Free the 23!

Hey everyone, it’s Laura!

Working at Equitable Cambodia has allowed me to experience things that I never would have been able to do if I had just been backpacking through Cambodia.  Not only have I been able to travel with them and see more of the country (another post on this coming soon!), but I have also been able to safely attend protests around Phnom Penh.  The protest that I am going to write about today was part of the “Free the 23” campaign that occurred on May 30th, 2014 (I know, this is long overdue!).

So here is the story behind the demonstration…

On May 30^th, 2014, myself along with other Community Empowerment & Legal Awareness (CELA) members went to monitor the demonstration as the verdict was being read regarding the remaining 21 of the 23 who were arrested during protests over the course of January 2^nd and 3^rd, 2014.  The men were detained as a result of a violent crackdown by the military and police during protests supporting garment workers who were asking the government for liveable wages. During these protests there were many people, including some of the arrested, who were beaten and threatened.  Five protesters were killed and about 40 others were wounded when officials open fired on the crowd during the demonstration on January 3^rd.

On the day of the protest…

The were around 400 protestors and about 100 police and military officers who stayed within the barriers that were blocking off the streets surrounding the court on the day of the verdict,.

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court announced that although the accused were found guilty, they were given suspended sentences and were going to be released within a few hours.  Once the 21 men were released there was a huge parade of mottos and tuk-tuks that went around the city.

Here are some of the photos from that day:

He LOVED having his picture taken by all of the photographers!

One of the campaign banners

Lotus flowers were placed around the barrier

These were two puppets placed in coffins that community members made to represent corrupt officials and a corrupt judge

Protesters began to march around the perimeter of the court

These photos were taken while protesters were marching around the perimeter of the court. They had just received the news that the 21 men would be released from prison soon. The last coffins were drug around the entire time. The last photo is of my co-workers during the march.

Once the loop was completed, the contents of the coffins were burnt and they released balloons to represent that the men were now free

These last photos are of the tuk-tuk & motto parade after the men were released to loved ones. The men on/in the back of the blue truck were the prisoners who had been in prison since January.  People had microphones and drums in the tuk-tuks and sang and danced the entire time through the streets of Phnom Penh! Except for the kids…they were all a little tired by that point as you can see!

Being able to be apart of that was such a great experience, especially after the good news was announced! It was so exciting and is something that I will never forget. I’m fortunate that I am able to do things like this with EC as I don’t think I would feel quite as safe as I did had I just attended as a backpacker.

 

Vroom, Vroom!

SURPRISE! We bought a motto!

A little on driving around Phnom Penh:

One of the things that we noticed as soon as we got here was that pretty much everyone drives some sort of moped, scooter or motorcycle. Cars are too expensive for the majority of the population to own, but if you are fortunate enough to afford one then you’ll be the king of the road (Side note: entire family’s will squeeze onto the motto. The most people on one motto witnessed so far has been 2 adults and 4 children. It is extremely common to see people driving with their baby in their lap, or a toddler standing up in front of the driver. Some mottos can attach an extra little seat on the back to add more room) . Larger vehicles drive whenever, wherever they want down the street and most people are using their horn for about 80% of their drive. There are driving schools and traffic laws, but for the most part people drive how they please.  They do tend to respect the traffic lights at busy intersections, thankfully. One of the benefits of driving a motto as opposed to a car around the city is your drive is much quicker. They are able to easily swerve in between everyone and during rush hour, just like everywhere else, the roads become quite congested so sitting in a car or tuk-tuk can take a while.

As a pedestrian walking around the city, we’ve learned that if we want to cross the road then you just have to go for it.  There are a few cross walks on major roads and intersections, but that is it.  One of the best pieces of advice that we’ve received upon arrival was “don’t walk in front of anything bigger than a tuk-tuk”. The other important thing we’ve learned was to not stop in the middle of the road unless it is physically too busy to cross that side of the road. As soon as you see a break in traffic, just walk and the motorists will gage their speed and driving path depending on how you’re walking.  If you hesitate or stop it will throw them off!  At first it was a bit stressful, but we’ve gotten used to it!

So, why would we get a motto and drive on that? Not only do we really enjoy being on one, but having to take a tuk-tuk everyday to work or explore adds up.  Since we are going to be here for so long it will save us quite a bit in the end, and it also makes other areas of the city much more accessible to us.   

Before we decided to actually purchase our own motto, Nimol, the amazing Outreach International volunteer co-ordinator here in Cambodia, took us to the Olympic stadium which has a paved track around the perimeter of the grounds to teach us how to drive an automatic and manual. 

This was when Nimol and her friend were teaching us how to drive. The red one is the automatic, and the white was the manual (and much more difficult to drive!)

Terrified! The first time we were both on the motto. Don’t worry, he drove slow…he had precious cargo!

We made it the whole way around without any issues, so we bought this:

It is a 2007 Suzuki Step, a fairly popular model around Phnom Penh.  Thank goodness for Nimol, who brought Tyler to various motto shops around town to compare different mottos and prices.

So far, so good! We love having the freedom and only having to pay 4$  in gas twice a month!

Not something we would eat again…

Phnom Penh has one of the most varied, delicious, and affordable restaurant scenes we’ve ever had the joy of partaking in. That being said, there are a few menu items that you certainly try while you’re here, but you probably don’t order twice…

Fire ant curry consists of curry and, you guessed it, fire ants. The ants themselves weren’t particularly big, and they didn’t seem to have a noticeable flavour, but when you bit one it would crunch.

The other adventurous item we had the opportunity to try was fried tarantula. The small tarantulas are de-fanged, so there is no danger to anyone, and customers can even hold live tarantulas if they want (as our friend Jin bravely demonstrated haha). It’s kind of like picking your lobster before you eat it!

Understandably, it took a little while to work up the nerve to try them. They tasted like anything else you fry, the dipping sauce was actually quite good, and when you bit into the bodies they exploded a little in your mouth.

Of the two food items, Tyler had a much harder time with the tarantula while Laura struggled with the fire ant curry. We’re both glad we tried them, but we definitely don’t have plans to eat either dish again!