A Tale of Two Communities

On the Koh Rumdual Island (a river island) in the Kandal Province there are two extremely different communities that exist, side-by-side, along the banks of the river. This island has a gruesome history, having been a former Killing Field location of the Khmer Rouge. Today, 29 October 2013, I had the privilege of visiting these two communities with Side-by-Side International’s Dr. Rany, Mang Da (SBSI nurse), and with the Kitihara Clinic’s physical therapist, Yoshi, and nurse, Asuka. We traveled by moto and tuk tuk for about 30 kilometers to the province, which is located to the South of Phnom Penh. Outside of Phnom Penh the roads became very bumpy and the visible poverty became more intense. I saw a boy working at one of the roadside stores, he was hobbling under the weight of his load and so I looked more closely because it didn’t appear to be a load of significant size. That is when I noticed that protruding from below the hem of his shorts this boy had two wooden legs. I felt a twinge of shame when I recalled how many times in recent years I have wished to be able to run again, but the pain from the arthritis in my hips has stopped me from doing so. I really have nothing to complain about.

Yoshi and Asuka in the tuk tuk

Riding in the tuk tuk we approached a small town and although it is a national holiday today there were children in the school there. I saw two young boys (probably about 8 years old). One was riding a moto and his friend was riding a bike (“cong” in Khmer), but the boy on the bike had his right arm extended and he was gripping onto the seat bar of the moto, being towed along to school. There were chickens, dogs, and even cows roaming free along the side of the road. As we left the town and neared the province I saw massive fields, but they were flooded. The water damage from flooding this year has been particularly damaging. We stopped the tuk tuk by a roadside fruit stand to wait for the Side-by-Side staff who were traveling by moto. Next to the fruit stand there stood a tall tree next to a Lilly pond and hanging from both sides of the tree were wooden seated swings. As we perused the fruit stand three young children, two boys and a girl, appeared. I smiled at them and motioned toward the swings. The girl began to climb into the swing and the other (perhaps he was her older brother) then got into the other swing, while the youngest child, who was naked, just watched. Their joy was priceless.

Flooded field

 

The moto with Side-by-Side staff arrived and we continued the journey. Just five minutes down the road we pulled over by the side of a river where we got onto a boat to cross the river. I write “onto” the boat, not “into” the boat because it was really more like a raft – consisting of two wooden canoes attached together by a wooden platform that laid across the top of the canoes. Rudders were attached to the sterns of each of the canoes and these are connected together by a cross bar that the pilot steered with his right foot, while also controlling a long-shaft outboard motor that he started with a hand crank. There was a fairly swift current in the river and I was impressed by our pilot’s steering ability.

The boat

 As we approached the island Dr. Rany pointed out the distinctions between the two island communities. When looking at the communities from the water, the community on the right side appears to be very clean, with lush fields, and nice homes. But the community on the left side has mostly barren fields and poor housing. We pulled the boat up next to the Side-by-Side Cambodia School. The school was out today because of it being a national holiday, but families stilled dropped by and there was a pile of 8 car and moto batteries outside of one of the classroom doors. (These batteries are probably used to provide electricity in the homes and not for transportation.) Dr. Rany explained that the families bring their batteries to the school to be recharged. The residents are only charged a small fee to have the batteries recharged and the proceeds help out the school. The school has solar panels on the roof, which generates the battery charging. Dr. Rany and Mang Da were at the island today to give the residents the results of their blood draws. Last week 50 island residents had blood drawn and tested for Hepatitis B and C. 

 



The entrance to Side-by-Side School from the river

We spent a couple of hours walking from one community to the other and speaking with some of the residents. On the right side all of the residents take great care to clean up the clutter that daily builds around their homes. There are no heaps of garbage. There are clean, safe fields for the children to play in. The children are healthy and happy. On the right side of the river there are healthy, productive fruit trees and vegetable crops that supply food for the families and the food that they do not eat themselves is sold for profit at the market. The people who live on the right side of the river also have learned how to rotate their crops so that they have a continual harvest throughout the year. This year when the floods overtook their pea stands they actually figured out how to use the flooding to significantly increase their netting of fish. Because the people on the right side embrace innovations like these they not only have a constant supply of healthy foods to feed themselves, but they also have increased profit from the sale of their harvest at the market. Their gardens and fields would be the envy of many. Today we saw: mango, pineapple, papaya, banana, lime, peas, and lettuce. The parents who live on the right side also value their health and their children’s health. They take their children to the medical clinic for regular check-ups and they also know how to provide basic health self-care (basic diagnosis and treatments). Their children are learning and growing in ways that will give them great opportunities to be successful adults.

The School

 

Yoshi, Asuka, Dr. Rany

Harvesting on the right side

Pea stands

A home on the right side





The left side community is quite a different story. The left and right side communities are separated by only a field and fence; and guarded by three aggressive geese. The fields on the left side are just as big as on the right side, but the left side fields are mostly barren. The homes on the left side of the river are in ill-repair, many lacking roofs and side walls. There are no safe, clean areas where the children may play and so they play either in the road, under their homes, or amidst the piles of garbage. We saw a group of 6 very young children all huddled together under their home and we walked over to speak with them. There were no adults anywhere within sight or sound of these children. The children are not healthy because the parents do not value health, do not take the children to the clinic for check-ups or for care when something appears to be wrong with their health; and the parents do not know how to provide good health self-care. Most of the men on the left side of the river do not work, choosing instead to gather together and drink, and to stay up late playing card games. These families live from day-to-day on the handouts that they can get from NGO’s and others who may give them enough rice for a week or a day. But they have no gardens and their crops, the few that they have, are not rotated and so they only produce a fraction of what they have the potential to produce. On the left side the parcels of property are owned either by the church or by the State, whereas on the right side, many of the residents own their own property.   


Home on the left side

Children playing on the left side - no adult in sight

There is no reason why the left side community cannot live like their neighbor community to the right. No one is telling the left side that they must live that way. The same resources are available to both sides of the river. It really is a matter of the mind, of the will, of changing values and actions. Side-by-Side International (a Japanese NGO) and Graphis (a Japanese Student Organization) are partnering to make a difference – to help bring about transformation of the unhealthy community to live like their healthy neighbor community. To create one healthy city by the river.

As I write this I realize how personal this vision of “one healthy city by the river” is to me. My family name is “Ichikawa”, which translates “one city by the river”.