FALL 2009 Synergy 10
F
or a long time now, I have firmly believed that the person venturing into a foreign culture to serve a community’s needs ultimately derives more benefit than the people who are the object of the civic engagement project. Sure, we have skills such as English proficiency and computer literacy that are much sought after in these developing countries in which we go to serve o so selflessly, but do we really believe that these people can’t get on without us? Unfortunately, I often hear this question answered in the affirmative, but to do so is to grossly misunderstand the people who we are purportedly serving. Cambodia has endured an especially torturous recent history, neglected by the French imperialists, ravaged by the brutal Khmer Rouge, and mismanaged by corrupt leaders, yet its people retain a remarkable resiliency. Everywhere you look, whether beset with problems stemming from a marriage forced at gunpoint by the Khmer Rouge, crippled by one of millions of land mines littering the country, or mired in poverty and living on the verge of survival, Cambodians defy conventional logic by remaining resilient. Raly, one of the scholarship students who I have gotten to know well throughout my stay here, has endured a similarly torturous personal history, but like her compatriots, has preserved an impressive tendency to forge ahead. Born into extreme poverty in one of the far-flung provinces of Cambodia, her family farmed for a living, and Raly grew up working in the fields when she was not attending school. Falling victim to gambling and drinking, and lured by another woman, Raly’s father left when she was a child. After finishing primary school, she made the difficult decision to leave her family to continue pursuing her education, which required her to move to Phnom Penh, because there were no high schools near her house. She initially moved in with her father and stepmother, but after severe abuse by her jealous stepmother, Raly moved into a boarding house alone.
Matthew Keshian Cambodia South Asia