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Published: August 25th 2008
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Forced Illegal Eviction in Sihanoukville - Otres Village
The development of Sihanoukville should bring hope and prosperity to the poor people of the area, but instead it brings even more hardship and suffering to the very people who have virtually nothing in the first place. Sihanoukville can pride itself of having the most glorious sandy beaches in the whole of Cambodia, but unfortunately this has attracted rich, hungry property developers from around the globe, all eager to purchase land in prime locations. You may ask, what is wrong with that? And in principle nothing! But with big money in a country like Cambodia, sadly comes large scale corruption!
It’s now becoming common practice in parts of Cambodia where development is taking place, for poor people to be evicted from their homes and land by rich developers who have gained the help and support of corrupt officials. Many of these evictions are illegal and if the villager’s try to resist, their homes and possessions are torched, bulldozed and they are physically beaten and thrown in to jail, or left on the street with nothing but the clothes they are wearing. This includes, men, women and children.
In April 2007, yet
another village was set on fire. The village was situated by the Otres beach (prime beach land). The illegal eviction of these villager’s was carried out by a 150 personnel from the Cambodian Armed Forces, Military Police and Civilian Police who were armed with guns, electric batons, shields and tear gas. They forcibly evicted 105 families from their village, burning their homes and destroying all of their possessions. Several of the villager’s were injured in the raid, including young children and others were dragged off and thrown into cells.
Help the Cambodian Children, along with other local charitable organizations, have been trying to help and support the Otres villager’s in their desperate plight as they are now living like refugees. We have provided them with makeshift shelters and continue to provide them with food, water, water purifiers and other basic necessities. The problem is that although this case may actually make it to a court of law, it could take years for an outcome.
Don Bosco Technical School
We arrived at The Don Bosco School in Sihanoukville drenched after another bucket of water was thrown at us while traveling in our tuk-tuk. We were here to make
some contacts about volunteering and decided to stay for one night at $35 and support the Hotel training center. We talked with Father John who suggested that we talk with Brother Roberto who suggested that we talk with Father Albeiro when he returned in a few days.
Father Albeiro was very pleased to meet with us and happy to put us to work, although he was not sure what we could do and said "Just come and see". Mom and I teamed up to give some HIV presentations and teach a few English classes. I learned so much about the English language and teaching English from her during these 3 months. We also edited many articles on Father’s web sites which seem to be his real passion. He is from Columbia and while his spoken English is quite good, only a little hard to understand if you are not focusing, his writing is very rough. It wasn’t unusual for us to leave and then try and figure out what he had said, or wanted us to do next. It was just part of the journey and we took it day by day. We spent several days at the school and found different things to keep us busy.
The Don Bosco Technical School in Sihanoukville belongs to the Don Bosco Foundation of Cambodia and was opened in 1997 in agreement with the Ministry of Education of the Kingdom of Cambodia as a way to give technical skill to young people from the southern provinces of Cambodia. Students follow a two years technical course in sections such as electricity, mechanic, auto mechanic, welding, secretarial, hotel and social communication.
From: Albeiro Rodas
Date: Tuesday, July 1, 2008, 3:57 AM
Dear Jackie.
Thank you for this beautiful letter and the adventures of my dear two friends. I was worry I lost contact with you after so long time without listen about you. Now this letter comes in the right moment.
Surely, the Angel of the Lord is with you, because only people like you, so full of love for humanity, can received blessing after blessing.
I have some pictures of you and I will put on the websites, so you can see the prove or your passing by Sihanoukville.
Here we are coming already to the final exams. Our students of social communication are busy studying very much and I am busy planning the next academic year, their second year. I am already getting in touch with some Cambodian mass media to be able to engage them. The success of the section is that our young journalists can be able to work in what they are studying.
Please a big kiss for both of you. I hope to be lucky to have another answer, maybe before Christmas. By the way, I will go to Colombia for two months in November.
Yours, Albeiro
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