DIL SE - ROVEANG (deutsche Version)
Base, engine and the core of our work in Roveang, or respectively Khum Rohas, is to be the Meditation Center. The Khum therefore has put land at our disposal and is going to take part in implementing the building into practice. Contemporaneously we will support the villages to erect a needful school.
With the Meditation Center we want to create tourism of sophisticated quality and settle alternative sources of income for the rural population. This very transposition should also be a power train bringing round awareness, research and development in their cultural scopes.
We want to operate in a capacious way, and at this we don’t leave neither people, nature nor the culture behind. Only in a balanced measurement it is possible to maintain sustainable development.
Our basic approaches are
Current situation - Perception of suffering and its causes:
Initial stage for a solution - Perception of eventuality of a resort:
Platform for ripple effect - Way out of the circuit:
Objective targets and functioning
Project target
Detailed description of “Material targets”
Our Platform
Current situation - Perception of suffering and its causes:
In hardly any country that suffers from the aftermaths of a war are there so many relief organizations like in Cambodia. If you take a closer look on the prosperity of humanitarian aid for the last 10 years – by comparison to the effort – it is a rather disenchanting outcome.
The general way of assistance focuses mostly on symptoms, which, when treated accurately, can heal properly. When a relief organization backs away or hand over the management to Cambodians, it usually occurs that the former bad conditions are reverted and its past purposes get lost in daily routine.
With the western crusading at many levels and its infiltration into the pearl of southeast asia, as Cambodia was often considered in ancient times, a destabilization was introduced into society. By the end of the 1960s the country was consciously involved into a foreign substitute war between the eastern and the western powers. The shellfire of the rural areas in the north of the country took life of half a million innocent civilians. The Cambodian population had not only to carry the equation for the victims itself but paid even more when under the rule of Pol Pot educated and artistic people collected and systematically killed. 30 years of war have not only charged many valuable human lives but also annilihated mostly any kind of local knowledge and wisdom. Above all, one sustaining power of mankind was severely violated: faith and trustfulness. This was almost erased out of peoples’ remembrances. Social networks do only exist partially in very intimate scope like family ties or small village communities.
Media, moral concepts of western relief organizations and also homecoming or visiting expatriates/’expats’ affect wide sections of the population. The conflicting nature between one’s own conscience and the countenancing new and unfamiliar troubles the self finding process essentially. Cambodian culture is conveyed and lived traditionally but unfortunately very seldom understood why exactly customs of yore have become an existing habit and tradition.
Cambodia is a country full of riches and in effect there is no absence of potential nor of resources. Animal species that were thought to be died out and numerous endemic plants which the world has never seen ever before hide in the vanishing mine filelds. Over thousands of years, like experienced in the western world, there has always been a natural and even equation between the riches of the lands and their users. While the Western has realized by now that to seize every accessible source as complex as possible, this understanding is still lacking in Cambodian comprehension. Cosequently, the lack of profound knowledge leads to the imported and seemingly easier procedures.
The peaceful smile of “Jayavarman VII” on the towers of the Bayon Temples of the ancient Temples City Angkor Wat mirrors the lightness of Cambodians. Lightness, that was transmitted and arised from deep understanding of things.
Lightness by itself however permits only acception of apparently positive things. Distrust prevents a deeper access. A natural self protection process is triggered and this blockage hinders a positive impact from the in- and also outside.
All along the supporting base of society was the peasant population. 80% of the Cambodians live on agriculture. However, through the incidents under the Pol Pot Regime the work of the farmers became an atrocious demon for wide sections of the population. Dipping into the perfect acting Western society almost any peasant would trade his not appreciated wealth for new shininess.
In contrast to our latitudes the local rural population has no capacious knowledge that enables them to become independent and autonomic people. For the most part the work is limited to growing rice crops. Vegetables, meat and many more agricultural products have to be obtained from trafficking. Additional income is rather rare. The trading pulls the strings and seizes the situation of the common people. Therefore peasants underlie the dictation and arbitrariness of the wholesalers.
The past middle class of the country becoming more and more a poorhouse. Out of this situation arises the exodus from the cities. Numerous farmers try to escape their fate by selling their lands very cheap and move to the few promising cities. There they find themselves in a completely new and alienated society again which is influenced strongly by the western cultures. Multitudinous hovels, shanties, vending stalls and ghettos tell the stories of these people. It doesn’t require a much detailed carrying out of how the circuit leads to suffering and misery and its further appearances. At any price the people try to remain in this new system. So selling his own child originates not with malicious intent but because of ignorance and the assumptive lack of options.
Cambodia has no social networks at all and so the population is exposed to the sheer market economy with all its extremes. Corruption, which is nothing else than an extreme experience of capitalism in the public realm, is part of social procedure and is present in any form and in any order of event.
The delicate entity of Cambodians is hidden in every single person and additionally reverent. Deducing from distrust, which we believe is a aftermath of war, almost all social alliances and bonds have formed back to one single person. On the one hand a group of powerful merchants emerges who exclusely to business in their well being and comfort. On the contrary, quite a huge part of the local people sees their fate as inevitable result of their karma (results of preceding behaviour). The common belief that it is almost impossible to change fate or life in general leads to lingering in most unpleasant situations as long as possible.
Sources of knowledge are not easily accessible and more often as a matter of power denied since ‘knowledge is power’. It gives you advantages. In former times any kinds of attainments and knowledge were passed on exclusely among family or confidantes. This way not only the subsisting of arts could be widely secured but also the basis of existence of a whole clan was protected.
Most of the masters of old knowledge and arts lost their lives during the Pol Pot Regime. Know How is high priced these days, even if it is fake knowledge. Even in public schools money runs the success or the failure. Another side effect of the western intruding is that education is reduced to English language and socalled ‘Management’. The students get tools to work with but have no clue how to use them. Naturally is comprehensible that it doesn’t help much that you have studied for so long and are not capable operating at work.
However, as mentioned before, above all what appears negatively for us ‘Westerns’ – may it be occurrences or phenomena – on top always an unknown innocence and lightness of the people wins. More lucidly than we could ever discern it in the western society, here every single conflict, every single deed that causes harm comes from unawareness and the urge to be happy.
Initial stage for a solution - Perception of eventuality of a resort:
In Cambodian exists a word called "SAMMAKI". Similar to many other words in Asian languages it very hard to find any equivalent western synonym. Corresponding to its meaning it is perhapy best paraphrased with "joyful interworking that yields good for all people and is radiant in its essence."
Fundament and also tool for joyful interworking is trustfulness.
If it works to build up a network that is grounded on trust an atmosphere is created in which it is possible to work towards one direction. When a greater cradle of safety is existing there is a possibility for every single being to straighten up and to take a good look around. Being able to dip into the past and into the future and it broadens one's mind and increases also one's capabilities. With a deeper understanding of the past and the coming it is easier to live in the very moment.
The negative thought cultural possessions can be worked off together. Eachone enacts over a jigsaw piece of the concealed collectivity.
A change is always performed through the most dominant member in a society. To provide options to a larger group of people benefits above all the needy ones and has a lasting effect. The peasants of the country are the organ of society. Like in a wounded or sick body it is possible to wether treat the symptoms or issue the causes to finally let wounds really heal.
As we already know from scientific works diseases often have quite different causes than often simply supposed or seen. The healing process can happen temporarily or in a holistic way once for all. The symptoms that a body exposes mirrors die causes of the actual disease and imbalance. If only the symptoms are treated the disease spreads out unopposedly and unseen or erupts in a different form.
In a trustful atmosphere profound knowledge can be imparted and multiplied. A society has a chance to alter and competition turns into collaboration. Mistrust becomes an understanding of mutual trust and connectivity.
This process can only grow in a close working relationship and under direction. The "helpers/supporters" should therefore be deeply integrated in the targeted communitiy. It requires teamwork in all areas of life: social interactions, the economic purview, production field, in the work of erecting of common buildings or educational and social areas.
It is important to sustain open accesibilities to all information and Know-How for all participants. Explanations and corrections along the way are a constant necessity to avoid misunderstandings.
Before the positve sides can spread largely the personal advantage will naturally always be in focus. Hence it is absolutely necessary to avoid potential disadvantages and to spot essential needs to operate in good time.
The law of nature of 'give and take 'has to be strictly abided. Imbalanced it leads to direct and indirect conflicts. So ist is inevitable that this very equation is pulled through not only in the environment of the target group but also in the interplay of the "helpers/supporters" and target group.
The receiver of a present is to be able to give back in return and for every support there is a settlement. If a framework is created in which this mentioned law of nature of 'give and take' works troublefree a balanced relationship is born - relationship that is freely chosen and can be terminated at any time also.
Platform for a ripple effect - Way out of the circuit:
It is very much widespread to put everything we know in categories and structures. So among a group the various forms of differentiation happens easily and it is often forgotten that the essential needs of man are all the same. In every situation the flow of of giving or taking changes eventually.
The platform on which our work aims to take place is therefore a place of giving and yet also of getting. As well as acceptance as the wish to give are deeply rooted and inherited from ancient times on in every living being.
It is for this reason that we try to refrain from common defintions like 'needy person' and 'helper' in reference to a special person, and rather want to relate these items to the applicaton of action in a specific case or situation.
Eachone of us has something to give and every single one needs something from others, too. This very situation is the essence of every society. Frequently it is lived in interdependence yet it is possible to live this tie in a free way also.
The target group (village community) has to clearly understand, that the "supporters" (from abroad) do need them. Only very few people in Cambodia are aware that their inheritance is not accesible to the world now. A heritage that we all are going to be in need of to cope the challenges in future.
In the touristic scope Cambodia is still badly and superficially developed. For a person who is truly interested in the culture and history of the country there are hardly any facilities to meet these requests, let alone to understand each other easily. Openhearted and inquisitive people are always eager to broaden their minds, to meet and get to know people from different cultures. At present unfortunately only poor imitations which are even off from reality at very high price are available.
When travelling through a country and discovering a new culture it is experienced naturally as an outsider. There is hardly enough time to really get aware about his own feelings in this new situation, to observe onself acting under different circumstances and among different people, or becoming conscious of the profound processes that works deep inside oneself.
The art of getting to know his inner self and to observe oneself is an old tradition in Cambodian culture, however is not very much in practise anymore. Buddhism is declared state religion and looks back to a long history and development. As it is known about 500 years before Christian times buddhism teachings originating from Indian spreat out not only widely but also in various versions. In Cambodia a very unique standard arised which did not only encounter the old world view but even integrated it.
The indigenous inhabitants were like in all other countries very connected to nature and its sequences. From this time up to this very day an ancestor worship has been maintained. The first time its religion intermingled with was at the arrival of Indian pundits in the third century. Hinduism was replaced and also complemented by an established buddhism line called Mahayana (The Great Path) that came from northern India to a much later time. In the end the conservative Theravada Buddhism (The Small Path) from Bali, which was already declared state religion in the 14th century, could win over all other streams of beliefs, and up to today it remains the main religion in the country.
The basic element for a good comprehension of all seemingly various Indian teachings is mediation, self-experience and the observation of one's own inherent nature.
Nowadays it is much easier to approach buddhistic teachings in western countries than in all its originating countries. The active way of this philosophy leads Cambodians to monasteries or stays closed more often. During the years of war a lot of buddhistic tradition got lost. Hence people in everyday life are more concerned about liturgies than their actual sources and meaning.
Out of these mentioned reasons it seems a perfect solution to draw necessities, knowledge and culture together and create a Meditation Center as a platform to induce a ripple effect.
This setup should finance the local municipal necessities in future and provide the village communities a real and stable income source. The erection is carried to a major part by the community itself.
At present there is no official income for municipial outlays. In the objective union of villages in Roveang, for instance, an erection of a school for 7th to 9th grade is to be due yet there is no financing secured. Without support all families had to collect savings for several of years to enable such a construction. The teaching staff would be set from the governmental administration and therefore such a assignment would bring about 30$ income per month. According to this condition is also the quality of education. If the village union was able to co-finance the operation, the prospects of pupils and students would change for the better at once. Furthermore, the district has an unreasonable medical supply station that could be easily improved through some financial support.
