It was supposed to be a model relocation: the Borei Keila slum dwellers being relocated in newly built apartments at the same spot. Who could ask for more?
Cambodia being Cambodia, several families, many of them with one or several seropositive members, end up being tossed around and still have no real place to live in after more than a year.
This (VIJ2008076G) is a follow-up on a story I started last year (VIJ2007012W), one of the last stories I shot on film by the way…
Shukaku Inc. company goes on pumping sand in the Boeung Kak lake. The water levels are rising. It was granted a 99 year lease by the authorities to develop the area. More and more inhabitants dismantle their homes after having struck a deal with the company. But many of the 4000 families still haven’t got a clue as to where they’ll go next.
If you want more info you might want to visit the ‘Save Boeung Kak’ website.
I forgot to put this picture in the slideshow called Exode de Pchhum Benh on the Ka-set website…
Been working more on the Pchhum Benh festival (VIJ2008073G). Half of Phnom Penh leaves the city to honour the dead in their home village, causing hour-long traffic jams at the exit of the city.
CAMBODIA.Phnom Penh (Phnom Penh). 27/09/2008: Pchhum Benh (Festival of the Dead) exodus at Psah Thmey.
CAMBODIA. Phnom Penh. 28/09/2008: Pchhum Benh exodus at street 80.
I just updated my website with pictures on the 4th Cambodian legislature ceremonies here.
CAMBODIA. Phnom Penh. 25/09/2008: Journalists at the back entrance of the National Assembly.
And I have been picking up on the Chom Chao story (VIJ2008012G) I started in February… It’s that area in the suburbs of Penh where some of the 450000 female Cambodian garment workers shuttle between their cheap housing and the factory nearby.
CAMBODIA. Chom Chao (Phnom Penh). 25/09/2008: Noeurn, 18yrs, from Kandal province, works in a garment factory since one year. She rents the 3×4m room for 25$/ month and shares it with four other girls. There is a jar for water outside the room and the toilets are shared with all the other inhabitants of the building.
After the opening session yesterday, today was the first National Assembly meeting of the 4th legislature. And yet again the international news services were prohibited access to the assembly room to provide the public with a firsthand account. Is it excessive paranoia or just incompetence? Probably a bit of both… It is not enough to pose as a democracy. One has to act like one too.
CAMBODIA. Phnom Penh. 25/09/2008: Press room at the National Assembly.
And that restriction results in unflattering portraits of the members of the assembly.
CAMBODIA. Phnom Penh. 25/09/2008: Mr CHEA Soth, Dean of the Assembly and PPC MP for Phnom Penh, during his speech at the National Assembly on a television in the press room. International press agencies were forbidden access to the National Assembly room.
Well they were asked to represent the people. Future will tell if they will… Nearly all the newly elected parliamentarians attended the opening ceremony under overly tight security at the National Assembly building (VIJ2008075G).
CAMBODIA. Phnom Penh. 24/09/2008: Podium for the group photograph at the opening session of the new parliamentary mandate.
CAMBODIA. Phnom Penh. 24/09/2008: Security guard checking for the presence of live ammunition before the opening session of the new parliamentary mandate.
CAMBODIA. Phnom Penh. 24/09/2008: Press room during the opening session of the new parliamentary mandate. Only 5 photographers, of which only one from an international news service, were allowed in the actual parliament.
Floods can be fun… In front of the Royal Palace today… But hopefully the big drainpipes which are being installed in the area will let the rainwaters flow into the Tonle Sap more easily.