Leaving Cambodia: More Questions than Answers
Posted on 01. Jun, 2010 by James in Mentors' Blog
Without electricity it is difficult to access the internet. Fortunately electricity is not a perquisite for a rich and happy life. This is just one of the many lessons that was reinforced during my last two-and-half weeks in Cambodia. During that time myself and my eight team members lived with our friend Sareth and his family in a village about one hour outside of Phnom Penh. It is here that Sareth has created his own NGO with a focus on providing education to the impoverished farming communities throughout the surrounding area.
A Buddhist monk and strong advocate for education, Sareth is also the only person within all the surrounding villages to have completed university – a monumental achievement in an area where life depends on hard days spent farming rice and vegetables, with every task performed by hand or oxen. Sareth’s organization, Raise and Support the Poor (or RSP for short), is fairly new but there are three sizable school houses, two irrigation ponds, a well, and other places to rest and play on site. Behind the school buildings are fields where rice and vegetables are grown to feed the students. With Sareth’s ambition and continued support from the local and international community this school will no doubt continue to flourish.
While at RSP the team and I lent a hand in constructing a garden in the hard, hot soil. Being the dry season, the heat was more intense than anything I have previously known with temperatures commonly reaching 40-45 degrees Celsius at midday. While resting from the hoeing and the heat Sareth taught us all a great deal about the troubled past of Cambodia, the present struggles faced by the community, and his optimism for the future. While discussing these issues we were often asked if the problems faced by Cambodians were also present in Canada. Forced to critically think about drug abuse, poverty, and crime, it was almost surprising to answer that yes, Canadians share these problems. Of course Canada has these problems, but sitting down and talking about it with people in such an impoverished area of the world starts to make you ask questions of your own. I found myself wondering just how important wealth was if in a nation such as Canada we cannot offer recipes for success in eliminating problems such as addiction and poverty. With all of our natural and social resources one would assume that we have all the tools necessary for fully addressing these issues at home, if not in other nations.
Since arriving back in Canada I continue to wonder why I cannot answer the innocent question posed to me in Cambodia: why is Canada not able to help it’s people that are in need? Asked by a man that grew up in a culture where sharing and a strong community are essential for survival, this question seems simple. Answering this question as a twenty-two year old, middle-class Canadian schooled in the natural sciences was exceptionally difficult. This question has fuelled my desire to find answers and implement solutions.
I wonder now what lessons will be learned in Lesotho. I wonder if by the time we depart next summer we will have any answers to the questions we will be asked. There may very well be no clear-cut answers, but the best we can do is try to understand as fully as possible why that is the case.
Until next time,
James
