Friday, 01 May 2009

• > Cambodia Series: The CWCC

  >  The next morning I rode to the CWCC (Cambodian Women's Crisis Center) with Srey.  I remember being nervous because she didn't discuss us leaving with anyone else; she just asked me, and we headed out.  We were leaving about forty-five minutes before everyone else so that she could take care of some things at the office.  We hopped into her car, and she easily navigated us through the busy streets of Phnom Penh.  I really enjoyed getting a chance to talk with her - she is a very sweet woman.  When we arrived at the CWCC, she introduced me to some of the workers, and they were all really friendly ladies.  Then, we climbed some ladders up to her office (yes, I said ladders).  My ascension wasn't as graceful as I imagined, but oh well!  Her office was so nice and quiet. It gave me some much needed time for reflection.  In no time at all the other students and professors arrived, and we all piled into a truck that would take us to the shelter part of the CWCC.  It proved to be an interesting ride, because the two tuk-tuks that were following the truck broke down.  When we finally got to the facility (the location of which is secret to protect the women), I was amazed.  It was like a little oasis in the middle of the city!  There were children playing in the yard, and one of the adults with us took their picture.  They were all grinning from ear to ear.

  >  The ladies in charge were eager to give us a tour of the compound.  On one side of the yard was a small building where the younger children have school during the day.  On the opposite side of the yard was a large, two-story building.  The bottom level housed the school room for the mothers and older children.  Up a flight of stairs were some other, smaller rooms, and this is where we presented our material to the CWCC staff.  They laid several rugs down on the floor of the room, but it didn't help with the hardness of the floor.  We all sat in a circle, and as with Cambodian custom, we needed to keep our legs cover, and not show the bottoms of our feet.  Let me tell you, that was a hard thing to accomplish sitting on the floor, in a skirt, in a circle of women!  I must have skootched around one-hundred times.  My friend Jennifer was first to give her presentation on the standard days method of birth control.  It was a huge hit with the ladies, especially the beads they were given as a tool to track their menstrual cycle.  Mine was next, and although it went well, it didn't quite grab the audience like Jennifer's did.  We both spoke through a translator (mine was Lan), which was also a new experience.  There was a constant starting and stopping of the dialogue as it went from me, to the translator, to the audience, and back again.  After my presentation another student took his turn, and then we left the CWCC for lunch.  We ended up eating at the Khmer Surin restaurant, which served Thai and Cambodian cuisine.  It was a beautiful place with three stories, and surrounded by flowering bushes.  I ordered orange juice and Pad Thai - wow!  They were both delicious, and the orange juice was fresh-squeezed, too.

  
  Some of the CWCC staff learning about the cycle beads.

  
  More of the staff learning about the cycle beads.

  >  After lunch, four of us went back to the hotel by tuk-tuk.  I was feeling pretty tired, so I went to the room, got into my pajamas, and took a nap.  Later on I went over to Jennifer's room to see her souvenirs, and before we knew it her room was packed with the students from our group.  At 5:25 we all headed down for our meeting together.  We talked about our upcoming visit to the site of the Cambodian war crimes tribunal, and the "Big Five" prisoners that were being held on the grounds.  Dick told us that the format for this tribunal was unprecedented.  He felt that the tribunal would be prosecuting the old men who were out of power, while leaving the current powerholders in Cambodia untouched.  After our meeting we had supper, and turned in for the night.

  
  A Cambodian gas station we went by in our tuk-tuk - note the price of gas!

  >  The next morning we left for the tribunal site at 8:00 am.  The tuk-tuk ride seemed to take forever, because they basically took us all the way out of the city.  It was probably at least forty-five minutes.  I wished I had brought a scarf for the ride, because it was windy, and the air was really terrible.  When we finally got to the site, it wasn't quite what I had expected.  First, we had to get an identification tag created for us with our picture on it.  We also had to run our bags, etc., through a metal detector.  The courthouse itself was still under construction, as was another building.  It was interesting to see that they use bamboo for scaffolding around the building, and even for some of the actual internal framing of the building.  We went on a walkthrough of the inside of the courthouse, and I could tell that it was going to be a beautiful building.  It wasn't that far from being finished, really.  Next we got pretty close to the detention center where the "Big Five" were being held.  It gave me a very eerie feeling to know that we were that close to them.  Our next stop was the journalists' reception room, and our tourguide gave us a lot of good information about the Tribunal, and handed out booklets and other items.  I could tell that Sophie was really upset with the whole situation, and she asked a lot of questions.  She told us that when the Khmer Rouge took over, she survived on morning glory leaves, insects, rats, and other things.  It was just so hard for me to reconcile the fact that she had really lived through all that we had been learning about. 

  
  From the lot in front of the Tribunal site (courthouse in the background).

  
  Our tourguide explains something to Nancy (administration building in the background).

  
  The Tribunal courthouse.

  
  Our tourguide talks to Sophia, Joann, and Candice.

  
  The sign on the courthouse.

  
  The main room of the courthouse.

  
  The holding area for the "Big Five."

  
  Our tourguide explaining the Pavilion of Justice.

  
  The top of the Pavilion of Justice.

  >  When our tour of the Tribunal site was over, we tuk-tuk'd back to the hotel.  Four of us decided to head out for a little shopping.  We stopped to have lunch at a little cafe on the street.  It was a little sketchy, but the pork fried rice I had was very good.  We sat on little plastic stools, and there were all sorts of strange condiments on the table.  While we were eating, I noticed a little girl on our street corner.  She was sitting in a hammock that had been strung from the street sign to some sort of locker on the sidewalk.  As she began swinging in the hammock, I noticed that one of her legs was in a cast.  I think that she was the daughter or granddaughter of the cafe owners.  We made eye contact, and she gave me a huge smile.  I waved back at her, and for the next fifteen minutes she was constantly waving at us, smiling, and saying 'hi.'  Once we were finished eating, we went to both the Russian and Central markets, and then to some of the NGO stores outside of Tuol Sleng.  When we had shopped ourselves out we headed back to the hotel for our meeting and dinner.

  
  A common site in Cambodian traffic.

  
  Probably on their way to school.

  
  I almost died when I saw one of the inflatable snowglobes in Cambodia!

  
  The friendly little girl at the corner cafe.

  
  One view from our hotel.

  Kirsten

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