Education integral to gender goals

A woman sells food beside a road in Ratanakkiri province last month. Women in Cambodia are often relegated to the bottom of the employment ladder, including jobs such as informal vendors. Photograph: Heng Chivoan/Phnom Penh Post

Thursday, 20 September 2012
Mom Kunthear and Rachel Will
The Phnom Penh Post

Neang Panha, 48, sells bottles of water and sundry drinks in a roadside shop in Takeo province. In grade nine, her mother forced her to stop studying so she could support her brother and three other sisters.

“I did not have more chances to go back to school,” Panha said. “My mother just told me that I have to quit because we are poor.”

Panha said that if she had more opportunities, she would have liked to finish her education and work in an office. But for many Cambodian women battling poverty, issues of sustenance come before gaining an education.

A Millennium Development Goal Acceleration Framework action plan presented yesterday by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) seeks to address Panha’s and other women’s lagging economic opportunities in Cambodia.

ជយោ អភីវាត់ សម័យ ហ៊ុនសែន! ១៣ឆ្នាំ ធ្វើការហុយ ផ្សែង! ល្អមើលដែរ អាណាចក្រកញ្ចាញ់ចេក (Banana Kingdom)

ប៊ូ កាំ​ង ជា​ក្មេងប្រុស មានអាយុ១៣ឆ្នាំ ដែល​បាន​ប្រកបរ​បរជា​អ្នក​អូស​រទេះដឹក​ឥអីវ៉ាន់ នៅ​ផ្សារ​ដើម​គ ក្នុង​រាជធានី​ភ្នំពេញ​

ក្មេងប្រុស​អាយុ ១៣ ឆ្នាំ ប្រកប​រប​ជា​អ្នក​អូស​រទេះ​

ថ្ងៃទី 7 ឧសភា 2012
ដោយ: កើត ចន្ទ្រា និស្សិត DMC
Cambodia Express News

“​មិនដឹង​ជា​ធ្វើ​យ៉ាងម៉េច បើ​យើង​អត់​ចេះអក្សរ មានតែ​ជីវិត​អូស​រទេះ​ហ្នឹង​”

​ភ្នំពេញ: ស្ថិតក្នុង​ហ្វូងមនុស្ស​ដ៏​ច្រើន​កកកុញ​ក្នុង​ផ្សារ​មួយ កុមារា​ម្នាក់​មាន​មាឌ​ល្អិត មិន​សម​នឹង​អាយុ ១៣​ឆ្នាំ ក្នុង​សម្លៀកបំពាក់​អាវយឺត​ព​ណ៌​ខៀវ ខោខ្លី​ពណ៌​ខ្មៅ ដែល​ប្រឡាក់​ប្រឡូសដោយ​ធូលី​ដី និង​កម្ទេចកម្ទីបន្លែ កំពុង​ប្រញាប់ប្រញាល់ដើរ​ដោយ​ជើង​ទទេ ចូលក្នុង​ផ្សារ ដែល​ដៃ​ម្ខាង​កាន់​ផ្លែ​ត្រប់​មួយ ឯ​ដៃ​ម្ខាង​ទៀត​រុញ​រទេះ​គ្មាន​អីវ៉ាន់​។​

​ក្រោយពី​សម្រាក​អាហារ​ថ្ងៃត្រង់ ក្នុង​ទឹកមុខ​ញញឹមញញែម ក្មេងប្រុស​មា្ន​ក់​នេះ និយាយថា “ថ្មើរនេះ ខ្ញុំ​អត់​មាន​អីវ៉ាន់​អូស​ទេ​”​។

​ប៊ូ កាំ​ង ជា​ក្មេងប្រុសដែល​បាន​ប្រកបរ​បរជា​អ្នក​អូស​រទេះដឹក​អី​វ៉ាន់នៅ​ផ្សារ​ដើម​គ ក្នុង​រាជធានី​ភ្នំពេញ​។ ក្មេងប្រុស​ម្នាក់នេះជា​កូនប្រុស​ទី​៣ ក្នុងចំណោម​កូន ៧ នាក់ របស់​គ្រួសារ​មួយ ដែលមាន​ឪពុក​ឈ្មោះ ប៊ូ កាន អាយុ ៣៩​ឆ្នាំ ប្រកបរ​បរអូស​អី​វ៉ាន់ និង​ម្តាយ​ឈ្មោះ ផន អូន អាយុ ៤០​ឆ្នាំ ជា​អ្នក​អនាម័យ នៅ​វិទ្យាល័យ​ជាស៊ីម​សាមគ្គី​។​

Child beaten, tied up for scrap metal hunt

A 9-year-old boy was tied to the gate of an ice factory in Oddar Meanchey province last week. Photo Supplied

Thursday, 19 April 2012
Mom Kunthear
The Phnom Penh Post

Oddar Meanchey provincial court officials plan to summon the owner of an ice factory who, along with his employees, allegedly hit and tied up a 9-year-old boy he accused of picking up scrap metal outside his Anlong Veng district factory last week.

Provincial prosecutor Koy Kanya told the Post yesterday that he decided to investigate the case after seeing pictures provided by a local reporter.

“It looks like ... an abuse of the child’s rights. If he did wrong or stole something, the owner has to send him to the police. They should not [take the law into their own hands],” he said, adding that he will first talk to the child and his parents.

A heartless, cruel act by an ice factory owner

18 April 2012
By Khmerization
Source: Kampuchea Thmey

A young boy has been beaten by an ice factory owner and his employees and tied up to the gate of an ice factory for picking up scrap metals near the factory fence.

Kampuchea Thmey reported that Mao Sem and his employees had beaten up the young boy and tied him up to his factory gate at 5pm on 12th April in O'Chenh Chien village, Anlong Veng district in Oddar Meanchey province by accusing him of picking up their scrap metals.

Kampuchea Thmey reported that, after receiving the news, its reporter in Anlong Veng went to scene and took photograph of the boy being tied up to the gate of the fence. Fearing he might be prosecuted for torturing the boy, Mao Sem ordered his employees to release the boy.

Police attended the scene and questioned Mao Sem, but it is not known what action the police will take against him and his employees. However, the police said that it is wrong to beat and tie up the young boy for just picking up the scrap metals near the factory.

Please read article in Khmer below:

ក្មេង​ប្រុស​ម្នាក់​ត្រូវ​ថៅកែ​ទឹក​កក​និង​កូនចៅ​វាយ​ជា​ច្រើន​ដៃ​ហើយ​យក​ទៅ​ចង​នឹង​ជញ្ជាំង​ទ្វារ​ព្រោះ​តែ​រើស​ដែក​បន្តិចបន្តួច​

ឧ​ត្ត​រ​មានជ័យ ​៖ ​ក្មេងប្រុស​រងគ្រោះ​ម្នាក់​ត្រូវ​បាន​ថៅកែ​ទឹកកក​ឈ្មោះ​ម៉ៅ​ សេម ​និង ​កូនចៅ​វាយ​ជា​ច្រើន​ដៃ​រួចហើយ​យក​ទៅ​ចងដៃ​ជាប់​នឹង​ជញ្ជាំង​ទ្វារ​ព្រោះ​តែ​ក្មេង​រងគ្រោះ​រើស​កំទេច​ដែក​បន្តិចបន្តួច​នោះ។​

Post story leads to relief for impoverished young girl

Theng Sreyleak talks to Post reporter Khouth Sophak Chakrya. Photo by Meng Kimlong

Friday, 16 March 2012
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
The Phnom Penh Post

Twelve-year-old Theng Sreyleak has had a tough life for a young girl – she was born HIV-positive in 2000, lost both parents when she was only three, and on January 3 suffered another blow when she was forcibly evicted from the controversial Borei Keila site along with her aunt and grandmother.

Caught up in one of Cambodia’s more controversial land disputes, Theng Sreyleak and her younger sister had settled in Borei Keila with her aunt and grandmother after her parents had died, and life wasn’t easy.

Her aunt and grandmother did their best to support the two girls by selling religious items in O’Russey market, and she was offered anti-retroviral medicine from the National Pediatric Hospital.

Theng Sreyleak was also getting some schooling and was in grade-five while her sister was in grade-nine.

[Cambodian] Girl aged 14 was sold to a foreigner for 80,000 THB by her step father

The police and Director of the Center for Subduing of Human Trafficking assisted a Cambodian girl and found that she was beaten by her step father and her mother with the 3 children who were all forced to be beggars, if on any day they cannot find money, all of them would be beaten severely.

January 30, 2012
Pattaya Daily News (Thailand)

Pattaya, January 26, 2012 [PDN]; at 6.30 p.m. Pol. Lt. Col. Kreetha Tankanarat, Deputy Superintendent, Pol. Lt. Col. Ormsin Sukkarnka, The head of Center of Protecting Children and Women and Subdue for Human Trade, Chonburi province, Pol. Maj. Kreangsak Boonprawat, Pol. Maj. Kingkaew Charoenpitakpracha, Inspector of Subdue work, Pol. Capt. Pemika Wiwattanapongpan, Ms. Sonthaya Maenpeun and Mr. Phalisorn Noja, the Director of the Center of Subdue of Human Trade were notified from Krajokngao foundation that a Cambodian guy forced his step children to be beggars and offered to sell his step daughter, age 14, nationality Cambodian to a foreigner for the price of 80,000 THB for sexual services and asked the officer to investigate and assist this girl.

After they had been notified by the Krajokngao foundation, the officers found the mother with her 3 children begging money at second Pattaya Road Moo 9 Tambon Nong Preu, Amphur Banglamung, Chonburi province. The officers restrained them and brought them to the Center for Subduing of Human Trafficking at Banglamung police station.

Court balks at Borei Keila request [-Travesty of justice by the CPP-biased court]

Former Borei Keila residents sit outside Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday. (Hong Menea/Phnom Penh Post)

Tuesday, 24 January 2012
Khouth Sophakchakrya
The Phnom Penh Post

Borei Keila residents’ attempts to have seven villagers freed from prison hit a hurdle yesterday when a Phnom Penh Municipal Court clerk told them that their written request could not be accepted because it wasn’t formal enough, they said.

Pich Limkhoun, a representative of 37 Borei Keila residents who gathered in front of city hall to lodge the request, said they were shocked to have their thumbprinted letter handed back because it was not formally addressed to the court.

“The court clerk, whose name I don’t know, told us that he could not accept our request because it did not comply with court procedure,” he said.

The letter, obtained by the Post, asks the government and the municipal court to intervene to release seven villagers detained in Prey Sar prison since violent clashes in Borei Keila on January 3 and to make development firm Phan Imex build the final two buildings it agreed in 2003 to construct.

Soeun Sam, a proud handicap bookseller in Phnom Penh, talks about his life under K-5 (Pat 03)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwdBRR7aNzY

Soeun Sam - a proud handicap bookseller in Phnom Penh: Interview by Theary Seng (Part 2)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj0JPi1Hpm4

Christmas Food Relief for people at Siem Reap Rubbish Dump on 31/12/2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUThxo4PkSo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXrk46Qj-wM

Click here to view the remaining videos

05 Jan 2012

Originally posted at:

http://camwatchblogs.blogspot.com/2012/01/chistmas-food-relief-for-people-at-siem.html

In November 2011 the Christmas Food Appeal was launched by Cambodia Charity Foundation-Australia for people at Siem Reap Rubbish Dump, in which we received overwhelming supports from people mainly in Australia (i.e. Sydney and Brisbane etc) as well one generous donor from Colorado (USA).

Also, a few people in Cambodia plus another American donor had kindly contributed to wards this appeal.

On behalf of the Cambodia Charity Foundation (CCFA) we would like to express our sincere appreciation for all generous donations.

The distribution was finally carried out on Saturday 31st of December 2011 at a rice field not far from Siem Reap Rubbish Dump by Khmer expats, to approximately 121 families (i.e. 500 people at the dump site).

Floods deepen poverty for rural Cambodians

Chhoet Choeun, 75, in her flood-damaged home in Tamoul village in Prey Veng province, South Cambodia, where she struggles to provide for the three grandchildren who are in her care. ALERTNET/Thin Lei Win

08 Dec 2011
By Thin Lei Win

PREY VENG, Cambodia (AlertNet) – Chhoet Choeun was already living precariously, having sold her land to pay for her husband’s medical bills a year ago.

The 75-year-old widow had been providing for herself and a 14-year-old granddaughter by planting peas on the small plot of land behind her shed and selling them for up to 30,000 Riel ($7.50) every three months.

Then the worst floods Cambodian had seen for more than a decade struck in August. At Chhoet Choeun’s tiny, rickety hut, built two metres (6.6) above the ground on stilts in Tamoul village in Prey Veng province, the water rose to knee level.

Life in Hun Xen's Kingdoom of Bananese Wonder

Cambodians work late into the night recycling garbage as fires burn at the local garbage dump November 30, 2011 in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Many children work part time in the dump to help support their families while attending school during the day. While Siem Reap's ancient temples boost massive tourism attracting millions of visitors still 28.3% of Cambodians live on less than $1.25 per day according to a 2011 UNDP Human Development Report. An estimated 36 per cent of Cambodia's 14.2 million people live below the poverty line and about 85 per cent of these live in rural areas. Photo by Paula Bronstein /Getty Images

Small Voices: The Stories of Cambodia's Children movie review

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lCnzSf78OU

Wed 02 Nov 2011
by Miv Evans
PurpleRevolver.com

These children are the latest victims of the Khmer Rouge genocide that decimated their country three decades ago.

Their tales are desperately sad but these charming little ones have so much hope their stories are uplifting and they enchant us right to the very end.

There are over 12,000 children begging and working on the streets of Phnom Penh and, as we witness their day-to-day heartbreak through snapshots of their lives, a common theme reveals itself: these children are desperate to be educated, desperate to have a chance to escape the poverty that has besieged their lives.

កុមារនៅព្រះវិហារ - [Poor] Children in Preah Vihear province [Kingdom of Extraordinary Wonder]

2011-10-18
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Soch

Local officials from Reaksa commune, Rovieng district, Preah Vihear province, complained that they lack clean water, roads, bridges, schools and teachers. Because of these woes, several children are not attending school.

For those who attend school, they have to cross streams, forests, travel long distance. Some children abandon school because they are scared to walk by themselves, they fear wild animals along their path. Local people and authority call on the government and generous donors to help develop their regions.

The following are photos taken on 18 October 2011 by RFA’s Voha Cheat.

មន្ត្រីមូលដ្ឋានឃុំរក្សា ស្រុករវៀង ខេត្តព្រះវិហារ ត្អូញត្អែរថា ក្នុងមូលដ្ឋាននេះកំពុងខ្វះទឹកស្អាត ផ្លូវ ស្ពាន ខ្វះសាលា និងគ្រូបង្រៀន ធ្វើឲ្យកុមារក្នុងមូលដ្ឋានមិនបានចូលរៀនច្រើន។

ចំណែកកុមារដែលបានចូលរៀនហើយ ត្រូវធ្វើដំណើរកាត់ជ្រោះ កាត់ព្រៃ ផ្លូវឆ្ងាយ បណ្ដាលឲ្យកុមារខ្លះបោះបង់សាលាដោយខ្លះខ្លាចខ្មោច ខ្លាចសត្វព្រៃកាចសាហាវនៅតាមផ្លូវ។ ប្រជាជន និងអាជ្ញាធរមូលដ្ឋាននេះបានអំពាវនាវដល់រដ្ឋាភិបាល និងសប្បុរសជន ឲ្យជួយអភិវឌ្ឍមូលដ្ឋាននេះផង។

រូបថតថ្ងៃទី១៨ ខែតុលា ឆ្នាំ២០១១ ដោយវិទ្យុអាស៊ីសេរី/វោហារ ជាតិ៖

កុមារនៅភូមិមួយ ក្នុងឃុំរក្សា ស្រុករវៀង ខេត្តព្រះវិហារ ធ្វើដំណើរទៅរៀន។ - Children in Muoy village, Reaksa commune, Rovieng district, Preah Vihear province, are seen traveling to school.

សាលាបឋមសិក្សាកក់ពោន ក្នុងឃុំរក្សា ស្រុករវៀង ខេត្តព្រះវិហារ។ - Kak Pon elementary school.

សិស្សកំពុងរៀននៅក្នុងសាលាបឋមសិក្សាកក់ពោន ក្នុងឃុំរក្សា ស្រុករវៀង ខេត្តព្រះវិហារ។ - Children in class in Kak Pon elementary school.

កុមារលេងទឹកត្រពាំងនៅភូមិដូនម៉ា ឃុំរក្សា ស្រុករវៀង ខេត្តព្រះវិហារ។ - Children playing in a pond near Don Ma village.

កុមារីទើបឡើងពីលេងទឹកអូរ នៅភូមិដូនម៉ា ឃុំរក្សា ស្រុករវៀង ខេត្តព្រះវិហារ។ - Young girls coming out of a stream in Don Ma village.

កុមារអង្គុយលេងទឹកនៅភូមិដូនម៉ា ឃុំរក្សា ស្រុករវៀង ខេត្តព្រះវិហារ។ - A child seen playing in a pond near Don Ma village.

Outsourcing Porn

I am saying that I’ve walked down the street in Phnom Penh and seen tons of white American and European men negotiating with Cambodian men for the sexual services of Cambodian women, often minors; I’ve seen my male travel companion offered “whatever you want — girl, boy, how old? 15? 14? 13? 12?”; I’ve seen women trailing a few feet behind solo white dudes, the dude not even looking at her. Seeing that, I have never in my life had such a visceral, ragey reaction to strangers; I have never shot so many filthy looks at men I don’t know; I had never before seriously thought to myself, “I fucking HATE men.” Until I saw all those white men in Cambodia.

9.12.2011
By Jill
Feministe.us

So what’s the most popular porn site on the planet?

The single most popular adult site in the world is LiveJasmin.com, a webcam site which gets around 32 million visitors a month, or almost 2.5% of all Internet users!

You’re telling me a webcam site is more popular than PornHub?

LiveJasmin is the most popular adult site on the Web by a huge margin.

Basically, it’s interesting that what men prefer the most is watching women strip on a webcam and being able to talk to them while they do, telling the women what they want to see. Once this became available (through high-quality broadband streaming of webcam video) it just shot to the top of popularity; it’s even more popular than the tube sites like PornHub and RedTube.

The fact that 2.5% of the billion people on the Internet are using LiveJasmin each month is pretty extraordinary.

A global phenomenon! Where do the webcam women come from?

Almost all of the webcam girls are from eastern Europe or southeast Asia. At $8-$15/hour with no benefits, it doesn’t pay enough for American women… except teenage girls and college students.

Most of the foreign women do it without the knowledge of their friends and family and only do it for Americans so that acquaintances in their homeland won’t hear about it.

I am apparently not a very savvy consumer of internet porn, because I’ve never heard of LiveJasmin.com. And I am certainly far from anti-pornography; if you want to get naked on your webcam / watch people get naked on their webcams, fantastic, enjoy yourself. I personally find the whole concept of webcam porn kind of cheesy and hilarious and I guess sort of like the pornography equivalent of a Xanga journal, or the next logical step after some hot AOL Chatroom action? Do you start the webcam session by asking, “18/f/NY wanna cyber?” But also I am 86, so what do I know. Have fun on your webcams kids.

Fireworks spark beach alarm

A child sells fireworks on a beach in Sihanoukville last weekend. (Photo by: Vincent Macisaac)

A tourist buys fireworks from a group of children on Ochheuteal beach over the weekend. (Photo by: Vincent Macisaac)

Wednesday, 17 August 2011
Vincent MacIsaac and Sen David
The Phnom Penh Post

“By the time their 18 some can’t even get a job in a restaurant because they don’t know how to read and write,” Eno explains, adding that this puts them at a higher risk of becoming sex workers.

Sihanoukville town

As the sun sets over Ochheuteal beach, scores of children begin weaving their way through the cheap tables and cushioned chairs scattered in the sand in front of restaurants offering US$3 a plate barbecues and 50-cent beer to tourists.

But instead of selling sunglasses and bracelets the children offer to set off fireworks’ displays in the thin strip of white sand between the edge of the tables and the incoming tide, for tourists to watch or photograph while they drink and dine.

It’s a dangerous job, especially for a child, and the provincial government says it has been banned. “Children are not allowed to sell fireworks on beaches like Ochheuteal,” deputy governor Sboung Sarath said yesterday.

However, the ban is not being enforced and children have been getting burned, according to owners of beachside restaurants. Staff at NGOs working with children who sell trinkets on the beach say they have either heard reports of children suffering burns from fireworks or warn that accidents are bound to happen.

A life on the margins

Workers at the Siem Reap dump form orderly queues while they wait for the next rubbish truck to arrive.Photo by: MICHAEL SLOAN

17-year-old Pruen Sokhim, one of the youngsters forced to scavenge at Siem Reap’s dump each day.Photo by: MICHAEL SLOAN

Friday, 24 June 2011
Michael Sloan and Thik Kaliyann
The Phnom Phnom Penh Post

PERHAPS it’s only in Cambodia that a rubbish dump can become a tourist attraction. Phnom Penh’s former Stung Meanchey dumpsite is a case in point, with HotelTravel.com saying: “If you ever wanted to remind your children how lucky they are, this is the place to bring them.”

But not so with Siem Reap’s garbage dump. Twenty kilometres out along National Road Six, there is a small village known only half jokingly by local NGOs as “Siem Reap’s dirty little secret”: a ramshackle slum built around the rim of a one-acre pit filled daily with garbage from the city.

More than 140 children and countless adults queue up alongside a column of garbage trucks each day, scraping a living by picking bottles and plastic out of the waste they deposit.

Fringe Dwellers: Life on the Edge in Cambodia

“The government talks about poverty reduction, but what they are really trying to do is to get rid of the poor. They destroy us by taking our forested land…

Under Pol Pot we died quickly, but we kept our forests. Under the democratic system it is a slow death. There will be violence, because we do not want to die.” – A Cambodian villager affected by an economic land concession. From the report “Land Concessions for Economic Purposes in Cambodia: A Human Rights Perspective”, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Human Rights in Cambodia, November 2004

Source: http://forwardthinkingmuseum.com/exh_grp_fringe_dweller_00.php

It is a nation of wanderers. From rural villagers, evicted by government land grabs, to those migrating to the city in the fragile hopes for a better life, Cambodia is a poignant example of a global phenomenon of displacement, which has complex causes with a common theme: leaving and arriving, putting down tenuous roots, only to be uprooted again. Rural migrants becoming the urban poor, living in makeshift squatter communities, are an increasing part of the global population, now numbering over one billion, according to recent United Nations estimates. War, genocide and the current climate of government corruption have displaced much of Cambodia’s people, a population of “fringe dwellers” perpetually on the move.

While some of the photographs, (taken from 2005-10,) document a harsh and precarious life, many of the pictures also depict the pride in ownership and extraordinary enterprise which signify hope and the will to thrive, despite extraordinarily difficult circumstances.

– Eva Sutton

Some of the pictures from the exhibit:

To view the entire exhibit, click here

Better Today, Gone Tomorrow: Is Charity Doing More Harm Than Good in Cambodia?

Ek Sam Ol (pictured on right, with our translator Him Sothea and volunteer Ruth Hobson)

Photo: other side of road has fences, yards, and nice houses. Photo courtesy of Ruth Hobson, Face-to-Face volunteer

February 8, 2011
Ken Wong, Director, Face-to-Face AIDS Project
The Huffington Post

Our hearts are in the right place, but is our charity doing more harm than good? What we learn from our work with HIV and poverty in Cambodia.

A Fire in the Middle of the Night

In 2001, Ek Sam Ol (pictured on right, with our translator Him Sothea and volunteer Ruth Hobson) and his wife woke up in the middle of the night to the cries of fire consuming their slum neighborhood of corrugated metal, reused wood, and dried palm leaves. In a matter of minutes, the couple found themselves packed in a lorry with scores of other residents in this shantytown less than a mile away from Phnom Penh's royal palace and touristy riverfront. By the time the lorries drove off, bulldozers were already leveling the land.

The lorry transported Ek Sam Ol and his wife to a remote, unused tract of land called Samron Meanchey, about 15 miles outside of Phnom Penh. With only the few kitchen items they had grabbed as they ran from the fire, along with $12 and a 50 kg bag of rice given to them by the government, the couple and everyone else began constructing a new shantytown. Their shacks had to be built over a slimy, green canal, for they were forbidden to use the land that spread out on either side of the canal. It all seems a great violation of human rights.

Still, I suppose Ek Sam Ol and his neighbors never had legal rights to their land in Phnom Penh.

Cambodia faces poverty despite rising tourism revenue

Friday Dec 03, 2010
Preethi Nallu
Press TV, Siem Reap

Cambodia with its rich architecture and scenic terrain is every photographer's delight. Tourists clicking photos of vibrant streets scene is a common occurrence. With its magnificent remains of the khmer empire, Siem Reap has become a popular tourist destination drawing visitors from all over the world. Over 2 million tourists will have visited cambodia in 2010 alone.

Whilst the remnants of cambodia's ancient history leave a lasting impression, it is difficult to overlook the large number of street children in urban centers as well as rural areas. It is estimated that Cambodia with a total population of about 13 million is home to 5 million children under the age of 15 and 60 percent of the population is currently under the age of 18. Consequently, the disproportionate number of minors in the country has become its economic backbone, often bearing the burden of providing for their families at the expense of their education, their development and ultimately their futures.

Despite increased revenue from tourism, Cambodia with an annual GDP of a mere 300 us dollars per capita has one of the worst social indicators in the region. In Siem Reap at least 60 percent of the local population lives below the poverty line.

The most vulnerable victims of lack of social services are of course children.

This six year old wanders the streets every night looking for tourists claiming that his baby brother needs milk. He is joined by thousands of others who are seen roaming the streets during the day and late into the night thereby becoming easy targets for organized begging rings and sex trafficking.

Local organizations such as Anjali house that provide refuge and education to underprivileged children explain that sustainable progress in Cambodia cannot be achieved without investment in education.

Some of the children as young as 15 already have a clear idea of how they could help improve their community.

At The end of the Pol Pot years, during which schools were abolished, only around 300 cambodians with a higher education remained in the country. Cambodia was faced with re- starting an educational system from scratch. Given the proliferation of education and child poverty related NGOs, experts say there is a dire need for the government at national and local levels to collaborate and contribute towards securing the futures of their youth.