Just a short one

I really like this video. It's short, check it out!

This was just travelling around Phnom Penh.

A bit about my work

I must confess I've been putting off writing about my job here. It's difficult to put into words all the issues facing an organization working with sexually exploited children. I can tell you what I do day to day, and even though it won't really get to the heart of the issue, it's a start, right?

My official "title" is Child Protection Support Worker and my main job is to help Chab Dai's member organizations (of which there are around 40) write/update and implement their child protection policies (CPP). This consisted at first to go through each organization's CPP and assess it using an assessment tool I developed when I first got here. As per each organization's interest, I sit down with a director or protection worker and go through their CPP with them, showing them the assessment and giving them suggestions about additions or changes they may want to make to their policy.

Most organizations in Chab Dai have a CPP (it's a requirement for members), but few of them have any active implementation of the CPP in their activities. Usually, the only time their staff ever see the CPP is when they are first hired and must sign a statement of commitment to the guidelines of the CPP. Hardly any do any child protection training. That's where I come in again. We are planning to offer three workshops in November, January, and February on child protection. It will be a training of trainers, so organizations can send one of two staff to our training and then return to train the rest of their staff.

It would be a real shame if we did all this training and capacity development and, when I leave in March, it fell flat without any follow-up or support. This is the third part of my job. I am training a Chab Dai staff member to take over my position when I leave. So I'm bringing her through an in-depth training on child protection and she will soon start doing the assessments with me. She will also lead the Khmer child protection training after observing me lead the English training.

The children we are protecting with these CPP are at-risk children, coming out of sexual exploitation and/or abusive situations, they've been sold into, and now rescued from, brothels and bondage, some as young as 6 or 7 years old. Even though I don't work directly with these children, I am constantly reminded of why I am here and what I working for. More later...

Violence on Thai-Cambodia Border

Yesterday, tensions came to violence in the north of Cambodia, where Thailand and Cambodia have been fighting over the ancient Preah Vihear temple. Apparently two soldiers were killed. We were a little nervous that riots would break out in Phnom Penh, so we left work early and stayed in yesterday evening. But nothing happened and things have seemed to calm down up north as well. So in case you'd been following the news, we're fine!

You can read about it at BBC online:
Gunfight on Thai-Cambodia border
Talks on Thai-Cambodia temple row

Neak Chmooa Avai? Knyom Chmooa Charlie!

We finally started language lessons.
It's wonderful. We can now count past 29, and buy a variety of meats at the market. Also I know how to say my name.

That's it for now!

Charlie

Our apartment

We live in a good location in Phnom Penh. It's a neighbourhood called Tuol Svei Prei Pi and it's near the Olympic Stadium (no, the Olympics have never been held here) It's near enough to the markets and not a far bike ride from work. Of course, Phnom Penh is a pretty small city to begin with and easy to navigate. We really like our apartment, it's bigger than our apartment in Montreal! The only downside is that right on our corner, about 20 feet from our front gate, is a really big dog restaurant. Now, I'm as adventurous as the next person, but this place is pretty gross. I've seen the cooks skinning a dog as I've walked by and they keep the charred dog skulls on display at the front. Thanks, I think I'll pass on that experience.
If you want to find us on the map, see this website (we're a few streets east of the corner of Monireth Blvd. and Mao Tse Tung Blvd.)
Here are some pictures of our living room/kitchen and an extra room we've turned into a reading/Pilates room!

Sihanoukville

This past weekend was a Cambodian national holiday - Pchum Ben. For starters, Cambodia has 44 national holidays throughout the year, the most in the world! But Pchum Ben is one of the more important ones, when people customarily go to their home towns for the weekend. So we packed up with half of Phnom Penh and headed - well, home was a little far for us - to Sihanoukville, Cambodia's beach 'paradise'.


Sihanoukville is a seedy town. Middle aged Australian men hang around with young Cambodian women, the beer is super cheap, and the whole place kinda smells. The tourist dollars are not going towards cleaning crews, that's for sure. Our room was the epitome of all that is Sihanoukville. We made the unfortunate decision of staying at the Sea Sun Guesthouse, which seemed fine in our Lonely Planet. Without going into too mcuh detail, it was humid, moldy, and the pillow gave me (Julia) a runny nose and swollen eyes in the morning.

You would think, based on our description of Sihanoukville, that we had a bad vacation, but we had a great time!! Ok, so a paradise it surely isn't, but the water was warm and the waves great and it was all around a good time. We sat, we ate, we swam, we read, we relaxed.

Bits and pieces

We've observed and expeirenced so many interesting (and banal) things since we arrived two weeks ago , we thought we'd share some with you.

Julia's Little Bunker

We bought bicycles and it has turned out to be a great mode of transportation in this city. It's pretty flat and easy to navigate. And, YES! we bought helmets as well, although they only had Large sizes, so Julia looks like she has a nuclear war shelter on her head (picture forthcoming). Seriously, the helmet is about twice the size of her head.

Koan Kla and Oom Barang

Two new Khmer phrases that we've learned recently. Koan Kla, the name of the orange office kitten at Chab Dai, is Khmer for Baby Tiger. I pronounce the word Kla as Claw, giving it a Double Entendre, if you will. Oom Barang is my new nickname I received from the EFC CC office staff. Literally, it translates as Uncle Foreigner. 

Expecting?

In Cambodia, when you've been married for as long as we have (yes, just over a year), it is normal to already have a child, or at the very least be preggers. And, if you're not, it's usually assumed that it's the husband's fault. You know what I'm talking about. So when my coworker asked how long I'd been married, and found out we aren't expecting, he proceeded to laugh heartily at my inability to... well, gitter done. 

Driving

If you are worried about us being in foreign parts, don't read this next bit! Driving here is nuts! People pretty much just do what they want, depending on their size. Cars drive forward and honk, motos swerve around each other, especially at intersections because there are no stop signs and about 3 sets of traffic lights in the whole city. Bicycles are pretty much at the bottom of the food chain, and you really don't want to be a pedestrian! If you want to cross the street, you don't wait for someone to stop for you, you just walk across the street and people will swerve around you. If you are on the wrong side of the road, you just drive against traffic until you get the chance to merge into the correct traffic lane. Nutso!

We promise to take more pictures soon! Thanks for keeping up with us!