EWB Australia Working with RDI Cambodia: Painting the Scene

Sunday, 4 November 2007

Painting the Scene

Well I have certainly arrived! The first 6 weeks have been a swirl of activity and adjustment, and it is now that I provide a glimpse of what it is to be living and working in Preak Thom Village, Kean Svay Commune, Kandal Province, Cambodia.Resource Development International – Cambodia (RDIC) is my hosting organisation as I represent Engineers Without Borders Australia (EWB) on a 6 month placement to further develop some key engineering and capacity building projects.

I will take this opportunity of my first blog posting to give you a sense of my surroundings.I have the privilege to live and work in the Preak Thom Village about 40 minutes south-east of Phnom Penh just off the highway towards the Vietnam border. The village is what I imagine is fairly typical Cambodian – with a beautifully ornate Wat (Buddhist Temple), a haang cafe (coffee shop), a primary school, hundreds of free roaming dogs, some Brahman cows, and many muddy puddles.'

To further paint the scene, wet season is well upon us with heavy downpours daily filling the local wetlands, potholes, and many front yards – requiring locals to access their houses for a number of hours a day by boardwalks, boats, or through knee deep murky water. The rain keeps the temperature down though, and therefore everyone’s spirits high, and the tumultuous clouds are a photographer’s delight...and a learner’s inspiration.

We have just passed Bon Pchum Ben, a major Buddhist Festival requiring the offering of rice to deceased relatives. The food both encourages these deceased relatives to bring good luck to their descendants, and deters the wrath they would bestow should they find themselves without food. The festival goes for 15 days, and Buddhists are encouraged to come to the Wat each day at 4am with their offerings. They are invited by the loud drumming, chanting, and amplified music that blasts from the Wats in all directions. Preak Thom then is an early rising village, Buddhists, and non-Buddhists one and all!

Judy - 15 October 2007

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I arrived in Kean Svay in September 2007. I am volunteering for an extended number of months assisting RDIC on a number of projects including water filter documentation and education, staff training and capacity building, and any new project that arrives. I have a science degree in microbiology, and a masters in environmental management. I have worked in government for over 7 years in environmental regulation and management, and natural resource management, including most recently at Australia's National Water Commission.
Judy - Nov 07

Ea Ponloeu is the Director of RDIC’s studio. The RDIC studio is fully equipped and staffed for puppetry theatre, film making, audio recording, and editing. RDIC has made a large number of educational videos including karaoke songs about hygiene, a children’s educational TV series using puppets to teach literacy and life learning, educational videos about drinking water and water filters. Ponloeu has been the Director of these projects.

Ponloeu was born in Vietnam in 1977. His parents fled there from Phnom Penh when the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia in 1975. With his family, Ponloeu returned to Cambodia in 1980, after the Khmer Rouge regime ended in 1979. It was his family’s intention to travel right across Cambodia to the Thai border where refugee camps provided the opportunity to be resettled in the US and other countries. On their way to the border, Ponloeu’s mother unexpectedly met her sister, with whom she had lost contact during the period of the Khmer Rouge regime. As a result the family decided to remain in Cambodia and settled in Battambang (in the north west) where Ponloeu grew up.

Ponloeu moved to Phnom Penh to study after high school in 1996, and his parents followed in 1999 where there were more business opportunities for their clothing business.

Ponloeu studied Computer Science and the Royal University of Phnom Penh for 4 years. At that time university was free. As students finished high school they could sit exams for entry into up to four courses. Ponloeu’s preference to study law, and his mother’s preference that he study medicine, made way for his success in the Computer Science exam.

As with most university options in Cambodia in the last few decades, study does not simply involve learning the course content of your chosen degree, but learning either English or French – the language spoken by the lecturers who come over from donor countries to fill the academic void left after 1979. So Ponloeu learnt English.

Whilst Ponloeu did well in his studies he had to overcome the difficulty of not being able to afford a computer, and only being granted access to university computers for 4 hours a week – for a degree in computer science! Things have changed at universities now with private university places being available at a fee, and many more computers.

Ponloeu began working with Mickey Sampson in 2000 while he was finishing off his degree. He worked in the studio as computer technician, translator and doing any jobs given to him – at that time there were only 3 people working there. The studio was then part of CSI. When RDIC was established in 2002, the studio came across to RDIC and Ponloeu with it. The studio now has 15 staff and RDIC a total of around 70.

Ponloeu lived in the studio building for four years prior to his wedding the other week (see my blog entry). He preferred this, and the access it gave him to his work, than to living in town and going out every night with his friends. Ponloeu and Thyra now live with Thyra’s mother and brother in Phnom Penh. Married life is a new experience for Ponloeu with the responsibilities of understanding and meeting family needs and desires. Ponloeu and Thyra plan to wait a while before having children. Thyra is finishing her studies at night.

Ponloeu has traveled to the US in 2004 to visit his sister – who toured there in 2001 and met her Cambodian/American husband. Ponloeu sees the US as a country with so many opportunities if you are able to tap into them. Ponloeu would like to spend time in the US improving his film making skills through work. He notes that because there are so many professionals and skilled people in America – America does not need any individual in the same way as Cambodia. Being skilled in Cambodia is very important as each skilled and capable worker and thinker fills a void here. He hopes to find opportunities to teach film making skills to others in the future.

Ponloeu took a month this year to film his first feature film with a grant from a Philippino company. The film is called ‘Sombot Chong Krowie’ (The Last Letter) a romantic comedy in Khmer which, once edited, will be released in Cambodian cinemas and later on DVD…to our delight with English subtitles!

Ponloeu has always loved stories and grew up reading comics and history books. The opportunities RDIC gave him in the studio determined his path for story telling through film. He loves to write and improve scripts and is currently drafting his first feature film script in English.

Ponloeu would really like Cambodia’s skill levels increased, including in film making. Currently he fills many of the positions of film making that in other countries would be filled by many who are each expert in their discipline – eg scriptwriters, directors, producers. Whilst a few international movies have been made here, they are generally made with fully imported crews – eg from Thailand or the Philippines.

Ponloeu says this pattern is repeated in many new investments in Cambodia. Cambodia’s skills have not kept up with new technologies, and as new industries and businesses are established here many skilled positions are filled by foreign personnel with the appropriate training and experience. Ponloeu believes improved training for trades, better school education – with stronger requirements to study and do homework, and better training in agriculture at the household level to generate higher incomes and less subsistence living would improve Cambodian living standards.