One of my friends in KL quipped that my blog posts make it sound as if I'm living in LA. He's been to Cambodia and knows the realities here, so I know he's joking, but it made me realise that my posts have focused on the positive aspects of living in the Phenomenal Penguin -- on the places, people and things that will keep me sane. But let's be clear:
I have chosen not to photograph or talk about the Cambodians who drag carts through the streets to pick through rubbish for anything they can recycle or sell, their filthy, scantily-clad or naked children sitting in the cart amidst the salvaged refuse, while the military men and politicians roar past in their enormous SUVs, further coating everyone with grime and dust. I have not photographed or mentioned the dead cats in piles of rubbish at the streetside, nor puppies sitting in the hot sun in bird cages with no water. When I go to the hospital to donate blood, I see benches full of parents with limp, sick babies.
I'm not in denial -- I'm very acutely aware of Cambodia's poverty and injustice and grief, but I'm also aware of the country's sense of hopefulness and progress over the years.
I won't give you photos, but I will share some illustrative numbers from the CIA Factbook. Here are the 2013 figures for GDP per capita:
US: $52,800
UK: $37,300
Malaysia: $17,500
Cambodia: $2,600
Got the picture?
I know you are not glossing over the poverty and hardships endured by ordinary Cambodians (and their animals). At the same time, I am grateful you chose not to write endlessly about the misery and helplessness of living in Cambodia when we are all unable to do very much to help alleviate their suffering.
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