the dark side

I’ve been seeing another side of Cambodia this past week – perhaps the more realistic side that I’ve only caught glimpses of so far. I read recently in an article (http://www.newstimeslive.com/news/story.php?id=1055043&source=tabbox) that Cambodia will break your heart and I can see why.

From the Tuol Seng Genocide Museum to the pedophiles on the street and the people living in tents and dilapidated shacks by the side of the river to the little boys waiting for us to finish eating so they can quickly eat our leftovers before being yelled at by the restaurant workers, I’m seeing this other side of Cambodia and it makes my heart break. Sure, we can do things on a micro level and give a little bit of food or money here and there, but what about the long term? There are hundreds of NGOs here, but yet little progress seems to be made (though I can’t really say this definitively b/c this is first trip to Cambodia so I haven’t seen the progress being made or already made – I have no reference point). But what I can say definitively is that Cambodia faces many problems.

The poverty and the other problems that Cambodia faces today makes me question whether a tribunal will really be helpful to the average person here. Others have raised similar questions-- http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-06-12-voa47.cfm. A tribunal ends the culture of impunity and perhaps gives closure to the people living here who lost a family member because of the Khmer Rouge, but in a country where people surveyed do not really care about a tribunal, what is its use? Is it just an exercise in futility to serve the international community’s need for justice? Will it serve any benefit to the people here?