First Visit Observations, January-February, 1999
Tommy Daniels
During
the Vietnam War I served primarily
with third
country national Cambodians and didn't begin learning much about
the
Montagnard hill tribes of the former South Vietnam until years
later. For a historical snap shot
on these hill tribes see Plight of
Montagnards and browser back.
In
1985 212
Montagnard refugees were
granted political asylum by
President Regan and were
resettled in North Carolina in 1986. I became a charter member
of a small U.S. non profit to help in their U.S. resettlement. In
1992 President Bush granted political asylum and U.S. resettlement to
400 more Montagnard refugees. Afterwards and through 1998 2,400 additional Montagnards emigrated to the
U.S. Like my veteran friends who served with these hill tribes
and the
American employers and neighbors of these refugees, I too
developed a deep appreciation
and admiration
for their unparalleled work ethic, extremely honest nature, and proud
heritage.
In
the fall
of 1998 there were reports of 22,000 Montagnards living in desperate
conditions in Mondolkiri
and
Ratanakiri Provinces on the remote northeast Cambodian
frontier. In early 1999 I went to Cambodia to investigate
their situation.
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 The hill tribes and topography of the Central Highlands of Vietnam extend west into Ratanakiri and Mondolkiri Provinces, Cambodia. |
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Map
notes: |
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various country maps (browser back): |
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In Phnom
Penh
I met with Dr. Mok Mareth, Minister of Environment, and Eng Yeng,
Director
of the Americas Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs &
International
Cooperation. (Such officials very
graciously endure a steady parade of foreigners who visit with grand
ideas but few resources and leave to never return.) Both gentlemen were
very
empathetic to the hill tribe
situation
and agreed that additional Non Government Organizations (NGO) were
needed in those provinces.
NGO's are non-profits generally from western nations that render
humanitarian
aid and economic development assistance. |
Instead of the rumored 22,000 Montagnards, from interviews
with local leaders I determined there are just over 100,000 in
Ratanakiri and Mondolkiri; they comprise nearly 85% of those
populations. The 100,000 & 85% figures were substantiated
later when the 1998 Cambodian Census was published.
Mondolkiri has a population of 32,392 for a density of only two
people
per square kilometer, the lowest in the country. The Ratanakiri
population numbers 94,188 for a density of nine people per square
kilometer, the third lowest. For those who have been to the
Central
Highlands of Vietnam, the topography of these two provinces largely
mirrors
that of Pleiku and Ban Me Thuot.
The hill tribes live in hamlets and villages in the rural areas while Khmer dominate the mercantile and government strata in the two province capitals which also have some ethnic Chinese and Vietnamese. Thirteen different languages are spoken in Ratanakiri which is also home to some Laotian hill tribes.
I was astonished to find
that
Ratanakiri and Mondolkiri are no further advanced than the remote areas
of
Vietnam
in the 1960's. Many farming implements and tools are still
smelted
and forged by hand, and meals are
cooked
over open fires even in the province capitals.
The province "capitals" are
largely shanty towns of a couple hundred shops and houses along with a
few government buildings and schools. The more substantial buildings consist of
poured concrete post and beam construction with clay
tile roofing while most others are of wood framing and siding with
corrugated metal tin
roofing. In rural areas all shelters are just as they were
centuries ago, framing members of hand cut timber or small trees with
split
bamboo wall covering and thatched roofing. Many urban and some rural dwellers have
motorbikes imported through Vietnam from the
pre-owned
Japanese market.
The few employers in Ratanakiri and Mondolkiri are concentrated in the province capitals and jobs are scarce and pay very little since so many people want work. For example housekeepers and waitresses in guest houses make $5 USD monthly plus room and board which consists only of hammock space in a kitchen or storage room; they work 16-18 hours daily and might get one afternoon off per week. Otherwise one can obtain a legion of unskilled workers glad to perform hard labor for $1.50 a day.
Nationally
80% of the people make
their living solely in small farm agriculture. They grow much of
their own
food and generally have surpluses to sell at market for income to buy
other essentials. Farmers in the Central Plains provinces around the
Tonle Sap Lake are much better off economically and many engage in full
or part
time fishing.
The southwestern and
northeastern
frontier provinces however are highlands and the irrigation challenges
are formidable. The hill tribes
in the rural areas of Ratanakiri and Mondolkiri have been subsistence
farmers and forest gatherers since the beginning of time and are still
shackled in same. There
are no tractors or tillers and as a result of recent famines
draft
animals are in short supply hence very expensive. Cultivating
and irrigating land
is extremely labor intensive constraining farmed acreage hence crop
yields are never sufficient. Montagnards sacrifice some
production in barter for other essentials. As with most Asians
rice is their food staple but they can't grow enough in the highlands
and don't have the bartering power to buy what they need. Food
and particularly rice shortages are persistent.
The
Infant Mortality rate in Mondolkiri
and Ratanakiri is among
the world's worst, comparable to that of Angola
and Sierra Leone. Relative to Cambodia
nationally, the Infant and
Under
Age Five
mortality
rates in these two
provinces are double and the rates of
Female Stunting and Severely Anemic children are four times higher. 1
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There
are 295 NGO's operating in
Cambodia's
twenty-four provinces but only one, Medicines du Monde, was present in
1999 Mondolkiri.
The reason for the lack of NGO presence in the frontier provinces is
due
to the absence of infrastructure, isolation, and I suppose perceptions
of danger. The vast majority of NGO's are clustered in the
country's
more highly populated Central Plains.
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Although
the photo on the right is of
Montagnard
children scavenging in a trash dump in Ratanakiri province, the scene
is
just as typical in Phnom Penh. Obviously it depicts the poverty
and
absence of infrastructure but I took the picture to illustrate what was
extraordinarily remarkable about these people. They always find something to laugh about.
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In
1999
Mondolkiri the only public electricity that existed was in the province
capital, Sen Monourum. At the time though, the small
hydroelectric power plant was broken so there was none. Banlung,
the
province
capital of Ratanakiri, has a small municipal hydroelectric plant but
during my first visit the catch basin was choked with weeds so it
wasn't working
either. When it did, it provided
an hour or two of electricity daily. A few people have generators
and to save fuel they recharge car batteries to extend daily electric
needs.
Ratanakiri and Mondolkiri Provinces have one hospital each. Ratanakiri's has a staff of eighty, mostly from a Thai NGO, and some equipment but very little money and no pharmaceuticals. They run a generator ten hours a day for light if there's money for gasoline.
The Mondolkiri hospital staff consists of only a French couple from Medicines du Monde. There is no equipment, no beds, no money, and no pharmaceutical supply. When I visited patients it was so crowded patients were on the floor in the hallways. They have light for two hours a day powered by batteries recharged by a generator. The balance of daily lighting in both province hospitals is by candle.
Typical health problems are among the world's worst: Malaria, Typhoid Fever, Cholera, Dengue Fever, fevers of unknown origins, Leprosy, Dysentery, Japanese Encephalitis, Anemia, Malnutrition, Stunting, Night Blindness, a host of respiratory and digestive flukes and parasites, and Tuberculosis. Nationally, "Cambodia has the highest prevalence rate in the world for multi-drug resistant Tuberculosis . . . there are 20,000 new cases annually." 2 Overall Malaria is the biggest people killer and as is the case throughout Cambodia, more children die of water borne bacteria than any other reason.
In May, 1999 there was a Cholera epidemic in Ratanakiri that killed over 100 of the 1,000 people infected. Cholera outbreaks throughout rural Cambodia are fairly common as people cook and eat in multi-family groups and sanitation is poor since only 8% of dwellings have a toilet on a septic tank or ground latrine. Flush water for toilets is dipped from a vessel and poured into it to wash waste down the drain.
The
vast majority of the people in
Mondolkiri
and Ratanakiri live in rural areas located from one to a four hour jeep
drive
from the province capitals. The roads are one lane kidney
crushers in the dry season and during the wet season most are
impassable.
Each hospital has an aging ambulance that makes 15-20 runs a month
provided
there's money for gas. If an indigenous person with a serious
injury or
illness
reaches the province hospital, that's the end of the line since the
country's only air medical evacuation service is commercial and too
expensive. The drive to Phnom Penh is
twelve
hours, at times dangerous due to poverty driven banditry or former soldiers gone rouge, and during the monsoon rains
stretches
of road can be impassable.
In
the
wet season of May through October in Mondolkiri and Ratanakiri, rain
water is plentiful for drinking,
cooking, and irrigation. The daily rains
with wind velocities of 30-60 mph are what we in the U.S. know as
small tropical storms. In the dry season however, water sources
consist only of streams, rivers, and shallow wells.
In
Ratanakiri
streams and rivers previously provided the drinking water for
those living
within a two to three hour walk. These waterways are now polluted
from upstream hasty "development" schemes and exploding
populations. Legal and illegal logging in the watersheds has also
caused the streams to silt
and polluted them through rain water runoff carrying sawdust laden with
tree chemicals.
The
Se
San
River situation however is much worse and is an ecological and socio
economic disaster for 55,000 Khmer and hill tribes people in
Cambodia. This
river originates in Vietnam and flows
through Ratanakiri into Stung Traeng Province to the west where it
intersects with the Mekong River. Approximately 70 km upstream
from the
Vietnam-Cambodia border, the Vietnamese built the Yali Falls Dam
hydroelectric power plant at the headwaters of the Se San. For
more info
on this nightmare see the following URL's and browser back.
Australian
Mekong Resource Center
Because of the surface water pollution, intestinal disorders and severe diarrhea are rampant in Ratanakiri and some areas of Mondolkiri even though the people boil the water. To filter out some of the pollution hill tribesmen dig holes approximately twenty feet deep adjacent to a stream. As the ground water seeps through the sandy soil into the hole, it's cleaned somewhat. After a long period of boiling it can be used for cooking and the diarrhea problems are less but it is still very harsh for drinking.
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Otherwise, those not
living near streams must dig wells by hand. If there's water, at
this elevation it's
usually found between sixty and eighty feet. |
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Provided
the well has sufficient water in the dry season, buckets are used to
transport it for irrigating crop fields. Unfortunately for these
families,
their well provides only enough for drinking and cooking. |
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The photo to the left is of a farm field
adjacent to a small river in Sen Monourum, province capital of
Mondolkiri. For dry
season irrigation, a
trench
from the river
feeds the water hole the man is standing. He squats to fill
his buckets and irrigates as shown in the photo below. |
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Relative to irrigation, farmers living next to streams are much better off than the seven families above. Nonetheless bucket distribution is very labor intensive and limits the amount of acreage farmed. |
Political
The government of Cambodia is a multiparty liberal democracy under a constitutional monarchy established in 1993. There are twenty-two political parties and in 1998 the second of two UN-certified elections was held. However the Cambodia Peoples Party (CPP) lost to the Royalists prompting a coup in which the CPP murdered over 100 Royalists. A UN-brokered agreement resulted in a powering sharing arrangement whereby Royalists are co-ministers but they have little actual authority.
Ninety-five
percent of Cambodians are Theravada Buddhists.
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On my last Sunday morning
in
Mondolkiri I
went to
a border village of forty-seven families. At first it appeared deserted until we heard singing and found them all in the church. Sunday school was still in session in an adjacent building as the adults came out to welcome us.
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Left
photo,
interior of above church. Of the villages I visited in both provinces, this one was among the poorest yet seemed to be the richest in happiness and shared resources. |
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 Above, 1999 |
Although the villagers were primarily Mnong Montagnard, the huge vegetable garden in the left photo was the work of three Jarai hill tribe families. Jarai are superb vegetable farmers whereas rice is the Mnong forte. They exchanged production and supported one another. |
 2004 |
I took the photo on the
left in
Feb 2004, the same view of the 1999 Jarai vegetable crops. The garden was gone as were the Jarai, said to have been swept up in the refugee flight from the Central Highlands of Vietnam in 2001. |
After nearly three decades of war, genocide, and famine, Cambodia is the most devastated country on earth and ranks among the African nations in health and poverty issues. It is by far the poorest country of the eleven in Southeast Asia.
A nation of 11.5 million people, less than 9% have access to public water systems, electricity, telephones, waste disposal, and paved roads. Aside from Phnom Penh and a few other cities in the Central Plains, the balance of country is completely void of infrastructure. Eighty-five percent of the population is rural. There are no roads from the interior to seven of the twenty-four provinces. The plethora of land mines has created the highest number of amputees of any country in the world.
During the 1975-1979 communist Khmer Rouge genocide ("Killing
Fields"), approximately 20% of the population or 2,000,000 people
were executed, died of starvation, or worked to death. Most of
these people were the educated classes often times defined simply as
being able to read or owning a pair of eyeglasses.
As a result of the baby boom of the post Khmer Rouge years, 50% of Cambodians today are under age 25. In the eighties and nineties there was significant migration of people from rural to urban areas in search of employment; thus today the countryside is largely void of all but the simplest of skilled trades.
There are
plenty
of school buildings from the Lon Nol period 1970-75 but there are very
few teachers. In early 1999, teachers throughout the country
were
on a "Hungry Strike" because the government could not pay them.
To
make a living they were farming or working in other
pursuits.
Teacher salaries are $20 USD per month. In rural provinces a
family needs to earn $85 monthly for adequate food and shelter whereas
in Phnom Penh with a higher cost of living one needs to make $200-250 a
month.
Salaries for
all government workers and officials are similarly low and the need to
make a living has spawned massive corruption. Some ministries and
departments are worse than others at extracting bribes, tariffs, and
"donations to the government" while occasionally one comes across
honest workers here and there. In order for a government employee
or official to get promoted, the norm is to his bosses a considerable
sum.
Despite the incomprehensible obstacles, optimism and national pride pervades the private sector. The Khmer are an extremely polite and most incredibly honest. Compared to their neighbors, the Khmer have a superlative work ethic, sense of initiative, and ability to improvise. There is a very strong desire for political stability as evidenced by their respect for the central government even in remote areas of token authority.
Due to the Khmer propensity for cleanliness and impoverishment which finds uses for most everything, litter is virtually non existent. I was quite amazed at how few smokers there are in Cambodia. If more could afford tobacco, no doubt more would smoke but the biggest inhibition is the health hazard. Taxi drivers don't permit smoking in their cabs and discarding cigarette butts anywhere other than a proper receptacle is littering and taboo.
The country is rich in
natural
resources
and bio diversity with about 54% of all families of seed plants.
With
a national population density of only 64 people per square kilometer,
it's
relatively unpopulated.
In 1993 King Sihanouk declared approximately one third of the country, or 8.2 million acres, as National Protected Areas. There are twenty-three such areas consisting of National Parks, Wildlife Sanctuaries, Protected Landscapes, and Multiple Use Management Areas. Except for one small but very admirable effort in Ream National Park, the Protected Areas exist on paper only because the government has no money.
At the heart of Cambodia's productivity is the Tonle Sap Lake, once the world's most abundant inland fishing lake. Despite the logging damage in the spawning grounds, it remains ten times more productive than the North Atlantic's best fishing grounds. This marvel of nature is also critical for Vietnam's Mekong Delta coastal fisheries. "Every year, the lake generates large quantities of nitrogenous products that are flushed when the flow of the Tonle Sap River is reversed, thus providing abundant food for the masses of marine life that aggregate off the coast of Vietnam to feed in plumes of the Mekong and Bassac Rivers." 3
The roots of democracy and free enterprise have taken hold and secured Cambodia's political direction. However the ruling party, the Cambodian Peoples Party installed by the Vietnamese in their 1979 invasion, must get serious about eliminating corruption to attract more foreign investment. If so, in twenty years Cambodia could be an economic powerhouse in the region.
Upon arrival in early 1999 I
quickly realized that all people in Cambodia, hill tribe
minority and Khmer alike, suffered immensely. Convinced
I must establish a humanitarian organization to help in some area of
the country, I researched the public health statistics to determine the
most needy provinces. Overwhelmingly the data pointed
to Mondolkiri and Ratanakiri therefore my geographical interests went
unchanged.
