Development brings new hope to Andong.
It had been almost five years since my last trip to Cambodia. Having been annually since 2009, five years felt like a lifetime and when I got lost finding my way to Andong, it was clear how much had changed in that time.
Between having my son in 2019 and Covid making travel impossible in 2020 and 2021, I was eager to get back. A short business trip to Singapore in December 2022 gave me the opportunity to spend 48hrs in Phnom Penh and it was the most uplifting, encouraging and hopeful trip I think I've ever had there.
So, what's changed?...
Between having my son in 2019 and Covid making travel impossible in 2020 and 2021, I was eager to get back. A short business trip to Singapore in December 2022 gave me the opportunity to spend 48hrs in Phnom Penh and it was the most uplifting, encouraging and hopeful trip I think I've ever had there.
So, what's changed?...
The most obvious and influential change is the sprawl of Phnom Penh in the direction of Andong. In 2006, when the community was displaced, Andong was a barron farmland without water, shelter or sanitation and with no decent road in or out.
Garment factories (most of them unethical by Western standards) were the first to build in the area, resolving access with tar-sealed roads for their distribution. They brought employment to many families but at a highly questionable cost. Without any alternatives, many Andong parents had little choice but to put up with the conditions in these factories, in order to provide food and shelter for their families.
I travelled this time with a client of mine - a travel technology entrepreneur, determined to use her business as a force for good. She reminded me that every thriving eco-system starts with bottom feeders and this is how I now think of those first garment factories and the brands that used them. While I condemn their behaviour, they really were the beginning of development in the area and thirteen years on from my first fateful visit, I can see how it's all led to the opportunity represented there now.
Garment factories (most of them unethical by Western standards) were the first to build in the area, resolving access with tar-sealed roads for their distribution. They brought employment to many families but at a highly questionable cost. Without any alternatives, many Andong parents had little choice but to put up with the conditions in these factories, in order to provide food and shelter for their families.
I travelled this time with a client of mine - a travel technology entrepreneur, determined to use her business as a force for good. She reminded me that every thriving eco-system starts with bottom feeders and this is how I now think of those first garment factories and the brands that used them. While I condemn their behaviour, they really were the beginning of development in the area and thirteen years on from my first fateful visit, I can see how it's all led to the opportunity represented there now.
Expansion of residential housing, market places and services is evident. The streets surrounding Andong are unrecognisable with petrol stations, mobile phone shops, food and beverage vendors, and business services like accountancy and legal firms. Expensive villas housing middle income earners has brought economic value to the area, paving the way for new business opportunities. A few years ago our micro-financing for businesses in Andong failed. Now, they're thriving thanks to the custom and cash now available on Andong's doorsteps.
It's lifted the entire community.
What the development has shown me is just how desolate and depressed the community was back in 2006, when they had everything taken away and were left in the middle of nowhere. The social issues that arose in the years that followed have had a lasting effect on Andong - drug and alcohol abuse, domestic violence, prostitution - bringing with it a range of medical and mental health concerns.
The children coming through our education programs today are the children of the children that were dumped in Andong. We're already a generation in and I can see the parents of these children have a lot more hope than their parents did a decade and a half ago. I turned up to the monthly children's event my first morning to hundreds of shoes at the door (historically shoes in Andong have been a luxury little could afford), and ~80 children with clean clothes, clean hair and healthy looking skin and teeth. I had to check with our Director that he hadn't 'dialled in' a different group of children as I'd never seen Andong kids look so good.
It's lifted the entire community.
What the development has shown me is just how desolate and depressed the community was back in 2006, when they had everything taken away and were left in the middle of nowhere. The social issues that arose in the years that followed have had a lasting effect on Andong - drug and alcohol abuse, domestic violence, prostitution - bringing with it a range of medical and mental health concerns.
The children coming through our education programs today are the children of the children that were dumped in Andong. We're already a generation in and I can see the parents of these children have a lot more hope than their parents did a decade and a half ago. I turned up to the monthly children's event my first morning to hundreds of shoes at the door (historically shoes in Andong have been a luxury little could afford), and ~80 children with clean clothes, clean hair and healthy looking skin and teeth. I had to check with our Director that he hadn't 'dialled in' a different group of children as I'd never seen Andong kids look so good.
But it's not about image. It's about what this represents. To me, clean, healthy looking children actively involved in our monthly events represents a more promising next generation of leaders for Andong. It represents hope for the future - something I've had glimpses of over the years, but nothing to this extent.
Finally, I can see the scales tipping in the community's favour. Opportunities for a better life.
And, a more sustainable one.
I also got to see the 10 new classrooms we lobbied the government for, plans to build a new community centre on our land in between the two Andong sites and catch up with our wonderful reintegrated kids who I miss a lot. Progress felt slow in the early days but it's now moving at a pace I need to keep up with.
Given the employment and new business opportunities now available to the Andong community, I'm so relieved that they no longer have to work with those horrible earlier employment conditions. Those factories will now need to up their game or move on to start again.
I hope they choose a better path this time.
Finally, I can see the scales tipping in the community's favour. Opportunities for a better life.
And, a more sustainable one.
I also got to see the 10 new classrooms we lobbied the government for, plans to build a new community centre on our land in between the two Andong sites and catch up with our wonderful reintegrated kids who I miss a lot. Progress felt slow in the early days but it's now moving at a pace I need to keep up with.
Given the employment and new business opportunities now available to the Andong community, I'm so relieved that they no longer have to work with those horrible earlier employment conditions. Those factories will now need to up their game or move on to start again.
I hope they choose a better path this time.