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Published: July 14th 2006
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Interview over...
Check out the excitement on her face at the prospect of next weeks film! well look who's got addicted to her blog...!
today was another wonderfully mad day..arising early and being in the office by 8am to meet Socheata (my favourite gal here...'bubbly and squeaky' would describe her perfectly..not in the tattie and spinach sense ofcourse). Everyone at CDPO has been amazing with arranging interviews and meetings for me, and today she'd got four women from all over phnom penh to agree to share their thoughts with me...so after a breakfast of beef noodle soup in a packed local restaurant (believe me, 100 pairs of eyes turned to see the sleepy-eyed white girl traipse in), we got a moto (both riding sidesaddle, ofcourse) over to TV Apsara to talk with a girl who's legs just hadn't developed properly after being given a faulty dose of medicine when she was a kid (the scary thing was, all 4 of the women i met today had simililar problems whereby they'd had fevers when they were young, been taken to the doc who'd given them an injection of godknowswhat and then been crippled for life) and who's training to be a cartoon animator...the three of us got on so well that we've arranged to go to the
cinema next thursday to see whats obviously gonna be a moment in cinematic history...about a guy who's half-crocodile and who gets caught in a tempestuous love-triangle. believe me...with the quality of Khmer media and production its gonna be a sure fire HIT! so..can't wait for that...
then whizzed over and interviewed a woman who works in one of the ethical handicraft shops, another heartbreaking but without sounding corny, 'inspiring' life story in the bag and another few deep breaths once out of there...no matter how many of these women i meet, the idea that they were 'helped' by doctors that their poor familes probaly paid through the nose for and who now, instead of getting married and living life as a traditionally revered Khmer wife and mother, they're talking to some third rate undergrad about how shit it is to be a disabled woman in a less than affluent country. bleugh. life really sucks for some people. and yet...none of them seem to feel sorry for themselves..they get on with it. despite the triple whammy of being 'disabled', 'poor' and 'female' they still manage dazzling smiles and welcome me like an old friend. I really wish them luck and
love. And thanks for showing me again how strong and just GREAT women all around the world are!
phew....
so what else..after a brief smootie and lemon cake in Jars of Clay we headed over to a house in one of the poorer parts of the city, near Boeng Kak Lake (incidently, next to the backpacker area that screams dirty S.E.Asian backroads, drugs and hovels...madness when the rest of PP is paved and like any other tropical city...how much us westerners like feeling like we're in the 'ghetto' and in the 'real' Asia. Ha. . ). I talked to 2 girls my age with the similar waify legs...who gave me giggles and who say F off to society by laughing at the fact that they can sing like angels whilst most discriminatory buggers can't hit a note...and they intend to learn english and get jobs so that again, they can have something over the unemployed wasters that like to belittle them...atta girls!
i was feeling pretty knackered by this point but they really wanted me to meet their singing director who is a blind man thats created a music recording studio in his basic apartment...so CDs of
the group made up all of disabled men and women are being perfected and i'm promised one to be personally delivered over the weekend...and! i got my own ballad sung to me with class A demo backing music on the keyboard...ahh! this is the life 😊
so, all in all a day where i feel like i've gotten deeper into PP and i can see more and more that this is somewhere i could spend a lot of time...maybe you'll find me here again after my degree, eating dinner food at breakfast, swirling around on motos and lazing around by the river like Domi and I did tonight. and i'm getting v.happily used to receiving roses, jasmine flowers and lilies for being 'sa-at' (beautiful in Khmer) while having my evening coffee/Campari...
home anyone??
Kxx
p.s. next installment will be coming from Siem Reap so brace yourself for the furious flury of writing about Angkor...the cradle of the Khmer civilisation...and as many would describe it, the most awe-inspiring temple complex of S.E.A...
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gabriela elias
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Katty
HoLA KATTY VI TUS FOTOS DE CAMBODIA Y TODO ESTA PADRE OJALA Y TU LA PASES BIEN SE VE QUE LO QUIE ESTAS HACIENDO ES MUY INTERESANTE ECHALE GANAS YA SABES QUE TE QUEREMOS MUCHOS ADIOS