Author: Charles Dittmeier

Shoot the Messenger!

After the most recent examination to select students for training for Cambodia’s judiciary, 50+ students complained that there was corruption in the exam process, and that more than $2 million in bribes [“hiccups”?] was paid to get good scores. That’s not a surprising claim in Cambodia where there is constant buying and selling of government favors, civil service positions, etc., by corrupt officials.

And here’s the way the government typically responds:

Transparency International in their latest report described the kingdom as “highly corrupt” and ranked Cambodia at 162nd of 180 countries. That was a drop of one place from last year’s report. This year’s report noted: “Key structural and systematic reforms–in particular with regard to strengthening rule of law and justice–have made little to no progress.”

It would seem that if the country year after year scores so low on the corruption index the government might acknowledge there could be something wrong and address the problem. Instead the government spokesman dismissed the report as “just an advertisement of NGOs to promote their own interests.” Ahhh…the Kingdom of Wonder….

Offering respect

Monks are greatly respected in Khmer culture. This woman collects plastic bottles and containers and aluminum cans to recycle and earn a dollar or two a day. Passing a monk, though, she stops to offer respect and probably to make a small donation.

Who you gonna call?

While the Wuhan coronavirus is making the headlines and causing disruptions around the world, the bigger problem at DDP is mosquitoes. Recently we have had a second big infestation of the insects and today we sent the staff and students home early and a pest control company came to fog our grounds and our buildings to hopefully reduce the number of the little nasties.

So he says….

Hun Sen is the prime minister of Cambodia and has been since 1997. He is the longest-serving head of state in Asia and everything–good and bad–in Cambodia can be attributed to him. One wonders what he means when he avers he will never sacrifice the national interest. The prime minister has his hands deep in the pockets of China and so he has to go wherever China goes. The Chinese set up huge gambling operations in Sihanoukville and took over everything. A newspaper article reported that 90%+ of the businesses in Sihanoukville are now Chinese owned and half the population is Chinese. That’s in Cambodia’s national interest?

A Typical Home

To me this photo captures quite accurately the style and tone of life in urban Cambodia now. This is a shophouse, where the main room opening on to the street is a business space and behind it and above it is a living space for the family. The father, a tailor, works at his sewing machine with material samples, sewing supplies, and completed garments set around the work space. In the lower right corner is a bag of charcoal for the charcoal stove with a big pot on it. Is the burner for cooking? Or with such a big pot, are they making some sort of snack like those on the table, a small sub business selling snacks to customers and passersby? Maybe that is the wife’s contribution to maintaining the family–in addition to mothering and cooking and cleaning. In the upper left corner is a little shrine for making offerings to placate the ancestors. Whatever the circumstances, there is a way to make do, like the wooden block under the leg of the steel table to level the table on an uneven floor. And then there’s the little boy, the well-dressed son (his father IS a tailor!) who just watches the world go by and figures that all this is just normal and the way the world should be.

Disgusting, Shameful

“…Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and his Republican caucus opted, in an outrageous dereliction of duty, not to hear from further witnesses, thereby continuing the effort to suppress the facts that began when Trump ordered members of the executive branch not to cooperate with the House inquiry.

If Republican senators were so concerned, as they have repeatedly claimed to be, about the lack of direct evidence, why in the world would they vote against summoning Bolton and other witnesses who spoke directly to the president? The only possible answer: Their priority was to protect Trump (and their own political fortunes), not to establish the truth.”

~ Los Angeles Times editorial

Job Training Graduation

Last week twelve of our students graduated from DDP’s Job Training Project after a year of training. It was a happy and important day. The students had been trained in metalwork, sewing, barbering, and beauty skills. Click here to see photos from the day.

Where is the risk-management team?

I went to a DDP graduation today, held at a Christian church near the Chinese Embassy. Especially because it is a church, even though we were using it for totally secular purposes, Khmers would never wear shoes inside. Instead they leave them at the door–literally. In the United States the liability lawyers would go crazy at the hazard the shoes create for an organization, but here it’s just part of life. What else are you going to do with your shoes?