Well, here goes. I think that my life style in Cambodia is changing since I went to the Reception at the Embassy for the Peace Corp's 50th Celebration. The Ambassador gave PC Cambodia a big endorsement and said that friendship between PCV's and Cambodians is very important to SE Asian welfare. I was quite surprised at the big endorsement but I shouldn't have been because in PC Jamaica there was a lot of socializing with the Embassy there too. This, however, was a formal endorsement that carries a lot of political weight. The Director is a former volunteer from Kapit, Sarawak. I also met one of the Program Managers and I am going to visit with him when I go to PP. I also met a RPCV who is active with the PP NGO's, including trafficking and abuse. The Cambodian program is only a couple of years old and is going to increase to 100 volunteers in July. Because I am an Advocate on the Safety and Security issue, I follow PC in all of the countries that I visit and live in. Here in Cambodia, there is definitely a need to be judicious in placement because there is a safety and security issues already developing after only 1 year. Thailand also has a program that has been going since 1961 and is very well established. I have not yet looked at the program there because I have not been able to make it to the meetings in Bangkok. When there is a meeting, I am usually far away and the meetings seem geared to the people in and around Bangkok. Thailand's record is quite good for an old program too.
I am waiting to move into a brand new apartment here in Sihanoukville and have paid an advance. The apartments are ultra modern and will be a treat for myself. Some of the residents work in the NGO's and the residents are gone during the day. If it is quiet, I will like it even more and may attempt to start organizing some thoughts about my adventures. Because I am a woman travelling alone all of these years, it puts me in a category pretty much by myself. Also, this will be the first time in 8 years that I will have a "real" apartment although I did stay in a really nice serviced apartment in Ching Mai and a nice house on Koh Samui. It is much cooler here than in Thailand, which is why I think I will stay here. In Thailand, starting in March, it is too hot in the afternoon and I have some difficulty with the heat. I don't know if it is possible to fry the brain, but I do not want to take the chance either, so I am going to only do short visits to the "hot" places.
I do believe in Global Warming/Climate Change and think that the financial situation is going to be challenged the most. How to pay for all of these calamaties and disasters, these droughts and floods, these tornadoes and hurricanes. These sizzling hot temperatures. And then there is the possibility of new diseases, germs and health risks. For example, what about the tsunami in Japan, the E-Coli outbreak in Germany, the tornadoes in the USA, the drought in China.
Then, of course, there is the Arab Spring, which I support. I feel these people deserve the same freedoms and rights that I want; that any normal intelligent person wants. These distators treat us like we are always going to be subservient and passive; that they will always be able to take whatever they want and leave the scraps to us. Actually, all this oil wealth really belongs to everbody in each country, not just the ones that bribe their way to wealth and control, which seems to be what has happened in all of these Muslim countries. There is no legitimancy to their leadership; there is no governing; there is a lot of rule by superstition and fear. This is hardly any Islamic religion but it is a battle for faith. The dictators shoot and don't even ask any questions, so hardly does anyone want to be a part of that s_____. I think the breakaway forces are going to win and all of these people will be able to have some decency in their lives; out of the shadows and into the sunlight.
China, Burma and North Korea will never change.
These are my thoughts for today.
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