The Muslim fishers of Kampong Tralach Kraom and other tales

These are Muslim women? Well, at least most are. Two villages are represented at the meeting.

When I decided to travel to Cambodia this fall I didn't expect to be encountering Muslims. Buddhism is Cambodia's official religion, and approximately 97% of Cambodia's population follows Theravada Buddhism, according to Wikipedia. But there are also Muslims, Christians and observers of  tribal animism. Today's posting touches on four villages, and the small surprises they have presented during my trip. The photo above was taken at a fisheries loan meeting; two villages were represented, one Muslim, the other presumably Buddhist.

Kampong Tralach Kraom

This Muslim community is one of ten being benefited with interest-free loans provided by Sustainable Communities International, and they seem to fit right in with a second, non-Muslim village, also represented at the meeting. Like their neighbors, they are more than fishers; those who have land are farmers as well. Check out the photos that follow.

When the Tonle Sap River draws down the Tonle Sap Lake, the rich soil left behind grows rice.

On a neighboring parcel of land, a farmer smooths the silted land for the next planting.

It's not hard to see how the frequently flooded landscape can have multiple uses

Homes adapted to flood and dry times remain close to the areas of production.

Literally a stone's throw from the Tonle Sap, the fisher-farmers meet to discuss the loan program.

Lieng Sopha, representing the department of fisheries, listens to comments from the village chief.

Colorful garments testify that there is no single stereotype defining dress for Muslim women.

Remembering my little friends at Kampong Tralach Leu

My little friends from 2014. Where are they now?

Four years have past; four summers, with the length

Of four long winters! and again I hear
These waters, rolling . . . With a soft inland murmur.

Well, OK, I'm not Wordsworth, and these are not "Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey." But I did kinda wish that the kids hadn't been in school when I stopped by Kampong Tralalch Leu this week.

Let me explain the photo above.While a community fisheries meeting was going on back in March of 2014, I was sitting in the back of a pickup, composing a blog. A couple of those tykes climbed up to get a peek. I showed them some photos I had taken, and the next thing I knew they were bringing me flowers. So I stuck a couple in my sweat band and they responded by denuding every bush in the neighborhood to outfit me. My friend, Jay, took the photo.

I should have recognize the building in the photo below, but it has been four years, so Jay had to tell me we had reached  this memorable spot.   I pulled out my laptop, which had the photo above on its desktop, and showed it to a couple ladies. They recognized some of the kids, but they were in school and not available. Dang! But there were other things to discover.

This unique building was a reminder of my last visit here.

 For example, the poster at the left, produced by the Czech Republic and apparently promoting inoculations, was still there. I had forgotten all about it, but I brought along my photos from 2014, and there it was! Is it still relevant? Who knows--I don't read Khmer.

Now check out the two photos immediately to the right. Four years ago a building was being constructed, and now it's completed. The palm tree is gone, and the electrical cables are operational. Villagers are accumulating wealth.

And I'm seeing things I didn't notice before. (I presume they were there.) The haystack, for example, in the photo below, and the tall green grasses nearby. Those grasses are rice. I remember wondering why fishing villages were associated with farming, but when you live in land that floods every year, fishing and farming go together well. So well that Cambodia is right behind China and the United States for metric tons of rice exported -- 1.25 million. It produces one third what the U.S. does, and one tenth of Indian's volume by weight.

The rice plants are almost ready to flower; two crops a year are grown.

Some things haven't changed, such as the use of these white cattle to pull carts:

This pair of carts is part of a much longer convoy.

And I could have shot the photo below four years ago; the house hasn't changed.

But check out the home below, the one with the New York Yankees baseball cap hanging on a post in the front yard. While life is challenging, prosperity is possible in Cambodia.

I just wish I had been able to track down these little rug rats, below, while I was in in the neighborhood. It would have been fun to show them the photo and see whether they remembered me.

What was with the "V" sign, anyway?

Phlong

Phlong was the first fishing village I visited by boat. The picture below may look rather ordinary, but take a second look. Do you see the solar array sticking out of the top of the floating cabin?

The sun does more than grow crops in Phlong. Note the solar array.

In the photo below, the fisheries meeting was held "in the shade of a kind old tree," as a lazy (Tonle Sap) river  slowly drained its lake.

Meanwhile, children used the shade of a school to keep cool while they recreated.

An aging wooden took rested in a nearby cove.

The prosperity of Kampong Prasat

While the loan program is important for helping fishing communities develop capital, some Cambodians are already reaping benefits of development. Representatives of the Peam Popech fishing village gathered at Kampong Prasat for the program evaluation meeting. Down the road through Kampong Prasat, ornate structures are rising side-by-side with more modest dwellings, and the following photos illustrate the promise of emerging prosperity for at least part of the Cambodian population.

The road into Kampong Prasat is bustling with activity.

Within a mile of the main market area, an ornate concrete pagoda is arising.

Christians represent less than 1 percent of the population, but  Presbyterians are undeterred.

Buildings that appear to be flimsy are flanked by more weather worthy stock.

Across the street from the Tonle Sap, rows of more affluent buildings are lining up.

This building looks a little rustic, perhaps dilapidated, but it's counting on growing traffic.

Clearly, the owner of this residence is optimistic about the future.

Well, that's enough about villages. In my next post I intend to tell you about One World Futbols. I was able to take 40 of them to Cambodia, so it's time for a report to the donors. Stay tuned!

Love,
Robert

Opposite the Pagoda, a lone tree marks a ferry landing.

Navigating Waterworld

Lieng Sopha maintains a wary eye for branches just itching to whack passers-by.

I don't know how many of you readers out there have seen that vintage classic film, African Queen, but images of the 1951 movie came to mind as our vessel fought its way through a watery thicket under the hot Cambodian sun. I had memories of Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn up to their chests in swamp water, dragging their boat through the marshes of an encroaching jungle. Only a tropical deluge raised the river enough for the African Queen to escape the clutches of the strangling vegetation. We got off easier.

Jay Hastings stands in the tippy "took" with its crew.

Our group was riding in the fanciest "took" I've ever used to travel the Tonle Sap river/lake system. The last time I was on this river -- four years ago -- I had the unforgettable experience of falling off a more austere took at a place I remember as Half Moon beach. The name is based on the fact that I had to moon potential onlookers to remove from my trousers all the rich river mud I managed to scoop up with my hindquarters  when my bottom hit the river's bottom. Yes, I proudly admit it -- I soiled my pants in that splash. But it was good soil, and helps to explain why Cambodia produces so much rice (1.25 million metric tons exported in 2017-18, according to www.statista.com). It exports 1/10 India's volume and is just behind China and the U.S. in output.

But I digress.

The took's canopy lets Jay ride in the shade.

The row of foliage on the left defines a lane indicating the river's channel through the lake.

For half the year, the Tonle Sap River drains the Tonle Sap Lake, the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia, into the Mekong River. But when the monsoons come, the Mekong swells and pours its water and all the nutrients with it back into the lake, making it an enormously rich protein resource for Cambodia. The Tonle Sap Lake rises from one meter deep to 9 meters deep and swells in volume to 50 times its smallest size. The photos you see in this post reveal a lake-river system draining from its maximum size.

A bamboo structure peaks up from the gradually receding Tonle Sap.

The stilts supporting this building hint at the decline in the river level.

Finding your way on this constantly changing system can be a challenge. We were heading for the village of Anlong Oak, and the boat driver tried a channel which gradually closed in on us. The motor was shut off to avoid tangling with roots and discarded fishing nets, and we gained a gondolier. However, this isn't Venice, so he didn't sing.

I had doubts we would make it past the encroaching banks and brush, but finally we were in open water again, and heading toward the location of our first meeting for the day -- a floating, ramshackle building with a Cambodian flag fluttering in a gentle breeze.

Our destination -- a floating fishery enforcement office

As the floorboards below indicate, this meeting room was definitely not the Ritz-Carleton, but it served its purpose -- a meeting location to discus Jay's loan program for one of the 10 Cambodian fishing villages it serves.

Jay Hastings is a childhood friend who spent his career working for the Japan Fisheries Association. He is now semi-retired and a principal in Sustainable Communities International, a non-governmental organization. Twice a year he travels to Cambodia to work with Cambodia's department of fisheries to manage an interest-free loan program benefiting the 10 villages. They re-loan the funds to their members for interest at conditions more favorable than offered by banks, and use the interest to develop community-owned capital.  Jay's program is creating capital resources for these villages in the hope that these villages will eventually be able to manage their fisheries without outside help.

Space is limited, but Jay finds a perch to take notes.

Sopha discusses the program with Anlong Oak Village representatives,

A toddler stops nursing long enough to size up the photographer.

On this day, most of the village representatives at the meeting are women.

After the Anlong Oak meeting, we headed for a very special village -- special to me, anyway. It is Kangleng Phe. I have a small amount of skin in this game. Some people entertain themselves by purchasing season tickets to the opera or the Seattle Mariners. I entertain myself by making donations to Jay's organization to fund community loans. Kangleng Phe is my community. I'm told that, at least sometimes, when the community meets to discuss their loan business, my photo is on display.

Somehow the boat captain recognized this as the current landing for Kangleng Phe.

This 2014 photo shows Kangleng Phe's chief (left) and me (tall guy on the right).

The head of Kangleng Phe Village is Chhim Chhoeun (or) Chhoem Chhoeun  (or) Chhim Chhoeurn. It's hard to know just how to spell his name, because Cambodia sounds don't match up well with the Roman alphabet. The certificate below, which was hanging in the main room of his home, was one of several, and together they had three different spellings for his name.

Let's just call him "Chhim" (the double-h makes the "ch" sound more emphatic). In 2014, at age 63, he struck me as a quiet, thoughtful man who was very grateful for the pittance I contributed for  the loan to his community.  It is less than 0.4% of my annual income, but for them it is more than a  windfall, and the gratitude is palpable. I was disappointed to learn that I would not be shaking his hand this day.

One of several training certificates displayed in Chimm's home.

Climbing the steps to Chhim's home takes you past a small golden shrine.

Homes are on stilts not only for flooding, but also for storage and to provide a cool place to sit.

Chhim's family provided a meal for Jay and fisheries officials prior to the community meeting.

I really wanted to see Chhim. There's something about having a friend halfway around the world that made this trip special. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to happen. At this writing, he is in a recovery center. Within the past two weeks he was surprised by a water snake and bitten.  The snake escaped, so it's not clear which species made the strike, but Chhim's leg became quite swollen. The swelling is down now, but he still cannot walk. We took up a small offering to help. There is no health insurance, and what we would consider a small expense in the United States can be exorbitant in Cambodia.

Following the Kangleng Phe loan meeting, there was an evaluation meeting involving two other communities before day's end and the boat ride back to Kampong Chhnang City, the capital of Kampong Chhnang Province. We would have one more day "in the field," before returning to Phnom Penh.

The sun was lower in the sky, so the ride back was much cooler.

I'm coming home next week, but before then there are some more things to share about this trip -- distribution of One World Futbols, a visit to a Muslim Village, and -- of course -- Angkor Wat, one of the great religious sites of the World. And I haven't even finished telling you about my previous trip to Malawi! There's more to share. Hope you've enjoyed this so far.

Love,
Robert

Early evening on the swollenTonle Sap

Duncan Zimba -- my man Friday in Lilongwe

Duncan Zimba -- my driver and "my man Friday"

LILONGWE, MALAWI, AFRICA--So you've just blown into Lilongwe, a city of 670,000 according to the 2008 census. Lilongwe is the capital of Malawi, the world's 6th poorest country,and you want to find your way around. Who you gonna call?

How about my man Friday, Duncan Zimba?

Everybody knows who "Friday" was.

In my childhood, every American school child knew "Friday" as the right hand man of David Defoe's character, Robinson Crusoe, who found himself shipwrecked and castaway on an uninhabited island. "Friday" was the name he gave to a native he had saved from Cannibals, because they met on a Friday.

Duncan saved me!

Well in the case of Duncan, I didn't save him -- he saved me. A professional driver, he turned out to become my transportation in Malawi, but more importantly, my mentor. The time we spent together and the things we talked about led into an enterprise of sorts, which I hope will
thrive despite daunting odds. If you end up in Lilongwe, Duncan is the man to call.

K80,000 = $108

And here's how you do it. You go to the Web address, lilongwekwacha.com;  select "Personal Transportation" in the business index on the left side of the page; in the panel that opens, click on "Central Bridge Taxi." That leads you to Duncan's profile.

Last summer, Dunca's day rate using his vehicle was something like 20,000 Kwacha. That sounds like a lot, until you understand that all that kwacha only amounts to about $27.54 in today's U.S. currency. As the photo at the right illustrates, it takes a lot of kwacha bills to come up with real money. It's my understanding that the government tried to increase the smallest bill from 2,000 to 5,000 kwacha, but that idea failed because the public thought that was a move to devalue the currency.

Don't lose that address!

Now if you are heading to Lilongwe, you need to hang on to the Internet address I just gave you for Duncan's business profile, because last summer when I needed a driver, there was only one semi-credible listing that I found, using Google. Fortunately I already knew about Duncan through an acquaintance, so I called on him. Since then  you can now find three drivers via Google, but to communicate with them before you leave, you have to  contact them using WhatsApp. One of them takes e-mail queries.

Things may be changing -- Almost a year ago, The Nation, an online news medium, reported that the average time to register new businesses in Malawi had dropped from 37 days to five, so maybe more small businesses will start to appear.

Good Morning, Lilongwe!

The reason I'm sharing this with you is to put into perspective what Duncan, I and a couple other individuals have created -- an online business directory for Lilongwe. I don't think anyone else has done this -- yet! -- and it's my hope that this Web site, called "Good Morning Lilongwe!" will become a boon for Lilongwe's small businesses. (The internet address, "LilongweKwacha.com," is a play on words, because, "kwacha," the name for the currency, means "dawn" in Chichewa. There are at least 15 languages spoken in Malawi; English it the commercial language and Chichewa is the major native tongue. The name of the Web address is similar to saying "Seattle Dollar," or "Seattle Dawn." That  won't be hard for the locals to remember. The Web address compliments the Web site's actual name, "Good Morning Lilongwe!"

The notion for this concept came up one afternoon when Duncan was helping me with errands around Lilongwe and we pulled up in a parking lot for a lunch break. Not too far from us, men were cleaning cars which city or business employees had parked there. They were using buckets of water filled from a spigot. Part of their fee covered the cost of the water. A person might wash 10 cars a day to make a living, Duncan said.

Walking through the lot was a man with a platter on his head covered with oranges. He wasn't supposed to be there, and would have to  head for the hills if  city councilmen showed up, Duncan explained. (In Lilongwe, the term "city councilmen" referred to the police.)

The words, "city council" actually mean "police station." This one was at the Zambia border.

Internet time is pricey

I asked Duncan why it was hard to find Google businesses on the internet in Lilongwe. He explained that, in Lilongwe, Internet time is very expensive. This means developing an Internet presence is very costly, because it takes Internet time to create a Web site. So sponsoring a Web site is out of reach for most small businesses. Newspapers  are read primarily by the people who can afford them and are not widely read. Advertising there would be expensive for small businesses If small businesses had the resources to create a Web page to advertise their goods, Google probably wouldn't find them anyway, which defeats the purpose.

What if Google were unnecessary?

But what if there were a site that indexed and networked small businesses and was so well known that Google would be unnecessary? That's what we have tried to create -- an index site for local blusinesses that locals can access on their cell phones without the need to own an expensive computer. You can find lilongwekwacha.com on your own cell phone. Try it!

The pattern below the title  is actually a photo of a style of rock wall common in Lilongwe.

My colleague, Roger Matthews, who spends part of his time in Covington, WA, and part in Casa Grande, AZ, developed and supports the site. I manage it from Seattle. The development outlay is less than $200 annually, making it possible for Lilongwe businesses to have a communication network without paying more than they can afford. At this time, a small business is listed free if the owner performs some sort of community service.

K1,000 photo

While the site exists, it hasn't been easy to grow it; after 90 days there are probably only 10 listings. There are a lot of roadblocks that get in the way, including just the reliability of the internet and developing a team to make it work. This concept has gone from a notion, to an idea, to a reality. Now we just have to make it an accomplishment, and there are some indications that this might just happen.

This isn't the only thing that has made my time with Duncan so enjoyable. When I wanted to haggle with someone over bananas or oranges sold at the side of a road, or shoot a photo of a woman making gravel with her five-pound sledge hammer, he was there  to explain to her what I wanted,  and haggle over the price in Chechewa. The price was K1,000, or about $1.35 U.S. When I wanted to go to a nice restaurant, he knew just where to take me. Did I want to shop? he could get me there.

Duncan knew where the clean toilets were.

Lucky with art

Duncan was my driver to the Dzaleka refugee camp, which you will read about  in a future posting. He helped me buy the tickets to recharge my phone time, and find the groceries I wanted to take back to my room. He was the one who warned me to lock my room whenever I left it to make sure my property stayed put. He explained to me that "Lucky," the club-footed man who sold me drawings, was overcharging me and that the drawings really were actually just reprints. Of course, he couldn't say that to me before the purchase, because Lucky was standing there and knew who he was. (Taxi drivers are like barbers. They see and know everyone, and everyone knows them.)

How Duncan got started

Duncan didn't set out to be a driver. He fell into it just like one thing leads to another. While we were at the car wash watching food vendors balance plates of fruit on their heads, I acknowledged my appreciation for their skills. That's when he disclosed that at age 10 he was balancing 30-pound loads on his head as he helped his family carry things home when he was living in a village far from Lilongwe.

Those were the days when extended families were large. A cousin who lived with the family moved out and became a fisherman. Duncan had an accounting diploma, and his cousin hired him to manage the books. Duncan discovered in the process that taxi services were expensive, and that's when he decided to get into the taxi business. He has grown his reputation by being the taxi service for embassies -- there are many embassies in Malawi's capital city.

Duncan dresses for such clientele -- wearing conservative but smart clothing that conveys dignity and credibility. I was surprised to learn that his shoes cost 75,000 kwacha. That's about $100 in U.S. currency. But he also was delighted to try out a pair of The Shoe that Grows, which he found quite comfortable. I'm promoting this wonderful product, which expands as a child's feet grow, making it possible for a child to have shoes for several years -- and sometimes to attend schools which demand footwear. It only costs $15 to sponsor a pair; if you want to do this, there's a link in the upper right portion of this page.

When you rely on Duncan, he has your back. One day I wanted to go to Tsoka, the city's flea market. It's a place where a person could feel uncomfortable on a first visit, because you are dealing with some very disadvantaged individuals. Assaults on people are very rare in Lilongwe, Duncan assured me. But car break-ins are more likely. He stayed with the vehicle while I turned on the Go-Pro camcorder which was strapped to my chest and partly concealed by my coat, and I went walking. Several individuals realized that I was filming, and some were a little disgruntled,but nothing happened. I managed to snag several candids -- something I wouldn't have tried if I hadn't had my man Friday assure me that nothing bad was likely to happen.

Bearing her load on her head, a woman passes a line of men selling shirts at Tsoka.

The shirt seller at the right is snacking on a stalk of sugar cane.

It seems to me that grit and determination keep the locals swimming in this sea of competition.

There's no question that these people are hard working; what they lack is opportunity.

The colors of this booth suggest to me that the owner is Rastafarian.

Driver on retainer

After a few days of riding with Duncan, I offered a retainer of 6,000 kwacha a day to be able to call on him for half of each day for transportation. That amounted to about $16 per day and included the right for him to specify the time and pick up other passengers along the way. This worked for him, because it gave him predictability in a business that is on-call by its nature.

That's enough for now. There's more to tell -- about the One World Futbols I distributed and about the Dzaleka refugee camp. At least that much. And I'm behind schedule. I wanted to write about Duncan a month ago and got waylaid. And now, in 10 days, I'm heading to Cambodia, with 20 One World Futbols in tow. I'm going to visit Angkor Wat, a World Heritage Site temple built by the Khmer people hundreds of years ago. And I'll be visiting a fishing village, where people on the other side of the world know who I am, for reasons to be explained. So I may still be telling one story while I start telling the next one. It happens.

Love,
Robert

                    And Shu