Kampot / Kep Survey - day four

This afternoon's meeting was probably the most encouraging of the
whole trip, simply for the contrast to the more depressing information
and contacts.

We met a young pastor who finished bible school two years ago and came
to Kampot to start ministering shortly after.

Right now he has 15 groups involving 1000 children, a sunday morning
service for up to 100 children and another for 25 youth. He is not
strangely in need of assistance as if only has five helpers.

There was sonnetiing about this pastor that encouraged me. I'm not
sure what, and maybe i was in a better frame of mind after meeting the
community folk in the morning.

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Kampot / Kep Survey - day four

Today's surveying has been encouraging for both Heap and I. We
travelled out towards Kompong Som this morning to meet with a
community losing two thousand plus hectares of land to a Chinese?
company. The legal situation sounds confusing and in the space of
legal fog the government and company have taken a large tract of land
(one side is 10 km long) on the mountainside where the community
relies on for agriculture and forest products that increases their
livelihood sustainability.

One community seems to be bold and face the company. But many are not.

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Kampot / Kep Survey - day four

I'm not sure why, but I'm finding my language skills are coming
together well for me. My listening is by far the strongest element,
followed by speaking. My greatest liability is the size of my
vocabulary. As I engage more and more with communities I'm recognising
more and more words I DON'T know and can then go away and look them up
- if I'm not too lazy.

My speaking is definitely more confident than just a short time ago,
and I find being in situations without translation assistance is very
helpful as I've only my own skills to rely on. Having said that, Heap
has been invaluable this trip, and in Mondulkiri and Kratie, when I
really got in deep.

I think losing the Smith's and Everitt's has pushed me as I realise
that after Heap, I am next most experienced in language on team
(closely followed by Sam and Hayden). And that's scary knowing how
little I know. But I see that a move out of Phnom Penh is going to
accelerate my language skills immensely.

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Kampot / Kep Survey - day three

After talking with the missionaries and pastor i feel less confident
that this is a great place to work. There is a lot of dependency -
expectation of money or material benefit - from much of the Christian
work done. It is a very hard dynamic to break. And there is still
plenty of pastors and groups willing to throw money around. Therefore
anyone not willing to play the game will find it hard to keep good
people as there is a well paid position to be had elsewhere. Or a bag
of rice for sitting through a sermon on the weekend. But the fruit is
obvious. Committed Christians - those convinced of the story of Jesus
as a life-changing and life-giving story, will stay away, while others
buy people's allegiance in the most obvious fashions. Like calling for
offerings and telling people God will not bless them unless they give
generously to the church, and immediately turning arounding and
handing out money to the participants. All the while video-taping the
proceedings as 'evidence' of such a faithful group of believers for
the foreign donor churches and agencies to see. How sad.

As such, a common answer to the question: how could we complement what
is already going on in Kampot, was - basic bible teaching to know the
values a Christian is to live by, and leadership development as many
people are supported by short term groups, but there are few who live
here permanently and walk alongside the pastors through the good and
bad times.

To me that seems like a big mess to wall through.

The pastor we met was not really inspiring to me. Maybe it was a bad
day for him. He seemed really young and his plans seemed unrealistic
to me - like wanting to teach local school teachers the bible so they
could teach the children. Even though the teachers are not Christian
themselves. Part of his motivation is that they teach evolution in
school - that we come from monkeys. That seems like an immature
response when there are so many other issues to consider. Surely
evolution is on the bottom of the list of concerns in Cambodia!

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Kampot / Kep Survey - day three

This first thing that really strikes me, as a visitor from the city to
a small country town, is the silence and the new sounds it bring with
it - crickets, soft music from distant restaurants, the rush of the
ceiling fan. The sound of a dog scrummaging on the side of the road.
All of there are hidden in Phnom Penh.

Today has been quite busy, going from one meeting to the next. So I am
writing this reflection at the end of the day, and may need to split
into several installmets as my phone won't let me write an endless
note. Which is probably in the readers' favour.

In short, we net with four groups of people. Two missionary families,
one person who helped establish a local NGO, and a local pastor. I'm
going to refrain from using names on such a public venue as a blog.

The first meeting with the local NGO, but foreign founder, is someone
I've connected with before, and has connections in both the faith, and
human rights spheres. As such I admire his work very much and the
values he and his wife embody.

As i expected, Kampot is no stranger to land grabbing and the adverse
effects of economic land concessions. Mostly Korean and Chinese firms.
Agricultural and dams projects. Apparently 2000 Chinese workers live
around here to work on just one dam project alone. Communities are
constantly on the defensive, but have had some success. A couple of
months back one community marched on the governor and demanded a
solution or they would not leave. He signed a document giving them
their land back. You can probably find the article on my website from
last year.

From my respective, there is a great partnership opportunity with this
group. They have a good grasp of the issues and are looking to expand
operations in the coming years.

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Kampot / Kep Survey Trip - day two

On the bus to Kampot now. Couple of Tuk Tuk drivers wanted to scam us
into buying tickets from them saying we wouldn't get on otherwise! The
bus driver has been more helpful.

If anything, this time has been an easing into our work in Kampot. We
have a full day booked for tomorrow, so no more leisurely strolls
along the beach to eat fresh cooked crabs in pepper sauce. Though
Kampot is not known for shabby food either.

I guess we got a good overall lay of the land from Luc and Ling. And
who have been incredibly hospitable.

And it takes about half a minute to remind me why i don't want to move
to Kampot - the road. The worst i've travelled on in Cambodia.

It also turns out that BAB work in Kep.

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Kampot / Kep Survey - day two

Heap and I net with Pastor Soeung and the Kampong Trach home group.
They are the only group that meets weekly in all of Kep area that we
know of. Kep has about 30,000 people - I need to check that figure. So
this community is way out on their own and I'm sure appreciate all the
prayer support they can get. And it's good to know they recieve
encouragement and training from missionaries in Kampot.

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Kampot / Kep survey - day two

Nothing to report so far. Heap and I are relaxing by the beach,
working on our Paul Ford Leadership Grip questionnaires. Strangely
enough I struggle with the language it uses to ask question. Very
evangelical, and I'm just not evangelical. I moved on from
evangelicalism a long time ago. While I used to lap up spiritual gift
assessments - because I wanted to know how God intended to make my
life great - I now wonder if spiritual gifts are a reality or just a
fancy Christian label for personal attributes. On the other hand, the
basic question being asked by the questionnaire - how has God equipped
me for leadership - is sound and helpful. More so than checking the
boxes next to strangely-worded questions. I think I will go through
the descriptions of leadership 'gifts' to identify my own strengths
and weaknesses. That will be a better way forward than being
frustrated by evangelicalese.

The premise I value for leadership is to look back at the way we have
used various life opportunities to lead others. What was done well,
what was done poorly, do i work as an individual or in a team? Do i
see the bigger picture, or work out the details?

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Kampot / Kep: End of day one

This evening we met Ling and Luc who live next to the Vanna bungalows
and have an amazing 180 degree panoramic view of the Kep seascape.
Astounding!

They have a partnership of some kind with OMF but are not
missionaries. They are building a retreat centre on the mountain /
hill behind their house.

Not that we are looking to move to Kep, but they gave us the low down
on the local church, which is that it is minimal. There is one 'home
group' of about 20 older farming folk, who we will visit tomorrow
afternoon. And a smattering of Christian families near their house.
There are only a Dey foreigners in Kep. Their was at one stage a
Quaker couple but it sounds as though they are gone now. Most of the
Christian community is based in Kampot and Chuuk.

There are several Cham fishing villages along the coast and according
to Ling are doing pretty well. No resource conflicts that she is aware
of.

At dinner there was a young foreign woman, seemingly on her own, but
later joined by an eager looking group of young khmer men, all
drinking beer. She spoke reasonable khmer and i couldn't tell if she
was a journalist or tourist or someone practising her khmer with the
locals. Don't know why I mention this. It just looked a little
strange, is all.

Well, i'm looking forward to a good night's sleep with no
interruptions from young kids early in the morning.

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Kampot survey trip

Heap and I are sitting on the bus waiting to leave the station - it's
taking quite a while for some reason.

We have a good trip planned now. As is usual it's come together at the
last minute. And we're still trying to arrange meetings.

Our plan is to meet two couples in the sea-side resort town of Kep.
Both run retreat centers and can hopefully explain some of the
situation in the church. We will then go on to Kampot town itself and
meet NGO contacts there. Hallam and Katie from STT and possibly staff
from CLEC and Licadho. On monday or tuesday we will meet two community
leaders from a Cham (muslim) community. Following that we will meet a
pastor in Chuuk, which is kind of the Christian Mecca of Cambodia.
Although not without it's problems and scandals. This pastor
supposedly knows a lot of people and is well connected to the pulse of
the Christian community.

Both Heap and I are starting this journey tired. I confess to coming
close to postponing it for when i feel more energetic. But when will
that ever be? Both Heap and I have attended to several crises this
week - me with the Dey Krahom eviction, and Heap with staff in
Treasures.

But leaving now i feel more energized and expectant.

Trying to decide where we'll move as a team is getting hard. Each
place has great merits to them. It will come down to a choice between
three good options I feel. Though I'm thinking Snuol in Kratie
province would be most strategic in that there are few NGO's there,
but a number of healthy communities that would be great to partner
with. Kampot is beautiful and the whole team would be happy to move
there tomorrow. But already is well served by NGO's. Mondulkiri also
has NGO's and is less interesting given it's population is so small.
Each area has opportunities for working with ethnic minority groups,
so that is a plus.

I will also visit Chenda on wednesday on the way home, who just had a baby girl.

If you are reading this, take some time to pray for Heap and I on this
trip, as well as the whole team in these decisions.

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A strange flower grows in the gardens of Sen Monorom

Patrick, Davy and Reaksmy playing follow the leader at Sovannakiri restaurant in Sen Monorom last week.

Kratie

Today we left Sen Monorom. All of us are tired from the trip so far,
Sam is tired and Patrick has been vomiting since last night. And
others are on slow mode, too.
The good news is that we've met a lot of people and gained some extra
insight into the province. Particularly the lifestyle issues for
families. I don't know that we learned a whole lot of new information
pertaining to the Bunong, but seeing it first-hand is helpful. We now
know what we are looking at in terms of people places and the COLD.
Each family and team member have their own desires and needs. We've
yet to sit down and put all the information together. That will
probably happen in a week or so.
We met with WWF today who have us extra leads to follow up. In terms
of place, Kratie is a charming town, quite similar to Kampot. A very
wide river, lots of tourists - both foreign and khmer. The town creeps
up on the unwary traveller, disturbing the fairly monotonous rural
landscape of agriculture and deserted highways. The locals are
friendly, and happy to chat to a rare foreigner who speaks passable
Khmer. I missed some opportunities to talk informally at the market in
Sen Monorom, so am trying to rectify that error here. So far its been
worthwhile from a social point of view, and to get some local info.
Such as the river not flooding for several years now, since '96 and
that many people pass through Kratie on their way to Ratanakiri.

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I walked 10km

Yesterday we spent the day walking around Sen Monorom town. Young was
a great guide and showed us the market and them walked the ring road
which leads to his house. He has a great place with an amazing view of
the valley. I'll post a photo later. After eating a pretty good lunch,
most of us went back to the hotel for a rest. Hayden, Dara, Darit and
i decided to a bit more investigating. We spoke to a few eco tourism
places, then set off to find the Sen Monorom waterfalls. They turn out
to be a beautifully secluded spot with an impressive falls, even
though water levels look low. I confess to being extremely sore by the
time we walked back to the hotel that night.

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Road from Snuol to Sen Monorom

First morning

As we expected, it's cold. The internet says 16C. I don't remember
that cold so i can't say if it's accurate or not.

This morning we will wall around Sen Monorom to see what is there,
what it's like, where to buy food and likely items we'd need, and
what's readily available and what we'd need to truck in.

One or two of the Hims kids were expressing reservations about moving
here, worsh about people they wouldn't be able to see any more.

It's going to be the line of note where we all lord ready access to
our friends, but have the opportunity for making new friends. It's
unclear how many foreigners live here, but i see that as a plus, and
many of us have expressed the desire to work in under resourced areas,
which means fewer foreigners. Kampot will be different in that regard.

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Fwd: Arrived in Sen Monorom

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Chris Bakerevens <chris.bakerevens@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 11 Jan 2009 06:40:56 -0700
Subject: Arrived in Sen Monorom
To: Chris.bakerevens.ijournal@gmail.com

The drive from Snuol to Sen Monorom was over red earth gravel.
Obviously a lot of recent work, as the road was very wide and much
road work going on at different points. We travelled much slower, but
wasn't anywhere near the horror stories i've heard.
I'm really impressed how well everyone travelled - esp the kids. Sam
and Heather felt pretty sick by the end of it.
We wound through beautiful forests and rose up into the Mondulkiri
mountains. I believe they reach 1000m in places.
Patrick really enjoys the scenery and sang his favourite Collin
Buchanan song along the way - Every mountain. Every river, Every
waterfall, the one and only God, the one and only God, the one and
only God made it all. He sings quite well for a not yet four year old.

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On the way

We've eaten lunch at a truck stop an hour from Kampong Cham. We are
now now on the dirt track to Mondulkiri, turning away from Kratie and
Stung Treng. The road is a little rough. We'll see how it feels after
three more hours.

Fortunately the signal is still strong enough for internet.
We have passed plantations of rubber, cassava, cashew, and pepper.
There are many large plantations i'm assuming are ELC's. Economic Land
Concessions. But i'd need to check on it.

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The journey begins

As usual getting everyone to meet on time, at the same time is nigh
impossible. But we're only a half hour late.
I'm now riding on the back of a Tuk Tuk with all our bags and luggage
- 15 foreigners carry a lot of stuff. I'm told the road to Mondulkiri
is much improved from it's glory days of pitted dirt tracks and
impossible mud bogs. Fortunately for us we are travelling in the dry
season, so travel in and out of the area is possible. I'm not sure
about now, but just a few years ago, M. Was all but unreachable during
the wet reason. In addition, the area has only recently been re
electrified, after six months straight without. Now the area is hooked
up to hydro power from Viet Nam - much more reliable.

Cambodia has plans to build many many hydro power dams in the future.
It seems unrealistic to me - Cambodia is mostly plains and river delta
with very little elevation to aid a hydro power scheme. The costs are
high - Chinese companies with unreliable environmental credentials,
flooding that will disturb population of indigenous folk who are
already marginalised without the loss of vital and sacred land, as
well as the massive disruption to river ecosystems with the potential
to hinder the breeding migrations of fish that many Cambodians rely on
for protein, habitat of the near extinct freshwater dolphins of the
Mekong river, and huge tracks of land. I have read of one dam project
that would stretch for 10 kilometers at a height of 50 meters and
submerge nearly 900 square km of land. Cambodia is not a big place to
start with.

Dam projects were vigorously promoted by the World Bank for many
years, but are now realizing they rarely produce the intended benefits
and more often cause massive environmental degradation and social and
health woes. Arundhati Roy writes vigorously about the many gone-wrong
dam projects in India. The most affected by there projects are the
ones most marginalised and powerless, further diminishing their
ability to achieve happiness and wholeness, let alone political
equity.

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It's FREEZING!

The last two mornings i've woken up to 18 degrees C. All four of us
are huddled together try to stay warm and failing miserably. And today
we're off to Mondulkiri where it's even colder. The upside is it will
be far more beautiful there.

Our main goal is to see how we could live sustainably there, or in
Kratie. We're all pretty sure we could live in Kampot without much
effort. The crazy thing is that Cambodia is quite beautiful - you just
need to get out of Phnom Penh.

Mondulkiri has the Bou Sra waterfalls and mountains, Kratie has the
Mekong river and freshwater dolphins, and Kampot has a river,
waterfalls, mountains AND is very close to the beach. Sounds like a
hard life!

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"There is no way to peace; peace is the way." A.J. Muste Fellowship of
Reconciliation

Chris Baker Evens
Country Director
InnerCHANGE, Cambodia
+855 12 359 143
chris.bakerevens@gmail.com
http://peace-and-justice-cambodia.awardspace.com/