On The Road With A Human Rights Defender

I have just come back from a road trip with Mam Sitha, the Director of HROTP, one of her colleagues, and a fellow volunteer, to visit clients living in rural areas in Khampong Thom province.

Sitha drives the bumpy dirt roads of Cambodia with a lead foot, minimal air-con, and thumb constantly honking the horn. She doesn't honk the horn angrily like you would in Australia, but it is used as more of a precaution, as if to say, "move bitch, get out the way, get out the way." There were no seat belts in the backseat, so with every bump and dip in the road we went airborne. It was like a roller coaster but without all the safety. She also pulled over repeatedly to buy food from the side of the road. From her car window, she bought us fresh corn, watermelon, ice coffees, fried banana, and palm seeds. She didn't even get out to pump her own petrol, just honked the horn and handed money out the window - I respected that.

Be jealous, Jess. 

The first client we visited was a prisoner in a local jail in Khampong Thom. I was surprised by how little security there was; the prison gate was open so we just walked right in. Most of the prisoners were working in the yard ploughing, planting or watering. There were no prison-bitches or abusive guards or ethnically-charged shankings - Prison Break had lied to me. Compared to my visit to Villawood Detention Centre this time last year, this prison was practically Sesame Street. We met with the client in a room watched by a couple of unarmed guards and I was a little disappointed by how non-threatened I felt. I didn't exactly want to be treated like Jodie Foster in Silence of the Lambs, but a little bit of attention from the prisoners would have been nice.

After a quick stop to the local court house, we arrived at Sitha's rubber farm where her sister had prepared us a feast of pig and duck giblets. This was when I had a 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding "You don't eat meat? That's OK I make lamb"' moment. I had to explain what being a vegetarian meant and it seemed to really confuse them, "No chicken? No pork? No fish?!" Sitha's sister went off to begrudgingly fry up an egg. Afterwards, I wanted to win some points with the family so I said the word for 'yummy' in my best khmer. I thought I was top-shit speaking the language, but the sister muttered something in khmer, rolled her eyes, and the whole table cracked up laughing. Apparently she said something like, "how do you know what 'yummy' is when you don't eat meat?" So. Much. Sass.

She did warm to us as our days on the farm passed and my khmer got marginally better. Except, it was still really hard having dinner conversation with people who spoke very little english. On my end, I could really only say, "too expensive, 5 dollar" in khmer - which really didn't help. I found myself just listening to their conversation and relying on body language and tone. This meant that they would all start laughing at a joke and I would laugh along even though I had no idea what was happening. So, I guess that made me look like a sociopath.

Farm life was a bit of an adjustment. I mean, there wasn't even any wifi. What kind of country is this where a rubber farm in the jungle doesn't have high-speed internet access? There wasn't even fibre to the node. However, I did get to avoid all the sickening Valentine's Day declarations of love on social media, so that was nice.

We were sleeping in a semi-enclosed area outside right next to the chickens, ducks, dogs and cats. One of the cats was pregnant and was quite fond of sitting in my lap. On our last day on the farm, I was stroking her as she sat in my lap. I must have been petting her too hard or exerting too much pressure on her stomach because I think I induced labor... I think that because when she jumped off me there was a pool of cat blood on my thigh. Her amniotic sac must have leaked all over me. She ran off to give birth while I rubbed emergency hand-sanitizer all over my thighs. So yeah, I guess I'm a dad now?

Yeah, it's cute but is it worth having cat-vagina juices all over me?

We went to a half-constructed house to meet with some families who have been told to evacuate as the Cambodian government has intentions to sell the land to Vietnamese investors. We met with a lot of families in the same situation and I couldn't help but think of The Castle - the shacks we saw didn't look like much but a man's home is his castle… and it's the vibe of the thing….

Taking care of business

It really was an eye-opening experience, seeing the face of poverty in rural Cambodia. Some of the villagers looked at us whiteys as if we were going to save their homes and that was a lot of pressure. After the meeting in the half-constructed house - which grew into a bit of a rally by the end - the villagers gave us some lunch and put some drinks on the table. I didn't want to eat their food or drink their drinks because they were really poor so I tried to resist that alluring can of coke as long as I could but I cracked and chugged it down. It's really hot in Cambodia, I needed it! After recovering from my guilt, I faced another problem... I needed to go to the bathroom but there clearly wasn't a bathroom nearby. I considered going into the bush to do my business but I remembered being told that land-mines surrounded the property. I decided to hold it, which was a great idea until the bumpy car ride home. I almost pissed myself.

It was a very educational couple of days on the road with Mam Sitha. I learned a lot about Cambodian politics and the border disputes between Cambodia and neighbouring Vietnam and Thailand. You also get to see some incredibly stuff on the road. For example, I saw some parents take their newborn baby home on a motorbike with the hospital IV drip still attached, rolling alongside them. Only in Cambodia. It was a great experience, but would I go back to the farm with the cat blood and the no wifi? Tell him he's dreamin'.