Cambodia's waifs robbed of childhood
Nameless: (Top to Bottom) Many of Phnom Penh's faceless street children can't read or write. But when it comes to street smart, they have a Masters degree from the university of life and a PhD from the school of hard knocks. Pictures: Liz Price
ON MY first trip to Cambodia I spent the initial day shocked at the number of street kids.
There were child amputees, victims of the land mines, there were some children selling books, and some were simply begging. It was quite an eye opener for me. Over the days I grew used to seeing them and eventually became more immune to their begging tricks. There are three categories of street children. The street-living children have no ties with their families and have made the streets their home. Next are the street-working children, who work on the streets but return home at least irregularly, or stay in orphanages. Then there are the street families — children who are living with their family on the streets. Street-working children are obvious in Phnom Penh. There were groups of children selling books along the river front. All these youngsters were of school age. And I noticed that on my more recent visit many of these book sellers were pretty young girls wearing quite nice clothes. They certainly weren't sleeping on the streets. Young boys went around selling international newspapers and magazines. Some were quite clever and after a few days they seemed to recognise me and not try to sell me anything, instead they looked for fresh prey. I heard stories that these book kids are part of a syndicate. They live in an 'orphanage' and every day are 'taken to work' to sell books on the streets. And these books were all fake copies of travel books and books about Cambodia. On another part of the river front, a young boy followed me for quite a way, pleading for US$1 ($1.372) for school. US$1 is a lot for someone of his age, in a country where many people live on one or two dollars a day.
It was far more than he would need for even a week's schooling, and it was clear he didn't even go to school but spent the day begging. I tried to ask him about his life but he would only speak the English sentences he knew by heart and recited them parrot fashion. As we were walking he suddenly stopped. Not because he had grown tired of begging from me, but because he had reached the end of his territory. Different gangs work in different areas, and don't cross boundaries. In Battambang in northwest Cambodia, I saw more evidence of real street-living children. They were scruffy and unkempt and had a different body language. It was clear that some of them were addicted to glue sniffing. If they had any money they would buy glue. If they could earn US$1 a day from begging or cleaning shoes, they could buy a lot of glue. If the day's takings were less, they could buy a smaller amount already put in a plastic bag — yes there are unscrupulous people willing to make money from these unfortunate kids. Many of these kids belong to a gang and it is a real case of survival of the fittest. Other boys have security under the guardianship of a mafia, and have to pay protection money. There were few girls in these street groups, as many of them had been taken and sold to brothels. One group of them would hang around a popular restaurant. Watching the pavement tables, as soon as a customer finished eating, a child would appear and ask for any left over food. Some didn't ask but just took. They would take anything that was left, even scraping up any remaining sauce to add to the rice, and draining anything left in glasses or ice cream bowls. They would eat the food directly off the plate if it wasn't much, or else they would put it into a plastic bag or paper cup if they were lucky enough to have one. I was told that NGOs try and help these kids and put them in shelters, but the children are unhappy there and soon run away to return to their lives on the streets. Of course there were also adult beggars. Every morning at the breakfast stalls four different individuals would make their appearance in the length of time it took to eat a bowl of noodles. Although we were in a non-tourist area, these beggars never seemed to recognise us from day to day (we were the only white people there) and would persist in asking. The smart ones waited until it was time for us to pay and then they would get very persistent hoping for some small change. I saw these same beggars during the day in different areas. On my more recent visit, I saw less amputees begging than I did four years ago. I don't know the reason for this. After the brutal Pol Pot regime which ended in 1978, a civil war then followed for the next 20 years. Thousands of land mines were planted, along roads, in rice fields, in fact almost everywhere. Thousands more Cambodians lost limbs or died from these landmines. Peace was restored in 1991 but countless families remain in poverty, partly due to the family structure having been destroyed during the days of Pol Pot. There are many homeless people, many of whom migrate to cities such as Phnom Penh. And now to add to the problems of poverty and homelessness, Cambodia is suffering from a huge increase in HIV cases.
Some children are scrap collectors. They walk the streets barefooted looking for empty cans, plastic bottles and metals. Plastic is the most lucrative, as they can get US$0.40 a kilo. On a good day a child can earn US$2 by selling this waste to a dealer. Others work on garbage dumps which is quite horrendous considering there are dumper trucks arriving throughout the day. It's certainly a tough life for many children in Cambodia. Many international NGOs are trying to help, but sadly there are so many children who are still living on the streets.
There were child amputees, victims of the land mines, there were some children selling books, and some were simply begging. It was quite an eye opener for me. Over the days I grew used to seeing them and eventually became more immune to their begging tricks. There are three categories of street children. The street-living children have no ties with their families and have made the streets their home. Next are the street-working children, who work on the streets but return home at least irregularly, or stay in orphanages. Then there are the street families — children who are living with their family on the streets. Street-working children are obvious in Phnom Penh. There were groups of children selling books along the river front. All these youngsters were of school age. And I noticed that on my more recent visit many of these book sellers were pretty young girls wearing quite nice clothes. They certainly weren't sleeping on the streets. Young boys went around selling international newspapers and magazines. Some were quite clever and after a few days they seemed to recognise me and not try to sell me anything, instead they looked for fresh prey. I heard stories that these book kids are part of a syndicate. They live in an 'orphanage' and every day are 'taken to work' to sell books on the streets. And these books were all fake copies of travel books and books about Cambodia. On another part of the river front, a young boy followed me for quite a way, pleading for US$1 ($1.372) for school. US$1 is a lot for someone of his age, in a country where many people live on one or two dollars a day.
It was far more than he would need for even a week's schooling, and it was clear he didn't even go to school but spent the day begging. I tried to ask him about his life but he would only speak the English sentences he knew by heart and recited them parrot fashion. As we were walking he suddenly stopped. Not because he had grown tired of begging from me, but because he had reached the end of his territory. Different gangs work in different areas, and don't cross boundaries. In Battambang in northwest Cambodia, I saw more evidence of real street-living children. They were scruffy and unkempt and had a different body language. It was clear that some of them were addicted to glue sniffing. If they had any money they would buy glue. If they could earn US$1 a day from begging or cleaning shoes, they could buy a lot of glue. If the day's takings were less, they could buy a smaller amount already put in a plastic bag — yes there are unscrupulous people willing to make money from these unfortunate kids. Many of these kids belong to a gang and it is a real case of survival of the fittest. Other boys have security under the guardianship of a mafia, and have to pay protection money. There were few girls in these street groups, as many of them had been taken and sold to brothels. One group of them would hang around a popular restaurant. Watching the pavement tables, as soon as a customer finished eating, a child would appear and ask for any left over food. Some didn't ask but just took. They would take anything that was left, even scraping up any remaining sauce to add to the rice, and draining anything left in glasses or ice cream bowls. They would eat the food directly off the plate if it wasn't much, or else they would put it into a plastic bag or paper cup if they were lucky enough to have one. I was told that NGOs try and help these kids and put them in shelters, but the children are unhappy there and soon run away to return to their lives on the streets. Of course there were also adult beggars. Every morning at the breakfast stalls four different individuals would make their appearance in the length of time it took to eat a bowl of noodles. Although we were in a non-tourist area, these beggars never seemed to recognise us from day to day (we were the only white people there) and would persist in asking. The smart ones waited until it was time for us to pay and then they would get very persistent hoping for some small change. I saw these same beggars during the day in different areas. On my more recent visit, I saw less amputees begging than I did four years ago. I don't know the reason for this. After the brutal Pol Pot regime which ended in 1978, a civil war then followed for the next 20 years. Thousands of land mines were planted, along roads, in rice fields, in fact almost everywhere. Thousands more Cambodians lost limbs or died from these landmines. Peace was restored in 1991 but countless families remain in poverty, partly due to the family structure having been destroyed during the days of Pol Pot. There are many homeless people, many of whom migrate to cities such as Phnom Penh. And now to add to the problems of poverty and homelessness, Cambodia is suffering from a huge increase in HIV cases.
Some children are scrap collectors. They walk the streets barefooted looking for empty cans, plastic bottles and metals. Plastic is the most lucrative, as they can get US$0.40 a kilo. On a good day a child can earn US$2 by selling this waste to a dealer. Others work on garbage dumps which is quite horrendous considering there are dumper trucks arriving throughout the day. It's certainly a tough life for many children in Cambodia. Many international NGOs are trying to help, but sadly there are so many children who are still living on the streets.
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