Post Eviction Letters
These are some letters I wrote after the eviction of part of our community in January (the 2nd letter was sent out by Village Earth in February, so you may have already read it).
Letter #1:
[3 Days After The Eviction, January 27, 2009] Dear Friends, There was some terrible events here in the community where we have been working since I arrived here, as the community of Dey Krahorm had their houses smashed with sledge hammers and crow bars Saturday morning as the home owners frantically grabbed their belongings. I watched and assisted the best I could in absolute horror, and have been on an adrenaline rush for 3 days trying to assist my friends in the aftermath of their traumatic events. Our school is ok, since we moved into the adjacent apartment building in anticipation of this eviction. I knew it was coming, but truly thought that the government and this developer, 7NG, would handle the situation better, that Cambodia was beyond this heavy handedness, but it doesn’t seem to be the case. Many of our students are currently displaced, but we also have a lot of students that did not live in the community that was evicted who are helping those in need. The school will serve as a center offering a place for some to sleep, food, and resource center to try to find new homes, etc, and will carry on with classes as we have for almost 3 years. It is a very sad situation for many, and I am doing my best.
Blessings,
[3 Days After The Eviction, January 27, 2009] Dear Friends, There was some terrible events here in the community where we have been working since I arrived here, as the community of Dey Krahorm had their houses smashed with sledge hammers and crow bars Saturday morning as the home owners frantically grabbed their belongings. I watched and assisted the best I could in absolute horror, and have been on an adrenaline rush for 3 days trying to assist my friends in the aftermath of their traumatic events. Our school is ok, since we moved into the adjacent apartment building in anticipation of this eviction. I knew it was coming, but truly thought that the government and this developer, 7NG, would handle the situation better, that Cambodia was beyond this heavy handedness, but it doesn’t seem to be the case. Many of our students are currently displaced, but we also have a lot of students that did not live in the community that was evicted who are helping those in need. The school will serve as a center offering a place for some to sleep, food, and resource center to try to find new homes, etc, and will carry on with classes as we have for almost 3 years. It is a very sad situation for many, and I am doing my best.
Blessings,
Drew
Letter #2:
[1 Month After The Eviction] Dear Friends,
It’s been 1 month since the eviction. During most of this time my ability to concentrate and work at a computer has been diminished, but I have been on the ground getting our school going again and helping our students the best I could. My inbox is very full, and I apologize for the lack of information when many of you have been concerned and have asked me for an update. I hope to write something on my blog soon, and here is something in the interim:
After the eviction the school was an open oozing wound, literally and figuratively. The oozing is the sewage problem that has arose, and the wounds are sometimes emotional, and sometimes cuts on feet, etc. Neither of them received the usual attention we give, because our problems were so mounting. A part of our daily jobs is to take care of problems, and often get involved in people’s lives on a very personal level. For the past weeks so many people all around me all had serious problems occurring at the same time, and it hurt me badly to see the suffering and not be able to help like I would like to.
On January 24th the figurative ‘bomb’ was dropped immediately outside our school. Maybe it could be better described as a mob of thugs (poor people hired as day laborers) orchestrated by the government and developer 7NG. That morning, after sleeping on top of the desks for 2 hours, I woke to the sound of chaos, and as I walked closer to the edge of the slum I saw a mass of people aimed at destruction. A destruction of houses and lives.
As the reality unfolded, my priorities were to gather information, provide logistical support, emotional support, and try to think to the next hour, 6 hours, 12-18 hours... The luxury of longer term thinking was still far off. I had to take inventory, and every resource needed to be utilized, but we had staff out of town and lots of challenges. An Emergency Response was needed to the crisis that enveloped my every sensory, in panoramic view, in the form of loud noises from houses being bulldozed, piles of rusty nail filled debris that needed to be traversed to be able to go anywhere, and a blur of things happening; my phone ringing and receiving text messages, trying to gather and disseminate information, sunburn, students crying, pressure from the officials to clear everything out, anger coming out of my body in the form of tears, irritability, not knowing what to do next, moving people’s things out of their collapsing houses… It was a day far unlike any other in my life, and I have never been called upon like I was that day.
Life continued in a similar vein for the next days, until the trauma started to wear off and we could start to think about how to help on another level, when we began addressing getting kids back into public school, housing, hiring someone to cook meals, keeping our school clean, getting our sink fixed, and giving care to traumatized people… I’ve never been so focused. I didn’t talk to anyone unless there was something that needed to be said, like “can you…?”
To write what we did would take a lot of effort. We found housing for at least 6 families/people, we’re providing daily transportation to school for over 40 kids to come 20km from the relocation site, where they are homeless, give them breakfast and lunch (thanks UWCSEA and others), delivered clothing and other donations, provide a doctor, kid activities, day care, professional counseling, and a thousand other things, some of which I am not yet aware of. Our student team leaders are amazing, and what we did could not be attempted without a mass of dynamic people. Many friends came at a time of need and their efforts were true kindness. We didn’t do it to be nice, but felt we needed to be there for them because their situation was so dire, and our emotional pain drew us to help, which we did to fill our own need. Many generous donations came in as well, some from people I have never met, and for that we are incredibly grateful. I hope to write thank you notes soon.
Today the last family will move out of our computer lab, but we still have extra students living in the school and no great solution to their housing problem. Patience often is a good strategy, and they will find solutions. We’ll be here for them and do our best to make sure they continue with their education, and are stepping in with aid as appropriate. Every Aziza student’s family that was evicted has received some assistance from us.
The people that were evicted fall into 4 categories, from a housing perspective; owners with house numbers, unrecognized owners, renters, and people from the market (market stall owners). By now, the vast majority of the owners who were recognized have taken a house at the relocation site, 20km from Phnom Penh. They didn’t want this house, and many have simply put a lock on the gate and left it empty while they have found a place to stay or rent close to their jobs in the city. They are the lucky ones. There are 335 families from the latter 3 categories living without a roof over their head, in terrible conditions, and the situations is getting worse as their resources are depleted (still living there 5 months later). The future of the people living homeless is unknown, and they feel they need to camp in front of the developers office, as instructed, in hopes that they will be given some compensation, such as a small plot of land somewhere undesirable. Included in this mass of haggard souls are some of our students. Beautiful, intelligent, hard working, committed to a better future, and trying to keep it together through an unbearably tough time, sleeping without security or hygiene. Some of our students living there are high school girls, and I worry about them the most. Actually, I try not to think about them because it is so sad. Their situation was tough to begin with, then a mob of men came and broke down their house while they scrambled to salvage their personal belongings, and now they are camping far outside of town with no toilets or running water.
Other stories turned out better, but in our research of the effects on students education in the aftermath of the eviction (which we presented to the government), we found 45 students had dropped out of school because of the eviction in just one small community. Others went through a tough time, but are getting back on their feet. It will be a life event for all who went through it. We have received some generous donations that made our assistance possible, but will need lots more to continue to help them. Thank you for caring. It means the world to me, and was crucial to getting me through a tough time.
Peace,
Drew
[1 Month After The Eviction] Dear Friends,
It’s been 1 month since the eviction. During most of this time my ability to concentrate and work at a computer has been diminished, but I have been on the ground getting our school going again and helping our students the best I could. My inbox is very full, and I apologize for the lack of information when many of you have been concerned and have asked me for an update. I hope to write something on my blog soon, and here is something in the interim:
After the eviction the school was an open oozing wound, literally and figuratively. The oozing is the sewage problem that has arose, and the wounds are sometimes emotional, and sometimes cuts on feet, etc. Neither of them received the usual attention we give, because our problems were so mounting. A part of our daily jobs is to take care of problems, and often get involved in people’s lives on a very personal level. For the past weeks so many people all around me all had serious problems occurring at the same time, and it hurt me badly to see the suffering and not be able to help like I would like to.
On January 24th the figurative ‘bomb’ was dropped immediately outside our school. Maybe it could be better described as a mob of thugs (poor people hired as day laborers) orchestrated by the government and developer 7NG. That morning, after sleeping on top of the desks for 2 hours, I woke to the sound of chaos, and as I walked closer to the edge of the slum I saw a mass of people aimed at destruction. A destruction of houses and lives.
As the reality unfolded, my priorities were to gather information, provide logistical support, emotional support, and try to think to the next hour, 6 hours, 12-18 hours... The luxury of longer term thinking was still far off. I had to take inventory, and every resource needed to be utilized, but we had staff out of town and lots of challenges. An Emergency Response was needed to the crisis that enveloped my every sensory, in panoramic view, in the form of loud noises from houses being bulldozed, piles of rusty nail filled debris that needed to be traversed to be able to go anywhere, and a blur of things happening; my phone ringing and receiving text messages, trying to gather and disseminate information, sunburn, students crying, pressure from the officials to clear everything out, anger coming out of my body in the form of tears, irritability, not knowing what to do next, moving people’s things out of their collapsing houses… It was a day far unlike any other in my life, and I have never been called upon like I was that day.
Life continued in a similar vein for the next days, until the trauma started to wear off and we could start to think about how to help on another level, when we began addressing getting kids back into public school, housing, hiring someone to cook meals, keeping our school clean, getting our sink fixed, and giving care to traumatized people… I’ve never been so focused. I didn’t talk to anyone unless there was something that needed to be said, like “can you…?”
To write what we did would take a lot of effort. We found housing for at least 6 families/people, we’re providing daily transportation to school for over 40 kids to come 20km from the relocation site, where they are homeless, give them breakfast and lunch (thanks UWCSEA and others), delivered clothing and other donations, provide a doctor, kid activities, day care, professional counseling, and a thousand other things, some of which I am not yet aware of. Our student team leaders are amazing, and what we did could not be attempted without a mass of dynamic people. Many friends came at a time of need and their efforts were true kindness. We didn’t do it to be nice, but felt we needed to be there for them because their situation was so dire, and our emotional pain drew us to help, which we did to fill our own need. Many generous donations came in as well, some from people I have never met, and for that we are incredibly grateful. I hope to write thank you notes soon.
Today the last family will move out of our computer lab, but we still have extra students living in the school and no great solution to their housing problem. Patience often is a good strategy, and they will find solutions. We’ll be here for them and do our best to make sure they continue with their education, and are stepping in with aid as appropriate. Every Aziza student’s family that was evicted has received some assistance from us.
The people that were evicted fall into 4 categories, from a housing perspective; owners with house numbers, unrecognized owners, renters, and people from the market (market stall owners). By now, the vast majority of the owners who were recognized have taken a house at the relocation site, 20km from Phnom Penh. They didn’t want this house, and many have simply put a lock on the gate and left it empty while they have found a place to stay or rent close to their jobs in the city. They are the lucky ones. There are 335 families from the latter 3 categories living without a roof over their head, in terrible conditions, and the situations is getting worse as their resources are depleted (still living there 5 months later). The future of the people living homeless is unknown, and they feel they need to camp in front of the developers office, as instructed, in hopes that they will be given some compensation, such as a small plot of land somewhere undesirable. Included in this mass of haggard souls are some of our students. Beautiful, intelligent, hard working, committed to a better future, and trying to keep it together through an unbearably tough time, sleeping without security or hygiene. Some of our students living there are high school girls, and I worry about them the most. Actually, I try not to think about them because it is so sad. Their situation was tough to begin with, then a mob of men came and broke down their house while they scrambled to salvage their personal belongings, and now they are camping far outside of town with no toilets or running water.
Other stories turned out better, but in our research of the effects on students education in the aftermath of the eviction (which we presented to the government), we found 45 students had dropped out of school because of the eviction in just one small community. Others went through a tough time, but are getting back on their feet. It will be a life event for all who went through it. We have received some generous donations that made our assistance possible, but will need lots more to continue to help them. Thank you for caring. It means the world to me, and was crucial to getting me through a tough time.
Peace,
Drew
Final note:
I have no illusions that I can change the world, or that my emotions matter to those in power in Cambodia, but I want to publicly post a few words to the people working in the Cambodian government and at the development company 7NG. Your actions leave me with anger. You lacks of skills to show consideration to human beings are unacceptable, and if you are among the top people that directed things to go as they did, you should not feel good about yourself when you go to sleep. You children should not be proud of you, and they should use the power they gain from your profits to help those less fortunate.
posted by drewmcdo at
9:04 PM
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