By Shoshee Jau
Daily Bruin (UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA)
John Scott-Railton first stepped into Cambodia in 2006 carrying three global positioning systems receivers, determined to revolutionize the country’s water and sanitation systems.
“What if you take cheap, hand-held global position systems receivers, make points and make an objective ... map, and combine it with public health measures?,” Scott-Railton had asked himself. “I just wanted to see if this crazy idea would even work.”
Yet shortly after his arrival to Cambodia, he realized that water and sanitation were the least of his worries. After seeing the government bulldozing and claiming villagers’ land by force, Scott-Railton, currently a doctoral student at UCLA, said he redirected the goal of his project and decided to use his receivers’ mapping technique to salvage the property rights of thousands of Phnom Penh villagers.
“All the people from the village came to me and told me to please help them,” he said. “It was the worst feeling in the world because I felt so useless and they had false hope in me.”
Teaming up with various Cambodian nonprofit organizations, Scott-Railton developed a map of about 5,000 households in a central community of 25,000 to 50,000 people in Phnom Penh. With the help of interns from Cambodian universities, he conducted a census of the entire community.
Because the Cambodian government often took away villagers’ land without properly compensating them, Scott-Railton worked to provide documentation and proof of their property.
“The idea was to do all this work in support of legal cases, and the lawyers would use the maps and numbers to set up a case,” he said.
Scott-Railton came to UCLA to pursue his doctorate degree in 2008. In addition to his studies and work as a teaching assistant, he also began field work in Dakar, Senegal, using his devices’ mapping technique to analyze flood control methods in the city.
UCLA’s Center for Community Partnerships recently recognized Scott-Railton for his work in Senegal through the Rishwain Social Justice Entrepreneurship Award. He will also be presenting his project in Belgium this coming fall.
Because the monsoon season periodically brings chronic flooding to 800,000 Dakar villagers each year, families built a complex network of small dams and pathways around the city to keep the waters out. However, these networks only aggravated the problem, Scott-Railton said. After learning that citizens expected the government to aid them in flood control, he spoke with political leaders and advised them to take action.
Scott-Railton said he likens the situation in Dakar to the international problem of global warming because the lack of government regulation has allowed citizens to do as they like, exacerbating the initial problem.
In order to tackle the global warming issue, Scott-Railton said that people must partner with their communities and their governments in a global effort.
In spite of his accomplishments, Scott-Railton holds deep respect for his students and always tries to provide them with as much help and as many resources as possible, said Kennan Cronen, a third-year political science student.
“He’s always excited about his students’ ideas and ready to give his expertise,” Cronen said. “When I got funding for a solar panel project, John said that if we wrote a paragraph on the project, he would get an L.A. Times article written about it.”
Still in his 20s, Scott-Railton embodies what people can achieve through hard work, dedication and passion, said Gary Lee, a friend from Scott-Railton’s undergraduate years who helped him launch his project in Cambodia.
“John is a very easy person to work with,” Lee said. “He tries to understand other parties’ interests, and he’s never thought he was better than others.”
“What if you take cheap, hand-held global position systems receivers, make points and make an objective ... map, and combine it with public health measures?,” Scott-Railton had asked himself. “I just wanted to see if this crazy idea would even work.”
Yet shortly after his arrival to Cambodia, he realized that water and sanitation were the least of his worries. After seeing the government bulldozing and claiming villagers’ land by force, Scott-Railton, currently a doctoral student at UCLA, said he redirected the goal of his project and decided to use his receivers’ mapping technique to salvage the property rights of thousands of Phnom Penh villagers.
“All the people from the village came to me and told me to please help them,” he said. “It was the worst feeling in the world because I felt so useless and they had false hope in me.”
Teaming up with various Cambodian nonprofit organizations, Scott-Railton developed a map of about 5,000 households in a central community of 25,000 to 50,000 people in Phnom Penh. With the help of interns from Cambodian universities, he conducted a census of the entire community.
Because the Cambodian government often took away villagers’ land without properly compensating them, Scott-Railton worked to provide documentation and proof of their property.
“The idea was to do all this work in support of legal cases, and the lawyers would use the maps and numbers to set up a case,” he said.
Scott-Railton came to UCLA to pursue his doctorate degree in 2008. In addition to his studies and work as a teaching assistant, he also began field work in Dakar, Senegal, using his devices’ mapping technique to analyze flood control methods in the city.
UCLA’s Center for Community Partnerships recently recognized Scott-Railton for his work in Senegal through the Rishwain Social Justice Entrepreneurship Award. He will also be presenting his project in Belgium this coming fall.
Because the monsoon season periodically brings chronic flooding to 800,000 Dakar villagers each year, families built a complex network of small dams and pathways around the city to keep the waters out. However, these networks only aggravated the problem, Scott-Railton said. After learning that citizens expected the government to aid them in flood control, he spoke with political leaders and advised them to take action.
Scott-Railton said he likens the situation in Dakar to the international problem of global warming because the lack of government regulation has allowed citizens to do as they like, exacerbating the initial problem.
In order to tackle the global warming issue, Scott-Railton said that people must partner with their communities and their governments in a global effort.
In spite of his accomplishments, Scott-Railton holds deep respect for his students and always tries to provide them with as much help and as many resources as possible, said Kennan Cronen, a third-year political science student.
“He’s always excited about his students’ ideas and ready to give his expertise,” Cronen said. “When I got funding for a solar panel project, John said that if we wrote a paragraph on the project, he would get an L.A. Times article written about it.”
Still in his 20s, Scott-Railton embodies what people can achieve through hard work, dedication and passion, said Gary Lee, a friend from Scott-Railton’s undergraduate years who helped him launch his project in Cambodia.
“John is a very easy person to work with,” Lee said. “He tries to understand other parties’ interests, and he’s never thought he was better than others.”
7 comments:
GIS & GPS combination does many interesting job - first it plots a location and store data of the location. GIS (Geographic Information System). The data can be in grid like Excell or as layers on map while data link can be done directly from Excel or SPSS. I am not an expert in this anyway. Thank to Scott-Railton
You have a place in a map and the device tells you where the place is on the ground.
With this tool you can see clearly where you land limits are.
i think cambodia is a good place for american college students to do their field works toward the completion of their school's requirements. there are lots of field works in cambodia whether they are in law, conflict and solution, sociology, psychiatry, urban and city planning, transportation, etc, etc...
Can khmer engineering students do the same thing?
The young khmers in srok khmer would be well advised to embrace Engineering studies instead of Royal Ballet Dancing and Buddhism.
of course, i think khmer students should exchange with the west. yes, people have choice nowadays. who to say they have to stick to old way. if they want to learn something new from the world, they should start in school. it's ok to disagree or think differently. that's how the free world operate. khmer people, especially students should take that opportunity to explore the world. check out scholarships programs at major universities and colleges to get more information for exchange program. i know the US embassy has a program call called fulbright and more out there. talk with other students who went through different study abroad program to learn more, etc... the sky is the limit when it comes to learning and studying. good luck!
This is an excellent idea but does it work in the real world. I mean Cambodian government doesn't even recognize their Cambodian international map and allowed the Vietcong government to annex Cambodian territory. Please don't ask the AH HUN SEN Cambodian Vietcong puppet government to recognize dirt poor Cambodian property because AH HUN SEN Cambodian Vietcong puppet government is the law and they break the law and they create law and the end it is dirt poor Cambodian people who are a looser!
Scott Railton is just a Jerk!!
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