Newsletters
With our regular newsletters, we aim to keep you posted on all the interesting and important news and updates of our programs and various activities. Enjoy reading!
February 18, 2004
Dear friends and partners, Starting in new provinces always involves a lot of work - staff spend days traveling through out the province - meeting with the local chiefs and talking with the people. Discussions are held with me and other staff - more questions - more traveling - more answers until we think we should begin.
But before we begin in a big way, I am requested to come and see for myself - to give my final stamp of approval. This week was one of those final approval weeks. I approved the opening of Banteay Meanchay province - a province whose location is contiguous to Siem Reap and is a natural choice for expansion. Let me share my 2 days that I spent with Ani, our manager in Siem Reap and Tim Kameak who is our new manager in Banteay Meanchay. Kameak joined our staff in 2000 - he was a close friend of Dara. Dara, I suspect, knew that he was dying, and so he quietly trained Kameak in the work. After Dara's death, it was natural to hire him as staff and to take over Dara's work. Kameak is just 30, single and women are a bane in his life. He is the youngest of 5 children; his parents killed by the Khmer Rouge, his oldest brother as well - leaving his 4 sisters and himself. He is another quiet one, putting up with the constant teasing of the female staff in Siem Reap and the hugs and kisses from me, his boss. But he likes it - if we don't do all these things, he thinks he has done something wrong. Monday morning started early, I left Phnom Penh at 7 and arrived in Siem Reap 45 minutes later. Ani and Kameak had the car ready and off we went. Kameak was the driver and he took his vengeance out on us. The road is tarmac ked for 30 kilometers - on this section he drove no faster than 30 kilometers an hour - my patience was tested but I said nothing- and then we hit the dirt roads - speed crept up to 120 kph and both Ani and I were white faced and perspiring - slow down I would say as we hit another crater - he smiled and just went that much faster - I smacked him on the arm and I got the grin - by this time, Ani had her arms around my neck - her breathing came in gasps and groans - I smacked him harder - then we saw a bridge - and he slowed down to 10 kph - a breather except the bridge was in horrible shape - gaps in the girders - spikes all over the road - but we made it - it was the first of 77 bridges - I came to love them and hate them at the same time. In an hour we entered Banteay Meanchay province - at first it looked like Siem Reap and then became flatter and flatter - huge expanses of seemingly endless plain - dotted occasionally by communities. We arrived in Banteay Meanchay at 10:30 and Kameak proudly drove us to the office he and the staff had chosen. I was horrified. It is a shack of broken wood with mud floors - Ani saw my face and quickly assured me there was nothing better for $20.00 a month - I said, we can afford more but then she said, we looked - $100 ones are the same and she then showed me one -on the outside it was done nicely - colored tiles but inside it was wood and mud. This will not do, said I, you must fix it - cement floors and new walls, a bedroom and a kitchen and a toilet - Ani laughed - she said, I knew you would say this when you saw it. Kameak gave his grin again and I gave him a hug. Then we went off to see the potential families - we met several families representing 650 families - all of whom broke rocks into small stones for a living. It was hard to imagine breaking rocks for a living - the morning had gotten hot and women, men and children all sat in makeshift shades breaking rocks, - none stopped as we talked - they worked 7 days a week to crush 1 truck load of rocks - their homes were mere shells of bits and pieces of grass and plastic, mud floors, little else - a life time of misery for so very little. Yet none complained for then Kameak showed me the ones with no homes and no work - hundreds of them and I was appalled. Breaking rocks, the people said, is much better than having no work and no food. Poverty is a hard task master. I am humbled by the quiet strength of those who work so hard for so little and even more humbled by those who desire to work but cannot find any. Their will to live is so very strong. At 2, we left for Poipet - the border town with Thailand. Here my culture shock re-asserted itself - we stayed in a Casino with a 5 start hotel - price was $30.00 which included 2 meals and a $10 chit to gamble with. I was horrified but Ani said, you need to see this. As we stood at the top of the hotel we saw horrendous poverty - next to the wall of the hotel, 850 families lived in shacks - no water, no toilets, no anything. Then we drove around the town - behind the front row of respectable businesses were thousands of families living in poverty. On the outskirts of the town were entire suburbs of families living in poverty. Everywhere we went - there was more - each place had its own unique mark - dirt, filth, limited space - suburbs had space but showed just how terrible the living really was. Oh Kameak, I kept saying, lots of work, lots of work. I kept getting the grin. With such poverty, security is often an issue - we discussed all our options and decisions were made. The next morning we stood at the border and watched people streaming across the border to find what work they could. Kameak was mesmerized and forgot he was driving - people were honking and screaming at us to move our car of the road but he just couldn't absorb it all. Finally we were off again, this time to find the silk weavers - 3 hours later - we were on a dirt road without gas but a wizened man showed up with 10 cokes bottles of gas and we were ready to go. In the silk weavers villages - the poverty was much less - they were growing the silk worms and showed us the process - it was fascinating. Most of it is bought by our weavers in Takeo and other places. Very good. We arrived back in Siem Reap at 2 to meet with the other staff - we were looking for a real showroom. Kameak still drove and he very kindly stopped in the middle of the road whenever we saw a place. We think we found one - decisions were made of who will do what and how as this process moves on. As staff we decided to fire our newest staff - he was not working out and we gave a approval to Kameak's replacement in Siem Reap. At 4 we were at the airport - Ani, Apo, Sarouen, Mari, Chrisom, Vath all said good bye - Kameak stood before me with his grin - both of us were hot and dirty and smelly - he gave me a big hug. I held him close for a minute and then said, well done, son, well done. Our 2 days together will never be forgotten - I am so grateful that God has given him to us as a part of Tabitha. I am so grateful that God gave us each of you to stand with us. It is so very good. Janne
