| Sal, who lost her parents and went to Malaysia to support her uncle and siblings, was raped by her employer there. She tells of electric shocks and being drugged and abused for a year before she returned to Prey Veng province in southeastern Cambodia. Her aunt says she is ruined for life. |
| Sokhea, who is 17 and still in high school, convinced her illiterate mother to sign the paperwork that would fake her age and allow her to go to Malaysia. She got as far as the Phnom Penh recruiting center before prison-like conditions and the warnings of another village girl convinced her to flee and return home to Preah Vihear province in northern Cambodia. |
| Champei begged her mother to let her go, but when she arrived in Malaysia, she was mistreated from the beginning. She ate poorly, had boiling water poured on her hands and wound up in a psychiatric hospital before she returned to Cambodia. She is now traumatized, her parents devastated. |
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Migrant workers abroad who face abuse from their employers have little recourse, a safety advocate said Monday.
“Who should a victim complain against, the company or her employer there?” said Ya Navuth, executive director of Caram Cambodia, as a guest on “Hello VOA.” |
| A Thai parliamentarian and six supporters were charged with illegal entry and ill-intent in Phnom Penh court on Thursday, after they were arrested Wednesday near the northern border. VOA Khmer's Chun Sakada reports from Phnom Penh with footage from VOA Khmer's Pich Samnang, APTN and Reuters. |
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Every day after school, Puoet Sokhea comes home to a ramshackle hut in Rovieng district, Preah Vihear province, and begins her daily chores. She stokes the fire, washes pots and pans, sets the rice to boil.
She has nine brothers and sisters, her parents and an aging grandmother—and few opportunities to help support them. |
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While other sectors took major hits in the 2008 economic crisis, agriculture gained the attention of many economists as it helped prop up the country’s flagging economy. That could lead to a shift in focus toward more agriculture, economists here say. “I think it did create a certain awareness among a lot of policy makers,” Peter Brimble, chief economist for the Asian Development Bank, told VOA Khmer. |
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Res Marina had dreamed of getting married next year. That dream was buried with her on Saturday.
The 23-year-old Cham woman died of internal injuries at Calmette hospital, where she had been since the Nov. 22 bridge stampede, becoming the 353rd victim. Nearly 90 others remain in the hospital. |
| The Cambodian government held a seventh day Buddhist ceremony Nov 29 for victims of the Water Festival stampede at the site of the tragedy, Diamond bridge. More than 350 people died the week before as revelers attempted to depart an island at the conclusion of a three-day national festival in Phnom Penh. Deputy Prime Minister Yim Chhayly and Pung Khieu Se, primary developer of Koh Pich |
| Mom Mon, who was back from death, said he was lucky to be alive. "I heard them saying I was among the dead, I removed the white cloth from my face," Mom Mon said adding he was lucky |
| An entire nation mourns... praying that those who died on the Diamond Bridge rest in peace and are reincarnated, to avoid spending their afterlife as wandering souls, haunting the banks of the Tonle Bassac River. Pin Samnang, VOA Khmer reports from Phnom Penh. |
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With unemployment still high among Cambodian youth, some have begun to seek volunteer opportunities as a bridge to decent jobs in the future.
More and more graduates have shown an interest in volunteer work, which helps them gain experience and expand their networks, said Som Monorom, a project officer at Cambodian Volunteers for Society. |
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Residents in the former Khmer Rouge stronghold of Pailin told a delegation from the UN-backed tribunal last week they do not want to see the prosecution of further cases at the court after the second one is completed.
Andrew Cayley, the international prosecutor for the court and head of the delegation, told the residents that no more than 10 people would be further prosecuted in cases No. 3 and No. 4. |
| No songs, no singers, no musician composers could yet replace oldies songs in 1960s and 1070s in the hearts of most Cambodians. At least three fans of those oldies songs were trying to collect them from big towns to small villages. They are recording them into modern equipment to preserve the original voices of Sin Sisamuth, Ruos Sereisothea, Pen Rorn, In Yeng, So Math, Huy Meas... |
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The Ministry of Information has ordered the closure of a popular soap opera, after it depicted a scene where rich men were bidding money for a woman on display.
In a letter to the Cambodian Television Network, the ministry said the show, “Strange, Predestined Couple,” had gone against Khmer tradition and hurt the image of Khmer women. |
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When it comes to information technology curriculum, high schools have a long way to go.
“The lack of electricity and computer sets in schools is a main obstacle for the implementation of the use of ICT in senior high school education,” Kheng Piseth, Khmer OS program manager at the Open Institute, told “Hello VOA” on Monday. |
| Cambodians have a long, trusted relationship with gold. Through shifting regimes, instability and war, many watched as their currency lost value, either replaced by subsequent governments, or—in the case of the Khmer Rouge—abolished completely. But that relationship is changing, as Pich Samnang reports from Phnom Penh. |
| In Phnom Penh, Tiny Toones uses the allure of hip hop and breakdancing to bring at-risk youth off the streets, into classrooms and hopefully on to brighter futures. |
| Cambodians love food from the markets. But a new study shows some of that food can contain dangerous chemicals. Anything from pesticides on vegetables and fruit and preservatives in pickled or dried goods can be dangerous for your health. And as Cambodia's brand new chemical society has found, those dangers are in more places than you think. VOA Khmer's Pich Samnang reports from Phnom Penh. |
| Education officials hope that the production of locally written and drawn children's books will engender better reading habits with Cambodia's young. |
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Leadership roles in public institutions are lacking for today's youth, a development expert said Monday.
“In some institutions, young leaders who are well-educated both locally and overseas are not offered the chance to tap their full leadership potential,” Chheang Vannarith, executive director of the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace, told Hello VOA on Monday. |
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Phnom Penh cinema owners say they are ready and willing to show a groundbreaking documentary on the Khmer Rouge, but the filmmakers say they are so far waiting for government permission for its widespread release.
“Enemies of the People,” which includes lengthy interviews with Pol Pot's lieutenant, Nuon Chea, who is now facing trial for atrocity crimes charges at the UN-backed tribunal, will premier in a small arts theater this week. |
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Cambodia’s higher education system has failed to address a lack of critical-thinking and problem-solving curricula among university students, a youth advocate told “Hello VOA” on Monday.
Instead, says Cheang Sokha, head of the Youth Resource Development Program, “student-centered” approaches exist on paper only within higher education. |
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A group of young Cambodian and foreign musicians have begun playing contemporary forms of Cambodian music. Krom Monster uses five traditional instruments combined with digital manipulation to create music that appeals to younger Cambodians.
The band, made up of five Cambodians and one Briton, is part of a trend in collaboration between modern and classic artists underway in Cambodia. |
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Though the temples of Angkor Wat have some amazing stone carvings, contemporary sculpture in the country has not been widespread.
But a group of 14 young Cambodian sculptors wants to change that. They currently have 26 pieces of modern stone sculptures on display at a new exhibition hall at the Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh. |
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Grey-haired Soth Sophal prepared one recent day to lead a group of six villagers through the forest to a waterfall.
He would guide them in a way responsible to the environment, showing off the natural splendor of the area, near his home village of Prey Praseth, in Preah Sihanouk province’s Kampong Seila district. |
 | Chea Veoung, a 32-year-old farmer in Kampong Cham province, looked desperately at the bank of the Mekong River recently, noting that a severe drop in its level was costing him three times as much in fuel just to irrigate his fields. “When the level gets so low, [the pump] consumes about 20 liters” of fuel, he said. |
