Blog Post #15: Volunteer in Cambodia--Case Study#1--Communication

 “Adventure is a path. Real adventure – self-determined, self-motivated, often risky – forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind – and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. Nothing will ever again be black-and-white.” – Mark Jenkins

Upon settling into my placement Panha--the Director--suggested that I work on developing and conducting a case study focused around ongoing problems that are suppressing the poorest community's livelihood.  It would be used to explicitly show donors what sort of problems specific individuals are facing and what some of the successes and failures are of current programs that Banteay Srei is involved with.  At the time, I had little knowledge as to what I would write about nor did I have a clear idea as to the questions I would ask these community members upon interviewing them.  What I decided to do, was form some general questions that allowed for open ended answers.  This would allow me to direct the interview on the fly in the way that I deemed most interesting and relevant to what is of importance in helping push these communities out of poverty and into a sustainable growth community. 

Bus ride from Phnom Penh-Siem Reap

I developed the questions and went by bus from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap--the first area where I would conduct the interviews.

On an unrelated note: If you look to the left, there is a picture I took of a girl on the bus who rode the entire way--about 7 hours--with her sweater over her face. The reason for this was that the bus was shooting some black substance from the ventilation system and she obviously didn't want to breath it in.  The substance was actually staining my clothes and I don't want to imagine what it may have been doing to my lungs (lol). 

Driving to the villages

Back to the story.  A girl named Channat came with me and would be responsible for interpreting my questions and the respondents answers.  We drove out to the villages via moto, which took about 1.5 hours.  I can tell you this, it was one of the most uncomfortable rides of my life.  The awkward position that the moto puts you in doesn't fair well on the lower back.



 

It is quite common for them to still use animals for farm work as you can see in the background

The first interview--Channat in light blue

The first village that we arrived at consisted of about 150 people.  I would be conducting the interview with a "community facilitator".  What the community facilitator is responsible for is interacting directly with Banteay Srei and helping push forth information related to domestic violence, income generation, etc onto the rest of the community members.  In the village of 150 members, there were about 4-5 community facilitators.  This first interview was actually one of the most interesting and informative interviews that I conducted among the approximately 30 people that I interviewed in numerous villages.  The reason being is because there were two major problems prevalent in this community which served as the basis for the case study that I would write after completing the interview process.  The first problem was their inability to communicate within the village and with the surrounding communities.

Case 1-Communication

Analysis
The first village (Siem Reap area) that we visited had just gone through a natural disaster that involved their entire crop being destroyed by an infestation. The villagers stated that this was the first time that such an event had taken place in that area. At this point, it had been 4 days since they become aware of this problem.  

The farmer showing us his destroyed crops

During the second interview with a totally different village about five minutes away--via moto--we informed them about events that had taken place in the previous village. They stated that they were unaware of such a tragedy which was interesting because the first village was aware of the problem 4 days prior. This shows lack of communication among the villages in the surrounding area—especially in issues deemed of importance such as food security.

When the first village was prompted with the question as to what they did to combat the infestation they claimed that they “prayed”. They felt that the infestation and pending demise of their entire crop was a sign from God and that they were being punished for some unduly acts. They spent the following days in prayer and soon gave up hope after the bugs spread and the crops diminished. At this point, I asked them if they had any sort of support for such cases and as it turned out, the commune council (local government) would have responded in a prompt and diligent manner to such a disaster—only if they would have acted and reached out to the commune council for support sooner.

The commune council would bring pesticide that would ultimately kill the infestation and save the community’s crops which would effectively prevented the problem. Instead, they never informed the commune council but rather felt that only God could solve the problem. They stated that they wouldn’t have a crop this year and as a result, they would have to migrate to the Thai-Cambodia border—this was their only option.

Interviewing the second village

The second village, once informed of the problems that their neighbours were dealing with, didn’t seem too concerned. We informed them that it might be wise to contact their commune council and prepare for a similar infestation. As we talked more and more about the issue one of the five members present spoke up. She stated that she had heard from a friend about the problems that the village next door was facing but never thought to tell anyone in her own village. When asked why she couldn’t come up with a response.

Where the second interview took place

Conclusion
It can be concluded that communication among the surrounding villages needs to improve. If they don’t have communication then problems such as the one above--that are quite avoidable--will become viral and thus, affect many more people’s lives than needed. If the first village would have “communicated” and contacted the commune council as soon as they noticed the first signs of the infestation they may have been able to save their crops and would have most likely prevented themselves from having to migrate to the Thai-Cambodia border where they will most likely be exploited in more ways than one.

This situation in the second village where the female whom chose not to bring this issue to the attention of her peers and family represents a problem. The community members need to assess these situations and ask themselves: Is this information important to my own and other’s well being? If the answer is yes, then they need to disseminate the information despite whether or not they will be taken seriously. Banteay Srei also needs to assess whether the reason for the woman not bringing the information to the community's attention has any link to her gender.

The house where the first interview took place

They need to realize that by building a community who communicates effectively that they are essentially creating solidarity among the community members where each and everyone of them works as a team and looks out for their neighbour--exactly what could help push these communities out of poverty.