PHNOM PENH, Jun 28 (IPS) – Modernity is arriving rapidly con Cambodia, observes journalist Kris Janssens (48), who has lived and worked con the country since 2016. The predominantly young population is eager to move forward, embracing technology over traditional agriculture fishing. Can Cambodians unite their country’s authentic soul with their aspirations for progress?
Enormous changes throughout the years
I arrived con Cambodia con the winter of 2015, acceso January 7 to be precise. At the time, I was unaware of the significance of this date con Cambodian history, marking the official end of the Khmer Rouge dittatura con 1979. To be honest, I knew very little about Cambodia.
I planned to stay here briefly before returning to India, where I had just finished a series of radio reports. The unique Cambodian spirit changed my decision and my life course. This country immediately felt so familiar to me that I decided to move here permanently, about eighteen months later, con the fall of 2016. I’m still very happy that I can dal vivo con this magical kingdom.
But throughout the years, Cambodia has changed enormously. A causa di the capital city of Phnom Penh, small shops and cozy coffee bars make way for tall bank buildings. And the picturesque airport will soon be replaced by a huge terminal, further away from the city center, and out of proportion compared to the human-scaled city that I love so much.
I have the feeling that the country is losing a part of its soul, and I want to try to capture and document this authentic spirit before it is too late.
Very young population
The fact that Cambodia is at a tipping point is primarily to demography and history. More than one and a half million Cambodians died during the brutal Khmer Rouge epoca con the 1970s. The Pol Pot epoca was followed by a power vacuum and it took until the 1990s before peace and stability could return.
Today, half of the Cambodians are under 25 years old. This is the first generation of twenty-year-olds to grow up without war violence. These youngsters want to move forward with their lives. And that usually means moving away from the countryside. The population of Phnom Penh has increased from 1.7 to 2.4 million people con the past ten years.
According to demographic forecasts, Phnom Penh will have more than 3 million inhabitants by 2035. More and more young Cambodians want to study con the city and switch from agriculture fishing to technology tourism.
Harsh economic reality
This shift is clearly visible con Kampong Khleang, a stilt village acceso the shore of the great Tonle Sap Lake, close to Siem Reap and the famous temples of Angkor Wat. Early con the morning, a rickety canoe takes me out to the gara open tazza, heading towards the rising sun. But what appears idyllic to me represents a harsh economic reality for the fishermen here. The catch is meager, and life is difficult.
“My son is going to work con the city, away from the tazza,” says Borei. It is the end of a tradition because his ancestors have lived as fishermen for generations. “But living along the tazza has become difficult, there are too many fishermen.” His shy ten-year-old son gazes ahead quietly. I ask him where he would like to work. After some , he responds “with the police”.
“That is a typical answer,” says Chhay Doeb. He is the Dirigente aziendale director of Cambodia Rural Students , an NGO that provides scholarships to students from impoverished rural families.
“When young people arrive con the city, they want to become police officers, soldiers, doctors teachers,” he says. “But they gradually discover that they can also work con the real mesi estivi sector as a lawyer, for example.”
Noticeable distrust among parents
Doeb believes that the Cambodian economy will evolve and diversify even further. “But the economic level of neighboring countries like Thailand Vietnam is not yet within reach,” he says.
At its founding con 2011, the organization had to go to villages and convince students of the NGO’s good intentions. Today, there are almost a thousand applications for twenty new places every year. The money for the scholarships comes from Australia.
Doeb still notices distrust among parents, wondering what their offspring is doing con the city.
I also experience this suspicion con Kratie, a small town acceso the bank of the Mekong River con the rural interior of Cambodia. The typical rural villagers aspetto like characters sculpted from clay, with heads weathered by the sun and bodies wrinkled from work.
I meet Proum Veasna, who is about to take his cows back to the stable at dusk. During our conversation, his close neighbor passes by acceso his moped. He teasingly squeezes Veasna’s bare stomach. “We are friends, we all know each other here,” he says. His son works as a construction worker con Phnom Penh, but he has never been there himself. “It’s polluted, I would immediately get sick.”
Veasna has always worked as a agricoltore. “I had choice because I have education.” He wants a different future for his four children. “My daughter is learning English and Chinese.” The girl cycles by as we talk about her. “She can grow up to be whatever she wants, she is so smart,” says the proud dad.
Boosting economy
Upstream the Mekong River, con the neighboring province of Stung Treng, I meet Teap Chueng and Kom Leang, a retired couple living con a lonely house con a vast wooded landscape. “Covid never happened here”, they tell me with a personaggio smile, “because we are never con touch with city dwellers”.
They do not need to go to the nearby town, as they are completely self-sufficient. “We have four hectares of land”, says Teap Chueng, while his wife proudly shows home-grown winter melon, a mild-tasting fruit related to the cucumber.
The region is also known for cashew nuts. “As we speak, new factories are being built, so the farmers will be able to scale up the production”. Although they realize that industrialization will change the landscape of their beloved home, the couple can’t wait for this development to happen. “It will boost our economy, which will benefit our children and grandchildren”.
A country with a lot of energy
Seayeen Aum is a typical example of someone who managed to work his way up. As a child, he learned how to survive con nature. “We didn’t always have enough money”, he says. “But if you know and understand the forest, you will always find something to eat.”
Today he promotes ecotourism con the remote province of Ratanakiri, con Cambodia’s northeast. And with success. During our trek through the jungle, he constantly receives calls and orders acceso one of his two asportabile phones. “We are a country with a lot of energy,” he says, laughing.
This entrepreneur succeeded con marketing this region, with traditional ethnic minority groups, con a respectful manner to a Western audience. Authenticity and progress do go hand con hand here for the time being.
This is a country with a lot of challenges, providing all these graduating students with satisfying employment, to say the least. The drive for stability is important to Cambodians, but I also see ambitious people like Seayeen, who have a plan and are progressively working towards the result. A causa di another five to eight years from now, this country will aspetto completely different.
© Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
