falling off the development bandwagon

I confess. I’m almost at the point of hitting my six-month mark in-country and I’ve been hiding out from Cambodia the last two weeks. The heat, the dust, the garbage, it’s getting to me, not to mention the work politics, the country politics, the same conversations with Westerners...  

The interviews with the young rape victims are the worst though.  They make me feel like a useless observer offered a peek into the horrendous past of an innocent girl in exchange for nothing. I can’t comfort them in their own language; I can’t provide psychological treatment; I can’t even operate the damn camera. I just watch from a distance until the director translates what she’s said later. Seven men in one night… gang raped… sold… brothels here and there… uncle abused… pregnant from young western male…left behind. I hear some of this and more on a recent visit to the Somaly Mam Centre tucked away down a country-like road, underneath a bridge, past the banana stand, down the lane where a lady swats flies away from old meat, around the house with the naked kids playing by the dump in the yard. It could be anywhere in Cambodia really. The stories the girls tell could be told anywhere in the world really, except that I’m listening to them here and they tend to be shockingly brutal crimes.  The rehabilitation center is actually quite nice though. Its open-air buildings and garden area make it a welcoming environment for girls that have been sexually abused and trafficked. I keep staring at the black concrete and marble signs out front detailing such and such funds donated by Queen Latifah and Barbara Walters.  I say the names out loud. I wonder if signer and the reporter have ever been here. 

Someone later complains that the center claims to be “saving girls” from these destitute situations, therefore immediately placing them in a category of the “unsaved”. There is no right answer.  That’s the other thing that is getting to me. The NGOs, the donor-funded projects, the rules and regulations tied to aid meant to good that could actually do more harm.  Everyone judges, everyone re-evaluates, everyone complains. I think I’ve learned that development can’t be imposed. Kind of a silly revelation really. Makes me think of old polisci theories on neo-colonialism. But whatever. Nothing is perfect. I don't really believe that corporate social responsibility, social entrepreneurship, non-profits, or UN or inter-governmental organizations have the right answer. Am I a cynic or am I jaded?  Maybe both, then again if those different entities didn't try to do something than we'd be right back at zero. I'm still of the belief that its the home government that must do all it can. Initiatives must come from local people. Not an earth-shattering conclusion at all.  Then again, when the prime minister gives a talk on how much power he has and his disapproval of OK condom adverts on TV at a Ministry of Tourism conference, I realize why all the externally funded organizations stick around. In the end, I still think what Somaly Mam has done is amazing. We can all judge and point out the flaws of the organizations we deal with, but that doesn't get us anywhere. 

http://www.somaly.org/