CAMBODIA: LET'S DO IT!

At the beginning of this year I wrote in a blog that I hoped 2011 would bring better things than did 2010 - a year that brought upsets and problems for many people.  Well, we are now almost five months into 2011 and it seems as if the main theme of the year across the globe is "negativity".  Such a pity - and why is it I wonder? Without a positive look at life and things around, it is virtually impossible to move forward on anything.

In the United States an untold amount of media coverage is being given to the "wanna-be" politicians who in order to get their names in the public eye for the 2012 elections, are trying to convince people with their negativity that President Obama was not born in the United States.  How stupid can people be when there is positive proof that he was?  And they call themselves good potential leaders?   Crazy! 

In England in the run-up to the wedding of Prince William and Miss Catherine Middleton, commentators, Talk Show hosts, analysts and myriads of others in the media from around the world are negatively discussing the cost of the wedding without mention of the millions and millions of dollars that will be brought into the country because of the wedding.  They just like to concentrate on the negative side, while at the same time totally ignoring things like the 4-million dollar bonuses being paid to financial moguls in addition to enormous salaries. To me something does not seem right here but maybe it is the trend of the times. I could go on and on with other like examples from around the world.

Since I came to live in Cambodia almost six years ago, I have written and spoken many times - often to the point of boredom, I have been told - about this wonderful country. I have written and spoken about the people of this country who are an amazingly resilient people, the epitome of friendliness and hospitality and a people who are proud - proud to be Cambodian, proud of their country and their heritage and proud of their King.  The younger generation is a determined one here.  One that is determined to work to make sure their country is one that prospers, not just for themselves personally, but for the entire population and is recognized throughout the world.  Those qualities are certainly not found in all countries around the world.


In every country whether it is a developed country or an undeveloped country there are always some negative aspects.  That is norm, but I believe here in this country the positive far out-weighs the negative,  These positive aspects should be shown to the world.

On Saturday, April 23rd a tremendous event took place in the capital city of Phnom Penh.  JCI Cambodia (Junior Chamber International) and AIESEC together with several sponsors organized a project called "Cambodia: Let's do it".   In every developing country, and especially one where education has been somewhat lacking for many years, people are not always aware of the environment and as a result garbage can be a problem - not just visually, but health-wise also.  

Phnom Penh is no exception.  However, the project organized on April 23rd had been planned over many months. It had the support of the city authorities and the Government.  The city was divided into zones and there were teams of people delegated to work in set areas.  By the start of the project over 2,500 young (and some not so young) people had arrived at the National Olympic Stadium to sign up and help.  That is a tremendous achievement in any one's book. A fleet of buses took the various teams from the Stadium to their work areas and brought them back later to the stadium.   His Excellency Khieu Kanarith, the Minister for Information and his wife as well as His Excellency Kep Chutemo, the Governor of Phnom Penh City were also present and addressed the crowd before joining in the clean up.  The young people felt honored that Their Excellencies had come to support them.   

By the end of the day the workers had done a tremendous job.  The enthusiasm of these young people to improve their city should be shown to the world as an example of what can be done with just a little effort when people old or young get together.  I feel proud to have the privilege of living here in this great country and being friends with such a wonderful people.  May their example be an influence to others around the world to work for improvement also rather than concentrating on the negative.

SHUT THE REACTORS!

Growing up in the hills of County Wicklow in Ireland we had no electricity and relied on candles and oil lamps.  To us it seemed to be the norm and was no problem.  Eventually we got a telephone - the type that you wound up and was attached to the wall, but was only working for the six hours a day that the Post Mistress was working in the Post Office.  Our number was Enniskerry 5 - and there were only five telephones in the area.

After some time the Electricity Board announced that they would be bringing the electric to our house which was just over a mile from the nearest neighbour.  My mother who was an actress - and in those days actors in Ireland earned very little - decided that we couldn't afford the cost.  Instead she found someone who would sell what was called a dynamo that could be attached to a windmill thing and that would generate electricity. Mother bought this dynamo and had it fixed at the top of a fir tree complete with a windmill.  This little contraption provided free electricity not only to our house, but it also lit up the cow house, the hen house and the garage.  This was my first introduction to wind power.

When I tell people about that first electricity that we had and how we got it, they laugh as they think it sounds so primitive.  That is probably because we have apparently progressed so much with technology, a simple little thing like a small dynamo sounds almost prehistoric.  But it worked for many years.

Since then we have come into the atomic age and only now are we beginning to think how much damage this technology is causing around the world.  The horrors of the atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki will never be forgotten.  Those in themselves should have been enough to make the world stop, look and learn from that lesson.  But no.  Tests of atom bombs continued - especially by the French and the Americans - on Christmas Island, in the deserts and wherever else wreaking havoc with the welfare and the health of so many people.

Then came the use of nuclear power to generate electricity in place of the coal fueled generators. It sounded like a good idea at the time.  It was clean unlike the coal burners that spewed out black smoke and polluted the atmosphere.   Nuclear generators were built all over the place with great gusto, but then what happened? Accidents began to happen.  In India, in Chernobyl, and other smaller ones along the way. Now we are dealing with the massive disaster caused by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan where the sum total of the effect of the radiation leaks from there will not be known for some time.   Since then we have been told that seven nuclear reactors generating electricity are built on a fault line just 47 miles north of New York city.  Unbelievable!  Commentators, analysts and "people who know" have been on TV talk shows saying they didn't think there was anything to worry about.  Of course not.  Nobody thought there was anything to worry about at Fukushima, Chernobyl or the plant in India - - that is until it happened!  The mind boggles at what would happen if there was a disaster at any of those New York based reactors.

The German Chancellor - Mrs. Angela Merkel - following the Fukushima disaster put a stop to all nuclear power plants in Germany.  Why have not other leaders followed suit?  Thailand is also considering going no further with its former plans for nuclear energy.  My mother was no scientist or mathematician but she had the brains to know way back then, that the most economic method of providing electric power to our home was by wind power - hence the little dynamo and windmill at the top of the pine tree.  The United States has acknowledged that wind power can provide a huge percentage of the necessary power needed, yet there is so much dithering going on. Congressional Committees galore to "look into it" and then subsequent Senate Committees to investigate the findings of the Congressional Committees. Do these so-called leaders not have the ability to understand the dangers that these nuclear reactors pose to ordinary people.  Wind power is cheap, it is easy and it is always there. 

The powers that be should stop the talk and start shutting down these dangerous nuclear reactors that can cause total havoc around the place as we have seen and begin the task of harnessing the wind.  We all know that these reactors could not be closed in a day. We also know that before they go, the alternative has to be in place otherwise industry and other things will be disrupted.  So stop the talk and start the task.  The argument that it will cost money is not valid, because you cannot put a dollar price on people's lives.  In this case - both the lives and livelihood of all of us are affected.  Let us hear the voices call out for action now before another disaster takes place somewhere.