LaValla School Graduation

The LaValla School in Takhmau is run by the Marist Brothers from Australia.  Located about ten miles south of Phnom Penh, it offers an education of grades one to six for children with significant physical disabilities.  It is a really wonderful school, providing an opportunity for learning that would probably be denied if the school did not exist.

The goal of LaValla School is to take children with moderate to severe physical disabilities and bring them up to their age-grade level so that they can enter government schools for the secondary level back in their home provinces.

 

Marist Brother Terry Heinrich started the LaValla School more than fifteen years ago and has been a good friend and surrogate father to hundreds of young people who have passed through the school.  Here he prepares for the procession of graduates into the hall.

 

The graduation ceremony opened with a traditional blessing dance.  Every girl in Cambodia dreams of being one of these apsara dancers–like teenage girls in the US all dream of being a cheerleader–but only in a school like this would girls with a disability have a chance at achieving their dream.

 

A government official from the Ministry of Women’s Affairs presided at the ceremony and gave out the certificates.  Unfortunately, probably for most of these graduating boys and girls, this is the high point of their lives.  Once they leave LaValla and return to their home villages, they will probably again encounter discrimination and find themselves without much opportunity.

These Are Not To Eat

Pets are not really common in Cambodia, at least not in the city, although many Westerners here seem to like cats–probably because expats may be alone here and want some kind of company and cats are relatively easy to keep.  At least the cats can generally be left at home all day by themselves and won’t frighten the lady who comes to clean the house.

There are a few shops, though, that sell fish for home aquariums.  Probably some of the same reasons apply for keeping fish–they are easy to keep and don’t frighten anyone–but they are also especially valued in Chinese culture and many, many people in Cambodia have Chinese heritage.

What’s He Selling?

There are many mysteries in the Kingdom of Wonder.  One of them for me is what kind of street food this guy is selling.  You see all sorts of things sold on the street, many of them foods that would not be street food in the U.S., like corn on the cob, but I’m not sure what this man is vending.  I can tell there is some shredded lettuce or similar vegetable and some other yellowish vegetable, but is that the main ingredient or just a garnish for something else?  And what is the mortar and pestle for?  He’s ladling some juice into the mortar but the end product is an unknown for me.

Remaining French Heritage

There isn’t a lot left in Cambodia to reflect the long colonization by the French.  French bread–baguettes–is surprisingly plentiful and popular on the streets, and all the doctors write prescriptions in French–which basically people don’t understand, but, hey, this is Cambodia, why should a patient understand what she is taking and why.  Around Phnom Penh there are still some beautiful remnants of French colonial architecture but many of them are disappearing fast.  This is one old French-era building that has been preserved as a reminder of bygone days.

Not Likely

A shirt with an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe on the back?  That’s not a common occurrence in Phnom Penh and it’s not likely that its owner is a Catholic–or even knows who Our Lady of Guadalupe is.  Phnom Penh is a T-shirt printing hub and there are all kinds of shirts with all kinds of slogans on them displayed here–some of the slogans just gibberish, some with extremely obscene language, some with political sentiments probably not held by the wearer, etc.  Many Phnom Penhers can’t read English so the shirts are chosen because they’re cheap and someone likes the design or the colors.

A Change in Diet

Life in the boonies, in Cambodia’s rural areas, and life in the cities is quite different in many ways.  Some of them are to be expected, e.g., not needing to be available every day in late afternoon to bring the cow back from the fields.  Other characteristics of city life are less obvious, e.g., eating more meat in the city.  Many of the rural population are really poor and just can’t afford meat.  If they do have it, it’s probably just a few times a week at larger meals.  But in the cities, these vendors are everywhere, and at meal times hundreds of them are grilling fish and chicken and beef and pork on the streets.  Buying meat for a family meal is a relatively expensive proposition.  Buying a kabob snack or even making a meal of meat for one person costs much less and might seem much more do-able for the passersby on the streets of Phnom Penh.

Cambodian Anomaly

Here the young woman in red (and three other unseen compatriots) pass out paper advertising fliers to motorcyclists stopping for a light at an intersection.

The anomaly is that no one throws them on the ground!  This man has folded his and put it in the rack on his bike.  This goes against everything normal in Cambodian culture.  People throw trash on the ground and out of car windows all day long.  People at restaurants throw straws and white crumpled paper napkins on the floor or on the ground until the area under the table looks like a snow-covered field.  But in this one case, at the stop lights, people don’t throw the papers down even though it’s something they basically probably don’t want.  Strange….

Children’s Hospital

                                                                                                                             [Picture from the Khmer Times]
I was a little disconcerted to see this photograph in the newspaper of a bed at the Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospital in Phnom Penh.  Dr. Beat Richner, a Swiss doctor, set up the first Kantha Bopha hospital in 1992 to give free medical care to children.  There are now four or five Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospitals in the country and they are the first choice for all parents with sick children.  I have encouraged many families to take their sick children there.  The hospital rules are strict; they won’t allow foreigners into the hospital, and I don’t know why but I figured if they were doing a good job, they can make up rules like that.  But then I saw this photo with three children in one bed and it gave me pause.  Kantha Bopha may be the best hospitals in the country for children but we’ve still got a long way to go!