Monday, July 04, 2005

VSO Cambodia - Pay Cut update.

Just to add insult to injury, the Head of VSO-Cambodia has just left for a nice long 4 week holiday, the whole of July, touring several other Countries – along with his wife and three kids.

I am currently saving up for a long weekend down at Sihanoukville next month when I have friends over…

Ho Hum.

I mean, I know that I agreed to come and work as a volunteer, but I was informed in the VSO-London office that the average Khmer survives on around US$20 a month, so the US$200 I have for food, petrol, et cetera should be generous and comfortable.

However, this simply is not true.

Khmers do not survive on US$20.

They most certainly do not survive on that in Phnom Penh. All of my Khmer colleagues earn much, much, more than that, more than I get as a stipend as well.

I guess it is difficult for certain members of the NGO community to see the people of Cambodia from so high up in their air-conditioned ivory towers.

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