A new venture?

So we return to Cambodia tomorrow. This will be the first trip for 2010. Jhon, Jimmy, Piang Ngok, Veron and myself. For Piang Ngok and Veron, this will be the first time.

On the previous trip Ps Kea had raise the possibility of a visit to a very remote village in the Santuk district. Poor, isolated and often exploited because of timber concessions, he asked if we could help. So here we are heading towards Tropeang Russei (Bamboo Pond), not knowing what to expect. It will be a rough ride...approximately 40kms NorthEast, off the main road at Kpg Thmor. This relatively short stretch of dirt track will takes us approximately 4 hours to navigate through. Because there is nowhere to stay in the village, it will be a day trip.... meaning 8 hours of slow bumpy travel. We will do what we can, get to know the village leadership...and evaluate their needs.

We will need your prayers for journey mercies and for security.

The other mission will be to revisit the fishing village, and meet with the village leadership. The idea is to discuss how we can build a school for them.

Meanwhile Esther has planned for a small party for the handicap in Baray. Piang Ngok has offered to sponsor the party and I went today to the Verge in Tekkah to pick up a whole bunch of balloons and party blowers for them. Pray that all will have a great time.

Pol Pot dam

Because we often travel down highway 71 on our way to the villages (which are north-east of 71, bottom right of map), we often visit the dam and the lake behind it. This time because we had occasion to visit Sreynich, we spent a bit more time there.

Very peaceful and rustic. The waters were high because of the rains. Fishermen patiently took theirs turns to cast their nets.

The serenity of the place of course hides the horrors that had gone into the construction of the dam. During the Khmer Rouge era, Pol Pot constructed this dam diverting parts of the Stung Chinit and Stung Tang Krasang tributaries of the Tonle Sap, using an estimated 40,000-100,000 slaves. Many thousands died during the construction of the dam.

The lake behind the dam. On a previous trip 2008.

Today, the dam (sometimes called the January 1 Dam), supposedly provides water to 20,000 hectares of land in Baray and Santuk districts during the rainy season, and to 2,000 hectares during the dry.

Meas San, 58, was one of the thousands who labored under excruciating conditions to build the January 1 Dam. She said six of the 10 people in her work group disappeared within three months. "They were sick. Their bodies were swollen. All of a sudden they disappeared," she recalled. Lon Keam, 60, also worked on the dam, while pregnant. She had so little food, she could not feed her baby, and watching him suffer was unbearable. "My breast milk was not enough," she said. "I wished that my baby would die." Trucks came by night to take people away. "We were just like pigs," she said. "They could kill us at any time." Today, the dam enables Meas San to eke two rice harvests a year out of less than 1 hectare of land. Lon Keam uses the water for her rice, too.
But it is a bitter harvest. "Sometimes I look into the water and I feel hatred of the Khmer Rouge," Meas San said. "They killed my husband, they separated my daughter from me. I was so hungry." Cambodia Daily

Trouble in Santuk #2

Excerpted from The Mirror (19/11/2009):

“According to a news source, at least three disabled veterans, poor citizens, were arrested between 14 to 16 November 2009, when they resisted armed forces and police of the Kompong Thom authorities, coming to enforce a notification to confiscate land, where the authorities claimed that those citizens live there illegally, in Banteay Rou Ngieng village, Kraya commune, Santuk district, Kompong Thom.

“The source of this information claimed that there is an association with more than 1,700 families of disabled veterans, living there since 2004, and that the association lives on more than 10,000 hectares of land, where each family was provided with 3 hectares by the head of that community, for housing and for growing different crops, since 2005. But on 14 and 16 November 2009, about 50 armed forces and other authorities came with machinery to remove their houses, and they arrested three people.

“The disabled veterans said that the authorities burnt their houses, shot at them, and even arrested some people and hit them with riffle handles, in order to evict them to seize the land for the Tan Bieng company [a Vietnamese company].

For full report, see here.

Trouble in Santuk

Taken from The Phonm Penh Post (19/11/2009):

KAMPONG Thom provincial court has prepared 20 arrest warrants for villagers involved in a clash with soldiers and military police officers that led to nine injuries and two hospitalisations on Monday, officials said.

Provincial Governor Chhun Chhorn said he and two other officials had filed a complaint to hold the villagers accountable for burning four vehicles owned by a Vietnamese rubber company that was awarded an 8,000-hectare economic land concession in Santuk district in 2007. Hundreds of families have condemned the move as unfair, saying they have lived on the disputed property since 2004.

“Now these people are under investigation according to the court warrant because it’s a penal case,” Chhun Chhorn said, adding that the villagers had also burned a Military Police car and destroyed 11 motorbikes.

For full report, see here.

Tropeang Russei

Just north of Baray District is the district of Santuk. We have been told of a community there called Tropeang Russei (Bamboo Pond) consisting of about 700+ families. It is very poor and suffers from governmental neglect. Geographically the region is forested, and families are often displaced because of timber concessions.

Pastor Kea has been entering the region on his own initiative and resources, often in response to requests for help. He has specifically asked for our assistance in this very neglected and remote rural community.

I intend to go in with Kea sometime about the second week of January to evaluate the needs and to see what can be done. It is only about 40 kms from Baray but it takes about 4 hours to get there, so you can imagine the state of the roads.


Please pray for us.... and for the needs of Tropeang Russei.