09.30.08
Posted in Media at 1:29 am by Kaihaku
First released in 1983, Genman Taisen is a full length animated movie based on Shotaro Ishinomori’s epic manga series which is in turn based on the novels by Kazum Hirai. Later, Genman Taisen was released in the West under the absolutely terrible name of Harmagedon. Until today I actually thought the movie was part of the Captain Harlock continuity. I have to say that I’m not disappointed to discover that it isn’t.
Harmagedon has a terrible and not undeserved reputation. The voice acting is absolutely horrid in a way that only a science fiction anime from the eighties can be. The execution of the plot at certain key points is beyond weak, several of the ‘main’ characters are presented as paper-thin, and many of the supporting characters do not get the development they deserve. The whole thing with the main character’s sister is weird too. There’s also a drastic shift in focus about a quarter of the way into the film, the main character up to that point becomes a secondary character, which is more than a bit jarring. Speaking of jarring, there’s this annoying blue woman who appears sporadically and hops around the screen calling out prophecies…which wouldn’t be so bad if she didn’t have the honor of being both the worst animated and worst voiced character in the film. Finally, the main villain clearly had the potential to be much more interesting than he was portrayed to be. Though, his appearance is an awesome scene that should be classic.
Now, all that said, I hope you can appreciate when I say that of the anime from the early eighties that I have seen only Studio Ghibli films have had better animation than Harmagedon. That’s saying something. Aside from a few jarring themes, the music is also surprisingly good and fitting. Though poorly developed, the characters are actually quite compelling and there’s plenty of sign that there’s a lot more to them in the manga and novels. There were a few scenes that, despite it all, extremely well done. Harmagedon has some interesting moral themes woven into it, it is not as shallow as it first appears and is much more than just the standard ‘friends and hope are all we need’ cliche. The final battle is short, easy to follow, and well animated.
The plot is cliche. There’s an ancient malevolent being, Genma, who has destroyed countless worlds and is now heading for earth. The life force of the universe chooses Princess Luna of Transylvania, a precognitive psion, to assemble the psionic warriors of earth to oppose this threat. She is joined by a 2,000 year old cyborg warrior from a world that was destroyed by Genma. The dancing blue woman tells us that the Princess is the only hope for the world and that she will discover her ultimate power through love. That never ends up happening because after the first quarter the Princess is supplanted as the main character of the film.
As I mentioned, the characters are poorly developed but not poorly designed. The first psionic warrior, who also supplants the Princess as the main character, is a Japanese high school student named Jo. For a male Japanese high school, he is refreshingly not a fetish pervert. He lives with his older sister who takes care of him and who personally embodies the best elements of Japanese femininity. The emphasis on their relationship is creepy, she might be the one with a fetish actually. He starts out with a girlfriend who actually has some depth and who stands up for herself without being dominating. I know, so out of place in an anime. She dumps him early on because “she can’t compete with his sister.” It’s a shame that she doesn’t get more development. She only shows up one more time in the movie which is to, of course, get possessed by a demon and then killed. He also has a best friend with an interesting personality that never really gets developed; there’s clearly a lot going on but we never really find out what it is. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, Jo also has latent pyschokinetic powers. I know, he sounds terrible but he actually is a surprisingly balanced and compelling character. So much so that, upon finishing the movie, I wondered if he is the progenitor of that particular stereotype. It’s entirely possible as the first Genma Taisen novel was published in 1960.
The next quarter of the movie revolves around Jo. Then, abruptly, the focus shifts to New York which is being destroyed by a demon. There, Luna and Vega are searching for a psionic warrior. Without explanation, Luna has gained a terrible new pink hairdo and has traded her nice Transylvanian clothing for a bad combination of linen and leather. Sonny…yes, Sonny is an African American who, like all African Americans, is a hip gang leader. Sonny also has psionic powers of teleportation. Despite being precognitive, Luna is stunned to learn that Sonny is “black” and a “gang member” and refuses at first to contact him. Vega, who is an alien remember, chides her about racism and that subplot is resolved. The three of them end up fighting the previously mentioned demon and aren’t faring so well. With things looking so grim, Luna sends out a psionic distress call which every other psionic warrior on the planet hears and answers. With that simple act, her quest is completed in the course of about 30 seconds. Why didn’t she think of that before? Jo arrives after a short flight from Japan and the real fight starts.
From this point, the film continues following Jo up until the final battle. Then, with all of the psionic warriors assembled for the first time, Genma is defeated. Vega and Jo are the primary workers of Genma’s defeat. The prophecy about Luna having a moment to shine in the end goes unfulfilled.
So yeah, Harmagedon is a terrible movie with great potential that occasionally shines through. I’ll say that it was worth the two dollars I paid for it.
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09.27.08
Posted in Current Events, Life and the happenings there of at 2:31 am by Kaihaku
The public beating derailed me from my coverage of the elections and between work and just how depressing it all was I never quite gathered the energy to wrap things up.
The Cambodian People’s Party unsurprisingly won a vast majority of the votes. The Sam Rainsy managed to hold just about stable own but the other parties were significantly weakened. FUNCINPEC is down to a representation of only three seats.
One of the cleaners at MCC told me that she was given 20,000 Riel and a sombot, a sarong, to vote for the CPP. She didn’t tell me if she did or not, knowing her I don’t think she did. In Cambodian society, it’s difficult to refuse a ‘gift’ so these bribes are compelling. If she didn’t accept the gift, she went against her culture. She’s one of the strong ones.
Not long after the election, I had a moto dup who told me that the CPP won the election because they gave everyone gifts, most people got 10,000 Riel. Some people got a sarong, some got 20,000 Riel. He estimated that altogether the CPP spent four dollars per person and bribed 10,000,000 people. He says they could spend 40,000,000 dollars bribing people because they have lots of money. I wondered if he was just telling me what I wanted to hear, I saw he hadn’t voted and he only began talking once when I remarked that we were passing Sam Rainsy’s headquarters. He then moved on and connected himself to the topic. He said that gas was so expensive and that this was because of corruption. He asked how much a liter of gas was in America and he laughed when I told him 4,000 Riel. He was disgusted, or so it seemed, that gas in America was less expensive than gas in Cambodia. I’m fairly certain he was fishing for a big tip but I most of what he told me was exaggerated not false.
In the months that have followed, I have personally heard many more tales similar to the above, some people even told me of intimidation. There have been the typical protests and demands for justice but the opposition parties, as well as some stunning reversals from FUNCINPEC and the ever turncoat Norodom Ranariddh who, once again, joined Hun Sen. Ranariddh even went so far as to publish an advertisement publicly discrediting the other opposition parties and claiming that he would never dirty his honor by associating with anyone other than Hun Sen. It was disgusting.
I should really post more of the political maneuvering… I should try to analyze the mess… I should really post some of the stunning reversals… I should but I’m not going to. The topic leaves me too drained.
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Posted in Ponderings and Incomplete Thoughts at 12:51 am by Kaihaku
Nothing save one’s self. It’s a lesson I’ve mastered in Cambodia, where it’s a cultural expectation, and I wonder how it will serve me once I return to the lands of my birth; to speak the truth with a smile.
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09.26.08
Posted in Life and the happenings there of at 10:53 pm by Kaihaku
So scattered…evenings, mornings, nights… Every little bit of free time has been so feverish, my mind racing but going nowhere. Like an engine in neutral with the pedal floored. Whew, I don’t know why I get like this. Though, it probably has over stimulation as a part of it. I should listen to lyrical music less, I think that would probably help. The problem with that is I like listening to lyrical music. Sigh, Within Temptation is amazing but it’s music is too loaded. So, some silence, maybe that will help. Though, it’s never really silent here.
Yeah, so let’s see if I can tie up some loose ends and get some focus back into my hours off work. Starting with closing iTunes.
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09.21.08
Posted in Current Events at 9:37 pm by Kaihaku
Below is an LA Times opinion piece by Rosa Brooks.
Dear United States, Welcome to the Third World!
It’s not every day that a superpower makes a bid to transform itself into a Third World nation, and we here at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund want to be among the first to welcome you to the community of states in desperate need of international economic assistance. As you spiral into a catastrophic financial meltdown, we are delighted to respond to your Treasury Department’s request that we undertake a joint stability assessment of your financial sector. In these turbulent times, we can provide services ranging from subsidized loans to expert advisors willing to perform an emergency overhaul of your entire government.
As you know, some outside intervention in your economy is overdue. Last week — even before Wall Street’s latest collapse — 13 former finance ministers convened at the University of Virginia and agreed that you must fix your “broken financial system.” Australia’s Peter Costello noted that lately you’ve been “exporting instability” in world markets, and Yashwant Sinha, former finance minister of India, concluded, “The time has come. The U.S. should accept some monitoring by the IMF.”
We hope you won’t feel embarrassed as we assess the stability of your economy and suggest needed changes. Remember, many other countries have been in your shoes. We’ve bailed out the economies of Argentina, Brazil, Indonesia and South Korea. But whether our work is in Sudan, Bangladesh or now the United States, our experts are committed to intervening in national economies with care and sensitivity.
We thus want to acknowledge the progress you have made in your evolution from economic superpower to economic basket case. Normally, such a process might take 100 years or more. With your oscillation between free-market extremism and nationalization of private companies, however, you have successfully achieved, in a few short years, many of the key hallmarks of Third World economies.
Your policies of irresponsible government deregulation in critical sectors allowed you to rapidly develop an energy crisis, a housing crisis, a credit crisis and a financial market crisis, all at once, and accompanied (and partly caused) by impressive levels of corruption and speculation. Meanwhile, those of your political leaders charged with oversight were either napping or in bed with corporate lobbyists.
Take John McCain, your Republican presidential nominee, whose senior staff includes half a dozen prominent former lobbyists. As he recently put it, “I was chairman of the [Senate] Commerce Committee that oversights every part of the economy.” No question about it: Your leaders’ failure to notice the damage done by irresponsible deregulation was indeed an oversight of epic proportions.
Now you are facing the consequences. Income inequality has increased, as the rich have gotten windfalls while the middle class has seen incomes stagnate. Fewer and fewer of your citizens have access to affordable housing, healthcare or security in retirement. Even life expectancy has dropped. And when your economic woes went from chronic to acute, you responded — like so many Third World states have — with an extensive program of nationalizing private companies and assets. Your mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are now state owned and controlled, and this week your reinsurance giant AIG was effectively nationalized, with the Federal Reserve Board seizing an 80% equity stake in the flailing company.
Some might deride this as socialism. But desperate times call for desperate measures.
Admittedly, your transition to Third World status is far from over, and it won’t be painless. At first, for instance, you may find it hard to get used to the shantytowns that will replace the exurban sprawl of McMansions that helped fuel the real estate speculation bubble. But in time, such shantytowns will simply become part of the landscape. Similarly, as unemployment rates continue to rise, you will initially struggle to find a use for the expanding pool of angry, jobless young men. But you will gradually realize that you can recruit them to fight in a ceaseless round of armed conflicts, a solution that has been utilized by many other Third World states before you. Indeed, with your wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, you are off to an excellent start.
Perhaps this letter comes as a surprise to you, and you feel you’re not fully ready to join the Third World. Don’t let this feeling concern you. Though you may never have realized it, you’ve been preparing for this moment for years.
The sarcasm is thick, just the way we seem to love it in America, but it hits on the truth. We have brought ourselves… No, we have allowed our leaders to bring our country to the brink of another great depression. Our leaders and those who follow them are still too blinded to take the action needed to prevent it. Though, would that bringing on this coming darkness were the worst of their crimes… Fifty years of history lurks in the background. It reminds me of Pastor Martin Niemöller’s famous verse…
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out -
because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out -
because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out -
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me.
The list of countries is lengthy… After them, then it came to the poor of United States itself, then the middle class, and then the lower elements of the upper class until, in the end, there was no one left save the wealthiest. I’ve seen a lot of Democrats holding up this article and screaming at the Republicans. It’s not the right response. Clinton’s deregulations, while not as harmful as Reagan’s, have still been very harmful. This isn’t an issue of political party, it’s an issue of class… It’s always been an issue of class. The “haves” versus the “have-nots”. It’s just getting around to the “have-nots” and the “have-lesses” in the United States. The leaders among the Democrats and the Republicans are, for the most part, the “same people”. Deflection is not answer, address the cause.
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09.12.08
Posted in Life and the happenings there of at 7:49 pm by Kaihaku
Well, it’s the rainy season and thick clouds cover the sky. The rain those clouds bring is vexing enough but they themselves are causing some frustration. Our office internet here in Prey Veng, restored to us only recently, is on the fritz. The satellite connection is having a hard time piercing the gray cloak hanging over us.
Well, the internet, obviously, still works but it takes a good ten minutes to just load Gmail and many other sites just fail. AIM? I could get on but the connection would last for about a minute and I’m not really in the mood for the kind of frustration that disconnects provide… So, if communication from me is down, that’s why.
Monday through Wednesday I’ll be out in the countryside, Me Sang and Pea Reaing districts to be exact, so I’ll be dealing with some of the more troublesome aspects of the rainy season… Flooding and lots of mud.
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Posted in Life and the happenings there of at 2:58 am by Kaihaku
It’s the heart of the rainy season now and getting around in the countryside is quite difficult. There have been heavy showers every day and the Mekong is at the highest point that I’ve seen it since coming to Cambodia; though that isn’t surprising given that upstream in Laos there was severe flooding this year.
Shortly after I returned from visiting home, Larry Groff, the MCC Country Director and far and away the best boss I’ve ever had, finished his six-year term of service and returned home. The new Country Director arrives on the 27th of this month but the transition period between has not been without its bumps and upsets. The absence of a clear authority structure and the unleashing of the massive amount of paperwork that Larry shielded us from left everyone more than a little bewildered. Some conflicts broke out due to miscommunication and there were a lot of long drawn debates and discussions that no one seemed to feel they could definitively end.
Team dynamics were a bit strained and, just to challenge us, several new staff arrived from North America during this time. The Unzicker family will be working with handicrafts in Siem Reap province. The new two SALTers, Karin and Christa, will be teaching English at the Royal University of Agriculture in Phnom Penh. Finally, the two new…Regional Representatives, Andy and Lana, who are ultimately in charge of MCC activities in the golden triangle of Laos, Cambodia, and Viet Nam. Actually, instead of being a burden the presence of new staff has really revived a sense of community that had been faltering.
Earlier this week, I took a trip out to the Takeo Community Forestry Integrated Development Association in, just in case you aren’t familiar with the provinces of Cambodia, Takeo province. Seiha was visiting TCFIDA, one of her five partners, and leading the trip. Karin and Christa were along to visit the countryside for the first time and see an established MCC partner. Chanrith, a guard at MCC, was along acting as our driver. I had been to visit TCFIDA three times before and I was along this time to compare their recent irrigation projects, three canal renovations, to PVIO’s work.
TCFIDA is easily one of MCC Cambodia’s best partners, in my opinion rivaled only by the Organization to Develop Our Villages in Me Sang district, Prey Veng. My understanding is that it was started some years ago when the government decided that they didn’t want to manage a 50 hectare forest and, simply, handed it over to MCC. Being the kind of organization that it is, MCC established the local community organization which grew into TCFIDA. The Association struggled a lot in the beginning with just managing the forest but survived due to heavy MCC support. Coming into their own, the villages bordering the forest are now only a portion of the Association which had branched out to many other communities. The Association’s focus has become increasing oriented towards Food Security and Community Finance work. There is still a strong relationship with MCC, though the Association is very competent and is no longer reliant on MCC to survive. The TCFIDA director is a wonderful older woman with a sharp mind and cheerful smile.
After arriving, we were introduced to the staff including eight, I counted them, interns from Maharishi Vedic University in northern Prey Veng province. It was a surprise to encounter Prey Veng students so far from Prey Veng. After introductions, the Director lead us on a tour of the charcoal furnaces and then into the forest. I joked with the Director a bit, asking if the forest had any wild animals like tigers, bears, or elephants. She replied only rabbits but that she wished there were elephants. There’s a saying in Cambodia, ‘jhole stueng dam bot, jhole srok dam pro tieh’ or ‘enter a river and follow the turns, enter a country and follow the nation”. I added ‘jhole prey dam pro tien’ or ‘enter the forest follow the director’… Well, it was funny, maybe it’s a Khmer language thing. After wandering around for a bit and asking lots of questions about the project, it began to rain and we rushed back to the office. There, the director told me that Seiha is good luck because she brings the rain. We sat in the office for a long while, the SALTers relaxed while I listened to an impassioned discussion between Chanrith, the Deputy Director, and the Director on the merits of natural fertilizer versus chemical fertilizer. One key point was the oft repeated declaration that organic vegetables had a far superior taste. The rain didn’t let up so we went with one TCFIDA staff-member to visit the canal project. It was there, standing in the rain, that in answer to one of my questions I learned that TCFIDA had originally asked the Takeo Irrigation Office to provide an estimate of canal renovation costs and had been told $190,000 USD. This was not one of the great massive canals that the Prey Veng Department of Water Resources constructs more to ward off flooding than provide irrigation. This was a small, shallow, but lengthy irrigation canal. TCFIDA thought that the estimate was, to put it mildly, off so then did their own study and came to the conclusion that the entire project should run $70,000 USD. As frustrated as I often become with the Prey Veng Irrigation Office, it was a good reminder that they are heads and shoulders above almost any other government office here. The story didn’t end there however as the Takeo Irrigation Office was up in arms at losing the “$190,000 USD project” and threatened TCFIDA. Fortunately, the Association has a few connections in high places and an official in the Ministry of Rural Development managed to smooth things over for them…but if they hadn’t had that connection… After staying in the rain staring at the canal for a long while, we then went to have lunch with the rest of the TCFIDA staff at what I have decided is the “must stop at” restaurant in the Takeo. Every time I’ve been to or through Takeo for business or pleasure, the group or bus stops at this particular restaurant. Crystal might remember it from our trip to Kep. I think it was where we took too long at the bathrooms and had to leave our food half-eaten to jump back on the bus. There, I asked the TCFIDA staff another slew of irrigation questions with some help from Seiha. The food, incidentally, was excellent as always though the service was scattered and a bit slow as always. Then, we spent an hour at the director’s house hoping to wait out the rain. During that time, she made fun of my large feet, a popular pastime, and told me about the tsunami that hit Indonesia and the earthquake that struck China. Deciding that the rain wasn’t going to stop, Seiha, who was spending the night, bid us farewell and we headed back to Phnom Penh. All that said, the real high point of the visit actually occurred on trip back when, after a lengthy conversation, Karin looked at me and stated plainly, “Charles, looking at your face is making me want to vomit.”
The Takeo trip, on the whole, left me with a strong mix of frustration, envy and hope. I realized that it would be impossible to emulate what Association does in Prey Veng because the infrastructure doesn’t exist. Though, the people made the infrastructure and I really felt like crying at one point because of this, “WHY CAN’T THESE PEOPLE LIVE IN PREY VENG?” Why can’t people who choose to take low salaries and labor-intensive jobs just to help their community live in Prey Veng? Carol and I spent six months of our terms visiting nearly development organization in the province. Why didn’t a one of them have that sort of commitment? Even ODOV, easily the poster child of MCC Cambodia’s partners, has had problems with staff salaries soaring. That’s one area where TCFIDA stands unique and I have a tremendous amount of respect for its staff for taking on a low-paying, dangerous (for any number of reasons from irate, corrupt and spurned government officials to vengeful local villagers who they turned in for illegal logging), and often thankless career. That said, the trip had also reminded me of something that I was beginning to forget, that my own primary partner, the Prey Veng Irrigation Office, is probably one of the best government offices in the entire country and, while definitely frustrating, they are worth the effort.
Because of my trip to Takeo, I spent two nights in Phnom Penh which gave me a chance to eat dinner with people I enjoy. On Monday night, I dined with Seiha, her husband Pisith, Andy, and Lana at the Boat Noodle Restaurant. On Tuesday night, I had the pleasure of dining with the Ketchum family at the Flavors of India Restaurant. Both were rare and welcome treats for me. Good food, company, and conversation.
Yesterday, I met with Sakheourn, the director of PVIO, and we had a solid talk about the future of our partnership. I’ve been misreading him and, for his part, he’s been misreading me. We both realize that things are going to have to change in our partnership, but that’s good and I think we saw some ways that we can move forward building on a relationship of over twenty-years. The grass is greener in Takeo…well, probably, but the grass in Prey Veng has a lot of value to it too and, honestly, is in a lot more need.
My least favorite time of the Cambodian year begins in two days. The fifteen day long P’chum Benh festival or rather the ancestor spirit summoning festival. For the first twelve days and nights, the entire population will rotate in thirds visiting the pagodas and offering up sacrifices to their ancestor’s spirits. During the last three days, the ‘official’ holiday, the entire population will be visiting the pagodas. Throughout this whole time, day and night, every pagoda in Cambodia will be blasting the thrice accursed funeral music. Last year… Well, I was on the verge of a breakdown anyway but… Yeah. I’ll be spending the last week or so of P’chum Benh in Phnom Penh which I have been told is the quietest place in the country during the holiday. On the 27th, the new Country Directors will arrive from the United States and I’ll be hosting them that blissful quiet week. I offered to have a Durian on hand for their arrival but…
How sweet of you Charles to think of something memorable to greet us! However – we will pass on the durian!!!!!!!! No need to bother yourself at all.
The rainy season will soon reach its nearing its end and the cool season, regarded by many as the best time to be in Cambodia, is soon to begin.
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09.08.08
Posted in Life and the happenings there of at 12:56 am by Kaihaku
I wrote this report back in July and I had been meaning to put together a ‘blog-friendly’ version. Now it’s September so I think I’m just going to share the standard report I submitted instead of a more interesting narrative.
PTTC Trip Report
On June 30th, Hon Dara and I met with the director of the Primary Teacher Training Center of Prey Veng, Mr. Eam Seang. Our purpose was to gather information about primary school teachers and to investigate the possibility of supporting an Angkearhdei student through the process.
We introduced ourselves and I told him that I had been told that the main problem in rural education was teachers not wanting to stay in rural areas; then I asked him his opinion.
Mr. Seang told us that the aim of the ministry was to send teachers everywhere, to every community. The ministry is aware, however, that many teachers do not want to live in rural areas, so they offer a difficulty bonus of 40,000 Riel a month to the salary of teachers in those ‘special need’ areas.
He went on to explain the problems facing these teachers, much of what he said lined up with what officials at the department of education and school directors had told me, and with what I had seen myself in rural areas.
- Even with the bonus, teachers still have a low salary and have a difficult time making ends meet. In rural areas where the community is poor and unable to provide additional support, this need is amplified.
- Transportation is difficult in rural areas, making it hard for teachers to see their families and for rural trainees to attend PTTC.
- New Teachers often go to rural areas to teach as they promised but they become depressed and do not put effort into their work. Furthermore, many Teachers take on second or third jobs to make ends meet which divert them from teaching.
- In Prey Veng, a predominantly farming province, approximately seventy-five percent of Teacher trainees are from urban areas.
Basically, he said that the situation is just as we had heard. He said that the ministry is attempting to counter this problem in a few ways.
- Priority for teacher training goes to students from rural areas, referred to as special need areas. Trainees from these areas are allowed to pass the entrance exam and all other exams with lower grades than students from other areas. Most trainees need a total of at least 15 points; trainees from these areas need an undefined amount less.
- As stated above, teachers in these areas receive a difficulty bonus.
- When teaching assignments are handed out, trainees from these areas are given priority to return to their homeland and teach there. It is hoped that being in their home village with their family will encourage them to stay, which is exactly what we have been hoping as well.
Despite all this, Mr. Seang told us that living conditions are still a major problem that has not been overcome. He then told us how he thought it would be beneficial for MCC to augment the salaries of teachers in the special need areas.
Next, I asked him about the trainees.
There are 120 Year Two trainees who will complete their training this year. In September a committee of School Directions, Ministry, and Department officials will decide on their placements. Each trainee signs an agreement with the government to work in their initial placement for three years. Those with better scores are given preference and often placed in urban situations; I wondered silently if perhaps part of the problem with teachers having poor attitudes was this setting up rural placements almost as a punishment for doing poorly on the exam. Most of the trainees are from the city (only 36 out of 120 were from rural areas among the year two trainees and 23 out of 110 among the year one trainees) and so if they do poorly on their exams they are sent away from their families and the lifestyle they are accustom to. They do receive that additional 40,000 Riel a month but it does not go far. The district and provincial offices of education monitor teachers to see if they teach for the three years they agreed to, PTTC has no further role in monitoring them. As stated before, the only exception to the committee’s placement is for trainees from rural areas who wish to return to teach in their homeland, they are given priority no matter their grades.
I asked what support trainees receive and he told me that they only receive support once they become teachers. I asked again in a different way and he told me that the trainees support themselves save for a stipend of 9,000 Riel a month. There is also room for thirty trainees to stay at the school, the others have to find their own lodging and all students are responsible for their own food. In the past, he told me that two organizations did provide some help to the students but that both have stopped. The first was a French NGO, SIPAR or Soutie a I’Initiative Privee Pour I’Aide a la Reconstruction. The second was the World Food Program which has been drastically cutting back on its support due to the strain of the current food crisis.
Mr. Seang again suggested that MCC might augment the teacher’s salary. He said that this would be very helpful to encouraging them to stay in rural areas; he came close to saying the truth that they, like most civil servants, are drastically underpaid. He said that we should carefully monitor this sort of aid and could withdraw it if it was failing. Then, he talked about community support for teachers, pointing out that local pagodas often host and feed teachers if they are able and that communities will often pool rice from the harvest to give to teachers. However, he added that in poor areas this assistance is often impossible for the community.
I asked him how the number of trainees from rural areas could be increased but I think he misunderstand the question as how the number of total trainees could be increased. He answered that that decision was up to the Ministry but that in the upcoming five year plan the number of primary school teachers was increasing 10% while the number of pre-school teachers was doubling. There is a teacher shortage despite this and he said that many teachers teach double shifts. He brought up again how some NGOs augment teachers salaries in places like Kompong Thom because the government can’t (a diplomatic way of saying won’t) pay a living wage.
I then asked him about the application process, hoping to get back to my last question. He responded that the process was not difficult. Then he proceeded to explain how a high school graduate in a ‘special need’ area could apply to become a teacher, which is just what I wanted to know.
- The graduate has to obtain a letter of authentication from the local authorities; I assume the village leader or the district department of education.
- Next, they have to apply for and take the exam.
- As noted, normal applicants need to earn 15 points but an applicant from a special need area was noted as needing an unspecified lower amount. Possibly the necessary score is determined by how badly teachers are needed in the area.
I next asked what subjects teachers study at PTTC.
- Khmer Language
- Social Science
- The Sciences (This is what the Japanese volunteer is teaching)
- Mathematics
- Teacher Methodology and Psychology
- Special Subjects: HIV/AIDs, Human Rights, Bird Flu, etc.
He then told me another problem that new teachers face, for the first six months they are not considered teachers and only receive a portion of their salary. There was some confusion over how much of their salary they receive during this period and whether they receive any at all.
I asked him next which areas in Prey Veng were considered special need areas. He couldn’t remember and ended up giving me a printed list before I left.
He asked us to explain what kind of help we could provide and we very cautiously explained our situation; that we have the funding for one village and a pilot project to sponsor a high school graduate through the program but that broader support would have to wait as it went through the report and proposal process.
He asked us to consider helping the students from special need areas above any others; which was our intention from the beginning. He said that they face additional difficulties, often having to travel far on little money and return home to work in the fields. He said that this hurt their grades. He also noted how increasing food prices are becoming a major problem and that a stipend of 9,000 Riel a month is obviously of very little help.
We spoke about a few other matters then he said that he to attend a meeting at the Education Office and asked us to meet the trainees with his assistant director. Little did we realize that he had assembled all of the trainees into the main lecture hall to meet us.
We ended up sitting in front of most of the 230 trainees at PTTC. It was an awkward moment, obviously, but in the end it went well.
We explained to the trainees who we were, why we had come, and what we hoped to accomplish.
We asked them why they wanted to be teachers.
One from Me Sang said that he loves education and wants to help his country to develop. Another, also from Me Sang said that he wanted to first help himself, second help students, third help his country, and fourth educate about Cambodian culture. It was at this point that I asked how many students were from Me Sang and was surprised to see that Me Sang had more trainees than any other district, 15 people.
We asked them what difficulties they faced as trainees.
- They said that security was a problem; things were often lost or stolen. They didn’t feel that group living was safe.
- They did not have enough money to meet all of their living expenses. They received very little financial support and the 9,000 Riel was far too little.
- The school is far from their homes and traveling is very expensive. It is also frightening to live away from family.
One of the trainees mentioned that help with teaching methodology was also needed. He said that the one foreign teacher is very helpful but more would be even more helpful. Next to another foreign teacher, he said that more study materials would be best. This was seconded by another trainee from Preak Pa’noh in Pea Reaing who said that she wanted to learn to teach students so that they learned faster and hoped for study materials that would inspire her knowledge. Many other trainees spoke up agreeing with both of them on this.
Housing and money were the two most voiced difficulties.
I decided to follow up on one of the director’s comments and asked how many of the trainees worked second jobs. To my surprise, almost none of them did. It was soon explained that this was because they are in class from seven in the morning until five in the afternoon.
The trainees then asked a few questions. I was surprised at how open they were, I’ve gotten use to Khmer being very shy. Dara later told me that he thought this was because I was going through a translator, which surprised me but made sense, I’ve never really used a translator in such a direct way before.
After we had said good-bye and returned to our motos, we were swarmed by about thirty of the male trainees who asked some more questions. They told me that they desperately wanted an English language class and hoped that I could teach one either from six to seven in the morning or from five to six at night.
Finally, I was approached by a young male trainee who told me he had a chronic illness but didn’t know which one. He said that he didn’t have money to go to hospital, he was also from Me Sang, and asked me to think of him if I could help him in any way. I got his name and am now wondering about programs for this sort of thing. I know that Love Cambodia organizes an open clinic once a year but certainly there must be something else of that nature. If anyone knows of one let me know, I wouldn’t mind covering his travel expenses but I’m not so comfortable volunteering to cover a medical bill for an unknown chronic illness. It made me uncomfortable, of course, but then…”I have a chronic illness but I don’t know which one” is a heck of a way to start up a conversation.
So, that’s all I have in my notes. I know we talked about a few other things that I didn’t write down but I think this gets at most of it.
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09.01.08
Posted in Life and the happenings there of at 3:07 am by Crystal Graber
its so weird. i honestly don’t think she likes me, even though we got along great. i don’t understand. we were roomies at mennorode. we chatted in the evenings. i feel like i could be a real, excellent resource for her. i mean, if anyone knows about doing long distance relationships, its me, right? but she’s fine. she misses him but its not a problem. and yet it is, i can SEE that. but she is cold. standoffish.
all of them are, kind of. very positive about everything. why am i the only one who talks about being frustrated, irritated, overwhelmed? maybe its just a facebook thing. gotta be happy for all the committee members! :/
and then there’s kristen. she wrote me back, once. and then never again. what’s the problem? is she swamped, overwhelmed? or does she not want to talk to me? all my visions of hanging out with intermenno peeps are fading away. 
but i have made a new friend. he’s the new zivi, and he’s from the blackforest and he has offered/agreed (ok i kind of asked 
) to take me there! he knows the area and i am hopeful that i could save a good bit of cash by bunking with his parents…*claps excitedly* last summer he spent a week riding bike around lake constance. its about 80-100 miles around (we are guessing). i think i should have jason and kristi do THAT! 
i made a mistake. i assumed that its been 3 weeks since anyone touched the alcohol in the fridge, that i could have some. lizi threw a fit, and everyone with her. there was about 3 shots worth of vodka left, and in my 4 days along i drank 2 of them. big deal. whatever. its not like THEY had any. and then lizi freaked because i had overwatered the plants. and then she freaked because i had left carrot and celery salad in the fridge and they are SOOO gross. oh, and she threw out my chicken pastries. i do not like lizi. she’s funny. she’s pretty. she came to pick me up at the train station. and she makes me feel like a fool all the time. i am left out, rejected, because of her. she cannot speak any english, though EVERYONE else can. so she derails conversations with me, to keep her included. its understandable and maddening.
and there is no one here to go dancing with. perhaps i will email some of my ireland peeps and ask them. i know if helen visited, we could go dancing.
in 8 days i am going on a trip. i have no idea how, or where, really. it all depends if Rina gets back to me and wants to hang out. and then if Andy can come for the weekend. if not…well, i just don’t know! should i visit other trainees? i feel a bit tired of reaching out to them.
and then there’s the question of the computer. should i buy one? i need it so much. not just for communicating and blogging, or even for entertainment. i need it for research on my travels. it would decrease my stress significantly. as it is, i only can access the computer when suelen is gone. when i am on the computer in the lobby, a guest will usualy interrupt me. or worse yet, there are no guests and its someone, kitchen staff or whoever, who comes up and just stands there, like they want to chat. i am not an extrovert and i can’t freaking understand you. begone!
*shakes head* all the beauty in the world at my fingertips, and unable to really share it with anyone. a selfish year. a year alone.
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