Political Activism on the Ground

Looking gooddddd n' $eksi wet hair and all

Yesterday, I went to visit the Khmer Youth Association's (KYA) office in Pouk District, about 40 minutes outside of Siem Reap city for a meeting with the Siem Reap Province director, Lun Bunthay. I was interested in meeting with KYA in order to get experience with an NGO that is locally founded and run, rather than having a Western director or staff as so many NGOs in Siem Reap do. I sported my newly purchased face mask while going there and coming back, and multiple women on the back of motorbikes next to me kept touching their skin, pointing to me, and saying "Beautiful!" in Khmer due to my white skin. Ironically, I accidentally bought whitening soap the other day too.

I arrived, Lun greeted me, apologizing for how cold it was that day (it was 90 degrees), and offered me a small bottle of water which I graciously accepted even though I clearly had my own water. I had prepared about twelve questions beforehand, mostly about how youth can participate and engage in Cambodian political society, to get the most of the meeting and was very interested to hear what Lun had to say. He had also prepared a print-out for me which was so adorable :-o ! I also really appreciated him for trying to understand my questions, rather than just smile and say something else as often happens here if someone does not understand your English.

Information Board

As I expected, Lun told me how many Cambodian People's Party members and community / commune councils often do not like KYA, but that this is changing. KYA fosters youth to think independently, not for any particular party. KYA also has strict transparency and anti-corruption education and policies. For example, KYA is trying to get hospitals to post their prices instead of relying on patients to bargain for their well-being. KYA also offers a forum to report corruption, although I am not sure what the success rate of this is.

One of the more difficult barriers for youth is that many Cambodians believe that politics and decision making are best left to the older generations; however, this is not fair seeing as these decisions affect the population at large. This part of the Cambodian, and Asian at large, cultural framework that dictates that respecting your elders is one of the most important aspects of society. KYA does not wish to "break" culture per say, but rather it wishes to educate youth to vote and take political action that is rightfully theirs to take. Educated youth can be the agents of social change.

Of course, this is all easier said than done. Through workshops, public outreach, and a network of peer educators (the latter also used for educating villages and towns about water and sanitation!), KYA is trying to garner youth support and awareness. One of the largest challenges is getting young women involved as not only are young women young, but also women (an obvious double whammy). KYA strives to target young women, and realizes how important it is to have gender equality in decision making. One of their future goals is to have more young women in the government in decision-making positions, and even sooner to organize a KYA Women's Rights Day.

What I found super interesting is that ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), although allowing for great travel mobility between the member nations, will in 2015 allow for more worker mobility. This means that educated persons from Singapore or Malaysia (Lun also mentioned Korea and Japan, although these nations are not part of ASEAN I realized about an hour after our meeting so I am a tad confused and looking into it) can come to Cambodia and take upper level jobs because they have the means and education--something that many Cambodians, notably Khmer youth, do not have. This worries Lun because this policy  could potentially further marginalize uneducated Khmer (or even somewhat educated) youth into migrant worker jobs in Thailand (a huge problem already--in fact one of KYA main outreach programs in the western part of Cambodia is educating the massive amount of youth that migrate to Thailand seasonally / for extended periods of time etc. about their rights. 7,800 youth, aged 16-30, go to Thailand annually from Pouk District alone, Lun said).

This was only half way through the storm. And in the right?
Yup, that's your local sewer, folks!

There are also some environmental initiatives KYA does that relate directly to water rights that I am studying with Trailblazer Foundation. As Lun said: "plastic...will be climate change." I was once explained in Bali that a large problem with plastic is that it has replaced banana leaves as a tool to carry / contain items, etc. Banana leaves were thrown in a river when they had served their purpose. And now this happens with plastic bags. Khmer people love plastic bags as well as plastic bottles; however with the bottles, many poor children (and even older women I have seen) collect cans and bottles to earn 100Riel ($0.025) per three. Water and sanitation have everything to do with the environment. In fact, as I witnessed yesterday evening, a big rain can cause the sewage to overflow into people's homes, the road, workplace, etc. Lun was explaining how people have yet to understand their impact on the environment (à la the banana leaf). KYA has a program that installs toilets and also has peer educators in these villages to help explain the toilets and promote their protection from misuse. This is vital as so many organizations install sanitation without properly explaining its function to recipients and without being fully cognizant of the cultural framework and sanitation effects. There are also initiatives to conserve water and grow crops while saving water at the same time.

KYA has a plethora of other initiatives, but I do not want to bore you, dear reader, to tears. On June 20, I am attending a democratic and anti-corruption workshop with Khmer youth which I am SO excited about. I am excited how youth social change and participation can help instigate environmental change and help spread drinking water and sanitation rights around the country. KYA has the potential to hit the root of the problem of water / sanitation access in Cambodia with their good governance policies.