Yesterday morning our moto driver asked for $300 to fix his motorbike. A large sum of money for anyone in Cambodia.
Phnom Penh moto drivers are lucky to earn more than US $5 a day. So it was with curiousity that I noticed his t-shirt; http://www.savedafur.org/ was written on the back.He wouldn't have been able to read the English, but it is ironic that such a t-shirt exists in a poor country like Cambodia in the first place, particularly, when all he needs is money to fix his bike so he can continue to earn US $5 a day.* Picture from http://www.ourbookscambodia.com/
Is it ironic? Compared with Cambodia, Sudan has a similar, but lower, rating on the Human Development Index scale, and I guess Darfur region would be even lower.
ReplyDeleteAnd, you know, some of the least able are the most generous, in my experience.
Nice blog, by the way. I like the style of short, snappy posts!
Do you have a website for your English Centre? I'd like to know a little more about your project please - how it's funded, selection criteria and so on. Blogger allows static web pages to be added to your blog - might be an alternative if you don't have a website.
Keep up the good work!
Clive
not to downplay the statement, a lot of clothing is made in cambodia, and slightly damaged (and sometimes just stolen) cloths are constantly available for good prices in the markets. There is a good chance that the shirt came from shipments bound for the US and europe, and he really had no idea what it said. It was probably just a cheap (or maybe free) shirt to him :)
ReplyDeleteThen again he could have been making a statement, in which case, that's quite powerful :)
Hi Clive,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments.
Yes, we are finishing a website at the moment. Unfortunately due to our laptops being stolen - we wrote about it on the blog - we lost the set-up but are currently redoing it. I will let you know when it is live.
At the moment we fund any activities we do with the girls from the centre by ourselves. We are planning the best direction our teaching should take.
Thank you again for your interest and I will keep you updated.
Ann
Hello Gobbly,
ReplyDeleteYes, a lot of clothing used to be made in Cambodia, not so much now due to massive factory closures over the last year.
Our moto driver probably did pick the t-shirt up at a market. He survives on only a few dollars a day, no statement was being made.
He is too busy constantly looking for ways of earning an extra dollar on any one day.
Ann
Hi Ann,
ReplyDeleteThanks for coming back on this. Yes, there's so much more to doing what you're doing than just teaching. Having good business sense and being able to design websites are just two necessary skills!
Enjoy the rains - not least the drop in temp!
Clive