Wednesday, December 29, 2010

November 23

Today I woke up to the worst news I've had on my entire trip. The director of Study Abroad and Exchanges called my cell phone at about 6 am asking me my whereabouts and if I was ok. Confused, I assured him I had arrived at Wat Opot yesterday. Sadly a tragedy happened in Phnom Penh last night during the conclusion of the Water Festival. A stampede occured and hundreds were killed, many more injured. Immediately my heart sank, only the night before, another volunteer and myself had been foolishly stuck in the middle of a huge crowd where people were being dragged out, unclear if they were dead or alive. The stampede happened on the same bridge we had crossed the afternoon only the day before. People were coming from the very carnival we had wiggled out through the crowd of people. I got up from bed and stepped outside, where one of the older boys told me about what happened. With any tragedy, there were many sides of the story. All the boys had different accounts of what caused the stampede--police officers dousing those crossing the bridge with water, overwhelming crowds pushing each other causing the deadly rush, the bridge swaying caused panic among people crossing, etc. Each account was highly plausible; we saw the police corruption, we know how overwhelming the crowds are, we felt the bridge swaying heavily over the Tonle Basaac. At breakfast, Wayne told us 3 locals from the community had been victims of the tragedy--and the wat behind us was holding the funeral. It made sense--at around 11 pm last night the wat began playing traditional music, but I didn't make anything of it, wats are occasionally used as functions for parties and other celebrations in the community, in addition to the Water Festival holiday. Several of those around the community had warned us not to go to the festival, but as first time visitors to Cambodia we couldn't resist. After being there this weekend, it was eerie to see how many children and young people had been victims. We'd pointed out how many young Khmer had been at the festival--its known that many travel from all of the provinces to attend. On the news many of the victims had been teenagers and young children.

The children were all aware of the tragedy, the local television stations were showing footage of the bridge and video of last night where hundreds of people were packed and crowded on the bridge. It was unusual to see the children all mesmerized on the television set, watching people crying and screaming piled on top of each other on this bridge. The news footage showed lifeless bodies being dragged out of the pile of corpses. The victims were laid in bags with faces exposed on the streets near the site where families can claim their loved ones. Hospitals in Phnom Penh listed names and pictures of victims outside where relatives can identify those lost. I was troubled because a lot of the children are not entirely orphaned--they have families and relatives who are still alive, but are under care here because of their illnesses and no one can support them. With over 330 killed, it was easy to imagine why so many of the kids were somber and unable to blink while watching the television. We may receive word if any loved ones were lost, but it would be some time before that would happen. For the festival, some of the older boys had gone with their families in Phnom Penh to celebrate, and last night when the news hit several of the caretakers were in a frenzy. Thankfully, we received word that although all three were at the festival, none were involved in the stampede and were safe. Soon it was lunchtime and the kids moved to the cafeteria. We discussed some of the latest news that had come from the tragedy, which now the Prime Minister was offering reparations to the families who lost loved ones in the stampede--$2,500 US to each victim.

The children resumed their regular play, and I was glad the dark air around the Water Festival tragedy had subsided. After dinner it was time for English class. I'd asked the previous volunteer what kind of lessons she had been giving the children--the alphabet, sounds of the alphabet, consonants and vowels, and pronunciation. There were so many resources and books in the schoolhouse library that I could use as well, many donated from the states. I grouped the children up in one classroom from ages 5 to 10. I began with today's date, and the children copy onto paper. Many know how to write the English alphabet, while other had a harder time. I drew and acted out some faces to show emotions happy, sad, angry and scared as well as helped pronounce the words. Everyone did really well, and I was glad they had a mild understanding of the alphabet and pronunciation. I got some advice from Wayne, who hopes to put up a computer lab in the schoolhouse, that there are internet resources available for language instruction and he suggests teaching computer classes to some of the older children.

That night after medicine, the children watched more footage of the stampede. There also began a telethon to collect donations from viewers to raise funds for the victims. They weren't as engrossed in the news--some of the older boys began playing soccer with the shoes outside again and the girls had an enormous string of rubber band and were playing a game doing cartwheels into the band. The compensation had raised to about $3,000 per victim but we were expecting the death toll to rise as more people were found in the river below, and at hospitals. It was reported no foreigners had been on the bridge, but the news had hit back home and my family was worried--Facebook is a dangerous thing, you post one status about your excitement for Water Festival and everyone's nervous. I assumed the kids wouldn't have school tomorrow either, as funerals and other plans were being made, so I was going to have my hands full.

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