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A visit to Siem Reap - 22 to 25 September 2006 |
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I made a trip with fellow BUBS member Alan Yew
and friends Amelia Leong and Michael Ng. It was a really enjoyable
trip. We managed to meet up with representatives of
Khmer Youth
Education Buddhist Centre ("KYEBC") and the
Life and Hope Association ("LHA")
and Amelia and Michael even had time to visit the famous Angkor temples.
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There are 2 ways to get around Siem Reap - solo
or by mass transit. |
Siem Reap seemed even more interesting this time around as I stayed right in
the middle of where the action was - right next to Psar Chas, the old
market, in the Shadow of Angkor hotel facing the lazy, green Siem Reap
river. It's a great location as it enabled slow ambling walks to the market,
the amazing international restaurants along Pub Street, and best of all, it
was just across the river from Wat Damnak. That allowed me to visit Ven
Somnieng, the director of LHA whenever I wanted to make arrangements for
visits to the projects.
One of the first
impressions we got was that Buddhism is making a strong resurgence.
The temples were busy and filled with novices and monks. They go for
pindapata in the mornings and can be seen on motorbikes whizzing past. One
afternoon, we cycled along the north bank of the river to visit the
monasteries. |
With the monks at Wat Preah Indra Enkorsa, on
the banks of the Siem Reap river
Some speak Japanese, German and English. |
The monasteries or
pagodas as they are called there, were
occupied by hundreds of monks, but this was deceiving. They were
friendly and eager to practise their English on foreigners. A good number
seemed to join the monasteries because that was the only option to get an
education. A large number were from the farming hinterlands and too poor to go to
school. When asked what they studied, none mentioned Buddhism or
Buddha Sasana as they called the subject, although that was in the curriculum. There
was more interest in languages and secular subjects. It appears that once
they feel that they have some marketable knowledge, they would disrobe and
join the work force. This is not necessarily a bad thing as the Wats
provides an essential service - giving the youths a basic education in
secular subjects as well as in the Dhamma. Otherwise they might be
languishing in the farms or worse, roaming the streets. |
Ratana and his extended family. The child in
the colorful shirt has no father and a mother who is blind. The rest have
equally sad stories of neglect, abuse or simply homelessness. Ratana was
surprised when I told him his name means Jewel. I said "Some Malaysians know some Pali too." |
We met some really
cool people. One was Ratana who was working as a tourist guide. But he saw
the street children, those that had run away from broken homes, orphans, or
simply from families too poor or too desperate to care for them - and
they reminded him of his childhood. So he left his job to teach them some
skills, opening a craft factory producing shadow puppets.
Mischievous Rak, who liked to see himself
in the camera. |
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The Dhamma is
undergoing a strong resurgence. The man in the picture on the left is our
taxi driver, Sophal, a real friendly guy who tries in his halting English to
tell us about his country. He was a Government servant with the
Ministry of Agriculture earning USD20 a
month. So he gave that up and makes several times that amount now as a driver. I
overheard him talking to the nun in the background about Vipassana.
Seems he took a Goenka meditation course back in Phnom Penh awhile ago. |
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Journeys Within is an American owned B&B
and tour agency specializing in Indochina tours. The owner, when not running
his business or learning kick-boxing, spends his time in the back villages
of Siem Reap on his projects. |
There is lot
of aid coming into Cambodia. Many of them through organised NGOs. But
there are also small spontaneous acts by various individuals as well as by
local businesses.
Paul donated the newly installed pump-well in
the LHA assisted village on Tonle Sap. The opportunities to help in small
and large ways in Cambodia are endless. It just takes a little effort and
some compassion.
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The little girl waiting
patiently to be given a doll. |
At Tonle Sap, a boy holds
the ball we gave. |
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The future of Cambodia
lies in the hands of the children. This sounds like a cliché but is
especially true for Cambodia. They live in a time of remarkable change. The
first peace after 30 years of war which saw a significant part of the adult
population killed. |
Our meetings with LHA
(click for report)
We met with Ven
Somnieng of LHA. The organisation also runs the
Green Gecko project which
unfortunately was closed when we were there. The director, Tania of Australia had
married a local man and had returned to Australia to sell her property and
other assets before returning to Siem Reap to settle down and to run the
project
Our meetings with KYEBC
(click for report)
We met up with Ven Vath Vibol at Wat Prasat
Bakong where he was spending his vassa.
All other photos- Siem Reap 2006
Special Thanks to the donors and
supporters who contributed towards this trip. I
should mention Cheng Jeen who is new to BUBS but together with his
friend Ng, gave two laptops and Jessica Ho, who I've never met, but who
gave a substantial donation. Also thanks to Siew Swan and Yu Kit for the CD
player and Printer. And thanks to the many cash donors. I cannot
name them all but your donations are tremendously important and will go a
long way in assisting the Cambodian organisations in their activities. May you all benefit greatly from
these meritorious acts.
Yu Ban
25 Sept 2006
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