What is the deal with poor countries that have been through the worst things imaginable having such happy and generous inhabitants? Take Cambodia for example. Not too long ago the Khmer Rouge were in control of this country and doing the most horrific things to the people.
The Khmer Rouge was all about the extermination of the intellects and they actually managed to turn people against each other, families were ripped apart because the children were brainwashed into thinking that people should be killed for being smart. A third of the population was killed during the reign of the Khmer Rouge, all the doctors, the teachers, the philosophers, the academics, anyway who came from a family with people like that. All the intellects were called the 'new liberated' and the peasants and poor people were the 'old liberated' and the Khmer Rouge's influence was so strong that the old liberated actually turned against the new liberated. Young boys from poor families were taken from their home by the Khmer Rouge and were brainwashed into thinking that the intellects had to die, and he way that they would crack these young boys was to get them to kill babies by bashing them against walls. Among other things.
This didn't stop until 1998, so this is a pretty recent event, and if you think about it now, every Cambodian is either a descendant from a survivor, or a Khmer Rouge fighter.
But if you go to the country now you will meet so many people smiling and laughing and having a good time with each other. Just today my sister and I were jumping on a trampoline, and three little Cambodian children came in and joined us, a girl and two boys, all under 5, and they started jumping with us and laughing their asses off and showing us tricks and teaching us and holding hands with us. It was one of the most amazing experiences I've had in Cambodia. Similarly, in Battambang at the bamboo train, at the end of the line are a bunch of children who take you around the brick factories and talk to you all about it expecting money in return of their services, but after they had shown us around and we had given them money they stayed around to play games with us, like the kind of games you'd play in primary school - 'my aunty Anna played the piano twenty-four hours a day, split' - and they taught us these games and we stayed for ages playing these games with them. Women would sit and talk and laugh in markets or in workshops or just on the street. Men would play intense games of volleyball in empty plots and get really into it.
How does this happen? How is it possible that a country that has so recently seen so much devastation can be full of so many happy people? It's incredible, and inspiring.
Travels Abroad
It's amazing how backwards some countries can be with regards to infrastructure, politics and the government, education, health and just general living, yet they can be so far ahead in their treatment of animals.
I've started my first backpacking experience this year, albeit not alone but indeed without all the luxuries of travelling with parents. And my first destination without my parents was Myanmar (Burma), not the greatest idea, and definitely not the best country to start.
Myanmar, the longest running regime in the world, a country that has been through so much shit and endless turmoils, and yet somehow they still manage to show kindness to strangers. On so many occasions of the duration of my stay there, my sister and I were given free tours, or free drinks, or we'd buy something from a vendor and they would put something else in for free as a 'gift' as they'd say. It was just a country riddled with kindness. Every town we went to had a big board saying 'Warmly Welcome and Take Care of Tourists'. And this genuine kindness shown to us was extended as well to the animals.
In all the towns we went to there were cats and dogs everywhere, walking down the streets, lazing on the road. The thing with these dogs and cats, however, was that they were all well looked after. They all ate well, their fur was well groomed, they had no traces of disease and they were the most amiable animals, they'd wag their tail and come up for a pat. The cats especially were very friendly and would often come up and sit on my lap and fall asleep there quite happily. This was in the little towns mind you, this was definitely not the case in the big cities of Yangon and Mandalay. In these cities it was very much one man to their own, and this included animals. There were men and dogs lying on the street in dirt and disease, equally as unable to move as the other, just slowly perishing in the heat. There were dogs sprawled on the paths, disease overtaking them. That was a wake up call.
One thing that was particularly interesting about Myanmar was that people did not retire unless they were in the government. You worked until you died. We went on a hike through rice fields and farms in a small town called Hsipaw (pronounced see-paw) and our guide was a grandfather, literally. I could not guess his age but he was telling us all about his family and his grandchildren and he was explaining to us about the retirement issue and he said to us that he'll have to work until he dies. Later in the hike we came across a water buffalo and he told us that water buffalo are like friends to the Myanmar people. When they die they do not get eaten but rather buried in a respectable way. And because they do so much hard work throughout their life they get to retire. So even in a country that has a corrupt government, the animals can retire but the people can't.
Of course there's brutality in Myanmar as there is in any country but among it all they can still manage to find some form of kindness and gentleness to animals which I find is a quality severely lacking in western countries. We have become desensitised to these sorts of issues because now we are focused on consumerism and making sure that we meet the consumers demands no matter what it involves. And that is what is wrong with the world. We have lost the ability to be kind and instead we focus on making more money.
I've started my first backpacking experience this year, albeit not alone but indeed without all the luxuries of travelling with parents. And my first destination without my parents was Myanmar (Burma), not the greatest idea, and definitely not the best country to start.
Myanmar, the longest running regime in the world, a country that has been through so much shit and endless turmoils, and yet somehow they still manage to show kindness to strangers. On so many occasions of the duration of my stay there, my sister and I were given free tours, or free drinks, or we'd buy something from a vendor and they would put something else in for free as a 'gift' as they'd say. It was just a country riddled with kindness. Every town we went to had a big board saying 'Warmly Welcome and Take Care of Tourists'. And this genuine kindness shown to us was extended as well to the animals.
In all the towns we went to there were cats and dogs everywhere, walking down the streets, lazing on the road. The thing with these dogs and cats, however, was that they were all well looked after. They all ate well, their fur was well groomed, they had no traces of disease and they were the most amiable animals, they'd wag their tail and come up for a pat. The cats especially were very friendly and would often come up and sit on my lap and fall asleep there quite happily. This was in the little towns mind you, this was definitely not the case in the big cities of Yangon and Mandalay. In these cities it was very much one man to their own, and this included animals. There were men and dogs lying on the street in dirt and disease, equally as unable to move as the other, just slowly perishing in the heat. There were dogs sprawled on the paths, disease overtaking them. That was a wake up call.
One thing that was particularly interesting about Myanmar was that people did not retire unless they were in the government. You worked until you died. We went on a hike through rice fields and farms in a small town called Hsipaw (pronounced see-paw) and our guide was a grandfather, literally. I could not guess his age but he was telling us all about his family and his grandchildren and he was explaining to us about the retirement issue and he said to us that he'll have to work until he dies. Later in the hike we came across a water buffalo and he told us that water buffalo are like friends to the Myanmar people. When they die they do not get eaten but rather buried in a respectable way. And because they do so much hard work throughout their life they get to retire. So even in a country that has a corrupt government, the animals can retire but the people can't.
Of course there's brutality in Myanmar as there is in any country but among it all they can still manage to find some form of kindness and gentleness to animals which I find is a quality severely lacking in western countries. We have become desensitised to these sorts of issues because now we are focused on consumerism and making sure that we meet the consumers demands no matter what it involves. And that is what is wrong with the world. We have lost the ability to be kind and instead we focus on making more money.
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