The root of the problem is ignorance.
Phnom Penh: The pressure of the forest destruction on the Chrauk Tiek community changed the focus of my visit.
I had come with the idea to talk about a new building, a new computer hub, more English instruction and a music class. The overwhelming need of the community to save their forest and stop the corrupt activities taking place everywhere both day and night required our full attention. It seems they have nowhere else to turn. The root of the problem is ignorance.
We will use our school to educate the community about the surrounding forest ecosystem
using music and drama. I found an 83-year-old unemployed master musician, Em Nuot, living in a hut nearby who plays the two stringed Tror Sau and Tror Ou, the bamboo flute, and the xylophone-like Takay. He wants to be our teacher. A blind man living with forest monks sings beautiful songs he wrote about he forest in traditional Khmer style. The two of them will make a great team.
I instructed the teachers that they must be the leaders to educate the adults about how they are being exploited. They must teach the students that paying bribes to break the law is wrong, that the example of the police and military and corrupt commune leaders is wrong. They must teach them how to decipher who is true and honest. They must teach them to think. I can give them the resources, but they have to learn to use their brains in a new way. The Cambodian style of rote learning only teaches them to copy, thus the cycle repeats itself. If we are to break the cycle of poverty and destruction, we must learn how to think creatively. I brought them a new computer, puzzles, Soduko, and Rubics cube to stretch their brains. The music will speak to the heart. The change will come slow and perhaps the forest will be gone by then. But we must fight.
Andre and I have returned to Phnom Penh with 117 letters from adult villagers, 128 letters with artwork from the students, and 48 from Souy villagers. Now I have to get them to as many media outlets as I can find. Access to the world of information networking is the best assistance I can offer them. I encourage everyone reading these posts who lives in the developed world to reach out and hold hands with the desperately poor and ignorant of the world. The work is hard. The reward is great.
Be the change
Spread the word.
