to her husband’s death.
Sum Lay said: “We did not have rice to eat. When he was alive, we never have enough to eat because we did not have enough rice to cook. We did not have money to buy food, sometime we just ate salt mixed with hot pepper.”
Her family counts 4 children, they came to live at the Trapaing Kak village in the past 10 years only, therefore, the family does not own any land to plant crops, unlike other families who received land from the authority in the past. Sum Lay indicated that her mother-in-law gave them a house and 1-are (1/10th of a hectare) of rice field land, but the production was too low as the soil is too sandy and lacks nutrient. During harvest season, the rice is just enough to pay back the debt the family owes, therefore, they have to work as laborers to pay back the money they owed and to survive daily. She said that her husband was hired to climb palm trees (to collect palm juice) and to cut down palm trees. He children are hired to carry soil and they all earn about 5,000 riels ($1.25) to buy rice to eat and medicine they need.
Horm Kien, the 18-year-old son of the couple, claimed that because his family is so poor, a hoodlum kidnapped his 10-year-old sister, raped her and killed her in 2004. His parents were desperate after the killing because the law did nothing to find justice for them. Therefore, the young man went to work as a laborer with his older brother to earn some money while his father suffered until he died.
Horm Kien said: “We don’t own land to plant crops or rice, we don’t own cattle. It’s extremely difficult, we lack everything, we have to borrow rice to eat, at the end of the month we have to pay it back and continue owing more later.”
Horm Los claimed: “Each year, our neighbors would help us 3-4 times by giving us rice. But, it’s far and in between that they help us. When Dad died, I didn’t even know. I was working at a factory in Phnom Penh, I didn’t even get paid yet, so I came back home empty-handed. I didn’t get my pay yet, I did not have money for his funeral.”
Authority and villagers in Po Angkrang commune indicated that fertile agricultural soil is being washed off, and only sandy soil remained, meanwhile, the number of villagers keeps on increasing. The village and the commune authorities no longer have social land to distribute to families, even those who just got married recently.
Sum Huon, an official from Trapaing Kak village, added that there are many causes to poverty: some families don’t have a father, some families suffer from AIDS, and some families came to live in the village after all the land was distributed already. Others had to sell their lands when they fall ill. He said that the village does not have land to distribute anymore.
Sum Huon indicated that the rice crop produced by the family of Mean Kongkea, the man who recently died, is only enough to pay their debt. The man’s family is deeply indebted, and even the community had to help build their house. Sum Huon said that the community had collected donation to help 30 extremely poor families. He also said that request for food from the Cambodian Red Cross did not receive any reply yet.
Sum Huon said: “This family is extremely poor, they don’t have food at all. They can find very small amount of food, we have to help them.”
Dr. Nhean Sarin, who works for the human rights group Licadho, said that emotional distress could weaken people also. Furthermore, if food is not supplemented by vegetable, meat, salt and sugar, there is not enough nutrient and people could weaken and die. Nhean Sarin said: “When they don’t have enough food to eat, and they lack protein, vitamins, they could have vertigo and weaken, they don’t have strength and they could die.”
Pov Chin, the No. 2 Po Angkrang commune councilor, said that his commune counts 300 families spread in 19 villagers, and they all live below the poverty line. He said that the commune reported the number of needy families to the Cambodian Red Cross and the Department of Disaster Management, but there was no answer from these two institutions. With the replies delayed one month after another, the villagers have collected money to help the needy families once every so often. He said that each year, the villagers could only help 1 to 2 families only.
Pov Chin said: “The district conducted a meeting already, and we set up a name list to distribute rice to the poor, but this was planned since last month, and now we still don’t have anything to distribute to the needy poor yet.”
Even though medical doctors and villagers claimed the man died from hunger, Kang Hean, the [CPP] Kampong Speu provincial governor, denied this fact. He added that he received the food request to help the poor people already. He said that he will send a committee to go visit the location.
SRP MP Nuth Rumduol from Kampong Speu said that the government should distribute farmland to poor families who did not receive land from the government yet. This is preferable to giving out tens of thousands of hectares of lands in concession to private companies. He said that farmers who need land to plant their crops ended up with no land at all, and this situation led to people dying because they don’t have enough to eat, or their diet is too poor.
Recently, the World Bank issued a report claiming that those who live below the poverty line amounts to about 30% of the population, i.e. 4 million people live with less than 2,00 riels ($0.50) per day in Cambodia.
At the same time, financial institutions in Cambodia have expressed their concerns in the increasing number of poor people in Cambodia, especially during the current world economic crisis. This poverty rate increase is attributed to joblessness, as well as lack of agricultural land and the growing family size.
3 comments:
i want to give some money to these people but how i can contact them?
A classic example of stupid people who don't know how to make a living. In Cambodia, you may be poor but you don't die from hunger as long as you are hardworking and willing to go look for work, instead of trying to plant rice in sand.
One more point here should be made.
Don't let yourself starve to death- no land, no work? Go steal. No hypocritical fucking the brain is allowed. The people are too sheepish. Don't scare the authority.
Go steal from you local គហបតី that should be the motto. If CPP or SRP cannot feed you - you feed on them.
Post a Comment