Cambodia: there's poverty, and then there's poverty.

Cambodia has been described as being fourth-world, and indeed, most Westerners couldn't imagine living like Cambodians – the infrastructure [roads, electricity, water...], for example, leaves much to be desired. Education is poor, and most Cambodians barely see much outside their own hometowns, much less make it to other countries. Technology is lagging quite a bit – most internet connections are still dial-up speed, and most households don't even have it at all. The livestock aren't as isolated from the people as we're used to, clothes are old, and the children can be a little dirty.

But most children are also well fed – no skeletons or distended bellies. They're healthy – they get enough to eat and they spend a lot of time outdoors, playing with other neighborhood kids and using their imaginations. The clothes may be old, but – they have plenty of clothes. They mingle more with their livestock, but – they have livestock, which is both food and an investment.

There seems to be a great sense of community – family and neighbors gather in the spaces under houses. They sit in hammocks or on platforms and eat together and talk together. I once even saw a couple of young guys playing pool on a pool table under a house, and other houses had karaoke sound systems set up underneath them. As cheesy as it is, they are certainly rich in community.

So although most Cambodians seem to be poor to outsiders, they are actually doing relatively fine, at least according to my few observations. Pity is not something they need or want.

But, of course, there are those who are truly living in poverty – single mothers, landmine victims, families who haven’t recovered from the Khmer Rouge, the mentally and physically disabled... You see a lot of scruffy children on the street, trying to sell postcards or just begging, and you see just as many people without an arm or a leg or missing even more limbs, and it just breaks your heart.

Cambodia as a whole is pretty much building itself back up from scratch after the tyranny of Pol Pot, and there are a lot of great organizations there assisting with general country building and trying to relieve poverty. I'll highlight a few of them in my next two posts.