Overdue but finally here.... my first blog about life in Cambodia

My name is Philip and I am a Peace Corps Volunteer living in Maung Russey district, Battambang province, Cambodia. Starting this blog seems like a good idea to relate my experiences and ideas, but to be honest I am not sure what to say since my everyday life in Cambodia is just that, everyday life. It should go without saying that initially I experienced a certain amount of culture shock upon arriving in Cambodia. Learning to live in stifling heat and monsoon season torrential rains, showering with dirty collected rain water, eating rice for multiple meals everyday, and living in an agricultural based community as the only foreigner and native English speaker all presented me with a steady period of readjustment. Learning a language, Khmer, that is grammatically incomparable to English and that I am not particularly good at makes learning to live with these changes and differences even more of a challenge because my ability to express myself and my difficulties becomes extremely limited. In many ways this is an experiment in learning how to forge a way to maintain my own sanity while simultaniously remembering that my primary motivation for being here is not about me; I came here to help others. I have asked for all of these difficulties in one way or another, but getting what I ask for is something totally different.

I have been in Cambodia with the Peace Corps K3 team for about 10 months now and many of those aspects of Cambodian culture that once shocked me have now started to become normalized, though many are far from justified. Gender inequality, corruption, race based discrimination , huge income disparities, and violence against women are parts of Cambodia that I simply couldn't believe at first, but as time goes on I see the reality of these phenomena more and more within the framework of Khmer society. Obviously, these generalities are not characteristics shared by most Khmer people but these factors do have a constant role in Cambodian society. Opening up the Cambodia Daily newspaper and reading any of the crime reports will give a simple but common example of gender inequality within Cambodia. Rape and domestic violence are crimes in Cambodia in which the victims (women) are made to feel responsible and are socially stigmatized because they have lost their "purity." This is a widespread attitude that continually dis-empowers women as individuals and as contributing members of a delicately balanced society. On the other hand, the young women of Cambodia are the true backbone of the society as a whole. Young women here raise children, manage finances, pass on tradition, and provide a support system for men that is somewhat foreign in the West. The women of Cambodia are generally humble, modest, industrious, and strong. The social cognitive dissonance on the importance and value of women within Cambodia and the reality of how many are forced to live as second class citizens is just one example of how living in Cambodia has challenged me to see things differently. For me, it is important to notice these things and to help establish a social dialogue that brings about an honest analysis of these phenomena by Cambodians so that they can assess their own values and challenge those social norms that do not reflect justice. As a foreigner it does no good for me to say "That's not right. This must change." because the message is lost, but in my role as a teacher and community member if I can influence those around me to question, reassess, and challenge injustice the social impact has the potential for true change.