Bugs in the system
Not sure what the problem has been but I've been having a nightmare trying to load text and photos onto Blogger.com over the past couple of days. Its meant I haven't been able to bring you the earth-shattering stories of uncollected rubbish piling up on the streets of Phnom Penh and the news that the Stung Meanchey dump-site will close next year, in favour of a new dump-site near Choeung Ek. There was also an American tourist who shot himself in his jaw and out through the back of his head at a shooting range near the city - some people really shouldn't be allowed to travel outside their own country, the usual round of land-grab protests, political party defections ahead of the election, acid attacks, a ban on scantily-clad women in Cambodian commercials and a batch of cucumbers suspected in two food-poisoning deaths!
I watched the film Bombhunters at Meta House last Saturday, all about the people who make a living collecting UXO that can be found throughout Cambodia as a legacy of the conflict and strife suffered here over the last 30+ years. It was interesting and well-filmed and whilst we're all aware of landmines, the story of UXO is rather less-sexy and under-reported. However, it was in the news yesterday when two brothers were killed and two others seriously wounded when a 60-mm mortar-shell exploded inside a pagoda in Battambang province. The mortar-shell had been brought to the pagoda for safety until it could be collected by the de-mining authorities but the boys, all in their early teens, had found it first. In the same district in January, two people died and three were maimed by an anti-tank blast. Last year, nine people died in three explosions in the district. Though the instances of landmine and UXO casualties is much less in recent years, these silent killers are still out there, waiting to strike.
And a big well done to Kari Grady-Grossman and her book Bones That Float: A Story of Adopting Cambodia, that has won two prestigious Nautilus Book Awards; a gold award in the memoir category and a silver award in multicultural. It's also been chosen for the forthcoming Independent Publisher Book Awards as a peacemaker of the year category finalist. I rate the book very highly myself and would recommend you pick up a copy at Monument Books here in Phnom Penh or direct from www.bonesthatfloat.com.
I watched the film Bombhunters at Meta House last Saturday, all about the people who make a living collecting UXO that can be found throughout Cambodia as a legacy of the conflict and strife suffered here over the last 30+ years. It was interesting and well-filmed and whilst we're all aware of landmines, the story of UXO is rather less-sexy and under-reported. However, it was in the news yesterday when two brothers were killed and two others seriously wounded when a 60-mm mortar-shell exploded inside a pagoda in Battambang province. The mortar-shell had been brought to the pagoda for safety until it could be collected by the de-mining authorities but the boys, all in their early teens, had found it first. In the same district in January, two people died and three were maimed by an anti-tank blast. Last year, nine people died in three explosions in the district. Though the instances of landmine and UXO casualties is much less in recent years, these silent killers are still out there, waiting to strike.
And a big well done to Kari Grady-Grossman and her book Bones That Float: A Story of Adopting Cambodia, that has won two prestigious Nautilus Book Awards; a gold award in the memoir category and a silver award in multicultural. It's also been chosen for the forthcoming Independent Publisher Book Awards as a peacemaker of the year category finalist. I rate the book very highly myself and would recommend you pick up a copy at Monument Books here in Phnom Penh or direct from www.bonesthatfloat.com.
posted by Andy Brouwer at
8:56 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home