Someone left behind

After one year of living in the small rural village in Cambodia, I moved to the capital, Phnom Penh, last month to start my new job at an NGO called Friends International, whose mission is to save lives and build future for the marginalized urban population, especially for children. Although I cannot say I prefer the city life style any more than that in the village, I do have to admit that living in a big city certainly has its charms. Now I can finally enjoy the luxury of having a fridge in my apartment, choosing from more than five restaurants to eat in, and speaking my mind more freely in English (and sometimes even in Chinese thanks to the flock of Chinese coming to Cambodia).

Speaking of the Chinese influence in Cambodia, things have been changing rapidly here. It doesn’t take much to understand how fast Cambodia is evolving (in fact it is the 6th fastest growing economy in the world): just stroll in the city of Phnom Penh, you will definitely see and feel it. In recent years, blocks of skyscrapers have invaded the flat landscape of Phnom Penh, a transformation fueled by the multimillion-dollar investments from China. The influx of money also gets infiltrated into the hands of some people, many of which are not shy about putting their fortune on full public display. On the streets where it used to be dominated by motorbikes and rickshaws are now cloaked up by the-bigger-the-better trucks and over-the-top luxury SUVs (Land Rovers, Land Cruisers… you name it).

Streets

Mall in Phnom Penh

Left: Weaving through traffic every morning on the filled up streets

Right: Mall for a few? Seeing the price tags in the mall makes me wonder how an average citizen in Phnom Penh can afford to be a customer inside it

On the night before my first day of work, I found my way to the newest shopping mall in Phnom Penh, which is comparable to some of Hong Kong’s best malls, if not better, and much bigger for sure. In this high-end environment, I was fully soaking in all the fanciness this city had to offer and was completely fascinated by the fact that it seemed to be changing for the better.

I was mesmerized all night long until the next day I started my new job. The first week of my work was orientation and so I was sent to different field offices to see their work on the ground. This time I strolled through the same city that had mesmerized me, but somehow it looked much less mesmerizing than it was just the day before. Led by my colleagues, we entered the darker allies and smaller buildings which I would not have even noticed if I were going by myself. After hopping around some dirty puddles and squeezing through some narrow staircases, I looked out from where I stood: I still could see the flashy skyscrapers, but they had become the background of a rundown complex standing right in front of my eyes.

Inside the complex we saw used syringes/pipes on every single floor. And not surprisingly, I also saw drug users doing drugs (for the first time in my life). A part of me naturally wanted to shy away from such full-on encounter and I guess so did the drug users. This time, I was fully soaking in all the reality of this city and was fascinated by how the city was changing for the worse for some.

Syringes

Pipes

Then we traveled to the outskirts of Phnom Penh to visit a community – a community which I could smell before I actually saw. As I was walking on the make-shift bridges built for the flood season, the further I stepped in, the worse the community actually looked than its smell. We walked gingerly on the swaying bridges to make sure we would not fall into the piles of trash-mud mixture beneath us. I realized it was naive of me to think that I had already seen the worst places in the countryside before when in fact at the exact moment, the place I was in, to put it mildly, was unlivable.

During our outreach, I saw kids playing around with no shoes as if their feet just couldn’t get any dirtier. We also chatted with some drunk men who took refuge in their alternate world early in the morning as if they wanted nothing to do with the reality. Skyscrapers, drug addicts, underprivileged kids, and alcoholics do co-exist in the same city, but the inconvenient truth is, while one has gotten all the praises and attention, the others are quietly being swept under the rug. It was ironic to see that right beside the rusty iron sheet houses, there was a tall wall separating the community from a high-rise building just a few meters away from it. Looking at this physical barrier, I wonder if it meant that the people from the “bad” side would never get to cross over or even shall be seen by the “nice” side.

Witnessing all these realities humbles me: despite being marginalized, most of these people still show resiliency and positivity in life and often times what they need is merely an opportunity. I am grateful to be a part of Friends International who is working alongside other NGO partners and the government to lift up the ones who are left behind. To read more on the work of Friends International: https://friends-international.org/our-solutions/