Sustainable Development

Last Saturday night, Nono introduced me to a few girls in the Peace Corps. The Peace Corps has only been in Cambodia for two years, most likely because it was considered too unstable before that. I learned that the Peace Corps is much stricter than VSO. While VSO vols are required to bring certified helmets with them from their home country (you can’t even buy a decent helmet here) and wear them on motos at all times, Peace Corps aren’t even allowed to ride motos. I can't imagine how difficult it must be to get around, especially in the more remote and spread out provinces, without motos! Peace Corps and US Embassy employees are also not allowed to go to a sketchy club called the Heart of Darkness that everyone has been telling me about. Apparently this place is famous for shootings and violence… A must see? Also, Peace Corps does not place any vols in PP or even in any of the provincial capitals because there are too many NGOs.

This is true. There are so many NGOs here that there are whole NGOs whose work is just to coordinate other NGOs, including DAC in the Disability sector. There are so many NGOs that there is a whole neighborhood called “NGO Land.” There are so many foreigners that I see them every time I step outside... I can’t imagine how much more crowded it must get during tourist season when the economy is good. I also can’t help but wonder what all these NGOs are doing here and whether or not they are able to make a positive difference?

Cambodia is a country that is getting ahead of itself and struggling to keep up. While every amenity is available here, there are cuts on a daily basis. I’ve been told that there are more power cuts this time of year because it is the hot season and too many people run A/C. The first night I experienced a power outage was in my first week when I was riding my bike to meet up with Meghan for dinner and the whole street suddenly went dark. Somehow, Meghan still found me but it was terrifying riding through pitch-black streets and we couldn’t eat at the restaurant we were planning to go to anymore; though it wasn’t too hard to find another place with a generator. The weirdest power outage I’ve experienced so far was just this last weekend in the supermarket, which is as large, modern, and brightly lit as any Super Wal-Mart in the US. I was like, what!? How is this possible? Couldn’t I just run out with my groceries right now? Will I still be able to buy them because I really don’t want to have to come back and pick out what I want all over again!

The internet operates on a satellite, so no matter how reliable your network is, if it’s a cloudy day, it’s going to be slow. My first few weeks at work the internet would go out for at least an hour or two every morning and again every afternoon… it was SOO frustrating. Since we’ve moved, we don’t have a generator, so on top of the internet going out, the power in the entire office goes out on a regular basis. I’ve just learned to deal with it by saving reports I have to read or offline documents I have to write for these times. I also take it as an opportunity to read the newspaper and chat with my co-workers, learning more about Southeast Asian life and culture.

In my apartment, my water even goes out! At least a few times during every shower, it will stop running for a few seconds. It’s very odd, but not too disruptive.