Date:    Tue, 24 Oct 2000 07:12:29 -1000

 

Here is the final copy of Dr. Josiane's report of our visit to Cambodia. 

With love,

 

From Daniel (Susott).

 

 

 

Report on my trip to Cambodia 20 years after, July 4 to 21, 2000

 

1. Introduction

 

One year ago Prom and I decided to make a trip to Cambodia with the purpose

of returning to a country that we have loved and left several years ago.

The participants to the trip were:

 

    a.. Prom Gould: Prom is now a young man aged 22 and working in the

Garden Centre of a Hardware store in Hawaii. He met Dr. Josiane Andre in 1981 at age 3

 in the Paediatric National Hospital then called World Vision

Hospital. He was an abandoned orphan sick with haemophilia. He spent the

next 9 years of his life between the Nutrition Centre, an orphanage

receiving babies and toddlers and the Hospital. Later in 1990, he was

noticed by Dr. Daniel Susott who took care of him in his own house in Phnom

Penh before he could arrange an adoption. The Gould family from Hawaii

adopted him and Prom was treated with the best possible care not only for

his physical condition, but also as a son. He received an excellent

education, even though, at age 13, he didn t speak English and had never

learned to read and write in his own language. He wished to return to

Cambodia after 10 years to reconnect with his past.

 

    b.. Dr. Daniel Susott: Daniel trained in Hawaii as a Medical Doctor.

In 1979, he got a job in the border camps of Thailand as a Medical

Co-ordinator among the Cambodian and Vietnamese refugees. This experience

inspired him to lean more toward public health and consequently he did his

postgraduate training in this field in Hawaii. In 1990, he visited Cambodia

and decided to initiate several programmes around Cambodia (some recently

liberated from the Khmer rouge), emphasising literacy in Khmer language for

women. He also sponsored a programme of adoption for the several abandoned

babies and toddlers whose mortality rate was over 50%. During this time he

discovered Prom, a big skinny boy living among the toddlers. After some

research Daniel found out that Prom was affected by haemophilia and that

his survival depended on him being adopted in a country where he could

receive an appropriate treatment for his condition. He took him in his own

house until 1991 when he could find a dedicated family who would take the

risk to care for Prom. Later on Daniel opened a training centre for girls

in PP: Sewing, English, Computer are some of the skills taught in this

Centre. The adoption scheme has been taken over by a colleague. Daniel had

not visited Cambodia extensively for the last 3 years and wanted to renew

his contacts.

 

    c.. Ashley Auld-Susott: Ashley is Daniel s niece and had just graduated

from high school. She made the trip from California to join us in Bangkok,

invited by her uncle.

 

    d.. Josiane Volkmar-Andre: Josiane got involved in humanitarian work by

the end of 1979 during the Cambodian Crisis. She worked initially in a

border camp in Thailand where she got acquainted with Daniel. In 1980, she

worked with World Vision in their Paediatric Hospital in Phnom Penh. Some

months later, an old man brought a bruised boy to the clinic and

disappeared leaving Prom in the hands of the "doctor", but Josiane was

never permitted to adopt him. During the next 10 years Prom and Josiane

never completely lost touch through a variety of friends. In 1991 Daniel

who had found Prom managed to call Josiane in Switzerland to ask her if she

was still willing to adopt him. At the time, she and her husband Erik were

very busy launching MEDAIR and didn t feel they were in a capacity to adopt

Prom. However, since then a real conversation began between them, first

through letters and pictures with his new family, then through visits to

Hawaii and Switzerland in 1994, 1996, 1998. Josiane had a great desire to

return to Cambodia to see the people and the places where Prom and she had

first met, to renew past contacts and to watch the changes that had

occurred in the last 20 years..

The above participants met in Bangkok, Thailand on July 5th and spent a few

days there before flying together on Royal Air Cambodge to Phnom Penh where

they arrived on July 9th.

 

The first great surprise was to be met by Chan Thy and his family. Chan Thy

was a teenager in the refugee camps in Thailand. Both Daniel and Josiane

knew him then. Later Daniel took care of reuniting him with his family and

provided him with a good education in the US. Chan Thy now works for Royal

Air Cambodge and has a lovely wife and two sons.

 

It was great to have an apartment ready for us near the Central market in PP.

So we got settled there and began to visit several places:

 

    a.. Orphanage for older kids, now abandoned and squatted by some of the orphans who are adults.

    b.. Nutrition Centre, orphanage for babies, toddlers and mentally handicapped

    c.. Paediatric National Hospital (World Vision): Dr. Chhour Y Meng

    d.. Dr. Ho Bun Hon, previous Director of the Paediatric Hospital and his wife, previous head nurse

    e.. Social Fund of the Kingdom of Cambodia: Mot Song Heng and several

other colleagues back from the US to help particularly with legal matters, alongside with law students from the US

    f.. Meeting with Dr. Daisy Tin Tin Saw, a Burmese doctor who worked at the WV Hospital

    g.. Kampong Saom, Cambodia s main harbour and beach called also

Sihanoukville

    h.. On the way, stop in the pine mountains near the main road.

    i.. Women and Orphans Vocational Program Orphanage near the sea, a

place where we stayed

    j.. Cambodia World Family training centre and graduation ceremony in

Tak Mau. Lunch with the staff

    k.. Birthday party in a Cambodian home of upper class Cambodians.

    l.. Central market

    m.. Interview with a local journalist on the topic of adoption

    n.. Dinner party with the staff of the WFF training centre

    o.. Worship service in English at the World Vision (WVI) main office

with 300 participants : Rev. Wes Lindquist

    p.. Lunch with some missionaries in PP and surrounded area.

    q.. Siem Reap: Hotel La Noria

    r.. Angkor temples and waterfall of the thousand lingua river

    s.. Meal with a local medical team: Dr John

    t.. Project Hagar of Youth With A Mission (YWAM): single mother-child

care and small business projects: Rosalie Thompson (social worker) and Va

Tong (marketing manager).

 

    u.. WVI offices in PP: Kith Veasna (Communications Co-ordinator)

    v.. Cambodian National Council for Children: Chan Haran Vaddey,

previous director of the Nutrition Centre

    w.. Dinner at Hotel Royal (previously Samaki where I used to live in

1980-81)

 

 

2. First impressions

 

Flying over the country at the beginning of the rainy seasons, I was

impressed to see the whole country covered with water. The Tonle Sap and

the various branches of the Mekong river reinforced this feeling. Later in

the trip, as we flew again over the country after sunset, Prom expressed it

this way: "this country is not even born, it is still in the water and has

no light." In fact, apart from Phnom Penh, not light is visible in the

country site and even PP is dimly lit.

 

Once on the ground, I was stunned by the activity of the City compared to

1981. No more red flags and communist propaganda were hanging on each

building. A great number of motorcycles and some cars would flow along the

wide avenues, then deserted. In the markets, many goods were available and

customers would flock to buy them. Children and some adults would beg but

much less than I thought and a lot less than in 1981, even though the

population in the town is five times bigger (about two Millions). The

Mekong riverside has been rebuilt and, on holidays, families enjoy a walk

on the peer. Parks, restaurants, attractions are equally visited by many.

 

 

The bridge has been rebuilt and high class families as well as peasants,

fishermen and a Chinese community live on the Island across the bridge.

Several lovely colonial style buildings have been restored as well as the

palace and I was glad to notice very few ugly concrete constructions. The

city has expanded way beyond what it was. Smaller streets are not paved and

often littered with garbage, though larger avenues are swept and cleaned.

 

Among public buildings, I was happy to see a few small factories, Schools

and Hospitals. The airport is being extended. All in all, if we consider

that reconstruction started only in 1990 after the departure of the

Vietnamese, there is much progress, but still a long way to go.

 

Considering the population, the difference is striking. Whereas in 1981,

most people were single women, widows and small children with very few men,

there is now a vast majority of youth between 5 and 25 and very few adults

between 25 and 50. Most of the older generation has been partly eliminated,

displaced or resettled in other countries. There is a great need for people

of this age group to return in order to rebuild the structure of the

country: pastors, lawyers, teachers, doctors, managers, businessmen, anyone

with a skill.

 

Young people are eager to learn, however they have not enough skilled

teachers in any domain. Another characteristic of the youth is that they

ignore the massacre of 1975 to 1979 or at least they don't want to face it.

Turning the page after such an ordeal is quite dangerous. The presence of

dedicated people willing to trigger an awareness of the recent history

could be useful to bring healing to the Cambodians.

 

 

 

3. More focused

 

    a.. Orphanages: Our first visit in PP was for an orphanage previously

housing older children in the eighties. This orphanage was a real wreck.

Adult orphans who had lived there in their early years have squatted the

buildings and are living out of nothing: no instruction, no work, no job,

no interest, though some of them would be strong to do some hard work.

Apparently they are receiving a meagre income from the Government, just to

survive. It was an appalling sight.

    b.. Nutrition Centre: though we could see an improvement in the

buildings, outside games and toys for the children, this orphanage for

small children has the same spirit as before, a spirit of resignation and

passivity. Many staff rejoiced to see Prom in such good health. They had

good memories of him and found him very lucky. This concept of "good luck"

and "bad luck" prevents most people to go out of their way to improve

things, to play with the kids or to care for them, they rather keep an

attitude of fatalism. Many babies and even toddlers were already ear-marked

for adoption. Those were the lucky ones. The others with malformation,

mental handicap or AIDS were the ones with a bad "carma". Some were kept in

cages. I noticed the same spirit of fatalism in the orphanage near the sea.

Most orphans were skinny and rather malnourished. We saw a number of

foreign parents caring for their future adopted child, many came from

France. Papers would take 3 months to be ready before the child could be

released. The adoption process costs around 10'000 $. This seems to be a

huge sum, however Cambodia is still the cheapest place for adoption.

American future parents have much less red tape and can take their new

child in a few days.

    c.. National Paediatric Hospital (WVI). This visit was particular

memorable for me as I was able to meet a number of staff with whom I had

worked with in the past and who remembered me, in particular Dr. Meng, then

a young intern, now the Hospital Director. He was able to train in

Australia and shortly in the US. He remembered Prom and another young man

with a nephrotic syndrome whom we knew then and who has now healed. Mak who

was the Hospital supervisor is still around as well as several nurses, two

of whom have trained to become Medical assistants. I also met two ladies in

the pharmacy and a few other staff who remembered me. The Hospital has

improved. One of the aisle has been redone completely with an operating

block. It was just inaugurated a few weeks before. The park is well kept.

However WVI wants now to leave the Hospital management to the Cambodian

Government and this will weaken the actual running, A self-supported system

has been introduced, but does not cover all the expenses. This also means

that only the rich people will be able to be treated there. The Swiss

Paediatric Hospital elsewhere in town, run by Dr. Beat is free of charge

and supposedly only takes on the very sick. Will these two structures

complete each other or compete?

    d.. Social Fund of the Kingdom of Cambodia: Two Cambodian brothers have

returned from the US and are now working in a private Centre in order to

translate and promote the laws of Cambodia. One of the brothers is a

printer and has produced some booklets easy to read in order to diffuse

these laws among students, researchers, teachers and lawyers. We met a

number of Cambodians who have returned to Cambodia from a variety of

countries in order to help their country. This was an encouraging sign,

though it is not quite clear how they co-ordinate their activities with the

present Government.

    e.. Sihanoukville (KS): The harbour and beach resort begin to develop.

A number of Hotels and Restaurants have been built and others are being

built. The place is beautiful, but it seems little is done or thought about

pollution, sewage and garbage. The sea is wonderful, the water hardly salty

because of the many rivers and quite warm (at least 25 degrees Celsius).

    f.. Road to Sihanoukville: On the way from PP to the beach, many small

factories have sprung, producing cotton T-shirts, beer and other products.

This is rejoicing but, according to the press, salaries are too low for the

workers to make a living. The road is excellent (built by the US). On the

right hand side about half way between PP and KS, a pine forest of great

beauty covers big hills from which waterfalls run into the main streams.

    g.. Cambodia World Family (Dr. Susott) : A training centre for girls

operates in Tak Mau in the suburb of PP. We came for the graduation

ceremony of the first class and inauguration of the second "SYWAG: Saving

Young Women and Girls". which was filmed by the Cambodian TV. It started

with a Buddhist blessing, then the Director, the Social Co-ordinator and

the local Mayor spoke before the distribution of the diplomas. The girls

graduated in sewing and in English and Computer skills along with some

boys. Most of the students come from large middle-class families. We shared

a meal with the staff.

    h.. Upper class homes: I saw closely two of them: one in a new

condominium with a swimming pool has an exquisite architecture and is

overlooking the crossing of the four rivers. Another, across the bridge on

the island is built on the river side among trees and other such homes

belonging to wealthy families. On the same shore, we saw many restaurants

with a huge number of tables, busy in the evenings and on holidays. It is

hard to know how some people have regained a high level of wealth. I was

surprised to see some high class Cambodians who never left the country

during Pol Pot and seem to have survived this period somehow outside the

Capital city without too much hassle. In 1981, I was not aware of anybody

living in such places. I also met a "golden youth" clothed in the latest

fashion, riding motorcycles, mixing boys and girls, able to afford

hamburgers, pizzas, CDs and to study abroad.

    i.. International church: The English speaking church takes place in

the WVI auditorium in Central PP. It is attended by people of many

nationalities, mostly humanitarian workers and missionaries, but also by

many Cambodians. It is a lively church with a long worship time and

excellent teaching. Compared to1981 when we squeezed in one room of the

Samaki Hotel, about 15 expatriate Christians, the church attendance is now

around 300.

    j.. Cambodian church: According to the latest estimation, there are

80'000 members in the Evangelical churches and certainly as many or more in

the Catholic churches. Each village has a church and the interest for

Christianity is growing. Other movements such as the Mormons and the JW are

there as well. This is of course an enormous growth since my time in 1981

when the church was underground. In those days I attended a meeting under

the banana trees with around 300 Christians from all denominations in Tak

Mau. At the time the only remaining trained pastor had to leave to the

camps, fleeing for his life. There are now four churches in Tak Mau only.

Teaching and training new pastors is an enormous challenge for the

missionaries.

    k.. Hagar Ministry with YWAM: Both WVI and YWAM have extensive

development ministries in Cambodia. Daniel and I were able to visit one of

these in PP: the Hagar Project. The Project is named after Hagar, who was

one of Abraham s wife thrown out of the household with her son into the

desert. Its purpose is to rehabilitate women with children or a child who

are either widows, abandoned women or single mothers. YWAM started on a

piece of land close to the stadium, given to them by the Government. Daniel

recognised this piece of land that the Government had offered him many

years ago and for which he paid the fence. Anyway the place now hosts about

100 children and 50 mothers. During the day, the mothers work and the

children are cared for by local staff and some mothers. The children are divided in

small groups according to age and receive care and training all

day long. The mothers care for them in the middle of the day and at night.

Food is provided by a central kitchen. In the compound there are also two

small factories: one is producing soja milk using skilled staff and the

other produces food for larger factories. These products are sold by the

mothers on the street. The ministry is not yet totally self-sufficient but

is working towards this goal. After six months the women are sent back

home, since most of them have come to PP from the countryside to beg.

Around 75 % of them will become independant. For the remaining, YWAM has

started a village on a small island 10 miles from PP. This village is

organised like a community and is self reliant. The Government is so

pleased with this project that he has already given a few pieces of land in

different areas for this project to be launched. I was very impressed by

the quality of this project.

    l.. Some numbers and facts

    a.. the population is 11,7 million (90 % Khmer)

    b.. 1/3 of the population is literate, 1/3 has basic writing knowledge and 1/3 is illiterate

    c.. the Government of Cambodia spends less than 1 $ per person and per year for Health

    d.. the health care system is one of the worst in the world

    e.. 90 % of the people are involved in agriculture

    f.. 52 % of the population is underweight, 1/2 of the children are malnourished

    g.. insecurity due to landmines and militaries is still prevalent in the countryside

    h.. lack of a proper legal system encourages corruption, sex market and abuse

 

 

    a.. Glimpses

For the four of us who have travelled together, there will be many good

memories, memories of hope rather than gloom. I will just mention a few

that stay with me now, 2 months after return:

 

    a.. A delicious and friendly meal in the house of Chan Ty with his

lovely wife Ruth and their two sons. This family is a refreshing site

because they came back to their country after having tasted the US easy way

of life. Ruth is an excellent cook and the two young boys are the hope for

Cambodia.

    b.. A happy barbecue on the roof of the house in Phnom Penh: this was

an opportunity to meet some of Daniel s friends and co-workers, many of

whom were known by Prom as he spent a year with them in 1991.

    c.. Free meetings with ex co- workers at the Hospital, meetings where

we could share openly our struggles and our needs, as well as our

achievements and our future.

    d.. A birthday party where I saw that Daniel and Ashley dance together

with great joy and skill, Daniel can improvise as a singer and I renew my

love for Cambodian dance.

    e.. Prom s kindness is well recognised among his previous friends,

carers in the orphanage and in the Hospital.

    f.. A busy market with a variety of goods and a few little beggars in

great distress

    g.. A beautiful sarong and a gold belt chosen by Prom for the Cambodian

girl he fell in love with

    h.. Great joy and refreshing preaching at the International church now

able to meet in freedom in PP. Warm fellowship with one another.

    i.. Groups of little children happy to sing or read at the Hagar Centre

in PP.

    j.. Magnificent views in the pine forest on the way to the sea and at

the beach.

    k.. The sweetest and warmest water ever felt as I took a swim in KS.

    l.. A little orphan eating sweat bean balls with great appetite.

    m.. Some true lawyers wanting to improve justice in the land

    n.. A prayer with a Burmese Doctor on top of a roof.

    o.. A tree eating a wall in Angkor temples. A ballet of dancing insects

over a pond reflecting a small temple.

    p.. A flight of many coloured butterflies in the sunshine out of the

rainy forest.

    q.. A group of jumping children from a tree into a pond.

    r.. A thousand years old fountain besides the bed of a river in the

middle of the jungle.

    s.. A tropical rain drenching my bones as we look at classical

Cambodian dances

    t.. River falls in the jungle, rain and sunshine, rice paddies

reflecting the sky

    u.. A grand dinner with Daniel at the Hotel Royal in PP (former Samaki)

    v.. A visit to my previous room in the Hotel

    w.. A hand presented as a gift to Daniel at the end of our journey

 

What about pictures? call Daniel: he has a whole CD-ROM with pictures and a

Video.