Leaving Cambodia #8

 Top two photos: Flowers from home gardens in Takeo province, Cambodia

Dry season rice seedlings in Kampong Chnang province

Leaving Cambodia #7

 Our truck in Kampong Chnang province. Built Ford tough...

Without a doubt, one of the things I will miss most in Cambodia is the opportunity to travel extensively within the country and work very closely with our target populations (and now suppliers). It has been a great priviledge to have been invited to accompany my colleauges on trips into the field. I have now been to over 20 provinces in Cambodia, with at least a dozen trips to the main rice producing provinces around Phnom Penh--Takeo, Kampong Speu, Prey Veng, Kampong Chnang.

While it is tempting to compare the merits of a traditional rural and modern lifestyles, I do not think I'm qualified to make judgements.  When we met farmers, they usually treated it as a special occassion--wearing their "Sunday best," offering drinks and food, and giving (mostly) positive interviews. We usually heard about problems with our projects after visits, or perhaps to save face my translator did not tell me everything that had been discussed during a trip. It would be easy to paint a romantic picture of their slower paced way of life, with the days work split into two or three hour blocks, kids and animals running between houses seemingly regardless of the owner, But I know that these communities suffer from a myriad of serious issues--alcoholism, domestic violence, limited access to formal health care, no sanitation systems, little clean water, persistent food insecurity... A pleasant demeanor for a foreign visitor could mean anything.

Organic rice producers in a post-harvest training

I will simply say that it was a humbling and very educational experience to work in villages across the country. As someone raised in a subdivision in suburban Ohio, it is an understatement to say I live a life disconnected with nature. It is so easy to walk into a grocery store and expect endless stacks of perfect vegetables, freshly prepared meat and chilled seafood from around the world. Even in the markets in Phnom Penh, I assume most tourists walk by pyramids of mangoes or 10 kg sacks of rice without giving a second thought as to where these things came from and who produced them. After learning first hand the hard work and risks involved in smallholder farming (which still produces a large portion of the world's food), I hope to never take the availability of food for granted again.

 

Wedding photos, children's portraits and a proprty title in a farmer's home in Kampong Chnang province

Leaving Cambodia #6

Overlooking the Tonle Sap river from Sisowath Quay in Phnom Penh

Leaving Cambodia #5

St. 108 near the riverside in Phnom Penh, with the city's (in)famous red "tuk tuks" and now ubiquitous black Range Rovers. In 2011, old model Lexus RX300 were the preferred car for the elite. Now, Range Rovers, new Lexus 570s and Hummers compete for space with European sports cars and even the occasional Rolls Royce.  Motorbikes, bicycles and smaller cars are expected to make way.

View of Wat Ounalom on Sisowath Quay ("Riverside")

Leaving Cambodia #4

Phnom Penh's riverside just after sunset following an unusual dry season rain

Leaving Cambodia #3

 

Phnom Penh's Phar Chaa or 'Old Market' at dusk

Leaving Cambodia #2

Protestors outside Democracy Park with a view of the Canadia and Vattanac Bank towers, the two largest skyscrapers in the country

Leaving Cambodia

 Core group of opposition protesters in Freedom Park in Phnom Penh

After more than 2 years in Cambodia (cumulative), I will leave Cambodia in early January for a new job in Bangkok. I will do so with conflicting feelings. Recently I've realized that it's time to leave Cambodia. Professionally, I am ready for new experiences and more responsibility. On a personal level, I have become increasingly frustrated with some of the day-to-day hassles that come with living in Cambodia, some of which seem to be worsening (traffic). When my tolerance for these difficulties was not improved by travel outside the city/country, I knew it was time to consider my next move. I've always tried to avoid becoming the 'angry expat' cliché (anyone who has lived abroad in the developing world will know this stereotype): why stay and bitch when you can easily leave, unlike locals who will struggle to obtain a visa even if they can afford to live abroad?

I am looking forward to living in a bigger, more modern and international city. But I know that I will miss Phnom Penh and I will face similar issues in Thailand. Certainly, I will miss being able to travel into 'the field' and work directly with target populations. The atmosphere at my next job will be more corporate and the organization works almost exclusively on a policy level. It will not be a very immersive experience, and I do not expect to learn as much Thai or make as many local friends. From my previous experiences in big cities, I know that they can be incredibly isolating at times. Making friends is very easy in Phnom Penh, and you run into the same people all the time.

Freedom park with the new Vattanac Bank tower in the background

While I anticipated having mixed feelings about leaving Cambodia, I could not have foreseen the daily protests that are now occurring almost directly outside my apartment building in Phnom Penh. Trying to pack or read materials for my new job is difficult when the walls shake due to the bass from nearby speakers. The constant activity around my house has also made it difficult to come and go on my motorbike, and there is always the possibility that the government will intervene or more aggressive protests will break out. But apart from how the protests disrupt my schedule, I am glad that Cambodians are finally speaking up against corruption, impunity and the deplorable wealth gap (there are now thousands of Range Rovers and Porsche SUVs clogging the city's narrow streets while real wages for ordinary Cambodians have stagnated). When I first arrived in 2011, almost no one spoke about politics. Many of my friends asked me to not say the Prime Minister's name out loud in public. When I returned in late summer 2012, I was hoping the overall economic/political situation had improved in the year I was gone. Instead, there were fresh accusations of land grabbing, environmental destruction and politically-motivated arrests. Through my work, the more I learned about the country, the more cynical and resigned I became. But now there is less fear and change seems possible, even likely. This does not mean that I endorse the opposition. As a rule, I don't put much faith in any politician. But I am happy to see that a real opposition exists.

More than anything, I hope that peace will prevail in the end.

Dieng Plateau #2

View of Sulfuric Lake, Dieng Plateau, Central Java, Indonesia  

Garment Manufacturing in the Spotlight

While the factory collapse in Bangladesh has garnered worldwide attention, a second factory accident in a week has occurred in Cambodia. Garment manufacturing is often cited as the bedrock of the 'Cambodian development model'. Due in part to the UN's occupation of the country in the early '90s, garment factories have received extra scrutiny here and are supposed to be 'sweatshop free' as evaluated by the UN's Better Factories Cambodia (BFC). These accidents, alongside other incidents over the last few years including mass fainting and fires, question the veracity of that label. But beyond basic safety measures, few observes seem to question the garment industry as a whole and its much touted development benefits.

From the Southeast Asia Globe: 
“Cambodia is internationally branded as a sweatshop-free country thanks to BFC’s inspections, but the impact of the programme on workers’ well-being is far from glorious,” said Bent Gehrt, the Worker Rights Consortium’s Southeast Asia field director. “While all neighbouring countries have witnessed important wage raises without any ‘Better Factories’ programme, real wages in the Cambodian garment sector have fallen by 16.6% over the past decade. Workers are poorer today than they were ten years ago, and the vast majority is now employed on short-term contracts. Impoverishment and job insecurity pushed them to accept excessive overtime in factories where basic health and security standards are often not even met.”

From what I've heard from friends and through my job, working at a garment factory is considered a last resort. It's hard work and long hours for low pay, requiring employees to leave their families to share cramped quarters or be trucked in and out at odd hours. After a hard-won 'raise' of the minimum wage from 60 to around 70 dollars per month, local observes predicted that raises in rent and food costs around the factories would offset any gains in purchasing power. Stories of management cheating employees are common. While these claims may be unsubstantiated, it's worth noting that conflicting with your superior in the workplace is considered inappropriate in Cambodia, especially for women (who make up the vast majority of employees). 

One of our biggest challenges at CEDAC is younger generations migrating to work in factories or construction. In many areas, it already appears as though there is a 'lost' generation, with villages populated by older people and their grandchildren. Their grown children's presence can be seen in the abundance of motorbikes and cell phones bought with remittance money, but this trend seems unsustainable, at least in terms of supporting a village/family farmer economy. Without dedicated, able-bodied farmers engaging in farming as a profession, the prospects of improving rural livelihoods in the long term is uncertain. Somewhat ironically, given the contemporary image of mass urbanization and industrialization in the developing world, most of Cambodia's factories are located in relatively rural areas. In Kampong Chnang, massive, cheap looking warehouses appear as if they were simply dropped in the rice fields, like in Sim City. I can't imagine there are very stringent environmental regulations, which is especially concerning given the recent discovery of high levels of lead in rice from Asia.

Certainly, Cambodia needs jobs for young people, many of whom are not well-educated. Garment manufacturing is here to stay, and has undoubtedly helped families climb out of abject poverty. But is there any way to improve workers lives in this race-to-the bottom industry ? Western consumers buying the clothes hold the most power to persuade, but it's hard to object to cheap and stylish clothes, especially given the moribund economy. I fully admit that much of my wardrobe comes from H&M and the like. The even cheaper clothes I buy here appear to have 'fallen off the truck' or are perhaps the product of extra (undocumented) overtime. And what happens when another country opens up and is able to offer even lower wages and less scrutiny?

Dieng Plateau #1

Sunrise in Dieng Plateau, Indonesia

Jogjia vs. Phnom Penh

Terraced vegetable farms in Dieng Plateau, Central Java, Indonesia

One of the biggest advantages of living in Southeast Asia is the ability to travel at your own pace without a return ticket hanging over your head. The longer I'm here, the less the idea of a 6-month 'all-around the world' trip appeals to me. What can you really see in 3 days in each place? In Southeast Asia, each city (and many minor stops) has a nearly identical 'backpacker' strip of hostels, Western-friendly restaurants and grimy bars. The schtick gets old quick, especially the constant touting and scams.

During Khmer New Year, I visited some friends in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, or 'Jogjia'. Despite being home to the famous Borobudur and Prambanan temples, Jogia is only a minor destination in Indonesia. When I told people of my plans, most people followed up with: "And then you're going to Bali?" As beautiful as I'm sure Bali is, I was happy to avoid the aforementioned 'backpacker strip' and instead get to know Jogjia and take a few day trips. It's a pleasant city brimming culture (batik, traditional dance, period architecture, street art) and great food. It was also an interesting comparison to Phnom Penh. While Jogjia has the advantage of not being the capital (we also skipped Jakarta), it felt roughly equivalent in size and scale to Phnom Penh, just a bit less intense, more laid back. Instead of Range Rovers or McMansions, there are higher-end motorbikes and compact neighborhoods of small but sturdy single-family homes. While there were few exotic fancy restaurants, the quality of food at family places and roadside stalls was obviously superior to Cambodia. This was indicative to me of a more mature and balanced economy

This impression was even more pronounced in the countryside. We did an overnight trip to Dieng Plateau in Central Java, which forms the floor of a caldera complex between volcanoes. I was amazed by the condition of the road despite being the rainy season. But I was more shocked by the access to electricity and irrigation enjoyed by these remote areas. Farmers grow potatoes and other cooler-climate crops in terraces that sometimes reach the top of steep rock faces, with irrigation pipes snaking up alongside vertiginous steps. At sunrise, the valleys are dotted with the glittering home and street lights. In Cambodia, only an hour or two outside of Phnom Penh, people depend on car batteries for electricity. Despite the mostly flat land and the abundance of lakes and rivers in Cambodia, after harvest, most fields are dry and sand colored until June. The government has made some progress in these areas recently, but it has been slow coming.

This is not to say that I think of Indonesia as some paradise. My friends cautioned that Java is much more prosperous than the other islands. Indonesia is also notorious for corruption, topping the inaugural Corruption Perception Index in 1995. But in a way, that knowledge gave me some hope. If the farmers in Dieng have water and electricity despite the country's challenges, perhaps things will in improve as Cambodia develops.

Land Issues Continue

The Phnom Penh reports that the many of the ELCs granted in 2012 were from the country's last remaining protected areas, which appears to be a tactic to reduce conflict with communities over ELCs on actively cultivated land. Furthermore, similar land awards intended to help the poor are allegedly subject to high levels of corruption and nepotism.

Cambodia: Resource Cursed (again?)

CEDAC farmer showing us his future plans for his farm. The authors of 'Poor Economics' claim that a cash-transfer program to the poor may allow them to concentrate on longer term planning since their daily needs are satisfied.

'

"Every nation wants to strike oil, and after it happens, nearly every nation is worse off for it. It may seem paradoxical, but finding a hole in the ground that spouts money can be one of the worst things that can happen to a country." 

Sobering first words from Tina Rosenberg in an oped in the NYTimes on the oil resource curse and how oil-to-cash transfer programs can help combat it. Some great ideas here that Cambodia could implement after it starts earning revenues from its recent offshore oil deal with Chevron (an 80-20 split favoring the government). In 'Poor Economics' by Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo, which I recently finished and hope to discuss in more depth later, the authors make the case that cash transfer programs, even when they are unconditional (i.e. not dependent on sending your children to school), have a positive impact on the livelihoods and long-term prospects of the poorest families. Cambodian officials would be wise to implement a program along these lines, not just for oil revenues, but for all resource extraction revenues ('legal' timber from ECLs, minerals...even gambling), which are routine causes of conflict. Even assuming that some of the money will be siphoned off by corruption, having a system in place will allow for future improvement and at least some gains toward reducing wealth disparity.

Sadly, I doubt this will be the case. I predict that Cambodia will follow Ghana's lead in pledging the money from oil to big infrastructure projects, the kind that are "likely to be felled by mismanagement and graft" according to Ms. Rosenburg. For example, on a recent work trip to Prey Vang province, the community we were working had a large and modern looking canal nearby. I thought this was a good sign, despite the fact that there were no secondary channels to reach more remote farmers. My co-worker, however, pointed out that it hasn't functioned correctly since several wall portions were washed away during the floods of 2011, and there is "no money" to fix them. He predicted the other new canals and water gates in the province would face a similar fate in the next several years.

Saigon-Hue #8 (out of order)

Incense censer on the Heaven Terrace. Nam Giao Esplande. Hué, Vietnam.

North wall. Nam Giao Esplanade. Hué, Vietnam.

The Nam Giao Esplanade is the only surviving site that was used for sacrificial ceremonies by the Emperor based on the dogma of heaven fate of Confucianism. The structure of the terraces are derived from ideas about the Universe composed of a circular heavens and square earth.