Mel’s Blog

Skype conversation transcript:

On 10/14/08, Melina Chan wrote:
[12:39:58 PM] Melina Chan says: heya Cama cama,
[12:40:06 PM] Melina Chan says: Loving my holiday in Laos, although working a little bit!
[12:40:19 PM] Melina Chan says: Really wanted to do a blog for today, but don’t think it will happen! I am on holiday!
[12:40:23 PM] Cameron McGrane says: Fantastic
[12:40:31 PM] Melina Chan says: Hope all is well with you and Canberra is warming up slowly!
[12:40:46 PM] Cameron McGrane says: I thought I was going to pass on my blog for today
[12:40:52 PM] Cameron McGrane says: but just wrapped it up then
[12:41:02 PM] Cameron McGrane says: I so suck at writing!!
[12:41:18 PM] Cameron McGrane says: Thinking about poverty was painful
[12:41:53 PM] Melina Chan says: good work mate!
[12:41:55 PM] Melina Chan says: Am proud of you
[12:41:58 PM] Melina Chan says: how long did it take?
[12:42:08 PM] Melina Chan says: maybe you can help me to bash out a small one now?
[12:44:22 PM] Cameron McGrane says: here it is
[12:44:23 PM] Cameron McGrane says: http://growing.grassrootnetworks.com/
[12:44:34 PM] Cameron McGrane says: first cut. pretty rough
[12:45:59 PM] Cameron McGrane says: I started thinking about it on Monday and nearly had a nervous break down
[12:46:12 PM] Cameron McGrane says: Then nailed this down in an 1h and half
[12:46:19 PM] Melina Chan says: sheesh man, why nervous breakdown?
[12:46:27 PM] Cameron McGrane says: just stressed me out
[12:46:29 PM] Melina Chan says: is there an official deadline? As in 5pm or anything?
[12:46:38 PM] Cameron McGrane says: doubt
[12:46:50 PM] Cameron McGrane says: stressed me out because it was something I had never actually thought about
[12:47:00 PM] Cameron McGrane says: as my post suggests
[12:50:03 PM] Melina Chan says: post looks great!
[12:50:20 PM] Cameron McGrane says: yeh
[12:50:20 PM] Cameron McGrane says: ?
[12:50:22 PM] Melina Chan says: I need to at least try to make one
[12:50:24 PM] Cameron McGrane says: thanks Mel
[12:50:25 PM] Melina Chan says: yeh it does
[12:50:33 PM] Melina Chan says: it’s relevant to most young aussies!
[12:53:15 PM] Melina Chan says: sorry man, gotta go, don’t have a phone and am going to lose the others
[12:57:10 PM] Cameron McGrane says: ok babe
[1:01:12 PM] Melina Chan says: :9
[1:01:14 PM] Melina Chan says:
[1:01:22 PM] Melina Chan says: I so want to do a blog post
[1:02:01 PM] Cameron McGrane says: thought you had to go
[1:02:03 PM] Melina Chan says: why can’t I just write as easily as I can speak!
[1:03:15 PM] Cameron McGrane says: write what you speak
[1:03:18 PM] Cameron McGrane says: thats how I got mine done
[1:03:22 PM] Melina Chan says: my thoughts aren’t detailed or deep enough, and I tangent
[1:03:23 PM] Cameron McGrane says: pretendend I was talking to myself
[1:03:40 PM] Cameron McGrane says: and tried not filter out “unacceptable” things
[1:03:50 PM] Cameron McGrane says: It does not have be deep or detailed
[1:04:15 PM] Melina Chan says: ok, to write a blog post about poverty,
[1:04:42 PM] Melina Chan says: what could I write
[1:04:52 PM] Melina Chan says: I would like to rant a bit about how I think that a (largely unrecognised) key to poverty alleviation is about win wins in a market environment
[1:05:04 PM] Melina Chan says: and that when individuals, communities and countries
[1:05:12 PM] Melina Chan says: with SOCIAL JUSTICE VALUES
[1:05:24 PM] Melina Chan says: interact with a market system, the outcome will be social justice
[1:05:49 PM] Melina Chan says: that poverty is not a result of capitalism, but is a direct result or manifestation of dominant global values
[1:06:19 PM] Melina Chan says: and about how everyone is keen on looking after themselves, their circle of concern, thus determining their circle of action, hence influence etc
[1:06:30 PM] Melina Chan says: for example, the nature of inheritance through family lines
[1:06:43 PM] Melina Chan says: to perpetuate wealth retention by some, rather than all
[1:06:58 PM] Melina Chan says: where inheritances would be donated to (global?) social causes, community organisations etc
[1:06:58 PM] Cameron McGrane says: So true
[1:08:35 PM] Melina Chan says: http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1020
[1:08:41 PM] Melina Chan says: would like to promote this concept too
[1:08:48 PM] Melina Chan says: you see how all my thoughts are all over the place?
[1:09:13 PM] Cameron McGrane says: They are not
[1:09:24 PM] Melina Chan says: http://www.strategy-business.com/press/16635507/11518
[1:09:45 PM] Cameron McGrane says: you have ideas that are more like a thesis than a post
[1:09:56 PM] Melina Chan says: http://www.intercooperation.ch/sed/product/heierli/main.html
[1:09:59 PM] Cameron McGrane says: being a big N
[1:10:04 PM] Melina Chan says: http://www1.worldbank.org/devoutreach/article.asp?id=485
[1:10:08 PM] Melina Chan says: It;s hopeless
[1:10:13 PM] Melina Chan says: I can never finish a bloody post
[1:10:17 PM] Melina Chan says: it just grows and grows
[1:12:39 PM] Melina Chan says: hey, can you find out how much we pay in Oz for electricity, gas, water ?
[1:13:10 PM] Melina Chan says: Purchasing power parity
http://www.economist.com/research/Economics/alphabetic.cfm?letter=P
[1:14:13 PM] Melina Chan says: there was a great page in that Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid book with a graph -
[1:14:29 PM] Melina Chan says: comparing the cost of essential services in developing vs developed communities, bascially, the poor pay more for these things.
[1:14:38 PM] Melina Chan says: would like to do my own comparing Cambodia and Australia. But considering the time, perhaps I’d better leave that to a future post.

So basically, what was going to follow was some ideas about the role that genuine market engagement leads to competition, which leads to innovation, which leads to greater efficiencies, which leads to lower costs, lower prices, greater access for all! Think about what Richard Branson did to airfares (trying to ignore how flying may be out of the question from an emissions point of view in the not-so-distant future) and how this changed the nature of flying, and size of the market.

But I’ve run out of time, so my unorganised rambling will have to do.

Writing this from a beat-up little internet cafe in Laos charming capital. On holiday with my AYAD (www.ayad.com.au) mates supporting another mate’s fundraising efforts (Regurgitator rocked the Mekong last night for COPE organisation, who do some incredible work with those who have lost limbs due to landmines and UXO (unexploded ordiances).

Peace, love and sticky rice,

Mel

PS - seemingly unrelated, but since we’re on the topic of poverty, completely inseperable The Girl Effect looks at the ‘butterfly effect’ of supporting a single girl in a developing country.

<script src=”http://blogactionday.org/js/805f17f6063e6354c877ecf899800c6fa3f732ec”></script>

below is a recent Skype conversation that my friend suggested I post - a snapshot of life in Cambodia - about getting home after a dinner

[7/15/2008 6:28:52 PM] Melina Chan says: the other night we had a going away dinner for my closest friend here (there’s been a mass exodus lately), a pasta night with board games at a belgian couple’s house.

I had been in Phnom Penh and travelled back that day and busted my ass to get there on time, but by the time I arrived, 6pm, people had all already eaten, in true Battambang-early-night syndrome style

So. that was just an aside. anyway, we hung for a while and had some great QT (qualitytime) and when it came time for us to go, it turned out that three of us were unexpectedly without motos.

mine was locked up at work, yvette’s had gotten a flat on the way and Jenny doesn’t have one.
Anyway, Andrew offered to ride us all home (not a great idea to fit four people on a moto unless you’re “khmer-sized”)

[7/15/2008 6:31:18 PM] John van Kooy says: heh

[7/15/2008 6:31:37 PM] Melina Chan says: so instead he drove to the closest hotel to try and hire us a tuk tuk (and we all live in opposite corners of town, conveniently enough)
so he sourced one after a while… and was quoted an astronomical, insulting $5 to get us all home.
[7/15/2008 6:32:14 PM] John van Kooy says: disgusting
[7/15/2008 6:32:25 PM] Melina Chan says: but as we didn’t have much of a choice we accepted… and we were a fair way out…
so the tuk tuk arrives and we say our goodbyes and jump in. tuk tuk doesn’t start.
this poor young guy driving was kickstarting the thing for about 15 minutes before he gave up. Dripping with sweat, embarrassed to high heavens, he had to accept our offer to get out and push to try and roll start it.
it was such a hilarious sight. three barang (white) chicks running behind a tuk tuk, pushing as hard as they can with the driver at the front trying to pop it into gear. Tuk tuk came to a screeching halt whenever it was put into gear though, and we all smushed up against the back of it… beside ourselves with the giggles…
so. the dude doesn’t have a phone, doesn’t know the number of any of his mates. my two contacts weren’t answering. and we were just in the middle of a pitchblack road, sweating way too much for you to imagine.

[7/15/2008 6:36:46 PM] John van Kooy says: so.. youre stuck?
[7/15/2008 6:36:59 PM] Melina Chan says: decide to walk the tuk tuk back to the hotel where perhaps he can source us some other form of transport… quite a procession, as we passed a wedding and got closer to civilisation, we got stares, whistles yells all sorts of attention (mostly just laughed at). We walk the tuk tuk back to the dude’s house, just by a big hotel and he runs off to try to get us all motos to catch home. pops yvette on one and Jenny and I hop on his and off we go… not far now…
[7/15/2008 6:38:19 PM] Melina Chan says: about halfway to Jenny’s house the front tyre of the moto blows
[7/15/2008 6:38:25 PM] John van Kooy says: jesus
[7/15/2008 6:38:31 PM] Melina Chan says: luckily it was only our sides that were splitting with laughter
[7/15/2008 6:38:47 PM] John van Kooy says: are you going to blog this?
[7/15/2008 6:38:53 PM] John van Kooy says: definitely think you should
[7/15/2008 6:39:19 PM] Melina Chan says: no one was hurt. we rolled very slowly to jenny’s place and then to the nearest roadside tyre patcher dude
[7/15/2008 6:39:49 PM] John van Kooy says: this is.. at night?
[7/15/2008 6:40:07 PM] Melina Chan says: it was late on a saturday night, like around 10:30pm or something, but it was peak hour at the ol’ tyre repair stand. lots of gangsters (young bucks with fancy shirts and guns that ride around in threes on these speedy motorbikes without a hint of sensibility)
[7/15/2008 6:40:29 PM] John van Kooy says: ah
[7/15/2008 6:40:33 PM] Melina Chan says: there were two tyre patcher dudes, and about 5 motos waiting for repairs. It was a scary 15 minutes. The roadside tyrepatchers pulled off our innertube, assessed the damage and couldn’t save it

of course, they didn’t have any new replacements they could sell us… so they patched a second hand one for us…in the mean time i just held my bag close and tried to look as scary but non confrontational as possible
[7/15/2008 6:42:15 PM] John van Kooy says: hilarious
[7/15/2008 6:42:16 PM] Melina Chan says: jumped back on the moto. not far now.
but would you believe that as we turned into my street the fuel injecting thingy f**ked up and moto kicked back again… uh uh not cool
i’ve had that problem with my moto before. it happens when you put SHIT fuel from roadside cokebottles in it
[7/15/2008 6:43:47 PM] John van Kooy says: ah, roadside coke bottles, theyll get you every time
[7/15/2008 6:44:12 PM] Melina Chan says: so we got off and the poor tired sweaty unpaid driver proceeded to suck or blow (I couldn’t tell) on the mouth of the fuel tank with little success.
he ended up walking me home before turning around and wheeling his rotten moto back to where he came from.
[7/15/2008 6:45:24 PM] John van Kooy says: did he end up getting the $5?
[7/15/2008 6:45:34 PM] Melina Chan says: i think it took about an hour and 15 minutes to go about 3 or 4 k’s
i gave him a dollar, although he didn’t want to accept anything, as he shamefully made us not only walk, but push and run
ah, needed a shower after that adventure
[7/15/2008 6:46:03 PM] John van Kooy says: . nice
[7/15/2008 6:46:18 PM] John van Kooy says: well and truly been initiated then

This is just a short post to put A BIG SHOUT OUT to say thank you to Linda for my wonderful farewell video.

Last week, on my second night in my new house I pulled out the ol’ lappy and had a moment of euphoria in my “me-time-zone”, the time I spend under my mosquito net in bed. Being under the net is the tropical Cambodian equivalent of being all tucked up and snuggled into the doonas in Oz and also reminds me of when I used to make cubby houses as a kid. The dvd brought tears to my eyes and reminded me once again (as I have been reminded many times in Cambodia) just how lucky and blessed I feel for having such incredible friends and family.

Linda, you are such an amazing friend, thanks for all the time, patience and hard work you put into compiling this collection of thoughts and wishes for me from those that have a special place in my heart.

Also thanks to Mum and Pat for my plane letters which I pull out whenever I feel down or have had a rough day at work, etc.

I love you and miss you all very much!

- Mel

PS: below are some pics of my new house and a few others that hopefully will give you all enough of a picture of my new life in Cambodia that you’ll just HAVE to come and visit! Now I’ve got a spare bedroom and loft to accommodate! Oh, and a motorbike to get you ‘round! Sounds pretty good, right?

My First Day at Work

Woke up at six this morning like an eager school kid on their first day. Packed up my things, checked out of the hotel and stepped out onto dusty street #5 to begin my new life in Battambang.

After dropping my bags off at Kate’s house, another Aussie volunteer who has graciously opened her door to me while I get my bearings, Hour (my in country manager), Aaron and Mark (the Sisophon boys) go for an early bird 7am breakfast of soupy noodles. Nothing like a bit o’ early morning curry at the White Rose to start the day of course with your Khmai style ice coffee with sweetened condensed milk! $6 (total) later the guys drop me off at Saboras all kitted up with my motorbike helmet, lappy and mini koalas – One Aussie Volunteer reporting for duty.

The day begins with an organisation wide meeting where I am introduced to the 20 or so staff sitting around a long wooden table in the main meeting hall. I frantically jot down my phoenetic version of their names and do a brief intro of myself in Khmai. Most of the meeting is in Khmai, but Mr. Sakon pauses every so often to help explain, but I don’t get much more than a shadow of an idea.

“Ah Kun” Thank you and it’s down to the grindstone. The office is like an old low lying six bedroom house with a big chunk of wall knocked out where the entrance now is. I am sharing an office with my supervisor and counterpart, Mr. Sakon who is the operating head, or Executive Committee Chairman of Saboras. We sit down and have a brief chat about my job description and work plan and I ask lots of questions about what Saboras’ pressing needs are, who will be involved in the business management training that I will design, what will the funding proposals be for, what is meant when the term sustainability is used… there is a lot to get my head around! To help, Mr. Sakon lands a six inch stack of documentation on my desk.

Before I know it, it’s 11am and it’s lunch time. I’ve been enthralled, learning about the ins and outs of how a vocational training program for at-risk youth works and how the microcredit program not only loans money, but also delivers training, individual consulting expertise, forms a community bank in that village, creates a revenue stream for that bank, provides capacity building and training to the community members overseeing the bank and can become completely self funding.

I pull on my trusty Aussie helmet (thanks Justin) and jump on the back of a Saboras stamped moto with Pou (uncle) Eng, one of the security guards. A brief chat with Sakon and I understand that we will all go somewhere together for lunch before all returning to our homes for a nap and then back to the office for 1:30. I use my excellent Khmai skills to confirm this with my driver and then vroom we’re off!

So you can imagine my surprise when we rock up at a random driveway and talk through the gate to a lady who after a while I realise has no idea who we are and why we are there. My driver seems equally perplexed and I ask him “Yeeng tiiw pteah knom…. pisaar baay tnghai trang” Are we going to my house or to lunch? I don’t know the word for “or” so I make up for it using hand signals. Neak knom?(your house), he answers gesturing to the house we are at. No, I answer, I will direct you. We jump back on and I direct him successfully to Kate’s house. He drops me off out the front and I thank him and arrange for him to pick me up at 1:30 to go back to the office. I wrestle with the heavy iron gate and let myself in. No one’s home. Kate’s gone to Phnom Penh for a week. I check the time. It’s 11:24am, it’s my first day of work, I’m home and I have two hours.

Attempting to assimilate I nap until 12:30 and then pop down the road for lunch. Stir fried veggies and rice, dollar-fifty thanks very much. I feel exhausted, it is heating up and I am sweating sitting still in front of a fan.

Back at the office, I plunge back into the Annual Report that I am devouring and begin to wonder what I have to offer at all? Saboras sounds like the best organisation to grace humankind. Four o’clock comes quickly enough and I leave work early with two of my colleagues to go house hunting.

One shack and two mansions later, I’m back at Kate’s place, covered in sweat and dust – what a lovely combination. I don’t care though, I’ve survived my first day.

As we finish our in-country orientation, us Provincial AYADs hope that the two weeks here have been enough to toughen up our stomachs in preparation for the cuisine we look forward to taking on in the Provinces.

We’ve all had a wonderful first two weeks in Cambodia, spending some time exploring Phnom Penh city and networking with our Host Organisations, the other AYADs and VIDAs here and getting our tongues around the Khmai language (and local delicacies) and discovering all this wonderful city has to offer.

Next week, we all head out to our respective bases and start our placements with our Host Organisations. I’ll be sad to leave Phnom Penh, as there is just so much to see and do and eat here, but at the same time I’m really excited to be heading out to Battambang and begin my work with SABORAS.

Let me share with you some of the highlights of our Orientation period

Amok: Our first meal in Cambodia. Meet the AYAD crew- from left: Mark, Lorna, Aimee, Patrick, Celeste, Aaron, Sarah, Luke and i’m behind the camera!

Elsewhere: THE PLACE to be if you’re a party hard expat. Cool chilled out resort style bar by day, it turns into Rock-The-Kazbar crazy style party on the first Friday of each month. Oh, the stories I hear about those nights. This is us chilling with some cheeky lunchtime cocktails - haven’t made it to a party night yet…

Mekong River Cruise to visit traditional Khmae villages

Khmer Restaurants on the Mekong: Not only is the food fantastic, but check out the seating!

What a beautiful country Cambodia is! Goodbye Phnom Penh!

Phnom Penh, as there is quite a large number of expats and tourists, there are plenty of restaurants, bars etc set up specifically to cater to this audience.

This is a good idea for if you are only here for a short while, as the food is a little safer, the staff speak a little English and they are likely to have something on the menu that you are used to eating – like eggs for breakfast, for example instead of fried noodles.About a week into our stay here, we were feeling pretty invincible so we decided to brave a local Khmer beer garden for dinner.

With the staff speaking very little English and the menu in Khmai, our plan was to randomly point to dishes to order. Our bravery was somewhat quashed when we discovered the first dish we were pointing to was eel, and the staff seemed somewhat hesitant to take our order in this manner, so we resorted to sign language and making animal noises to get out meanings across.With two vegetarians at the table we ordered “bonlai”, veggies, and Pat imitated pigs and cows for our next two dishes.

At this s stage most of the restaurant was curiously staring at us. When the waitress said “OK, thank you” we 6 back in our chairs triumphantly and waited for our feast to arrive.While we were waiting we partook in the healthy consumption of our first beer rocket, this baby cost $6 and fit 16 cans of Cambodian beer into it. I believe we finished two over dinner. Anyway, our food started to arrive, first the rice, then the veggies… so far so good.

We were somewhat horrified when the waitress plonked down a couple of plates of offal in front of us, (she ended up taking them back, they were for someone else) and even more perplexed when a plate of deep fried frogs arrived.How “moo, moo” and “oink oink” was understood as “ribbet ribbet” we’ll never know.

The frogs turned out to be pretty yummy (just like chicken) but the hilarity of the evening was clearly a highlight in our “Orientation” of Cambodia.

Some of the more adventurous members of the crew took on fried crickets and ants for dessert while others looked on, grimacing.

Well here I am, two feet firmly planted on the ground in the capital city of Cambodia, Phnom Penh.

*nb- friends and family who are planning on coming to visit me, please don’t let this put you off!

The trip was relatively pain free, except for the final leg from Hong Kong to Phnom Penh where we had the luck of getting one crazy pilot in a hurry who liked to imitate a rollercoaster on our ascent and descents. I say descents because on this trip I was lucky enough to experience my first “missed attempt” as the pilot put in when coming into Phnom Penh airport.

My interpretation of that is that (I’m guessing) the pilot was told to hang on for a minute until the airspace was clear but instead decided to put the petal-to-the-metal and attempt to squeeze in before the other guy, which saw us plummeting crazily towards earth with us poor unsuspect innocent passengers white knuckled, gripping the armrests, praying to sweet Jesus. In the end, our guy didn’t get in quick enough and at the last minute we were forced to pull up and retreat to a safe altitude where we hung out an waited our turn like a good little 737. This retreat understandably involved an ascent where we felt like we were being forced through our seats and some sickass banking (turning) as the pilot took out his frustration on the plane as you often witness with road ragers.

We then tried a second and successful time to land in Phnom Penh Airport.

But no problems, all was fine, don’t worry Mum!

The luggage (all 50kgs of it) was all cool and our In Country Manager (Hour) came and met us at the airport and customs and visas and all that jazz was a total breeze, we just walked straight through!

Its not too hot and understandably reminds me a lot of Malaysia, the climate, the smells, the people… I have just taken today to saok it all in, explore a little of Phnom Penh along the river and taken my first tuk tuk ride, which of course we got ripped off on. $3 US for four people still isn’t bad in the scheme of things…

Met with Patty today who has just finished working with SABORAS (www.saboras.org ) and is catching a plane back to Melbourne tomorrow. It was great to meet her and get a bit more of an insight about what it was like to work with that organisation, although our roles will be quite different.

Everyonés stoked to be here, although there’s an air of surreality (is that a word?) around, I think it’s hard to imagine that we’re all going to be here working for a year; it feels a bit more like a holiday at this stage and at any minute we could turn around and catch a Sundy roast at the Folks’ place, or a footy game…

I am dead tired and am sure I will sleep well tonight in my little hotel room up four flights of stairs!