Hope you are all well – I am posting a short radio story I put together about our class.  It was heard by probably a million people here in the United States.  Lots of people told me they liked it and want to visit Cambodia.

(CLICK HERE TO LISTEN, IT MAY TAKE SOME TIME TO LOAD) cambodia-story-small

Oh!  And GOOD NEWS!  I found a place that sells coconuts.  BUT I do not have a big knife to open them.  So I had to use an electric power drill.   Everyone laughed at me.  See photo:

I miss you all. 

-David

Here is the our picture at Chorm Bok. You can see them more at my hi5: http://cheata-place.hi5.com

NATE SOUND?

 Looking from the outside, it is just like a small pharmacy and it is hard to tell that it is a clinic. But for the neighborhood in Boeng Kok II district, they were sure that it was an illegal clinic which does the abortion. In the back are five beds and one small room for operating the abortion. That is one of the places where some experts concern that it can cause some problem to the clients.  

Mr. Chorn Saroeun, is project manger of Marie Stopes Cambodia, an NGO that runs, legal licensed abortion clinics.   

(Sound bite 28 seconds): “First of all those who run the illegal clinic might have no skill, they might used unclean material to operated the abortion and affect the viruse to the cliencts. Now we are facing the virus such as Epotip, reprodutive health disease and HIV. Besides that the womb can be teared by those unclean material and cause to flow many bloods, some time it can cause the client die.”  

However the owner of the illegal clinic who did not want to give her name says she had operated her clinic for almost 7 years. but she says she had never caused any danger to clients. (Sound Bite 22 seconds): “the problem is that some girls come to have the abortion to often. Some come to have abortion for six times in the following month after their first abortion.  Having the abortion too often, it causes the prolem to the womb and they might not make the baby or only a long time that they might have the baby again. What If the nurse is not opereattion well, the clients may have no baby forever” Law says no abortion after 12 weeks, except in special circumstances.  And if the girl is under 18, she needs permission from a parent.But in this clinic, none of that is required.  The owner says she will do abortions after the 12 week limit, but it costs. Between 30 $ to 200$, depend on the size of the baby while the price at Marie stopes is cheaper – about 60000 Riels ($15).Still people go to the illegal clinics. Ms. Chay Svaychea art, is a nurse at the National Center for Mother and Children Protection says her organization is trying to make those places safer. (Sound bite 9 seconds): “now we are trying to train those illegal clinics to follow the law, we have the law long time ago but now we just to train them to follow the law” For the owner of illegal clinic above, even the expert asked her to file for the license for sometimes, but she didn’t want to do it.(Sound bite: 17 seconds): “To tell the truth, if the ministry of health didn’t force me to file for the license, I still ignore with the license since I don’t have my own house, I rent the house, and I move the house for several times, and I don’t know when will the governer ask me to leave Beong kok. Sometimes, I think it is hard for me so I don’t care about it.” She says the number of people coming to her clinic has been increasing slowly. Sometimes she can get 20 clients per month. Most of her clients are 17 to 25.  At Marie Stopes the number of abortions has inching up also.  In the first ten months of 2007 they had about 1300 clients.  Chhin Sothea, DMC, Phnom Penh. 

Nat sound: (Sound of music while the Super boys and girls performing on stage) 

Reporter: ON A STAGE AT THE TV STATION CTN Super boys and girls do a catwalk on the stage of CTN. Everyone is between 18 and 22 years old. They are handsome cutie and also they can perform very well without any fear. The candidates expect that they will get a good job from the TV station after passing.

Sound bite: “I think this contest (Super boys and girls) is good that teenagers can show their real ability, bravery and also know a lot of friend. If I passed I would get at least a job from the station.” 

Reporter: THAT IS Mr. Chea Sovanna a candidate of the Super boys and girls.

Reporter: It’s not different from Sovanna, Mr. Prak Chamroen who used to join another contest called Freshie boy and girl think that joining this contest is not only for fun but also a chance to show the khmer tradition and basically get to know the society.

 Sound bite: “I feel I want to help the Khmer society, promote culture, patrimony in order to make new generation know by performing Khmer tradional dancing and do some help in community such as visit orphans and do some other activities like educating people about using drugs and so on…”“To be a star is always happy, no sad and improper at all.”

Reporter: Mr. Eang Sithol is a director of Khmer association art thinks that it’s a good idea to have such contest more. But he suggest that the producers have to make sure that they will have a real goal and intention in order to make the candidates have a good future after the contest. On the other hand, Sithol continued that he had experience about some people lost their future especially their study because they take some time to earn money by just go to sing or acting. 

Sound bite: “What’s more importance is that every producer must have a clear goal and aim otherwise when they like and decided to abandon their own career or study in order to join with the contest but after that they will get nothing. It seems like we (the producer) bring them to the hell. There are some students quit their study for a while because they think that when they go to sing, do fashions show or acting for a short time they will get some money but after no such job to do they cannot go ahead or back. As a result they can’t even follow the class so their future is end……” 

Reporter: According to Mr. Kouch Keven is the director of CTN’s program producer said that now is a generation for teenagers and they need more entertainment rather than education program.  

Sound bite: “Actually, most audience likes more entertainment, they don’t like education, they like to see the program about question and answer about the general knowledge.”

 Reporter: Kouch Kevin added that every entertainment program he has produced so far, thousands people are interesting and attend to join. PEOPLE FROM THE COUNTRYSIDE ARE EVEN COMPETING.I’m Kong Rachana reporting.

-Nat sound of the gem hunters are digging the whole on the mountain-

Reporter: A group of people are digging for precious stones on a mountain where locate in Kirivong district Takeo province. On the mountain some of the gem hunters carry pitch-axe and the others handed other tools with expecting that they will find stones today. They speak without stopping their digging.

-Nat sound of the gem hunters are saying about the stones in their whole-

Reporter: We were not able to have the stones assessed by a professional. But the gem diggers say people sometimes pay them 800.000 Riel ($200) per kilogram of the stones. And some rich people come to watch them dig and sometimes pushing the door open to try to buy them.

The gems were first discovered here in a year ago at three mountains namely Morhasey, Tambang Samlor, and Phnom Toteng. Ms. Phath Sam is an old woman who lives nearby says she had a dream.

Sound bite of Ms. Phath Sam: there was an old man wearing with white told me that this is a mountain that has a lot of precious stones please did not move to other place Yoy Yoy..

Reporter: Her dream now come truth. Ms. Chum Yun and her term is a lucky group that found three Koyun of the stones in one hole at Phnom Toteng. And now her family’s living is better.

Sound bite of Chum Yun: Most of the stones that my group found is light black, strong white and the side of the stones some are small and some are big like our arm and our thigh. And the merchants came to my whole and bought the stones. Our group gain nine thousands dollars for the three Koyun of the stones, so we got fives million Rile for each.

Reporter: Mr. Reach On gets up at 4:00 in the morning with the food that his five has packed with a scarf. It’s now 9 o’clock his group has not discovered a place to find stones yet. He goes to hunt the gem everyday. And Reach On says that to find stones is very dangerous. Sometimes we can die immediately.

Sound bite of Mr. Reach On: when I was digging I felt so afraid about landslide. I did not collect my stones all so that other people picked the stones up from my whole a lot, too. The whole villagers found the stones from my whole after me. Reporter: However, an old people had gone in the mine hole because of landslide. But many people still want to take the risk. The chief of Prey Ampok commune, Mr. Ney Neang says about half of the people in the commune are looking for gems. Neang is happy the commune has stones. But he also has some worries.

Sound bite of the Chief commune: if we based on the law it is illegal because the stones are in the public land. And if the top powers order me to do, I have no excuse. But until now the district authority have not taken action yet. They maybe thought that the villagers are so poor and for me I stand with the villagers.

Reporter: In Ratanakiri and Pieline, where there are gems things haven’t always gone so well. Some analysts say the people there are still poor and the money gems hasn’t made it into the national budget. The Excellencies of Takeo province was not available to comment for this story.

TIEP-Seiha student of Media Management from the mountain…

Intro: sculptures on the temple walls in Cambodia show that Opera has been popular here for thousands of years. But that’s changing. Traditional opera doesn’t attract big crowds anymore. One art centre is trying modernize the opera. And they’re attracting new audiences. Chey Sambath report from Phnom Penh…  Music of a traditional opera called ‘Wishing’  Khmer opera was known through melody, costumes full with golden jewellery, and techniques of dancing.  Music of ‘Revitalizing Monkey and Giant’This is the Monkey Opera that was modernized to fit the present interests. Sou BunRith, cultural coordinator at Amrita performing Art, says some parts of New Monkey have been changed such as clothes and decoration.  Soundbite: actors no need to wear the heavy mass, wear black T-shirt, hole a flashlight, … they could act more natural because no narrow clothes tied their bodies like before.Sou BunRith says young people just come to watch the traditional Operas.Soundbite: all of what I had done is to preserve the culture and tradition. Different people, different times, and difference interests. Young people should have right to choose what they want.  “So I think that Revitalizing Monkey and Giant is a sing of development and by the presence of it, all Khmer opera will survive later on.”  [MUSIC IN HERE] Eng SiThal, director of Cambodian Arts Association, thought that the Revitalizing M&G and some other reproducing do not affect Khmer Opera perform greatly, but it shows the movement of Khmer art.  Soundbite: If we know and recognize what is the original and modern are,  that is enough. Nothing could be concern. Keeping the same is the enemy of art, yet changing is the improvement. Unless Angkor Wat temple is tear down, that is the time could be concerned that may lose everything of art.  Many operas have now been redesigned to grab the crowd attention. Especially, traditional music instruments is being played with modern instruments and made both national and international surprise.  Music of Contemporary Opera (where elephant weep)Vice president of Department of Culture and Art, Pock Saran, has directed some new operas.  But he thinks they need to be done with care.Soundbite: it would be good if there was association that work on checking and editing new performance of art because so far there are some performances played in improper way, some try to make opera to make more attractive and modern without thinking understand what is opera. They cause many problems and it was acceptable. He says the Ministry of curlture and Art is planning warrant to check out all improper art performing. Sign off: Chey Sambath, RUPP student, from Phnom Penh….