Humans of Cambodia: 3 Stories I’ve Encountered from 2016 to 2018
So far, I’ve been to Cambodia 3 times. No matter how many times I’ve visited, this amazing country can always offer me stories to bring back home.
I’ve written down most of the stories in Chinese before. Now I will try to make them into English so these stories can even be spread out further.
Let me tell the stories in chronological order.
2016
My first time was with a week-long voluntary group launched by a Taiwanese social enterprise to Siem Reap. During my short stay, I built a eco-friendly house for a underprivileged family, taught in a elementary school and visited several local-friendly organizations and restaurants. I know, I know. It sounds like a voluntourism. And it was really more like a voluntourism than voluntary work for me. But since voluntourism is not the topic for today, let’s just ignore that part for now and bring the focus back on “Humans of Cambodia.”
While building the house, we also got a chance to interview the family. At the time, the family was formed with 4 members, including father, mother, son and a to-be-born baby. As a family of 4, they lived simply under a roof top with a wooden bed in the middle, and no any wall on the side. The condition seemed severe to us, yet not so much for them. Though they only make two dollars per day, the mistress still smiled and kept her positive attitudes towards her everyday livings.
“If money isn’t a problem for you, what would you want to do?” This was the last question we asked the mistress. To our surprise, she said — “I don’t know. I never have money.” The answer shocked me right in the face. I did not realize that dreaming would be someone’s inability until I heard her answer. Dreaming, the ability that we take it for granted, is actually an impossible thing for some people. This was way beyond my imagination.
2017
The second visit happened to be with a Japan based NGO for a two-month internship. This time allowed me to spend more time with locals and have deeper observation on Cambodian society.
“Lady, tuk-tuk!” It was the words he first said to me. He was a tuk-tuk driver that often waiting for business outside a hotel near by the office I worked. Every time I walked pass, we would always greet to each other or even had a small chat.
One day after work, I asked him to take me to Phnom Krom, a place near to Tonle Sap Lake, to see sunset. Although the cloud was too thick that I did not get to see the sunset, we had a great talk on the way. He showed me the touristic spots around Tonle Sap Lake, the daily life of Cambodian people and even barbecue mice and frogs. (I did not dare to eat any of those.) While on the way back, I asked him to bring me to a restaurant where my other friend was waiting. Due to my poor Khmer language, I could not pronounce the name of the street properly. Therefore, I handed him my google map trying to explain where the location was. Surprisingly, he shook his head and said, “I can’t read English.”
Yes, I was shocked again. His English speaking skill is way better than most of my country fellows, but without knowing English words, he could not do any English administrative related works, which means that he would lose many job opportunities.
What’s worse, we were even on the same year of age…
2018
The third visit was out of my expectation. I booked the flight just one day before departure. I know it was crazy but it turned out to be the other experience that I will always cherish in my life time. However, the main purpose of this visit was to play as an “intern journalist” to learn how to do interviews.
The story I would like to share this time still took place in Siem Reap.
He was the other tuk-tuk driver that showed up in front of where I stayed. Since “lady, tuk-tuk” is a kind of the sentence that every tuk-tuk driver would say to me, he had no exception. And since it was my third time visiting Siem Reap, I was familiar with everywhere I was heading to and I was rather comfortable to walk than taking rides. So I naturally replied without any hesitation. ”No, thank you.” I said.
Maybe he had already heard enough of this kind of reply. Maybe he had a rough day. Instead of getting back to his tuk-tuk and waiting for the next opportunity, he said, “‘No, thank you’ means no business.”
His words made my heart sink. I understand how difficult it is to be a tuk-tuk driver even in a touristic city like Siem Reap. There is no any promise of business. They can only wait and wait. To attract customers, they even need to come up with certain ways to catch people’s eyes. But I was also on budget that could not simply afford any extra rides. Then I turned around and said, “I am sorry.”
I am really sorry to hear him saying that. From my deep inside, I hope him will be able to achieve a better life in the near future; I hope there will be something he can do to improve himself other than simply waiting for business without doing anything that can actually make him move forward. I hope, I really hope…
Encounters like these always make me ponder over the unfairness of the world. Nevertheless, the purpose of recording down these stories is not for people to take a pity on these people; instead, I hope that people can have more empathy and act more wisely before making any decision, especially while visiting a developing country like Cambodia.
