Kimberly Reed Photography

Phnom Penh, Cambodia- day 9 and 10

January 2, 2009

I flew back into Phnom Penh late Sunday night after spending the day at the temples. After breakfast on Monday I went to a spa down the street for another 1 hour foot massage, and, being adventurous, figured I'd give a Thai massage a go. I have to say it wasn't very enjoyable at all. About halfway through, my masseuse was standing on my bum, and then walked up my back. She wasn't a tiny girl, but before I could figure out how to say "Pardon me ma'am, but that really hurts...please stop" in Khmer, she stepped of and continued contorting me around for another half an hour or so. On the upside, the foot massage was good, and when it was all said and done, my total was $16 for two hours of massage. I could get used to that.

I spent most of the rest of Monday editing images, and met up with Tim, Fritz, Seth, Laine from SISHA, and Athena, Alison, and Liz from Transitions for dinner. Several hours and a few bottles of wine later, we called it a night. Good times.

Tuesday morning I was in the shower when a gecko ran out from behind the shower head and scared the crap out of me. Not that a gecko is all that scary on it's own, but it was rather startling darting around my shower, when I was sleepy and not expecting company. At least, I think it was a gecko. It could have been a guy in a green T-shirt.

Met up with Tim and he and I were off to the Ministry of Justice for Tim's scheduled interview with Ith Rady, Under Secretary of State for Ministry of Justice and Deputy Chair of the Cambodian COMMIT (Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative Against Trafficking in the Greater Mekong Sub-region) Taskforce. I assisted with audio during the interview and acted as a lightstand afterwards as Tim took a few portraits. Afterwards our translator explained that proper protocol would have dictated that someone from the National Task Force (who had set up the interview) should have accompanied us to make an official introduction, and the first order of business would have been an exchange of business cards. Also, the proper channel to request the interview should have been a formal letter, on letterhead, explaining the purpose of the interview and the intended output, as well as an outline of the questions to be asked. So we went in with a few strikes against us. Fortunately, our translator was pretty fantastic, and Tim can be charming when he needs to be, so all ended pretty well.

Below: Tim sets up his video camera and gets ready to put the mic on Ith Rady. From left to right, Ith Rady, Tim Matsui, the translator.

Following the interview we went over to Transitions so I could get a tour of the transitional living center. The image below, depicting receiving a beating from a pimp, was taken in the counseling room, where the girls receive intensive trauma therapy, including art therapy.

When I was leaving, one of the girls hugged me and slid a friendship bracelet she made for me on my wrist. (Ladies who grew up in the 80's: Do you remember making friendship bracelets?)

Then Tim and I were off to Sophea's house to interview her. That deserves it's own post, which will be forthcoming.

Siem Reap, Cambodia- day 8

December 30, 2008

I spent my second day in Siem Reap temple-ing; exploring the temples of Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm, Angkor Thom, and Preah Khan. There are many, many more temples in the area (you can easily dedicate a week to exploring the temples around Siem Reap), but since I only had one day, I focused on visiting the larger and more popular ones. All in all, it was pretty spectacular- but don't take my word for it...you should go see for yourself. Here are some of the things I saw throughout the day:

This fine gentleman, upon learning I was travelling alone, offered to give me a private tour, including a stop back at his house. Which makes me wonder if word has gotten around that I wink at monks.

(I politely declined.)

Can I tell you how delighted I was to catch a photo of a monk smoking a cigarette? This made my entire day:

Siem Reap, Cambodia- day 7 continued

December 26, 2008

I met up with Seth (who had also come up to Siem Reap for the weekend) at Phnom Bakheng to watch the sunset. We originally planned on riding an elephant up the hill to the temples, but they had stopped selling tickets by the time we go there, so we hiked to the top instead. *These images are all brought to you by my point and shoot.

The steps leading up to this temple were ridiculously narrow and steep. Think of a cross between walking up steps, and climbing a ladder.

The sunset was breathtaking

Lest you think it was a serene, peaceful moment- this was the scene right behind me...thousands of people vying to get a good spot to watch the sun go down. Still, it was an unforgettable experience.

A self portrait before we made the trek back down.

It was a full, busy day, and this night was the first in many that I slept soundly. I think I was asleep by 9pm.

Siem Reap, Cambodia- day 7

December 26, 2008

Started the day with a 4:30 wake up call to make my early morning flight to Siem Reap. I had made arrangements from Phnom Penh for a driver for both days in Siem Reap, so after checking into my hotel, we headed out in a tuk tuk to the flooded forest and floating village of Kompong Phhluk on the Tonlé Sap Lake.

The Tonlé Sap (Cambodian meaning "Large Fresh Water River," but more commonly translated as "Great Lake") is a combined lake and river system of huge importance to Cambodia. It is the largest freshwater lake in South East Asia and is an ecological hot spot.

The Tonlé Sap is unusual for two reasons: 1) its flow changes direction twice a year, and 2) the portion that forms the lake expands and shrinks dramatically with the seasons. From November to May, Cambodia's dry season, the Tonlé Sap drains into the Mekong River at Phnom Penh. However, when the year's heavy rains begin in June, the Tonlé Sap backs up to form an enormous lake.

For most of the year the lake is fairly small, around one meter deep and with an area of 2,700 square km. During the monsoon season, however, the Tonlé Sap river which connects the lake with the Mekong river reverses its flow. Water is pushed up from the Mekong into the lake, increasing its area to 16,000 square km and its depth to up to nine meters, flooding nearby fields and forests. The people that live on the lake have to move their homes twice a year in response to the rising and falling of the water.

At least, we started out in a tuk tuk. It turns out the road to the village where you catch the boat to Kompong Phhluk isn't passable by tuk tuk, which is how I ended up on the back of a dirtbike (sans helmet, which I left in Phnom Penh). Alas, it turns out parts of the road were also not always passable by dirtbike, which is how I ended up on foot for part of the trip.

From there I hopped aboard a 'fast boat' for the noisy trip through some narrow waterways to the floating village.

It was amazing to see how many very small children were piloting their own boats.

The drive through window at a restaurant.

Docked the boat for a little while to explore some of the village. Here, kids are just getting ready to get out of school for the day.

(Kids in Cambodia don't wear diapers)

These kids are building a boat

On the way back, kids were on their way home from school. All children who go to school in Cambodia have to wear a uniform (the rationale being that no one can distinguish between the rich and the poor). Most children in rural villages ride several kilometers to school on a bike each way. It's not uncommon to see multiple kids sharing a bike.

However, when many families only earn $1 or $2 a day, the cost of uniforms and bicycles are prohibitive to sending their children to school. Often, children need to help the family earn money, which can also keep them from attending school.

What you can do to help:

• If you are visiting Siem Reap, consider staying at the Shinta Mani, or it's sister hotel, the Hotel de la Paix. Both hotels promote responsible tourism, and support the local community. The Shinta Mani runs the Institute of Hospitality, a program that gives local youth free training in the hospitality industry- a valuable skill to have in an area where tourism is the number one contributor to the local economy. Customised community-based activities such as rice sponsorship, educational support, water well donations, school uniforms and supplies and other one-off contributions and long-term sponsorships may also be facilitated.

• Support the Lake Clinic, a floating clinic that offers free dental and medical services, as well as health education, to families living on the Tonle Sap Lake. Many families use the same water outside of their doors as a toilet, to bathe in, and to wash their dishes and clothing. They simply don't know any better. If you have training as a doctor, nurse, dentist or dental assistant, consider spending time as a volunteer for the Lake Clinic. You can also support them financially by:
Check, payable to "TLC at Human Translation".
please mail to:
Human Translation, Inc
1241 Adams Street, Suite 1096
Saint Helena, CA 94574

Credit Card, via Facebook Causes

Phnom Penh, Cambodia- day 6

December 23, 2008

1 hour of sleep last night. My body hates me. Busy day today.

Started the day assisting Tim as he interviewed Secretary of State Chou Bun Eng with the Ministry of Interior. She is one of the key players in the anti trafficking task force. The National Task Force (NTF) against Human Trafficking, was formed last year and brings together 11 ministries and three government agencies with more than 200 international organizations, agencies, and local NGOs to take coordinated action against trafficking in Cambodia.

After the interview we headed over to Java for an afternoon of editing. Met Sophea, one of Somaly Mam's very close friends (they call each other 'sisters'). Chatted with her for a while, and Tim set up a time for early next week to interview her.

MTV has been doing a series of concerts - the EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking) series- across Asia to raise awareness about human trafficking. Today the last concert of the MTV Exit series was held at Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh. In the lineup: The Click Five, Preap Sovath, Sokun Nisa, Yuk Thinratha, Meas Soksophea, Pou Khlaing, and Chorn Sovanrech. (Yeah, I hadn't heard of any of them either.) I was able to get some pretty sweet unrestricted access by piggy-backing on Tim's press pass (ahhh...the luxury of well-connected friends). Met some of the members of The Click Five backstage, who seem like a nice group of guys. They had spent the week leading up to the concert learning more about the issues of human trafficking and sex trafficking, and had some pretty profound experiences meeting some of the girls at Somaly Mam's foundation.

As a side note: I like doing concert photography. Creative lighting, great action, it's always a challenge. And I love being challenged. Seriously, I just love making images. I've kind of fallen in love with photography all over again on this trip. Here are some of my faves from the evening:

Some kids playing soccer outside of Olympic Stadium

Yes, this lady is doing food prep on the bathroom floor.

Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng gives a speech prior to the start of the concert. The lack of security was a little disconcerting. Some flowers that were delivered and set up where he was sitting were wanded by a security guy, but those were the only security measures I saw all evening. I was able to get quite close to him, carrying a crap-ton of camera gear, with no press pass, without passing through any kind of metal detectors or security.

This is right before I threw my bra onstage.

Overgeard girls in the crowd screaming "Oh my God...I love you guys...I want to have your baby!" in perfect english.

Afterwards we met up with Laine from SISHA and a few other folks at a club by the river. It was late- I was dirty, sweaty, smelly and gross, and had all of my gear with me. Bad combo. Ended up at Sharky's for dinner and a glass of wine. Went to bed at 2am, with a 4:30am wake-up call. Making a total of 3 1/2 hours of sleep over 72 hours.

I really need to get more sleep.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia- day 4 and 5

December 19, 2008

(all of the images in this post are brought to you by my point-and-shoot)

• I wink a lot. I'm a winker. I actually go through phases where I'll wink a lot, and then have a long dry spell with hardly any winking. Language barriers, I've learned, seem to put my winking into overdrive. I smile a lot, and wink. I accidently winked at a monk. In a conservative culture where women are never supposed to physically come into contact with a monk. I'm pretty sure that made him think I was a hussy, but he was too polite to say so.

• I got a 1 hour foot massage. For $8. Can't beat that.

• I finally got a helmet, which makes riding around the city on motos just a little bit safer. I know a lighter color would have been cooler, but I thought darker was more slimming. Yes?:

• Went back to the Russian Market so Tim could return a faulty dvd he bought there. Ate lunch at one of the food stalls. Both of our meals plus a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice came to $1.25.

• Went to Chow's for happy hour and some internet time. I went up to the rooftop deck to watch the sun set.

Self portrait. Can you tell I haven't slept in a long time?

• Dinner at Sharky's, amidst some working girls.

• Met up for breakfast the next morning with Fritz and Seth at Herb Cafe, two guys from Portland who are here working with Athena from Transitions. Seth wants to start a non-profit back in the States to assist with marketing, fund-raising, managing volunteers, and creating media for non profits such as Transitions, Daughters Cambodia, and SISHA.

• Went over to the SISHA offices to photograph their victim packs (packages the women and children get when they are rescued during raids), then headed over to meet Ruth at Daughters Cambodia to photograph some products for their new product catalog. Daughters provides employment and aftercare to victims of sex trafficking. The girls learn how to sew, make jewelry, cakes, and silkscreen products. They also have free access to workshops, counseling, and medical and dental care, and HIV screening. While I was there some volunteers were putting on a workshop teaching the girls the importance of hygiene- how to wash your hands and why it's important, how to clean the bathroom and kitchen, these things may seem very basic, but it is new information to many of the girls. Rebecca from White Aisle (who I talked about in an earlier post), provided sewing machines and patterns to get the girls started in making silk sashes, ring pillows, and flowers for the wedding industry, which she sells in her online store. By purchasing these or any of the other products that the girls at Daughters make, you are helping to provide a sustainable future for them, ensuring they are able to make a living outside of the sex industry.

• I hit myself in the head with my camera. Hard. Brought tears to my eyes and left a big bump. That was a first for me. Maybe I really should be wearing a helmet at all times.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia- street scenes

December 19, 2008

Just want to point out that the scaffolding here is made from pieces of bamboo tied together. Scary.

An electronics store

I think it's important to point out that in the above image, we are not actually stopped- we are weaving our way through the traffic.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia- day 3

December 15, 2008

• tagged along with Tim as he met with Tina Wussland of the National Task Force against Human Trafficking (NTF) in the afternoon to discuss (and arrange interviews with) key governmental players in the task force.

• met Athena Pond from Transitions Global in the evening. She and her husband James saw a special on Dateline NBC several years ago on the sex trade in Cambodia, and felt compelled to do something. So James quit his job, and they sold almost everything they owned to move the family to Cambodia to open a transitional housing facility for girls rescued from brothels. James and Athena have since moved back to the states, and Athena was in town to meet with the girls and staff and check on things at the center. The girls were getting ready to take a yoga class, so I took some photographs for James and Athena to use to help promote Transitions.

• After that, it was off for a dinner of suki soup with a group of NGO girls that Tim knows from the last time he was here. Real gender disparity in the NGO realm from what I've seen; it's totally a female dominated field. I still haven't slept more than a few hours in a row in almost 5 days now, so I'm totally zoning out and not great company. Hopefully I'll meet them again when I'm more alert and can form coherent thoughts.

Some images from the day:

Our tuk tuk (pronounced took-took) driver this afternoon had really personalized his ride. There were dozens of keychains, plastic flowers, flags, and even a little Bert doll from Sesame Street. I'm keeping an eye out for a velvet Elvis painting for him- I think he could find a special spot for it.

I made the mistake of asking why so many people wear surgical masks. ' There is a high amount of fecal coliform in the air here, among other pollutants.' Note to self; don't ask any more questions.

Girls from Transitions Global attend a yoga class. Transitions provides comprehensive aftercare for victims of sex trafficking, providing, among other things: shelter, counseling, medical and dental care, art therapy and yoga, and job skills.

The menu at the suki soup joint. Of special note are the fish head, beef bowels, pig's kidney, pig's heart, and pig's intestine. Three guesses if any of those ended up in my soup.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia- day 2, part 2

December 14, 2008

After heading back to the hotel, I met up with my friend Tim Matsui who is here producing media related to trafficking. This makes for the perfect time for a little backstory about how I ended up in Cambodia. (warning: fragmented, rambling story ahead).

So I've wanted to do documentary photography for some time now. Specifically, I wanted to tell the stories of people whose voice otherwise may not be heard, and I wanted to focus on areas outside of the US. With no formal training in photography or journalism (my degree is in graphic design) and no real documentary portfolio, I had a hard time finding any work that would produce a viable income stream. I had been working random jobs for several years, and always doing photography on the side, waiting for 'some day' to take the leap into full time. And then my sister was diagnosed with leukemia. She was 30 years old...so young...and that was a huge wake up call for me. I thought if I knew this was my dream, I couldn't keep putting it off for 'someday', because who knows what the future holds? So I took the leap and started my business, and figured I had to at least give it a shot. I started out doing a little bit of everything, and ended up falling in love with wedding photography. I made that my focus with the intention of taking time in the 'off season' to pursue photography projects that inspire and encourage social change. That was almost two and a half years ago.

Sometime in the beginning of the year I stumbled upon the travel blog of a couple who spent several weeks traveling throughout Asia. While I love to travel, Asia has never really been on my radar...until I saw Rebecca's posts about their time in Cambodia. Before that, I probably wouldn't have been able to find Cambodia on a map, but I was really intrigued by her photos and the organizations that they worked with while they were here. I started doing a little more research, and was horrified by some of the stories I was reading. I decided that I wanted to come to Cambodia to help raise awareness about some of the issues facing this country and it's people. Finding someone to come with me, however, was more daunting task. After asking around for a few weeks, I decided to just go ahead and book my plane ticket and figure out the details later. Not my first choice, but I'd rather go by myself then not go at all. Like any good Facebooker, I updated my status to reflect I had just booked my flight to Cambodia.

Tim is a photojournalist who lives in Seattle, I met him last year when I photographed his sister's wedding. We chatted a bit at the wedding and sent a few emails afterwords in regard to his nonprofit, but didn't stay in close touch. As luck (or fate?) would have it, Tim and I are Facebook friends, so when he saw on Facebook that I had booked a ticket to Cambodia, he sent me a message asking when I'd be here, as he was going to be in Cambodia as well. I took a peek at his blog, and saw that he had been here several months prior, doing exactly the kind of work I was interested in. He came back this November to finish up some work and stories he started in the beginning of the year. After a few emails and a phone call, it seemed like the stars had aligned for me, and I suddenly knew someone who was going to be in Cambodia at the same time I was, had similar interests, had already been doing work in the areas I wanted to, and was totally cool with showing me around and making some introductions. Seriously, what are the chances of that?

So Tim and I met up and made plans to meet up for dinner and drinks with some guys from SISHA (South East Asia Investigations into Social and Humanitarian Activities). One of the things SISHA does is investigative and undercover work to gather evidence that will lead to convictions. We went to a series of 'girlie bars', which started out a little tame and ended up with girls dancing on poles. They were specifically looking for girls that were underaged, or there against their will, since actually working at one of these places isn't a crime, and many of the women are there by choice. There simply aren't a lot of employment opportunities for women here, and this line of work pays very well in comparison to say, working in a garment factory. (As a side note, the number of middle aged white men in these places was really creepy.) It was eye-opening for me to see a little slice of the sex trade here, even though it was more of the PG version, at least comparatively. I really appreciated the opportunity to spend the evening with a group of guys who have dedicated their lives to helping trafficking victims, and witness a small part of what they do.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia- day 2

December 10, 2008

I slept almost a full 8 hours my second night here. I needed it- the crazy travel schedule plus the time change is making me grumpy. Still, I woke up around 3 or 4am local time and couldn't get back to sleep. I hope to be on a regular sleep schedule within the next few days. Did some more touristy things; went to the killing fields memorial outside of town, then to the Russian Market.

Cambodia experienced a massive genocide in the 70's under the Khmer Rouge regime of Pol Pot. During this time, millions of Cambodians were killed- almost a third of the population. The Killing Fields memorial stands at the site of what was once a series of mass graves. The monument itself is filled with the skulls, bone fragments and clothing of thousands of the bodies exhumed from the site. Many of the skulls are grouped according to age and gender; females ages 15-20, females over 60...It's quite emotional to experience.

Bullets were expensive, so many of the men and women were bludgeoned to death.

after the Killing Fields I went to the Russian Market, which is a huge indoor market with food stalls, clothing, cds, shoes, books, car parts, bulk fabrics...you name it. It's hot, congested, and narrow- totally not my bag. Wandered around for a little while and then went back to the hotel. Day 2 part 2 coming up next...