Rolling With It: First Impressions of Cambodia

I arrived in Phnom Penh on Sunday ready to start my six weeks of volunteering with the Human Rights Organisation for Transparency and Peace (HROTP).

I got picked up at the airport by my volunteer coordinator, who led me and another volunteer to a tuk-tuk waiting outside the airport. A part of me was expecting to be picked up by a car or minivan and this was when I realised that Cambodia operates differently to other places and I would just have to roll with it.

My new home is a set of flats inhabited by about 15 other volunteers and a Cambodian family who run the place, cook for us, and make sure we don’t get murdered in our sleep. Seriously, there are bars on all the windows and doors and there is a 10pm curfew. Despite this, we think we are staying in the rich part of Phnom Penh seeing as there are some nice cars on the street and the piles of garbage aren’t that big. I’m staying in a room with another two guys, on double beds that are about an inch a part. It’s a really confined living space but we are rolling with it. We also have a pet dog, which I think is really cool – even though I’m keeping my distance from it so as not to contract rabies. The real problem, however, are mosquitos. The mozzies here are hectic, which we found out when we accidentally left our bedroom window open one night. Whatever, rolling with it.

I wasn't kidding about the piles of garbage

At orientation, we met up with a bunch of 40 other volunteers who will be working in NGOs, schools and orphanages. Together, we were taken on a tour of the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum which is the site of the S-21 prison used by the Khmer Rouge for interrogation and torture. It was really intense, but also a reminder of why we are here in this country, giving them our time and skills to help them move forward. It is incredible what this country and these people have been through. For example, upon meeting the Director of HROTP, she apologised for her lack of English language skills, as she would have been imprisoned for learning English as a child. Despite the dark history, Cambodians are proving to be the nicest people. All the children wave and say hello as we walk past on the street and the adults are more than happy to give directions, even if you look like a giant loser tourist wearing elephant pants. Just look at how the schoolkids stop traffic in order to cross the road:

Totes adorbz yet highly dangerous

Even when we are being scammed, it is done in such a nice way… We caught a tuk-tuk to a nearby shopping mall to do some groceries and also had the driver stop at a few places on the way home. When we stopped at a pharmacy, he runs off down the street and we assume he has gone to chuck a leak or something. Instead, he comes back with his young, adorable daughter. She sat in the back of the tuk-tuk for the rest of our ride and we fawned over her the whole time. She didn’t trust us whiteys though. When one of the girls offered her a chocolate, she snatched it out of her hand, I guess for fear that we would take it away from her? Or because she is living below the poverty line and starving. Either way, it was pretty funny. Rest assured, we ended up giving the driver more than the agreed $4 fare. Cutest scam ever.

There are some troubling things in Cambodia, however. The gap between rich and poor here is extensive. There are people on the streets living with less than $1 a day while others are driving a Lexus. Another thing I have found really wrong is the wide range of skin-whitening products. Every moisturiser we saw in stores advertise itself as 'whitening' or 'extra-whitening'. It’s so wrong. I also can’t find any self-tanning lotion, which is really upsetting.

Ethically abhorent and also a rip-off

I think I will learn a lot more about this country over the next few weeks working for HROTP. The organisation’s main focus is on anti-corruption and land-rights for peasant farmers. I may get to go with the director on some field trips to the countryside as well as attend a convention on human rights. It’s going to be so interesting. As much as I think I'm just rolling with it, I'm actually already loving it here. Best of all, my Cambodian phone is a shitty old Nokia and I get to play Snake. iPhones really can't compare to the joy that is Snake.