Monday, October 28, 2013

The Kingdom of Wonder

Since you are all coming along with me on this Kingdom of Cambodia adventure, I thought we should learn a bit more about the country.  As you can see, geographically, it is situated between Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand.  Phnom Penh is the capital and where I will be living for the next 3.5 years.  Land-mass-wise it is slightly smaller than Oklahoma,  In that tiny space, live 15,205,539 people.  The majority are ethnically Khmer, with Vietnamese and Chinese being the largest minority groups (less than 5% combined). Religiously, folks are overwhelmingly Buddhist with a small Muslim and smaller Christian minority.  Climate-wise, there are two seasons.  Hot and wet.  Hot and dry.  Thus, I am trying to enjoy the cold of New York Autumn. 


From 1975-1979, approximately two million people were killed within the country at the hands of the Khmer Rouge.  Prior to that occurrence, Cambodia boasted a 90% literacy rate.  It is now roughly 74%.  After the killings, there were only 8 people with a university education in the entire country.  The Pol Pot Regime (Pol Pot was the Khmer Rouge leader) targeted the educated, the elite, religious, those in authority, anyone with glasses - just to name a few of the categories.  This continues to affect the population in a number of ways - PTSD, trauma, lack of educated population for running things like schools, an incredibly young population, etc.  More than half the population is younger than I am.  For comparison,  33.7% of the US population is under 25.  52.9% of Cambodia's population is under 25 - 31.7% of Cambodians are under 14.

Many of the other social challenges Cambodia faces are augmented by their history.  This video, playing on the Tourist Slogan "Kingdom of Wonder" and using Sixto Rodriguez's song "I Wonder" shows some great images and raises some other questions facing the country.  I don't want to overwhelm, so I will leave you with the one recurring statement I have heard of Cambodia: It is a country of contradiction.  Despite such extreme suffering in the recent past, and ongoing, the people are some of the friendliest most hospitable folks in the world.


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4 comments:

  1. AnonymousOctober 28, 2013 at 5:58 PM

    What is the history of the Church in Cambodia? Were the Protestants or Catholics there first? Is the Catholic Church there indigenous or is it still primarily a missionary church?

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    1. kbortNovember 11, 2013 at 6:03 PM

      Thanks for the question! Hope you saw sheldon's comment below. I also just did a whole blog for you on the topic - enough folks have been asking about this :) Regards!

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  2. Sheldon GoodOctober 31, 2013 at 1:33 PM

    The first Christian missionaries reportedly came to the country in the 16th century. Christianity never really "took off," as estimates of the number of Christians through various parts of the 20th century were never more than one or two hundred thousand, or less than 5%. It is still less than 5%, though good statistics are difficult to come by. There are more Catholics than Protestants. Some churches, especially urban churches with strong representation from young people, are growing rapidly.

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    1. kbortNovember 11, 2013 at 6:04 PM

      Hi Sheldon! Thanks for responding, you are quicker than I at that :) And, I love it when my blog can start conversation. Hope all is well for you!

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