Forwards or backwards!
on Mary In Cambodia (Cambodia), 08/Aug/2011 12:20, 34 days ago
The opinions expressed in this blog are the author's own and do not reflect those of VSO.Progress is important, the introduction of modern technology makes life easier for all, or so we believe. Cambodians are anxious to become part of the developed world and who can blame them. Electricity and running water in the home are still on the wish list for many families, even in towns.Growing up in rural Ireland 60 plus years ago, we had neither electricity nor running water. The rural electrification scheme didn’t reach our village until I was 10 years old and water on tap came later. My city cousins had all those luxuries, so when I visited on my holidays I assumed they were rich. Our cozy kitchen with the shiny black-leaded range, in which my mother baked fresh bread daily, apple tarts and porter cakes and hot stews on winter evenings didn’t impress. No, without electricity we were the poor relations. I still remember my excitement, the day my mum told me we would have electricity on my return from school. It was magic, we just pressed a little button and the light came on, filling the entire room so that we didn’t need to sit close to the lamp any more. The magic of tap water and indoor plumbing is another story.I fully understand why rural families want to introduce modern methods. Apart from making life easier in homes, growing rice is very labour intensive. Ploughing with a team of oxen or water buffalo is a slow and tiring process. In recent years many farmers have sold their live stock to buy mechanical ploughs. Wonderful, fields ploughed in half the time and with less effort, until nature plays one of its dirty tricks, as it did this seasonCambodia has 3 seasons, hot, wet, and windy. The windy season usually begins in November and can last until early March. A cooling breeze blows from the north and temperatures can drop to around 20 degrees, or even lower at night. The locals don hoodies, gloves, socks and hats, shiver and ask us not to open windows; we foreigners enjoy the perfect temperatures. The hot season gradually takes over and by April the heat becomes unbearable and the country is hidden under a thick layer of red dust. Ideally there would be an odd heavy shower of rain and farmers would start ploughing in May. The rainy season usually begins in July and lasts until late October, with the cloud bursts gradually getting heavier and lasting longer as the months go by. These are the perfect conditions for growing rice. Ploughing and seed setting done and the crop well established before the fields flood.This past year has been disastrous. Instead of stopping, the rains got heavier last November, so when fields should have dried out in preparation for harvesting they flooded more. Much of the crop was lost. This season was no better. The rain came early and fields flooded before there was an opportunity to plough and set seed. This was when modern equipment made the problem worse. A pair of oxen or buffalo will happily plod along pulling a plough through a few inches of water, but when you ask an engine driven gadget to do the same, there’s trouble. The ploughs nose-dived into the mud, water got in the engines and they gave up; I see them left to rust in the fields, useless heaps of junk.We see a fridge as a basic necessity, even in our cool climate, so how could we possibly survive the heat of Cambodia without one? I said so much to my assistant Joe a few days ago.‘Why do we need a fridge Mary?’ was his reply.’ We buy our food fresh at the market and we eat it the same day. Why do we need to keep it?’ They catch fish in the river and cook and eat them immediately. Cambodian people do not need fridges. My neighbours don’t get food poisoning, only us‘Borangs’ who can’t survive without a fridge get sick. They get up and start work at dawn, the coolest and best time of the day. They sleep in hammocks for a few hours in the middle of the day and then work until dusk. Cooking is done outside in the shade, where many sit and eat,barbecues and picnics are the norm. But, even though electricity is not a necessity it has become a status symbol, just as it was for me when I was a child.