Be the Change Network

Phnom Penh: It’s been a whirlwind two days racing around the city delivering the letters to as many people as we can.

We visited with reporters at the Cambodia Daily, an English language newspaper, and Cambodge Soir, a French language newspaper. The later has a better reputation for protecting its sources. The independent radio station, Beehive, suggested that a truckload of villagers come into Phnom Penh and stay at the Buddhist temple behind the station, so they will feel safe and can speak their hearts freely. The villagers must make that decision together and we need to garner some support before they do.

We delivered letters to the Voice of Democracy radio station, a project of the Cambodian

Center for Human Rights. The reporter, Him Khortieth, promised to coordinate his coverage of the story with Licadho, a human rights watchdog. My visit with Licadho Director, Naly Pilorge, was very important. She copied all the letters and is sending them to their lawyer stationed in Kampong Speu. This will give the villagers the back-up support they need to speak out with a human rights group watching.

The forest destruction has three levels. The illegal logging of big trees deep in the forest is for timber to be delivered to Vietnam. The smaller trees are cut down for wood sticks to be sold for cooking fuel in Phnom Penh by newcomers to the village from other provinces. These are the oxcart and wood truck drivers paying off the local authorities to pass with their loads. The forest fires are the third and final stage of deforestation to encroach ownership of the land and sell it to foreign companies for industrial agriculture purposes. Andre says that the forest soil is sandy, it needs the forest ecosystem to regenerate, and without the trees the soil will be infertile and useless for agriculture.

I thought about going to the Ministry of Environment with our letters but I remember when we passed the headquarters of the Aural Wildlife Sanctuary, administered by the Ministry of Environment, the official came to our vehicle for a bribe payment, mistaking our driver’s van for a wood truck. I don’t trust anyone involved with Cambodia’s ruling party, the CPP, an acronym for the Cambodian People’s Party; we’ve taken to calling it the Corrupt Peoples Party.

The reporter at the Associated Press, SoPheng Cheang, told us the story was too small for their news organization; Andre responded, “have you heard of global warming?” The forest destruction in Cambodia affects the entire planet. Most importantly it affects Cambodia’s food source, the rivers and the soil. He listened for a while but I don’t know if we got through to him.

We met with a Member of Parliament from the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, Mr. Nuot Rumdol. He is very familiar with Aural and willing to advocate for our villagers within the Parliamentary system. The best we can hope for is that the children’s drawings will stir some pity from the Ministers. Naly from Licadho cautioned us to keep our expectations low. My highest hope is that the children will see that they can write a letter and their voice will be heard.

Late in the day, I received a call from Washington D.C. The callers name was Khmera, a reporter with the Voice of America. Now, we’re getting somewhere!

Tomorrow morning we leave for the U.S. We’ll spend the next few months raising funds for the Abundant Forest training center at our school. A computer hub will give the students more direct access to information and their government, but it will also draw more students to our school. Then we will need a new building.

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