Cambodia

Mr. Masaya Takahashi was sent to Kompong Luong, Cambodia in 2006 and completed his five years' mission in July 2011. He has a lot of memories about the people he met during his stay.

By Mr. Masaya Takahashi (Yonezawa Church, Niigata Diocese)

Having completed my mission in Cambodia and come back to Japan three months have passed. Sometimes I recall the days in Cambodia, but when I am busy in my daily life in Japan, I feel my Cambodia time as an illusion.
I relaxed in my home for a while and conducted some debriefing sessions. After that I got a new job and started to work. I am on the way to the next stage of my life. Prior to that, I like to close my Cambodian days. This is my last "Letter from Cambodia".

Farewell to everyone
When I was going to terminate my Cambodia mission, I was imagining the scene of leaving the people in the floating village. "What will they say to me?" "Maybe they are not so sentimental...." After all I did not know what would happen. All I knew was that I would cry for sure.
When the last day was approaching the village people said something here and there. The words in the brackets are my thoughts.
A: "Masaya is leaving us. He will not come back, won't he?" (I am leaving not because I no longer like you.)
B: "Is he leaving this month? Why not apply for the extension for one year?" (At this last moment? I have already bought the air ticket.)
C: We will feel sad and lonely after he leaves. So we should have a bad term with him now so that we wont' miss him. Shall we hate him now?" (Oh, very unique idea.)
D: "Are you going somewhere? Please buy some medicine for me at Phnom Penh on your way back here. (He does not understand that I go back to Japan for good. I won't be back. What a shame!)
The church leader Mrs. Panam whom I contacted, talked, called, argued, consulted with, worried about and was deceived by the most in my Cambodia life said to me, "You really go back, don't you? I will hit you. I mean to hit you hard. Then you'll have a pain. The pain will make you to remember me, won't it?" "-----" I felt shy. (She is good at talking.)
The very day came. I went to Phnom Penh to receive my father. He came to Cambodia for the first time just before my last day of Cambodia, and next day I brought him to Kompong Luong Floating Village.
From the city we went to the dock through the rough road which I had gone up and down more than thousand times and boarded the boat. It is our school boat which was made by the support and donation from Japan. (It broke down many times and costs so much for repair...) Though the scene of the floating villages is too familiar to me, it gives me different feelings and discoveries every time. The scene often changes because the village people often change their house boat, which is unique.When we arrived at the church, the children were waiting for me lining up. I thought I was a guest this time. I used to get children to line up to welcome our guests but this time they welcomed me. They were all familiar to me. They were studying in the literacy class in the church or had completed the class and were studying at the public school or dropped out of the class or were from poor families and had never entered to school or children of the church people. When I saw their singing, I recalled memories of each child. I share the memories with everyone. I patted them on the heads and sometimes butt. (I wondered whether they would remember me.)
Some selected children sang a song with choreography which they had practiced so hard. The song was familiar to me but had the different words meaning "Thank you, Masaya, for having let us to go to school. We'll never forget you." They danced singing the filksong. I found the literacy teacher Ms. Roata who was usually shy was dancing with them this time. (They are aperforming very hard for me.)
In return my father played a guitar and sang. (Why my father?!) It was my father's hobbyhorse, "Baraga saita (Roses bloomed)" which was not a piece for children at all. Before singing he was requested to translate the words. The children appreciated the song very much and my father had overwhelming requests for encore. He felt good and sang "Hitorino chiisana te (A small hand)". It was appreciated again!!
He was fully satisfied and distributed sweets to the children with smile. (Who is the leading?)

Know more about MDGs (Please refer to Vol.139 "What is MDGs?")
Goal 5: Improve maternal health

Kampong Luong Floating Village, Cambodia
By Mr. Masashi Shinoda (Karasaki Church, Kyoto Diocese)

<Mother and child health care>
This time I introduce Mother and child health care program operated in Kampong Luong Floating Village. In the floating village we have everything that is available on the land.
There is also a hospital and it is called "health center". Seventy percent of the people in the village are Vietnamese but very few of them use the center. It is because the staffs are only Khmer and the Vietnamese have the barrier of language and in dry season the water level becomes lower and the center is far on the land which the village people do not have an easy access by transportation. As a result many Vietnamese do not know what the health center is for. In order to let the people know what the center is operating and how necessary it is, we hired a doctor from the center and started the program to set up the free clinic a year ago.
Our intention was to contact all the patients but this time we targeted pregnant women and infants and hired a gynecologist. It was because the infants' lives were lost in the floating village due to the unbelievable causes.

There was a big flood which occurs only once in a decade in Cambodia. Particularly the water level of Tonle Sap Lake rose and the houses at the riverside had big damages. There was no damage in Phnom Penh but in countryside the roads flooded, the houses were covered with water and the paddies got a huge damage just before the harvest season. TV showed the people sending the aids to the isolated villages. The water level is getting lower now but I worry about the people who lost the income source.

By Miyuki Asano (Kikuna Church, Yokohama Diocese)

<Women are motivated>
The business of sweet roti food stall is getting better as the children came back to school in October after the long school holiday in Cambodia. Mrs. Siwon (33) has joined the business. Her husband left her and four children to go to another woman last year and she has been working in a factory to raise the children. As she could not afford to pay the rent and to make a living, she borrowed money from many people to buy food. She used to moan to Mrs. Suleimau who lived in the same apartment about her problems. She got tired of listening to her story and introduced the food stall business to her. Then she started the business. Her eldest son is twelve years old and always came to "Children's house" to study with his youngest sister, two years old, as no one could look after her. She often cried and sulked during the lesson. Teachers said, "She is hungry because the family is poor and cannot afford to give her enough food since her father left home." Every time she cried they gave her the school lunch at the rear seat before lunch time. Her brother took very good care of her feeding her with the food and water, washing her pants which she had wetted and so on. In the evening he cooked rice and waited for his mother's coming back. I heard that he had come to ask the teachers for the rice support. The family was so poor that three children could not go to primary school during that time. In October they entered the public primary school and the eldest son could join the second year class.

Know more about MDGs (Please refer to Vol.139 "What is MDGs?")
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality

Kampong Luong Floating Village, Cambodia
By Mr. Masaya Takahashi (Yonezawa Church, Niigata Diocese)

Kampong Luong Floating Village is floating on Tonle Sap Lake which is the biggest lake in South East Asia and located at the center of Cambodia. The people live in the boat houses there. Excrement of human and animals, waste and oil are mixed with the lake water and the people use it for the domestic water. Many infants die in the unsanitary environment as their immunity is weak.
Most of the women give birth in their boats being assisted by midwives. As they are not educated midwives but traditional ones who have experiences of only childbirth assistance, the mother and child sometimes face the risk of their lives. According to 2009 UNICEF statistic, sixty eight babies out of one thousand died under one year old. (Ref. http://www.unicef.or.jp/library/toukei_2011/m_dat01.pdf) As there is a gap between city area and countryside, it is suspected that one baby out of ten dies in Floating Village. For comparison, the mortality rate of babies under one year old is two-one thousandth in Japan.
The situation of environment is very serious for infants in Floating Village. They die very easily here.
Under the said circumstance the mother and child health program was started in June, 2009. The obstetrician and gynecologist come to the classroom of literacy education in the morning every Saturday and Sunday and conduct medical check up for infants and pregnant women. All together 278 pregnant women and 431 infants (monthly average is 11 and 18 respectively) have come to the clinic in these two years.
We hold the monthly workshop, too. Mothers gather at the workshop and the staffs from Village Health Center give talk under the topic of mother and child health such as health control before and after childbirth, sign of dangerous disease during maternity period, how to keep power milk and contraception. They also vaccinate the infants and mothers (against tetanus and measles), distribute iron supplement and vitamin A and so on. The health education is provided to the mothers. Having appropriate knowledge protects infants from risks and saves their lives.
The mother and child health program is partially supported by the Global Citizen Foundation（HP http://www.gcf.or.jp/）.

This is the report by Ms. Sakiko Ishida who was sent to Cambodia in January, 2011.
She completed her six months' language course and started her mission in July. She wrote about an incident.

By Ms. Sakiko Ishida (Seijo Church, Tokyo Archdiocese)

<Before starting my mission>
I had completed my language course and enjoyable home stay and was about to go to Siam Reap. I suddenly got high fever of 39 degree before my departure date. I had a fever and my whole body ached and had itch for a couple of days. I was afraid that I had got an unknown disease. I was diagnosed as dengue fever on the forth day. It is transmitted by mosquitoes like malaria. There is no silver bullet and I took rest and intravenous nutrition because I had no appetite. My platelet decreased tremendously and I was immediately admitted to International Hospital in Thailand. I took airplane and taxi to the hospital. A Japanese interpreter attended me and my room was a high-class private room like a hotel room. From the window of eleventh floor I could see a lot of sky high buildings which I could not believe in the country just next to Cambodia. I could recover from dengue fever and was discharged on the sixth day.
The medical expense was covered by Japanese insurance and the insurance fee is paid by the donation of the supporters. I appreciate it very much. At the same time I felt it is the difference from the lives of many poor people in Cambodia that I have money to pay when necessary. It is often said that they can live their ordinary daily life but have to borrow money when they get sick or have wedding or send their children to high school or university.
When I was attending the language course, the principal's father caused a stroke. I happened to be there and checked his blood pressure. He certainly became paralyzed and needed to be hospitalized. The principal had money to bring him to the hospital but did not trust the medical treatment in Cambodia. (They say that some diseases are cured in Thailand and Vietnam but not in Cambodia.) As the father was very old and we thought it not really good to bring him to the hospital, we discussed with a health nurse and gave him a massage. But he did not get well and we decided to take him to the hospital. We had a long discussion with the principal about the medical treatment. In Cambodia a person with money the most in the family makes decision about the medical treatment. His family members considered the father's will and brought him back to his home and got him to continue the rehabilitation. His family has enough money to choose the place and method of his father's medical treatment. But people are sometimes asked at the hospital reception whether they have money or not as well as about their disease. There is a severe reality for people who cannot afford to receive the medical treatment. I had been working in ICU in Japan and this time I saw many cases during my hospital stay.

Know more about MDGs (Please refer to Vol.139 "What is MDGs?")
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women

Women's Independence Center, Cambodia
By Ms. Mari HAMADA (Matsaubara Church, Tokyo Archdiocese)

- For the achievement of MDGs -
In the women's independence center we protect the victims of sex trade, DV and sexual abuse and support their restart of life.
Beside the shelter for them to stay temporally, vocational training of dressmaking is provided. Their cases vary. One of them came here and gave birth by herself. Her lover ran away when she told him about her having got pregnant. Others came here due to sexual abuse by uncle, violence by the owner of the house where the woman was working as a maid, DV by husband and so on. Most of them are with small children. We protect them and provide them healthcare, heath education, vocational training and literacy education for the limited duration so that they can become independent.

By Ms. Aiko Hayashi (Tomigaoka Church, Kyoto Diocese)

Two years have passed since I was sent to Siem Reap Church and I have gone through a lot of things. I could not handle the local language well even after completion of Khmer course and was posted as an accountant. I wondered what the missionary meant. I wanted to go back to Japan when I was depressed by small matters.... But I slowly became to like Cambodia by seeing the children's smile and feeling the gentleness of village people and kindness of the church staff. Now I understand a little local language and church work. My self-questioning and worries are endless, but I feel like staying in Cambodia for longer time. So I extend my stay for five month till the end of this year.

<New step>
Mr. Masaya Takahashi who has been staying in Cambodia for five years and Ms. Mari Hamada who started the mission together with me (2008) will return to Japan at the end of this month. On the other hand four new missionaries started to work here this month. I pray for two missionaries returning to Japan for their reverse mission and four having started new mission to have a fruitful life.
Ms. Sakiko Ishida(2010), my successor, who had Dengue fever just before starting her mission has got well. She visits the centers in Siem Reap with me and works for the church. But her most important role is being my consultant!!!

Five months have passed since 2010 Missionaries were sent to the mission areas. Some of them are attending the language course and some have already started their activities. Following articles are the digest of their reports sent to us.

"Know more about MDGs" Vol. 1
Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Food stall project in Steung Meanchey, Cambodia
By Ms. Miyuki ASANO (Kikuna Church, Yokohama Diocese)

< Steung Meanchey District >
Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, is rapidly developing. Foreign enterprises are very active and high-class residential area and high-rise buildings for commercial facilities and hotels are coming out. The number of cars has increased rapidly and there are traffic jams everywhere. We can often see luxury cars such as Lexus. There are also fancy cafes and restaurants but they seem to be only for foreigners and rich Cambodians and a different world for most of Cambodian people. The benefits of the development go to those with power and foreigners and most of the nations are left behind. There are more poor people who came from countryside to find jobs.
People in Russey Village, Steung Meanchey whom JLMM is supporting are also out of benefits of the development and live in a bad environment selling recyclable items from refuge dump. People have sometimes to borrow money from loan sharks for wedding or to pay medical fees when they get sick as there is no essential welfare service in Cambodia. As a result they have no choice but to live hand-to-month. It is their severe reality that children are considered as labor power.
They were formerly farmers but they could not earn enough money to support their family because the agriculture technology was backward and the water for farming was lacking. They came to cities to work but it is very difficult to find a job for those without special skill or educational background as the country is not industrialized other than sewing industry. After all they work in a refuge dump. The refuge dump is the income source for many poor people in Phnom Penh.
JLMM started "Food stall project" for them in 2007. We rent food stalls and provide the business knowledge to those interested. It aims that their life will be stabilized by the new job which is healthy and sanitary replacing the job in the refuge dump. The food stall business requires a hard work but only little capital and no special skill and it produces an income to support families. They go to markets and schools to sell inexpensive sweets with good profit and "rotti" which is a popular sweet in Thailand.