SHANTY TOWNS AND COVID 19

Let us give you some news about our Shanty Town and the terrible virus which occurs actually around the world.  Everybody speaks about a « pandemic », terrible of the entire world.

We got some inside information about how is life in the community in Boeung Trabek Phnom Penh.

Life is more or less the same than for us in the big cities.  

One of our kid reports that nobody is going out, there is no school at all, children are taking this time as holidays, unfortunately….  They don’t have the necessary tools to follow classes online, no internet, no computer. So they are waiting for the school to re-open… 

They are all afraid of the virus  so they don’t go out.  They are very serious about it, and don’t want to be sick or give illness to the Elders.

They receive information from BTV, Khmer news, khmer times, Facebook etc..

Khmer New Year had been cancelled, rules are very strict around that : nobody out of the country, provinces and Phnom Penh.  If people don t respect the rules and if the person is taking time off of work, he or she will not get paid.   If the person is going for Khmer New year, he or she won’t be able to come back to Phnom Penh or to their province  before at least 15 days.  Officials mentioned that this festive period will be reported after the Corona Virus period to be able to enjoy better.  

All very hard for everybody around the world.

One easiest thing for Asian people is the mask, they are used to wear them.  Comparaison is made to European People who are not wearing those masks.  It would be so easier for everybody to take the same measures…  Asian’s people start to complain about this… Not wearing masks is a lack of respect for others…

But it is, also, necessary for us to provide to the poor communities masks, hands gel and hygiene products, cause it’s not easy for them to buy, they don’t have money to buy them.  Shanty Town Spirit , because of Corona, can’t take over the usual turn around ; but we ensures that they receive all they need  during this crisis (especially rice and hygiene products).  Thank you to Sokear and Maira to keep the link between the community and the Shanty town spirit NGO.

This period is really really difficult for them.  Because regular traffic is off, small jobs two.  Most of the parents lost their job during this awful period and they  keep smiling. We are hoping  it’s just for a short period of time…  We are very happy to see that they are helping each other very much.

They are all afraid of what is going to happen.    But all convinced that it’s gonna end soon…

When ? hum, we all don’t know, but we do hope for the best to come.

Keep your ears open, a smile on your face… and wash your hands….

Thank you for keeping them in your mind best luck to all of you and keep safe…..

                                   One Spirit, One Heart, One Community                                      

       You can help us by sponsoring the Shanty Town Spirit program:

 Click on Make a difference 

  Contact  Ermine Norodom: +855 (0) 17 49 27 19 (French and English)

norodomermine@gmail.com

Phirun Prak (Arun): +855 (0) 96 663 6666 (English and Khmer)

Victor sky.phi@gmail.com

Words by Nathalie Bonpain