Drowning a Big Cause of Deaths in Cambodia

Too often a day out swimming ends
in tragedy.

According to a UNICEF report it is not malaria, dengue fever or traffic accidents that is the biggest killer of Cambodian children.

 Rather, it is drowning.

Last year's report claimed that about 1,800 Cambodian children drown every year with the median age of those children being just 4.

Children who have drowned are rarely taken to hospital and thus the number of drownings is probably significantly understated.

It's estimated that there was no attempt at resuscitation of 40% of Cambodian drowning victims and another 50% of resuscitation attempts where of a most unhelpful kind; jumping on a victim's chest to eject the water and forcing a stick down the throat to induce vomiting are two common attempts at life-saving. 

And another is heating the victim over a fire to try and dry-up the water in the body.

What Cambodian Kids Fear Most

Insects and scary animals.

That's what most of the world's kids are scared of.

But that's not the overwhelming fear for many Cambodian youngsters. Almost one-third of Khmer kids name violence and crime as their top fear according to a survey of more than 6,000 kids from 47 countries.

"I am afraid of thieves, child rape and drug users," 12 year-old Cambodian girl, Panchma, said.

This trepidation, shared by so many young Cambodians, is staggeringly high compared to the study's average; overall just 10% of the children surveyed responded that violence and crime most worried them.

 Only children from Liberia and Afghanistan shared such high levels of dread for violence.

Khmer Grace. Khmer Dignity. (Reprised)

This is the reprise of a post just over a year ago. I haven't seen the lady or her kids for some time. I hope that they have moved on to better things.


In an earlier post- When Your Play Pen is a Pit -I wrote about the hardships of a little girl with a rubbish tip as her playground. Pictured is the girl's mother (I presumed).

She was happy for me to take photos of the her two charges and they were more than happy, too.

I asked her if I could take her photo and she readily agreed, although her flashing Khmer smile disappeared for the camera.

You can see that she is literally knee-deep in muck. Yet, she had a grace and dignity that isn't often seen.

I offered her a small amount of money for her time. She accepted, thanked me, placed the note in her top pocket and went straight back to work.

Compare that, if you will, to the many in western countries that take state handouts which usually provide adequately for life's essentials, yet still whine and moan about their 'poverty.'

When Your Cot is a Cambodian Cart: Reprised

It's Phnom Penh. So, it's hot. Blazing hot.

This lady makes her living collecting glass and cans and paper and cardboard to sell for recycling. She's just one of many making a living in this way.

 It's hot, dirty and tiring work. She traipses the city streets and goes through the trash looking to fill her cart. Sometimes residents will call her over. But they don't give her their glass and cans and paper and cardboard- they sell it too her. Every bit counts for most Cambodians. And for all that hard work she makes about $2.50 per day.

Walking towards her cart I caught a glimpse of a pair of chubby little brown legs. A closer look showed me that there was a wee baby sleeping under all that cardboard.

It's Phnom Penh. So it's hot. Blazing hot. There is little to stimulate the mind of this little one and one suspects as he or she grows older school might be a distant possibility.

So,  what chance do you have in life when your cot is a Cambodian cart?

What Cambodian Kids Don't Mind Saying: Reprised

Maybe, I've lost touch, but I'm sure most western kids would think that they are way-too-cool to write some of the things young Cambodians do. Here's some samples of blog-writing from 11-15 year-old English students.

A 13 year-old Cambodian giving her classmates some life-advice:

'...I want to tell everyone of you that you should try your best at everything even if you can't do it well but at least it is the best you've got!!'

Rather than be sneered at, as she surely would be back home, this suggestion is well received by her fellow students.

Here's a student talking about a blanket she was given at birth:

'What I like the most about is the warmth that it gives to me is as warm as my mum hands, that reminds me of how warm I was when mum held me in her arms….

I sometimes argue with my mum when she gets it washed without telling me. The reason is……because I don’t want to lose the smell of that. Strange and funny, isn’t it? That’s true I love the smell although that’s not a nice smell but that smell remind me of myself as a small kid.

Thanks Mum for making me this lovely blanket, Love it !'

Cue more sneering, teasing and bullying if this was revealed in a school back home.

Or, try this heartfelt story from a young learner:

'Why I want to have a good family because my mother and my father separated while I was a baby....

I want to have a big family with warm care. I know that I really hate my father, but it's so difficult for me without father.... .

I tried to ask my mother that where was father, but, she tried to lie me too. She always told me that my father was busy about his job in Phnom Penh, it was so easy to lie because i was young...

But when I was 10 years old and it time for me to know about my parents ... My mother was told me about the truth thing that she was separate with my father. I remember that i was cry maybe a few days. Also I was angry because shouldn't lied me for long time about it. They should told me when they separated.'

Or this, from one teenage blogging about her stuffed toy:

'Well, don't laugh, but I hug it when I sleep and pretend to talk to it sometimes as if it was alive. I sometimes talk to it like a friend and share my emotions with it. I think of it not only just a stuffed animal, but a friend.'

And while her classmates might indeed laugh, it would be with, not at her.

Good News Cambodia (1) Breastfeeding

'In Cambodia, exclusive breastfeeding rates climbed dramatically from 11 percent in 2000 to 74 percent in 2010.

Much of the credit goes to efforts such as the Baby-Friendly Community Initiative, which organized “Mother Support Groups” to provide education and individual counseling on infant and young child feeding. 

These volunteer-led groups have reached approximately 517,000 women in 2,675 villages, promoting early and exclusive breastfeeding, continued nursing to 2 years or beyond, and appropriate complementary feeding starting at 6 months of age.'

~http://www.savethechildren.org/atf/cf/%7B9def2ebe-10ae-432c-9bd0-df91d2eba74a%7D/STATE-OF-THE-WORLDS-MOTHERS-REPORT-2012-FINAL.PDF

Face of the Day

A Neighbour, Phsar Deum Thkov, Phnom Penh

Useless UNICEF

'A LOCAL rights group [Human Rights Watch] says it has proof that UNICEF resources have been used to transport illegally detained children to a controversial drug rehabilitation centre accused of human rights abuses.'

~Phnom Penh Post 28 January 2010

That proof seems solid- the group has photos- but UNICEF is so far refusing to comment. Human Rights Watch also claim that they met with UNICEF in September 2009 to express concerns that the government run, so-called rehabilitation centre, that UNICEF supports, was beating and illegally detaining kids with drug addictions. UNICEF failed to act. The van used to transport the kids is sign written 'Provided with the support of UNICEF and the EC,' and 'Child-friendly justice system.'

Fun With Dough

We have some young students who are almost there with their recital of the 'ABC.' They are now working on forming letters so that they can write, and we have begun some phonic sessions with them. To make things interesting today I introduced some play-dough so that they could have fun making letters and some simple words.

The father of two young sisters- a teacher of some years- came to pick them up at the end of the lesson. He was fascinated: "I've never seen anything like this before," he said, beaming as he watched his daughters playing with the dough.

Yes, to us play-dough is such a simple thing, but in Cambodia where money is short and resources are scarce and in a country where learning by rote is entrenched, this lesson was novel for these young learners.

Ice Cubes and Email

After much discussion we were able to get 8 of the girl's from the HCC centre to visit us at our home. They arrived at 9 o'clock, a full 4 hours early!

They were all excited to be here- remember their lives revolve almost entirely around time spent in two institutions- school and the shelter. A trip then, to Phnom Penh and the home of a couple of foreigners was a big event.

None of the 8 had ever been on the Internet, and so, of course, not one had much idea about email let alone have an email address. So we explained email and set them up with addresses. Well some of them, it all took a while. Not because they were slow to pick things up, but because they took forever to choose log in names. Like anyone, anywhere, the name they chose had to be just right. We only had time to send a few test messages but the girls sat stunned as they followed the 'send and receive' process!

One girl wasn't so much engrossed in the internet as she was with the contents of our refrigerator (there isn't one at the centre). Opening the freezer door and seeing the cold mist was fascinating to her as were our perfectly formed ice cubes. That's because while ice is available in rural Cambodia it is something of a luxury. Usually the ice comes in big blocks which are loaded onto the back of trucks. Customers then decide how much ice they want and a piece is cut off with a hacksaw. Naturally, then, when we offered water to the girls they all wanted ice!

We are hoping and they are hoping that they can return this Sunday.

Cursor, attachment, folder, file...click!

For a group of fifteen, sixteen and seventeen year old girls who have no access to computers or the internet, our visit to the Centre today was enthusiasticly welcomed.

Normally Sunday means a day off, a chance to sleep for a bit in the intense Cambodian heat. Not today.

We arrived with our laptops to teach them how to use them, and to use the universal English words associated with computer-speak.

We opened word and excel, then made files and placed them into folders. They clicked with the cursor, opened menus and added attachments.They loved it.

Their eagerness for knowledge was a delight. We hope to get them to our English Centre shortly so they can familiarise themselves with our newly hooked up internet.

Cambodian Curiosity

Two big-nosed 'barangs' are items of curiosity to this young neighbour. Several times a day she just has to peer through the hole in the gate to see what the new and odd arrivals are up to.

With two front teeth missing but a big smile she brightens up any day...

A Cambodian Classroom

No matter what country the classroom is in there is always a group of boys sitting down the back looking for trouble, isn't there?

It's the same here in this rural Cambodian classroom by the look. But their idea of trouble is probably a lot tamer than their western counterparts; Cambodia is a conservative society, students are mostly well-behaved and their teachers still much-respected.

It's interesting that the desks in this class are free of graffiti, much of the school furniture in neighbouring Thailand is covered in it.

Computer Classes But No Computers

Just like kids everywhere, Cambodian youngsters are fascinated by computers. But for most young Cambodians the chance to explore in depth the world of computers is rare.



Some of the kids at the centre that we visit are learning a little about computers without being able to learn on an actual computer. That's common; most schools cannot afford PC's so computer lessons are conducted using printed sheets rather than hands-on practice.

A few of the older girls are lucky in that they manage to get a few moments here and there on a PC but that's no substitute for dedicated practice and relevant instruction. Easy to see why then that my computer was popular as soon as it was pulled from its bag when we stopped by last week.

We'll take two laptops out on Saturday and deliver a simple hands-on Microsoft Word lesson, which will be a good way to improve their English and computer skills. Showing the wonders of the Internet will follow; incredibly not one of the girls has ever used or seen the web.

Classroom Corruption

“Her English is very good. She must be the number one student in her class,” I said about one particularly, bright, lively and talented young girl.

“No!” was the response. “That is impossible.”

“Impossible? Why?” I responded, puzzled.

The answer to that question is depressing; but demonstrates vividly the crushing effects that endemic corruption has upon the people of a country.

You see, the gifted girl’s teacher holds ‘special’ after-school classes; classes that students must pay to attend. And to those paying students goes the highest grades; whether they are the most deserving or not.

Our smart eleven-year-old student cannot afford these classes. She will never top her class.

That’s the brutal and depressing introduction many youthful Cambodians receive to the world of corruption. This harsh lesson quickly demonstrates to impressionable young minds just how often talent, hard work, honesty and perseverance make way to fraudulence, bribery, trickery, power and force in Cambodia.

A Welcome Return

We headed out of Phnom Penh on Saturday on a moto to the girl's centre, 20km from the city.

We made it a casual trip knowing we were now going to go there often. It was an invigorating feeling.

We had lunch - chicken rice porridge. And we laughed, met new girls that had recently arrived at the Centre, and we gave the older girls some English listening tests. They loved it. It was different for them to have to listen carefully to another English accent. They did well.

We will be back there next week with some more.

Baguette Baby

More than a million Cambodians have flocked to Phnom Penh's riverside to celebrate the annual water festival. Hundreds-of-thousands have travelled in from the provinces for the 3-day event and many are seeing their capital city for the first time. Day and night a throng of thousands parade up and down both sides of the riverbank, agog at the crowds and the big city, the fireworks and the lantern boats, the rowing races and the food.

The kids, of course are the most excited with candy floss, the boat racing and the plethora of cheap toys commanding most of the attention. Not all got to take part in the festival, though. This young girl had a mountain of baguettes to prepare and she wasn't at all happy about. Expertly, but sullenly (who could blame her?) she buttered and filled this French-influenced and highly popular Cambodian snack

And she wasn't going to flash-a-smile for anyone; not for family or customers and certainly not for a big-nosed barang wielding a camera!

Arunny: A Cambodian Child

Arunny is a big girl. Tall for a Cambodian she has strong legs and a broad back giving her an excellent physique for toiling in the Cambodian countryside. Someone else thought so too; Arunny was taken from her family and shipped off to another province to work the rice fields and cart  firewood and water.

Rescued by a non-government organization Arunny was taken to a shelter. Here for the first few weeks she didn’t speak a word to us, and barely spoke to the centre’s staff or the other girls. Clearly she was unhappy and wanted nothing more than to be reunited with her family. Arunny was kept under a watchful eye as it was thought likely she would abscond if she could, and try and find her way back to her village.

We never heard the full story of why she wasn’t sent straight back home; it may have been that someone in the family had played a part in forcing her into labour or, that the family felt that they couldn’t give her the supervision and help that she needed. Or, just as likely, the family saw that she was being better fed and cared for at the shelter than would ever be possible at home.

Despite her fervent wishes, the family and the NGO decided that Arunny should remain at the centre for another 6 months when her and the family’s circumstances would be reviewed. Arunny became more withdrawn and she stopped speaking.

At first Arunny refused to come to our English classes with a defiant shake of her head. Soon, though, she would edge closer to the classroom to listen and watch. And after several weeks she was sticking her head through the window to show a pretty smile and a keen curiosity. Finally, on several occasions she entered and took a seat.

Later, with a quiet voice Arunny began to speak to us and show a robust sense of humour; playful rock fights especially amused her!

Toh wasn’t at the centre the last time we visited, happily, her wish was granted; her family had taken her back home.

Veata: A Cambodian Child

Veata* was raped by a man from her village before she had reached her teens. Indentified as likely to suffer further abuse Veata was taken to a shelter and introduced into a new school.

Behind a quiet and often withdrawn facade lies a gentle person with an impish sense of humour and a beautiful, all-too-rarely seen smile. Veata and Ann developed a strong empathy during the time we stayed with her in Veata's new home.


Veata had trouble settling into her new school; a male teacher, aware that she had been raped, verbally abused and blamed her- the victim- for the rape. So Veata moved school and had to find new friends, again.

She never did complete her schooling, she had missed too many classes and was unable to find peace as a student. The last time we heard of Veata she had found a job as a cook in Phnom Penh. We have been told that she is happy there. Veata would now be 17 years-old.


*Name changed for obvious reasons.

Champei: A Cambodian Child

Champei's* mother is mentally ill. Her father has long-abandoned the family.

Champei's oldest sister works in a rural brothel to support the family.

Everyday the sister took Champei to work where she roamed largely unsupervised. Some of the men who visited the brothel began to take an interest in Champei.

Indentified by a local agency as 'at risk,' Champei was removed from her environment and taken to a shelter. Another of her sisters-Mealea* is here; a bright young woman who is excelling in her studies and the art of traditional Cambodian dance.

Champei is happy in her new home, too. She is 6 years old.

*For obvious reasons names have been changed.