They are Taiwan's conscience in Cambodia," a Taiwanese businessman investing in Cambodia said of a group of Taiwanese aid workers.
This group, Taipei Overseas Peace Service (TOPS,
In contrast to the pursuit of wealth undertaken by the majority of Taiwanese in Cambodia, TOPS volunteers work to assist development in the country without a financial reward but "a much better sense of achievement," said Sylvia Lin, who is currently the director of TOPS in Cambodia.
TOPS has been dedicated to development work in Indochina for the last 20 years. At present, apart from the programs it has running in Cambodia, it is involved with Karen refugees in remote villages in northern Thailand.
TOPS has also operated in Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya where it was engaged in post-war reconstruction work between 1994 and 1996.
Mekong Slum
"When I see that these children can read and write, I feel very happy and satisfied," said Tsai Mong-chi, who is working on a literacy project in village No. 5 around Neak Loeung ferry in Cambodia's Prey Veng Province.
This village is a slum near the Mekong River, around two hours east of Phnom Penh. There is no bridge linking the two banks of the Mekong River. Two huge boats carry thousands of people and hundreds of vehicles every day to and from the Neak Loeung ferry terminal.
It is one of the busiest places along the Cambodian Mekong, a spot crowded with multifarious characters from all walks of Cambodian life and foreign tourists en route to Vietnam.
Pickup trucks belonging to the UN or NGOs operating in the area are also to be seen here as are larger trucks loaded with food from the UN's World Food Programme, which often board the ferry here on their way to deliver food to disadvantaged rural places nearby.
The pickup truck owned by TOPS is also one of the frequent users of the ferry.
Fifteen minutes away from the ferry is village No. 5. There are around 3,000 residents in this poverty-stricken village. Having five to six children in a family is commonplace in rural areas due to the lack of education about family planning.
Most of the villagers migrated from desperate neighboring provinces in the hopes of crossing the river into Phnom Penh to seek a better life, but later found a better life was a cruel illusion and then settled down in this arid and empty land.
All the houses in this village are built of bamboo, wood and palm tree leaves, which give little protection during the rainy season from May to October. This kind of house is very common in rural places in Cambodia, whose leaf roofs are seen by aid workers as one of the most open manifestations of poverty. Those who can afford it tend to have wood and red tiled roofs.
Education the key
More than half the children and adults in this village are illiterate. The drop-out rate is around 12 percent for grade one and 18 percent for grade four school children. The repetition rate is nearly 40 percent for grade one.
These staggering figures are, in this country, not unusual. According to an official report, more than 40 percent of primary school-aged children do not go to school.
Girls face a tougher predicament than boys. An American NGO, CARE, conducted a survey in 1998 which revealed that 61 percent of parents interviewed thought education was more important for boys than girls, while 83 percent of interviewees said girls had to shoulder more domestic responsibility than boys.
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