austraLasia
1377
Where Christmas
isn't Christmas, New Year isn't New Year, and its
2105
POIPET:
4th January 2006 -- Poipet, Cambodia, near the Thai border - most are
Buddhist, so despite the Christmas decorations for tourists, and the 'Happy New
Year' flashing outside the casinos, it's actually neither for the locals.
And for the boys who frequent the Don Bosco Childrens Home and School, and the
Youth Centre, it became a forward glance to 2105 rather than the end of
2005. But for them, Christmas and 'New International Year' did exist,
since the Christ child was born for all, and the Salesian community in Poipet
made a point of letting the boys know this. DBCH is a place where many of
them have found hope, so it makes sense to properly name the reason for that
hope. They also asked them to think ahead - to write a letter to whoever
might live in Poipet and DBCH in a hundred years time, hence the 2105 letter,
which has now been buried beneath the Marian altar in the garden. The
letters include a comment that they, the authors, are doing their best to build
a better Cambodia and a better world.
The end of the
international year 2005 was also a sports occasion at the Youth Centre: members
of the English school at the Centre, the gym students and members of eight
different soccer teams had a great day of games. There were also two girls
soccer teams. This was the first really big effort from the new Youth
Centre which opened only in November. They were keen to see that it went
off well.
2006 (2548 in the Cambodian calendar) has opened
with two pieces of news that are particularly significant for Cambodia - Prime
Minister Hun Sen used the occasion of a National Conference on Management of
Natural Resources to Reduce Poverty to point out that more than 250,000 hectares
of Cambodian forest has been grabbed by the rich and powerful over the years
since hostilities ceased. Illegal land seizure on this scale is 'normal'
in Cambodia he says and not only affects the lives of the poor, farmers
especially, but destroys natural heritage, since forests have only one purpose
for those who hijack them, and it is not conservation. The other news
comes from the UN Khmer Rouge Trial delegation finally to get underway in
February. A $36,000 grant from the Australian Government has helped this
process. The gathering of information will be well underway by the time
the real Cambodian new year begins, some time in
mid-April.
____________________
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