While in Cambodia we saw lots of folks taking pictures of kids, especially kids living in poverty. It's easy to find such photo opportunities in a country like Cambodia, which is one of the poorest countries in the world (~$480 UDS/year average per capita income). We saw a lot of poverty even in Siem Reap and the surrounding areas (which I'm sure is much more wealthy of a place than most Cambodian towns and villages). But this is the only picture we have that even hints at what we saw. Why? It didn't seem right. If you look at websites about Cambodia, or books of pictures in Cambodia, you see lots of pictures of kids who have nothing, who were born into and are living with families who have nothing. We even had kids offer to let us take their picture, for $1 USD. But aside from whether we gave them money or not, or whether we bought things from them or not - just taking their picture, even if it involved paying them, just didn't seem right. It's the wrong relationship people should have to such children. What is the right relationship? I don't really know. But what I saw folks doing - that's not it. It came off like folks taking pictures of animals at the zoo, or famous sites, not of people. Like the only value that child had at that point was their value as a photographic subject. The whole scene was lacking in humanity, in compassion. It felt wrong. So the only picture we ended up with like that was one we took by accident - we weren't meaning to take a picture of the child there, but looking at the picture afterwards it becomes the main subject. [kids are generally hanging out throughout all the sites we saw - we tried quite hard to keep them out of photos we took]
At some point in my life I may realize what the best way to help those kids, and folks who live in places like Cambodia, is, but even though I racked my brain the whole time there, I really don't know. The economic theories I learned in school seemed to come up short, somehow. I hope that our visit helped, if even indirectly. I would encourage everyone to visit poorer places like Cambodia, because I believe it will help improve the living conditions of people there. Poverty keeps many tourists away from Siem Reap, but I believe it should attract them, because with enough people going there, I think the people there will have more opportunities than they have now.
Posts
3 comments:
Thank you for making this point, and making it so well. When Christy and I were in Thailand a few years ago, we had many similar experiences where poor children were essentially asking groups of tourists to be paid to have their picture taken. We even had one stop to a rural Hmong village to see very impoverished conditions firsthand (though this was part of a deal between the village and the tour company, I'm sure). And while many people got a kick out of the exuberance that many of the kids had put into the competition of getting their picture taken, I couldn't shake the feeling that we were in a human zoo. And it felt so very wrong.
Grappling with how to resolve it all is even more difficult. I did have one experience that cemented for me that you have to get people to care, but more importantly you have to get them to care in a way that is constructive. At one time, I was talking one-on-one with our tour guide and got to a moment of candor that surprised me: There was a bit of frustration about the zeal with which Western anti-sweatshop movements shut down factories years ago. Kind of a surprise to me, as any reasonable person should want others to work under decent conditions. He understood that sentiment, but made the point that while, yes, many of the factories involved long hours and hard labor, they were also some of the best and only opportunities for large groups of people. And while the pay was low to Westerners, and not even hugely generous to Thais at the time, the cost of living in Thailand was also very, very low. He said the low wages were still a living to provide for families, and that some people were able to build savings to start their own businesses. I think he sensed good intentions on the part of the anti-sweatshop movement, but also had some frustration with what he felt was a blindness to the aftereffects: That many factories simply moved somewhere else, and that there wasn't much to replace them.
In any case, the whole trip was an eye-opening experience, and there are a lot of people in the First World that could benefit from seeing that there is, in fact, a world out there.
If you really would like to help a child in Cambodia, donate to the Tevy Foundaton. http//www.tevyfoundation.com
My heart gets ripped out every time I go on mission and see kids put in situations like these. It sometimes is even hard to find a reference point for poverty like this.
Post a Comment