柬埔寨工作見習週誌第二週：12/6–12/10
許多人來柬埔寨可能是因為過去的經驗決定再次前往，而我又是什麼原因來到這？帶著猶豫的心境抵達柬國，所到之處所遇之人，總問著 Why Cambodia？ 坦白說，只能五味雜陳地回覆：「我還在尋找在這裡的原因。」
上週，與實習單位 Samatapheap Khnom Organization (以下簡稱SKO) 至柬埔寨南方省份 Kep Province （白馬省¹）進行三天的 Reflection Trip，和同仁分享並檢視2021年各計畫的狀況。出發前也曾想過在年末將至的11月參與組織工作，能參與到哪些呢？三天的 Reflection Trip，也共同凝聚團隊連結，想著或許年末也不枉是個好時間，結束也正是新的開始。
(English is below.)
SKO 自2007年起著力於兒童保護與性別議題，最初由Planète Enfants & Développement (PE&D)支持，致力於通過提供促進人權和支持獲得服務的計劃，來改善柬埔寨最貧困和最脆弱家庭的生活條件，從而最大限度地提高可持續發展的潛力與參與方式。目前SKO作為一個柬埔寨在地NGO，執行計畫之一的 PE&D — — Support for families and children in the slums of Phnom Penh (Hali) Phase I & II，其計畫包含於金邊 Khan Mean Chey 、Chbar Ampov、Khan Dangkor與Khan Prek Knao等地區之家庭支持(Family Support)、家庭改善(Home improvement)與社群/區賦權(Community empowerment)，也有Unicef、REACT等單位的計畫。
SKO的工作方法中，發展最為完全的方法學為家庭發展方法(Family Development model)，側重於鼓勵弱勢家庭進行長期、可持續的變革。 與每個家庭一起分析他們的問題，與家庭一起制定解決方案，提供支持，並在需要時提供服務以實施這些解決方案。 該計畫劃的一個關鍵要素是不向受益家庭提供物質支持（例如，財務諮詢、學用品、食物等）。
這趟 Reflection Trip 對自己來說也是一趟觀察柬國不同地方生活樣貌的好時機，如走進 Crab Market，濃濃的海味，看著賣海鮮、相關雜貨的攤販、捕魚的人們，聞香各式海鮮小吃；路過街上，看著不同於金邊的建築群。在這短暫的幾天，也僅能觀察與體驗一切可觀察與體驗的。
有天與SKO Executive Director Mr Samnang Mourn 聊著他歷經World Vision Cambodia、Save the Children International 等各INGO幾十年的經驗，以及過去到現在的柬國的狀況，他也問了我：「Why Cambodia? （為何柬埔寨？）」
而自己也還在想著這趟學習之旅與未來志業的關聯，或許也不需要找答案，在旅程中答案自然會浮現。
[1] Kep Province 白馬省位於柬埔寨南部，靠近越南，面臨泰國灣。在法屬殖民時期屬於貢布轄區（法語：Circonscription Résidentielle de Kampot），並發展成為一座盛名的濱海城鎮與度假勝地。在法屬殖民期之後的1953年至1970年間建造的白馬現代風格村落，在這可以看到建築師Vann Molyvann （旺莫利萬）及Lu Ban Hap（盧班漢）體現柬埔寨特有揉合高棉傳統建築元素的現代主義的建築。
Here is the full English translation of the article:
Why Cambodia?
Cambodia Internship Weekly Journal
Week Two: December 6–10
Many people who come to Cambodia may be returning because of a previous experience that drew them back. But what was my reason for coming here? I arrived in Cambodia with a heart full of hesitation. Everywhere I went and everyone I met seemed to ask: Why Cambodia? To be honest, all I could offer in reply was a complicated mix of feelings: “I’m still searching for the reason I’m here.”
Last week, I traveled with my internship organization Samatapheap Khnom Organization (hereafter SKO) to Kep Province¹ in southern Cambodia for a three-day Reflection Trip, sharing reflections and reviewing the progress of the various programs throughout 2021. Before setting off, I had wondered what I would even be able to take part in, joining an organization’s work so late in the year, as November was drawing to a close. But those three days of the Reflection Trip helped bring the team together, and I came to feel that the year’s end might actually be just the right time to begin — an ending is, after all, the start of something new.
SKO has been dedicated to child protection and gender issues since 2007, initially supported by Planète Enfants & Développement (PE&D). It works to improve living conditions for Cambodia’s poorest and most vulnerable families by providing programs that promote human rights and facilitate access to services, thereby maximizing the potential for sustainable development and meaningful participation. Currently operating as a local Cambodian NGO, SKO is implementing, among other projects, the PE&D — Support for Families and Children in the Slums of Phnom Penh (HALI) Phase I & II, which covers Family Support, Home Improvement, and Community Empowerment across the Khan Mean Chey, Chbar Ampov, Khan Dangkor, and Khan Prek Knao areas of Phnom Penh. SKO also implements programs in partnership with UNICEF, REACT, and other organizations.
Among SKO’s working methods, the most fully developed is the Family Development Model, which focuses on encouraging vulnerable families to pursue long-term, sustainable change. It works with each family to analyze their specific challenges, develops solutions together with them, provides support, and offers services to help implement those solutions when needed. A key feature of this approach is that no material support is provided to beneficiary families — such as financial assistance, school supplies, food, and so forth.
The Reflection Trip was also a valuable opportunity for me to observe different facets of life across Cambodia. Walking into the Crab Market — thick with the smell of the sea, watching vendors selling seafood and everyday goods, fishermen going about their work, the aromas of all kinds of seafood snacks drifting through the air — and passing through streets lined with architecture quite different from Phnom Penh’s, it all offered a different lens on the country. In those brief few days, all I could do was observe and experience everything that was there to be observed and experienced.
One day, I had a conversation with SKO Executive Director Mr. Samnang Mourn, who shared his decades of experience working with organizations like World Vision Cambodia and Save the Children International, as well as the changes he has witnessed in Cambodia over the years. He, too, asked me: “Why Cambodia?”
I was still turning the question over in my mind — thinking about how this journey of learning connects to my future vocation. Perhaps there is no need to search for the answer. Perhaps, in the course of the journey, it will simply emerge.
Note [1]: Kep Province is located in southern Cambodia, near the Vietnamese border, facing the Gulf of Thailand. During the French colonial period it fell under the Résidence de Kampot (Circonscription Résidentielle de Kampot) and developed into a celebrated coastal town and resort destination. The collection of modernist villas built there between 1953 and 1970 — in the period following the end of French colonial rule — bears the distinctive imprint of architects Vann Molyvann and Lu Ban Hap, whose work embodies a uniquely Cambodian modernism that weaves traditional Khmer architectural elements into a contemporary idiom.