Cambodia 2013: Looking for Work/Driving in Phnom Penh

After taking the personal walk to Emmaus (see blog posting 10 August) I am very confident that there is not a particular job that God is calling me to in Cambodia. That is not the purpose for me being here. So, I am going forth with confidence in knowing that I have great freedom to look for a wide variety of kinds of work. This week I took my resume over to World Vision and met with Somrach in Human Resources. I don’t think that it will work out for me to get any of their current open positions, but I may be able to do some short-term volunteer or contract work for them. I also applied yesterday with VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas), a large and well-established organization headquartered in the UK. Their mission is to bring people together to share skills, build capabilities, promote international understanding and action, and change lives to make the world a fairer place for all. I really like what I have learned about them and think that this would be a great place to work. I am applying for the position of Programme Manager of ICS (International Citizen Service).

ICS is a very fascinating programme (yes, they spell “program” differently in the UK) where a group of 18-25 year olds from the UK come to Cambodia (ICS is also in other Asian and African countries) for 12 weeks and are matched with Cambodian young adults to live and work alongside them in a community organization aimed to end poverty. After finishing the 12 week service the young adults return to the UK with a supported plan to share what they have learned, to encourage others, and to continue work themselves on a plan to support the end of poverty. The position I am applying for is a 7 month position and it pays 1/10^th of what I made in the US, but that will be more than enough to support my needs. For now, though, I continue to have two offices: 1) The coffee shop next door, and 2) the lounge chairs by the side of the pool where I am living. Both “offices” have free Wi-Fi and computer charge plug-ins. Now when I walk into the coffee shop they ask me if I would like my usual seat. My main job at this time is to find a job. I have been using a job listing site called “Bong Thom”, which Neth tells me means “big boss”.

Yesterday, I went to the Phnom Penh House of Prayer for a men’s prayer group and there I met a man named Dr. Glenn Miles. He invited me to go out with him this evening to do Christian outreach to expat men. I am excited about that. He also introduced me to the Director for International Justice Ministries, which is a group that I have thought about applying for work with.

Early this morning I went out for a bike ride to explore the city a bit. I wanted to capture both pictures and audio of the city. I wish that I had audio of the train and of the roosters in the morning, but maybe in a future installment I will get them. As it turns out I cannot attach the audio file anyway so you will just have to imagine hearing these things when you see the photos (below).

1) The buzzing sound of Moto engines and cars at an intersection and then as I start down the road on my bike a woman pushing a cart and squeaking a plastic horn (this is a very common scene on the roadsides – women and sometimes women with young children pushing carts down the street and collecting plastic bottles and paper, I assume to recycle. I have begun to take my plastic bottles and cans with me when I go out and when I see someone collecting I will stop and hand it to them to which I always receive in return a bow and the word “Ocoon” – thank you.)

2) The song “Old McDonald” playing very loudly as I pass by a school. (Many of the schools here teach in English.)

3) Lots of cars and motos honking incessantly (just so you don’t disparage my driving and think that they are honking at me I recorded this section standing on the sidewalk).

4) Voices of people talking in Khmer at the Central Market.

One of the things that I like about the stop lights in Phnom Penh is that they have timers showing how many seconds before the light will turn green. It is common practice for people to turn off their engines at a red light and start back up with about 8 seconds before green. Lots of people start going into the intersection with 3-4 seconds to go before green and that is when you will see a lot of dodging and hear a lot of honking because it is also common for a lot of people to run red lights. Driving in Phnom Penh is really good training in patience. It will do you no good to lose your temper or patience with the people and traffic here; it is what it is and it isn’t going to change. The way people drive here reminds me of the Patches O’Houlihan line in the movie “Dodgeball” about the five D’s “Dodge, Duck, Dip, Dive, and Dodge”. People here will drive down the wrong side of the street straight at you, cut in front of you and stop, pull out into the street from a driveway without even looking, and all kinds of other crazy things. That is just the way it is and no one ever loses their temper over it. The honking is just a way of communicating presence and intent, not angry honking.