Away from the insdicrete gaze with butt stark naked
11 March 2010
By Kang Kallyann
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French By Tout Louse Laut Rek
Click here to read the article in French
In rural areas, hygiene and the availability of toilets remain an elusive luxury. The tough living conditions led to human dramas that are both tragic and ridiculous.
The tragedy is taking place in Svay Rieng province, near the Cambodian-Viet border. During a recent coverage on the border dispute [near Koh Kban Kandal village where the Viet encroachment took place], a villager told me this story: four villagers died there in the last few month because they were bitten by snakes while they were relieving themselves in the forest. At first, I had a hard time holding my laughter when I heard about this story.
Nevertheless, the villager insisted: this snake problem caused a lot of trouble in the village and it is far from being resolved. With the lack of decent toilets, the villagers had no choice but to relieve themselves out in the open air, away from the village and away from any indiscrete gaze. To the chagrin of the villagers, their open air toilet is infested with snakes … but the villagers have no other choice, and they are exposing themselves to this danger on a daily basis. What could be viewed as a joke is in fact a tragedy for these villagers. When I discussed this topic with a local official, he prefers not to talk too much about it: of course, “some villagers” died recently “because of the snakes.” For their safety, the youths were asked to learn how to shoo away the reptilian pests. And, that was the end of the story.
So you think this is funny, eh? Now, think about the families of the victims when they learn that a simple toilet could have saved the life of their loved ones. Think also about this young woman who was raped in the forest, or better yet, think about this young man who was killed by strangers when he was relieving himself. Now you can see that these cases are not laughable at all, but that they are in fact ridiculous! Now, let’s see: how can we explain the contrast between these dirt poor provinces and the luxurious roads that filled the capital city of Phnom Penh? Do you think that, in the 21st century Cambodia, it is acceptable for forests surrounding villages to be strewn with human feces?
Some city dwellers have the habit of showing off their disdain to people who live in isolated villages. But, would these city dwellers be at ease if they had to risk exposing their intimacy, their health, or even worst, their life just to be able to relieve themselves? Hygiene is not always within the reach of everybody in Cambodia just yet. Right now, in Phnom Penh, there is countless number of cosmetic stores where costly plastic surgery is being offered to the public, where young women who are so preoccupied by their look can have their skin whitened up, and yet, there are still a large number of Cambodians who live without using any soap at all. Based on these observations, it is clear that what is supposedly ridiculous is not always what we believe it would be at all.
Quite often, the entrance to villages would bear large signs clamoring: “drink and live healthily to protect your health.” Furthermore, several NGOs insist that they are promoting hygiene and that they are building infrastructures to allow access to drinking water, or building toilets. Keep in mind also that the cost of the most basic toilet is about 140,000 riels, i.e. about $35, with all the numbers in mind, I feel less inclined to smile nowadays when I read stories in the newspapers about villagers having to face snakes.
The tragedy is taking place in Svay Rieng province, near the Cambodian-Viet border. During a recent coverage on the border dispute [near Koh Kban Kandal village where the Viet encroachment took place], a villager told me this story: four villagers died there in the last few month because they were bitten by snakes while they were relieving themselves in the forest. At first, I had a hard time holding my laughter when I heard about this story.
Nevertheless, the villager insisted: this snake problem caused a lot of trouble in the village and it is far from being resolved. With the lack of decent toilets, the villagers had no choice but to relieve themselves out in the open air, away from the village and away from any indiscrete gaze. To the chagrin of the villagers, their open air toilet is infested with snakes … but the villagers have no other choice, and they are exposing themselves to this danger on a daily basis. What could be viewed as a joke is in fact a tragedy for these villagers. When I discussed this topic with a local official, he prefers not to talk too much about it: of course, “some villagers” died recently “because of the snakes.” For their safety, the youths were asked to learn how to shoo away the reptilian pests. And, that was the end of the story.
So you think this is funny, eh? Now, think about the families of the victims when they learn that a simple toilet could have saved the life of their loved ones. Think also about this young woman who was raped in the forest, or better yet, think about this young man who was killed by strangers when he was relieving himself. Now you can see that these cases are not laughable at all, but that they are in fact ridiculous! Now, let’s see: how can we explain the contrast between these dirt poor provinces and the luxurious roads that filled the capital city of Phnom Penh? Do you think that, in the 21st century Cambodia, it is acceptable for forests surrounding villages to be strewn with human feces?
Some city dwellers have the habit of showing off their disdain to people who live in isolated villages. But, would these city dwellers be at ease if they had to risk exposing their intimacy, their health, or even worst, their life just to be able to relieve themselves? Hygiene is not always within the reach of everybody in Cambodia just yet. Right now, in Phnom Penh, there is countless number of cosmetic stores where costly plastic surgery is being offered to the public, where young women who are so preoccupied by their look can have their skin whitened up, and yet, there are still a large number of Cambodians who live without using any soap at all. Based on these observations, it is clear that what is supposedly ridiculous is not always what we believe it would be at all.
Quite often, the entrance to villages would bear large signs clamoring: “drink and live healthily to protect your health.” Furthermore, several NGOs insist that they are promoting hygiene and that they are building infrastructures to allow access to drinking water, or building toilets. Keep in mind also that the cost of the most basic toilet is about 140,000 riels, i.e. about $35, with all the numbers in mind, I feel less inclined to smile nowadays when I read stories in the newspapers about villagers having to face snakes.
