Kuala Lumpur

March 17, 2009
Jonathan and I just returned from a visit/conference in Kuala Lumpur. Kuala Lumpur, or KL, is the capital of Malaysia. It is a very sparkling, modern city famous for the Petronas Towers. During our time there we stayed in the KLCC, or KL City Center. It was pretty fascinating spending time in a city with ultra-modern shopping. As the plane landed, one of the first things I noticed, aside from all of the palm oil plantations, was that the traffic was on the left side of the road. Although I have flown through London, this was really the first time I had ever spent any time walking around with the traffic flow being opposite of what I am used to! How strange and fun! In Vietnam I am now used to negotiating the traffic: it is literally EVERYWHERE! I am in more danger of getting run over by a motorbike while walking ON the sidewalk than I am crossing the street. I am so comfortable with the traffic, I have taken to doing my runs along the roads! After my visit to Phnom Penh in February I really got into the obstacle course nature of running in traffic. It's actually kind of fun, unless you are looking for a situation where you want to really open it up and get into a groove...In KL, though, I had to constantly look to see where the cars were coming from. They were not on the sidewalk, but I am trained to look left, right, and left again..and I had to look RIGHT more often than not. (I just had to talk myself through that..because I couldn't actually remember what traffic in the US looks like! HaHa.)


Kuala Lumpur is absolutely fascinating for so many reasons. Maybe my intrigue is heightened because I have been in Vietnam for 7 months now and am very used to this situation and while the population is not homogenous, it is definitely not as diverse as the United States. After our time in China, one of the most amazing experiences was flying into LAX, the international airport in Los Angeles. Before this moment, I really didn't like LAX, but I gained a whole new appreciation for the airport, and for the US after this experience. As we walked through the concourse, I was amazed and intrigued by the diversity of people around me. In Mianyang, China everyone mostly looks the same: black hair, my height or shorter, slim. In LAX there were people of all shapes, sizes, and skin color. It was beautiful! I remember feeling very happy and proud as I noticed this. I am an American and we are a diverse population, a population of immigrants, of an attitude and dream not a "look".
KL had a similar diversity, but again, something I had never really witnessed. The population of KL is composed of 3 major groups of people: Chinese, Muslim, and Hindu. In the city there are neighborhoods where these three groups congregated and moved in together. One of the best things to do in KL is to walk through these neighborhoods. Chinatown, Little India, and Kampong Baru are interesting in their cultural influence and variation from one other. Outside of Chinatown I wandered around an old cemetery in search of a temple. I never found the temple but had a wonderful time looking out over the rolling hills of graves as the city rose up in the background. One day we visited Kampong Baru, where there is a strong Muslim influence. The market was fascinating as people yelled out the prices of fruits to passersby. Many women wore hijabs, or scarves, on their heads. In all honesty I had never been around so many Muslims. It was wonderful to see the women exercising in their hijabs, hearing the call to prayer, and seeing the beautiful mosques. I am curious to learn more about the Muslim culture from Muslims. All we hear about is what is told to us in our own culture of fear. I imagine that the message and concept of the muslim culture is very different from what we hear about in the news..In the same way that American culture is not really anything like what people see and hear about in soap operas like Dynasty or in the news. Little India was also fun: different smells, different things being sold, different clothing. How incredible that in some parts of the world groups cannot live together, but in Malaysia there is harmony.


Why is it that we hold so strongly to our beliefs that we become intolerant, to the point of violence, towards others who believe something different? Religion is a funny one. We do not really KNOW how our world was created or what happens when we die. We have been told something, read about it, various people have shared what they believe with others, but in reality no one knows for sure. We just have ideas. How can one idea be wrong? I guess if it is not based in any kind of scientific evidence then perhaps it could be considered "wrong". But then again, isn't that just my "idea" speaking? My understanding of the world and how it works is based on my 5 senses: what I can see, feel, taste, smell, and hear. People talk about ghosts, for example. For some, these are very real. Because I have never seen, smelled, tasted, heard, or felt a ghost, does that mean that it does not exist? Maybe I am such a product of my world that I have trained my body to NOT "see" something that someone else can..like a ghost. Other people could be very attuned to something that my body cannot fathom, cannot even register. What about light that I cannot see? or a sound that is outside the range of my ears? Dog whistles are a perfect example: I cannot hear it, so does that mean that it doesn't make a sound? Someone else, some THING else (like a dog) can hear it. Should I start fighting with someone who hears a whistle when I don't?

Sustainable Development

February 25, 2009

One of the reasons why I chose to stay in Cambodia for a few days longer than the conference was so that I could visit Chrark Teak, a small, rural community about 2 hours from Phnom Penh. In all honesty, I know very little about this place, except for the fact that a woman from Ft. Collins, Colorado has invested a great deal of time and money over the last few years to improve this community by building a school.

In November of 2007 I attended an IB meeting in Denver with some fellow teachers. The most impressive part of the meeting was the guest speakers. An author and Cambodian-American, Luong Ung, spoke about her books: First they Killed my Father, and Lucky Child, both books were written about her experiences of growing up during the time of the Khmer Rouge. The second person to speak was Kari Grossman. Her son, Grady, was adopted from Cambodia. She also wrote a book, Bones that Float, that tells of her experiences in finding Grady's birth-mother, who was still living in Cambodia. In finding her, she learned about where her son would have grown up if he had stayed in Cambodia- he would have lived in Chrark Teak. Kari decided to essentially adopt the community, build a school, and is currently working to guide the community to improve their standard of living by engaging in sustainable development activities. Until I visited the community, I really had no idea what that actually meant.

Driving north from Phnom Penh, we go through several small communities: The land is flat, except for the old capital Phnom Oudong. The land is green, with rice paddies and farmland. Scattered throughout are tall palm trees that look like they could be found in a Dr. Seuss book. Huts and houses are on either side of the road..some very lavish with a car or two parked underneath, while others look like they would fall down in a pile of rubble if you just approached them.


We cross a river and I notice a sign that reads: Phnom Aural Wildlife Sanctuary. I look around the sign and it is the same thing: houses, rice paddies, and random trees. Ox carts, trucks, and cars are loaded down with large tree trunks: trees cut down from the nearby forest. These will be used to make charcoal, the widely used fuel of not just rural households but most restaurants and homes in Phnom Penh. About 15 minutes later we arrive at the school, a typical single-story, pale yellow building amid a field of dust and grass.


There are many things about this area that reveal itself after a few hours of conversation. One is that it is illegal to go into the forest and cut down trees. The sad part about this is that every year more and more trees are taken out of the forest and used for charcoal. The forest once extended to the sign that I saw on the way in to the school. That was less than 10 years ago! Most of the community didn't even really exist. People have moved in from other places because they have been kicked off their land and out of their homes by people who are wealthier and more powerful. Even if it is illegal, lines of carts, like the ones in the photo here, go into the forest and cut down trees.

Theirs is a life from one day to the next: what do I need TODAY? When outsiders have tried to convince people not to log the forest, because the forest won't last forever and animals live there, it doesn't matter. That is TOMORROW. Their needs are real and they are immediate.

While in Chrark Teak, I sat in on 2 community meetings. I didn't really understand the importance of these meetings until I had sat through one and was half-way through the second. You may think nothing of them. community meetings..they happen all the time. But that's the trick of it! In Cambodia they don't! Here is a group of representatives from the larger community. They have come together to discuss problems and upcoming projects. They are writing a proposal for an agricultural area that they intend to build. AS A COMMUNITY they are doing this. Again, you may think: "so!?" Keep reading.

This year is the 30-year anniversary of the Khmer Rouge being removed from power: 1979. The worst of their rule was the 4 years preceding this: 1975-1979. During this time people were forced to leave the cities and flee to the countryside. The leaders of the Khmer Rouge wanted to return the country to a simpler time. They idealized the lives of the poor farmers and forced city-dwellers, people who were educated professionals living in nice houses, wearing nice clothes and jewelry, to leave their lives and go to re-education camps in the countryside. Here they would learn about farming.

Perhaps that was the intention, but that is not what happened. People fled and were forced to hide or be killed. Fancy clothes were taken and in their place people were given all-black pants and shirts. People worked day and night. Their only personal property was their bowl and their spoon. Food was rationed, until it was no longer provided. People starved. People did what they could to protect themselves and their families...and then they did what they had to to protect themselves. Everyone was watched, no one was trusted. Spirits were broken.

Thirty years later, people still have scars. Some are visible, but the invisible ones are the ones that are hardest to overcome. In a land where people worry only about TODAY, a person will do whatever is necessary in order to provide for his family and make it another day. It is in this environment, under these conditions, that in a small community outside of Phnom Penh, people are gathering to talk about how they can work TOGETHER, TRUST EACH OTHER, and LOOK TOWARD THE FUTURE in order to make their lives more livable and give their children better opportunities than they had.


It was an honor for me to be a part of these meetings, and to hear these people, some men and some women, talk about what they needed from each other and from outsiders. It was on honor to hear that 3 of the 4 women who spoke had never spoken at a meeting before. Thank you for trusting me and trusting each other enough to take a risk and share your ideas. It means more to me than you know and I honor you for that.