Deporting Cambodian-Americans who Commit Crimes: Passing the blame…

Today, while reading the KI-Media blog of Cambodian news, I came across an article outlining the plight of Cambodian-Americans who break the law and are deported to Cambodia. Many of them have never lived in Cambodia – they grew up in refugee camps on the Thailand border, and moved to Long Beach when toddlers. They don’t speak the language (Khmer), and have more knowledge of Hip Hop culture than Cambodian culture. When they commit crimes in the US, they are deported to Cambodia, and left to fend for themselves. These are people already on the margins of American society – people with addiction and mental health issues. To quote Holly Bradford, founder of an NGO to help re-patriate these Cambodians:  “In my opinion, it is a direct violation of his human rights to send somebody who has that kind of mental illness to a country where there’s no resources to treat him.” She goes on to say that 25% of deportees have mental health problems. Drug use runs rampant among deportees once they arrive in Phnom Penh. Bradford’s NGO, Korsang, gives work to some of the deportees, taps into their sordid past as a way to educate others, and aids them in acculturation.

Cambodia is a country already rife with child poverty and inequity. It seems ridiculous to me that these Cambodian-Americans, who grew up in the USA, who are products of American culture, and who were failed by the American education and legal system, should be returned to a country struggling to deal with its own demons of the past. It seems like the American government is sending away its dirty laundry instead of acknowledging and addressing what is causing the crime and drug abuse, the beginning of which might be the decision to prop up Lon Nol’s government in Cambodia in the 1970s. But, that’s another post all in itself… You can read the whole article about the deportation here.

Showering with one hand…

I am a man of many talents. I can juggle, ride a unicycle, balance a bank book, and order a beer in Khmer just to name a few. However, this morning I was reminded of one of my forgotten talents. I can shower quite efficiently with one hand. Now, I know what you’re thinking – But Chris, you have two hands. Yes, yes I do. But Chris, why would you want to shower with only one hand? Well, therein lies the story.

I was mowing the lawn yesterday – well, to be more accurate, I was mowing the leaves yesterday (some grass was innocently implicated in my act of sloth.) With the temperature reaching +18 (Celsius), no snow in sight, and the leaves all gently resting on the front lawn, I didn’t want to spend the time needed to thoroughly rake, so I mowed. Our lawnmower isn’t that old, but since it sat for two years when we lived in Cambodia (and I forgot to run the fuel tank empty before leaving) it hasn’t exactly started well. Actually, it doesn’t start well at all — I have to reach down and push the primer button for the first few minutes, injecting extra fuel, until it warms up. Perhaps the choke is sticky. Anyway, even when the mower is warm, every time I want to start it, I have to push the primer two or three times. The primer button is located on the front of the mower, on the opposite side to the exhaust manifold. (Here’s where it gets interesting.)

I was reaching down to push the primer after dumping a load of leaves but for some reason I reached with my left hand, and not my right. Funnily enough, reaching with my left hand meant that I was reaching for the wrong side of the mower. I firmly jabbed my ring and middle fingers onto what I thought would be the primer button, and, after being sure to make full and firm contact, I recoiled in pain. I had firmly, assertively, pushed my fingers onto the exhaust manifold. Eight hours later when I went to bed, my fingers still needed to be bathed in ice water to keep the pain at bay. This morning the pain had subsided (the blisters are pretty impressive) so I grabbed an ice cube, and jumped in the shower. I kept the cube in my left hand to remind myself not to get it anywhere near the hot water, and I showered one handed.

In the shower, looking at the blister on the palm side of my ring and middle fingers on my left hand, I was reminded of the scar on the back side of my ring finger – The scar that speaks to the time when I developed my ability to shower one-handed. The scar that reminds me of the accidental cut I made into the top of my finger while seam ripping a button hole with scissors, the cut that required first stitches on the surface, then a week later a trip via Air Asia to Bangkok General, and more stitches to reattached the tendon, then more stitches to seal the wound and for good measure a stainless steel pin to hold my finger straight, then two months later a trip back to Bangkok to have the pin removed, then while in Australia a month later non-dissolving stitches poking out of the top of the wound, then back in Phnom Penh more stitches to seal the wound caused by removing one non-dissolving stitch. Then, in three separate procedures with varying levels of local anesthesia, four more non-dissolving stitches being removed from my tendon, the incision requiring more stitches every time. Then, physio. Then, a trip back to Bangkok General to complain, and then very little satisfaction after a conversation with a smug Thai doctor. Then, the realization that I’d been showering with one hand for almost 5 months, and was darn good at it. And I got to prove that again this morning. Good thing I cut my finger back in October, 2006. Otherwise I might not have  been able to shower this morning.

“Development” in Cambodia

In my grad class we’re talking about the term Third World, or the Developing World. Above is a picture taken in May, 2007 of a village on Boeng Kak Lake in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. However, this village is being buldozed because the government sold off the rights to the lake to a “development” company that kicked all of the residents out, and is filling it in to sell the land. This new development will create economic growth as construction companies build high rises to attract multinational corporations and mansions for the rich. The GNP of Cambodia will rise, and it follows that they are more developed, right?