Are you there Oprah? it's me, Anna

There really are no words. The man lying bloody in the mud there is Soung Sophoan.  Sophoan came “door-knocking” with us on Monday.  This morning he is in the hospital after being bashed unconscious with rocks and batons by riot police yesterday.  The attack occurred during a forced eviction of the controversial Boeung Kak Lake district.  Sophoan, a community representative of Boeung Kak Lake residents and leader of SRP youth wing, was protesting the sudden destruction of eight houses (with all of the families belongings inside) by the development company.  Many human rights representatives were present and Licadho has released a video of this brutal attack. 

This isn’t the first time Sophoan has been attacked for standing up for the residents of the Boeung Kak Lake district.  When I was introduced to him on Monday Sochua asked me, “have you heard of him?” I felt a bit dumb and shook my head.

“Last year he had his entire head split open by the police while trying to deliver a petition from the residents to Mr. Ban Ki-moon when he visited.”  Ugh.  Once again, there is a video of this horrible attack.

For some background information about the forced evictions that are taking place across Cambodia check out here, here and here.  The Boeung Kak Lake district is a high profile case and only last year the World Bank decided to suspend all loans to Cambodia due to the ruling party’s treatment of the residents.

Sophoan below on Monday.  To see more photos from last Monday go here. 

The photo of the attack at the beginning of the post is by Nicholas Axelrod and sourced from this great blog.

The sun is an old friend

So this morning The Cambodian Daily reported that a criminal complaint has been filed against Sochua with the National Election Council, accusing her of violating public order and elections laws the other day.  The issue seems to stem from the fact that at the Pagoda she used a microphone to speak due to the difficulty the old women had hearing her. 

Her response?  “I welcome a challenge.  There is nothing clearer than the fact that the NEC is totally incompetent and lacks all forms of independence.”

And that’s what we call a SMACKDOWN.

Then later this afternoon, no doubt due to the negative media attention, the commune chief withdrew the complaint.

In other news, I found a coffee place near my work today.  It’s been a good day.

                                    

Democracy with a Cambodian flavour

Yesterday I accompanied MP Sochua and a group of SRP youth as they handed out voter information cards to people in a rural commune of Phnom Penh.  The cards are a part of a push for voter registration that is currently taking place in Cambodia.   There is 28 days left before registration closes and SRP are racing across the country encouraging everyone to register.  At the last elections a very large number of people were unable to vote due to incorrect registrations, and with a median country age of 23 years old, a lot of people will be voting for the first time ever.  Having cleared the material with the authorities (no SRP logos on the cards or their clothing, no stepping on a crack or they’ll break their mothers back etc) they began to hand the cards out to the people at the pagoda.  Almost immediately the local authorities turned up and told them to stop.  Le fin.  No rhyme, no reason.  So they left and began to “door knocking” in the commune to hand out the cards.  Which by the way is a rather out of context term for rural Cambodia, it’s more like “walking into a yard and bowing-ing” .  It was not long before we had an entourage of expensive cars and suited men  following us.  After much shouting in Khmer they began to merely go into every house we visited and snatching the card back.  This was clearly confusing for the locals - one strange group gives you a card and the next strange group takes it away.  Many of the old women just laughed and shook their heads with an eye roll.  Some of them challenged the men to not take their card, but most did not complain.  No doubt the parked car full of angry police outside their land didn’t help them raise their voices.  One suited man from the authorities came up and started to tell the group of youth from SRP that they were getting arrested.

“For what?”  They yelled back.

“Something.”   These conversations went back and forth.  No one seemed to have any clear answers on what laws the SRP youth and Sochua were breaking, but they were damned sure there was something.  No doubt, to use in evidence for the upcoming court case one man decided to film us with his iphone.  What was meant to be intimidating came off as poserish and almost, at times, amusing.  He reminded me of young liberals at university, terrifying in politics but impishly pathetic when standing in front of you.  The complete incongruity of his super expensive phone, suit and car, with the poor country lane he was standing in was pretty special. 

The entire time I had a free pass because of my whiteness camera.  There was two Cambodian Daily reporters there and I think they just assumed I was with them.  When looking at someone paticuliarly menacing I would just smile bow and say orkun (thank you) like the true clueless Westerner I am.  (P.S The article the reporters wrote was amazing but unfortunately the newspaper is not online.)

I was supposed to go up to Battambang with Sochua today but started to feel a bit sick so staying in Phom Penh till I feel better.  Yesterday was enough political excitement for me for a while anywho.  God knows how she gets up and does it every day. Here is her blog about yesterday.

“Door-knocking” in Cambodge.

Wherever the youth and Sochua went… the authorities followed.

Thaaaat guy.

He is hardly intimidating.  This guy on the otherhand…

These little dudes thought the whole thing was pretty funny.

First day jitters

So today was the first day of my placement with the local women’s NGO I’ll be helping out at.

It did not start with a bang, it started with a power shortage.  Which actually turned out to be quite helpful as it gave me time to introduce myself to everyone in the office.  There is about six women who work at the organisation day to day but they come in and out of the office depending on projects.  The work these women do is incredible.  From attending court cases to support rape survivors to holding community organising workshops for women in the provinces.  I was really blown away by these women, all of them class A amazing babes.

In the electricity down time Polet and Sina even gave me a quick khmer lesson while I showed them all the lolcats I had saved on my computer. I have now extended my khmer vocab from simply the word: stop, to: please stop now, my name is anna, hello and thank you.  All the words a girl needs to survive in Phnom Penh while also discovering the universal language of cat fancying.  MEOW.

(Polet & Sina teaching me khmer one lolcat at a time).

At about eleven the power was turned on again and we went upstairs to the small office with AC. Soon everyone had abandoned their office chairs and were sitting on the ground again.  Chairs seem to be not a big deal in the office.  Probably because there are not enough of them for everyone.

At lunch time we all went downstairs to eat.  There is a little gas stove in the office and it is made good use of.  It was probably the most impressive lunch spread I’ve ever seen.  I have been meat-free for nigh on fifteen years but I decided to kick it for these sorts of situations.  I had my first real khmer cuisine.  I had pork for the first time in my life. And I decided to dive right into the middle dish which appeared to be some sort of broth soup, it seemed safe enough.  “We put a lot of cheese in that,” the women warned, “that’s why it smells.”

But while it didn’t really look like there was any cheese in there it was definitely a strong smell/taste/life investment. Later I found out that cheese is a nickname for fermented fish paste. “Foreigners always hate that one,” they smiled. Unfortunately for me, I’d already heaped on a serving. You live, you learn.

Either way, it was definitely the best work lunch I’d ever been to.

Migraines, getting lost and brie baguettes Cambodian style

So I’ve been in Cambodia for forty-eight hours and I’ve been sans migraine for one of those.  The slow ache was so consistent that I started to worry that maybe I had contacted some mysterious tropical illness.  I was finally sick last night, which for me is the sign of the end of a migraine and I can tell you, I’ve never been more happy to be vomiting.  A final purge after days of pain.  Pro tip: Having a migraine in 35 degree weather with no AC, not such a good time.

Alas, now I am pain free and feel fantastic. The after migraine feeling is so incredible, like someone being lifted from the dead. AND my AC has started working again, as if in sync with my miraculous recovery.  Win!

I got an email from Strey Khmer’s office this morning asking if I can call them for instructions on how to get to their office.  It seems that directions are a bit of a challenge in this city.  Most of the tuk tuk drivers are from the provinces and don’t know the street names or hotels/restaurants. Since it is such a small city most people can just direct them, but for an amateur like me it’s a tad confusing.  A friend of mine here explained to me to get to know the Wats because that’s what the drivers will always know.  My guest house has Wat Lanka at the end of its street. Realising this has made finding my way back home a breeze.

So the office have sent through instructions with an explanation that I will most likely not find my way the first time.  Getting lost in Phnom Penh is not the worst situation.  Yesterday I went to no.57 on Street 41, as opposed to no.41 on Street 57.  My discalculas does not approve of the numbering of the streets.  Especially since they are not numbered in order- streets or houses.  You’ll find street 184 next to street 200 and house no.67 will be located next to house no.141. Having said that, since tuk tuks are really two dollars at the most, it’s not so bad to be driving around for a while.  I’m still in that tourist stage - carefree with no responsibility.  I’m sure soon that will leave and I’ll have the impatience of a Melbournian who’s train is late.  By then, lets hope I will have mastered the city streets.

Wat Lanka pagoda (in the foreground) from my guesthouse window.  Wat Lanka remained unscathed by the Khmer Rouge as they used it as a storehouse.  The Green building to the left is my favourite new restaurant (recommended by Georgia and Pat), called Nature & Sea.  The steps are steep but the brie baguettes and mango juices are totally worth the fear of falling!