Brian's
story... continued
POSTCARD FROM PRASAT CHA
So
this is me waxing lyrical. My name is Brian or in Deb’s parlance,
Daddy Kuhl. The observations were made on my recent visit to Siem Reap
to spend some time with Deb and try to be some help in all the great
work she is doing.
To
be honest, on the evening in question I was not providing any help to
speak of. Rather I was resting beneath a tree waiting for Chanti,
Deb’s able assistant and my ride back to town, who was giving a bunch
of children an English lesson. For me it became a time of reflection as
the scene before me became increasingly animated. The peaceful, totally
rural setting, with the odd farmer bringing his oxen or buffalo home
after a day grazing or ploughing in fields nearby, changed quite
dramatically.
Within
the space of 30 minutes the farmers had to compete for space in crossing
the narrow wall across the nearby weir with a constant stream of
cyclists making their way home. It was “peak hour at Prasat
Cha”!!!!! Literally
dozens of men and women, returning at days end from their jobs around
the
Angkor
temples and in Siem Reap, some 25 kilometres away. What I was witnessing
was as close as one would get to a “traffic jam” in that setting.
How
nice it was to reflect that here was a situation that would have been
almost undreamt of by the people of the village 12 months ago. The happy
voices of the children in the picturesque school behind me, the school
that Deb and you, her supporters, helped the villagers build. The dozens
of bicycles jamming up the track, some of the 240 bicycles introduced
into the village under a purchase or reward program initiated by Deb to
get at least one bicycle into every home. And the very fact that those
same bicycles could not have traversed that track and indeed the people
would not have had those jobs had it not been for the bridge that
Helping Hands built to provide rainy season access to the village.
Through
Deborah’s initiative and your support much has been achieved over the
past 18 months toward improving the village infrastructure and the
living standards and health of a number of families/individuals in the
village. However, while the residents indeed live in a place endowed
with natural beauty, the underside of
the village reveals that so much still needs to be done to raise
living standards to an “acceptable” level, albeit one that we in the
west would still consider to be extreme poverty.
Things
that we take for granted such as reticulated water and power and
sewerage systems are realistically generations away. The importance of
establishing wells in strategic locations to provide clean drinking
water cannot be over-emphasised. Nor can the necessity of adult
education on the subject of health and hygiene in the home. These are
initiatives on which Deborah is currently engaged.
Basic
lighting is another area to be addressed. In time to come solar power
will be an obvious solution in the area. But that remains a long way off
for these people. In the meantime access to a simple camper’s lamp,
which we might keep in the shed for use once or twice a year, would
provide a huge improvement on the smoky little oil lamp burned in most
houses in the evening. LED technology may provide a short term solution
and prospects of sourcing lamps at an acceptably low price are being
investigated.
Despite the
harsh history endured by this country over many centuries and the
poverty that prevails, the spirit and positive outlook of today’s
generation of Khmer people is wondrous. But given the continuing
corruption which holds back development in
Cambodia
, the people on the ground are hard pressed to improve their lot without
outside help.
Helping
Hands and other similar small non-government aid organisations cannot
change the face of
Cambodia
. But through the seemingly boundless energy of Deborah Groves and with
your continued support, a real difference can be made in the lives of
the people of Prasat Cha, one of the poorest villages in the poorest
Province of the country.