*Blogger is having tech difficulties loading my pics. Please check our site www.fotki.com/visceraltext*



What can you buy for $100?

A tank of gas in a big SUV. Starbucks coffee for a month. A pair of designer jeans.

Those would have been my first guesses a few months ago. Today I learned that $100 can buy/package/deliver enough food to feed 75 people for over a week. It can also provide hundreds of people with an endless water supply.

Thirty minutes north of the city of Siem Reap, lies Angkor Krawl which, literally translated, means “outside city”. With the help of Heang, our fantastic driver, we ventured outside the confines of Siem Reap to find people who needed help the most.

Heang confirmed what we had already read about the situation in Siem Reap; it is wrought with corruption, top to bottom. Hospitals, government, even charities. Like many other countries in the world, it is almost impossible to have an honest administration; let alone in an undeveloped nation. When poverty and hunger fuel desperation, the omnipotent dollar supersedes honesty, justice, and ethics.

You see row upon row of glittering, 5-star resorts lining the main road in the city; a shamefully gaudy contrast to the ruins most people live in. Upon further investigation you can learn they are owned and operated, in an obvious conflict of interest, by the government. The skyrocketing admission fees for the Angkor Temples are also funneled to the government; though virtually none of it goes towards temple upkeep. When you see the hazardous condition (or lack thereof) of the roads, the absence of police, catastrophic public hospitals, and extreme poverty of the people across the country, one can only wonder: Where the heck is the money going?

Heang said its common knowledge in Cambodia that the whole of the government pad their salaries at the cost of the people. He said : “ They bleed us dry” For you, reading my blog in a developed country, that is a comparatively emotionless statement, but for me, passing by these penniless, hungry people, it has quite a different weight.

Imagine a mother with her 6 children, starving because her husband was maimed by a landmine, and she cannot provide for them.

Imagine infants so sick with TB, Dengue Fever, Hepatitis and Japanese Encephalitis that they are unconscious, in shock, but the hospitals are so overcrowded they cannot be seen.

Imagine a past where doctors, who were better than those in China, Vietnam, and Singapore, were murdered alongside the other educated, by their government.

Imagine poverty so raw babies are “used” in a begging business with Westerners and many become disabled in the process.

The things we have seen in the past week of being in Cambodia have changed us; would change anyone.

By what flip of the coin could you or I have been here, in this life with these back-breaking hardships? Such a cliché isn’t it? But being here, seeing first-hand those who desperately need help, hurts. It hurts more deeply than anything I have seen before.

After the knots in your throat ease, the sinking in your stomach lifts, even after a fitful collapse in tears, you realize, you have to help. If its food, blood, money, candy, clothing, or just a hug and a smile, you have to do something. You have to give something.

This morning, I had no idea what we would do. Troy and I agreed our plan of action was to ask Heang about villages outside the city; these were the poorest areas. We called him at 9am, and he picked us up in his car. After a 30 minute drive north of the temples, we turned left onto a very narrow dirt road, which led into a small commune of 650 people.

The chief, Mr. Lian, and his wife were extremely polite, though somewhat surprised at our presence. Heang said they do not see many foreigners, ( hence their pointing and giggling) and were unsure of our intent. After returning to the city for 150 kilos ( 300 lbs) of rice, 250 packages of noodles, 6 lb bags of candy and 100 plastic bags, we headed back to Angkor Krawl and chief Lian. Wisely, he recommended 15 families who were the most needy ( those disabled or with many children) and went to rally them on his bike.

As he gathered the people, who started arriving by foot, bike, and even buffalo-drawn cart, we divided the 300 lbs of rice into 20lb rations with 16 bags of noodles. ( see pic on fotki site)

It was truly amazing to watch them, their gratitude. Waiting calmly until everyone was there, the villagers copped a squat on the thin planks leading into the chief's hut. Soon after, we started handed them the bags, one by one. ( see pic)

They were retreating to their bikes and other modes of transport, some just balancing the heavy sacks on their head, when the chief approached Heang. He explained that the village needed a water pump, as theirs had broken. It is monsoon season now, and easy to collect rainwater, but soon it would be dry.

There are no 20 minute showers, no flushing toilets, no running faucets out here. Water pumps are manual devices to pull ground water for drinking, cooking, bathing. For a moment, I imagined pumping water in a large container then hauling it somehow, on my person, a kilometer down the road in the 95 degree heat. Then I pondered life without any water at all...

Heang, Troy and the chief discussed where the best place for the new pump would be, (see pic on fotki site) They decided unanimously next to the rice pond for the run-off. We will return in 48 hours, hopefully, to the people utilizing the pump; all for $140 US! Heang said as soon as the concrete is dry, they will be able to pump water. This is very, very good news for the village:)

Driving around the outskirts of Siem Reap, you see that many people cannot afford the basic elements of living: food, water, clothing, shelter.

We will be here until the first week of August, bringing water pumps, food and clothing to the most needy villages; those people outside Siem Reap who are the most desperate.

If you want to give a donation ( no amount is too small; as you read what we can do with just $100US) you can contact me by email or send via paypal to this address: visceraltext@yahoo.com, or contact my mother steeltrain1@yahoo.com as she can also accept cash donations.

Please include your name and your address. I am compiling a DVD of the children and villagers here, and will send to you as thanks for helping the people here in Cambodia. There are also signs erected at the site of the water pump, in English and Khmer, telling all of the local people who assisted them. If you would like to donate a pump on your own, please let us know, so we can have the sign in your name ( and obviously get a pic of the site and sign) :-)

We love you all,
xoxoxoxoxoxox