I picked the region of East Asia to learn about with an emphasis on the country of Cambodia. It was coincidental that we would be asked to complete an assignment like this because I have recently been watching a program called "Life Today" where they have been highlighting certain countries because of sex trafficking and Cambodia was the one of the countries. As I listened to the talks about this last week I can remember thinking that I would like to know more about Cambodia and the reasons for the conditions that these people are living in. So, when given the chance to study more about a certain region, it was this region that I picked. In the following sections I will explain some of the challenges that children living in Cambodia have to endure on a daily basis.
Poverty
In Cambodia, children account for 46% of the population and around 5 million people are living in poverty, making less than 1 US dollar per day (UNICEF, 2011). This makes even the poorest people living in our country seem rich. Poverty is a root cause to many of the other challenges that the children and families living in these countries have to deal with. Poverty can lead to an increase in how many children need special protection because they are orphaned or are living on the street(UNICEF, 2011). Poverty also affects children with disabilities, children with HIV/AIDS, and can lead to childhood labor and sexual exploitation or trafficking (UNICEF, 2011). This impoverished condition leads many of the people without proper health care and they also do not have many health resources to fall back on.
Maternal Health/Child Mortality
Due to the high amount of poverty in the country, the maternal health of the mothers and the health of the children is very poor. Almost 5 women die every day because of complications from pregnancy and childhood and 69 % of those expecting do not have neonatal care or a skilled doctor there at the time of delivery(UNICEF, 2011). The children who do survive find it very difficult to thrive in the impoverished conditions that they are born into and many do not make it to their first birthday. The numbers about this were astonishing to me, especially when I read that over 110 children die daily because of the conditions in which they are living (UNICEF, 2011).
Cambodia is a country that has to deal with severe types of weather that affect the environment in which these children and people are living. There are many times when Cambodia has to deal with massive flooding because of the rainy season and also times when instead of lots of rain, there is none at all and a drought ensues(UNICEF, 2011). These types of natural disasters leave these already very poor people without homes or the means to go to work. Another environmental condition that these people must deal with are parts of land in the country that are filled with landmines. Due to the many years of conflict that Cambodia has had there are many areas that hold unexploded landmines which make it difficult because children can stumble upon these mines and be injured or killed (UNICEF, 2011). The water and sanitation is another area of the environment that people living in Cambodia suffer with. The water sources that most people have are very poor if existent and so children are drinking from unsanitary water supplies. In fact, over 62% of the people there are using unsafe sources of water and over 78% can't access sanitation facilities (UNICEF, 2011). In many of these places people are going to the bathroom on or near the very same source of water that they use for drinking. This leads to many other problems.
Health Concerns
One of the biggest health concerns in this area of the world is pneumonia and diarrhoea. The water and sanitation systems are the main cause of this problem and in many of the deaths that occur happen because of these two problems. Due to the lack of health services, these children are not able to be treated quickly and adequately to overcome this massive problem. Another problem with health is HIV/AIDS. Many of the people living in this area have this disease and the same problem with health care applies to them. The majority of deaths in Cambodia are due to pneumonia, diarrhoea, illnesses associated with malnutrition, and HIV/AIDS (UNICEF, 2011).
Sex Trafficking
Another very scary problem for these children and for their parents is the very real problem of sex trafficking. Many of the children who are living in these impoverished conditions have parents who want the best for them. They are enticed by people from the cities who come into these very rural/poor areas and promise the parents that they are going to take their children and either give them a job to bring money back, or give them a better life. They then take these children and place them in brothels and use them for sexual exploitation. These children range in age and some very young children are used for this. Many of the children are kept in these places for years but often times they lose their lives because they are killed or they die from the unhealthy environments that they are being kept in.
Emotional Well being and Development
I can imagine that for children who are living in these conditions and dealing with these challenges on a daily basis, it must be very emotionally draining. These children have to live with the feelings of being hungry, tired, thirsty, sick, sad, and depressed. The challenges that they face are so numerous that they often don't have time to feel happy and healthy. I think in most cases they are probably wondering why they have to go through this and why no one will help them. Children are forced to have to deal with these issues and because of this some children will learn to repress their feelings and then they may not be able to express grief, loss, fear, or loneliness at all (Smidt, 2006). This does not mean however that children cannot develop normally in their emotional development, but it does mean that they do need protection and they need people who are willing to stand up for them and help them so that their emotional well being can develop to its full potential.
The insights that I gained from the research that I did was that there are so many challenges that children have to deal with all over this world. I think we all tend to keep a closed eye to what is going on all around us because we are too busy with what is going on right in front of us to see the hurt and devastation that so many children and families are enduring. I am saddened by the things that these children have to suffer with and although it is easy to see that UNICEF has made some strides in helping these children and families, it is also easy to see that a lot more needs to be done. As a teacher this allowed me to see that I could do so much more to support the children and families that I work with, but also that I could do more to get my school involved in support efforts for places like Cambodia. I would like to join efforts with these organizations that are attempting to make life better for these people because all children deserve to have an opportunity for a good life and only we can help these children that are dealing with these challenges to have this chance. We truly need to be a light in this dark, dark, world!
References
Smidt, S. (2006). The developing child in the 21st century. New York, NY: Routledge.
UNICEF (2011). Retrieved from: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/index.html
Valerie,
ReplyDeleteThank you for this informative post on Cambodia. I researched West Africa and the children faced similar issues with abuse and poverty. However,I was shocked to learn about human trafficking in Cambodia. These conditions make it very hard for children to learn.
Valerie,
ReplyDeleteWe have a lot of Cambodia, Loa, Philipino, Mexican and Korea refugee's here in California. For the most part they are hard working and nice people. They tell me about their culture and I tell them about mine. When they come from another country they are really unkempt and look really sick. They begin to work and go to school and their lives get better. I feel this is when they become less humble and forget their families on the main land. They have the highest drop out rate in junior high and high school, but if they succeed and go to college, they become very successful. Thank you for this post. I researched Australia and they do not fair any better than Cambodian children and families.
Valerie,
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely a tragic way of living for children and adults. These children are not only living in unhealthy conditions, poverty and so on, but living in fear that they may trip on a land mine or be sold or taken advantage of and possibly die. To see themselves and their families go through this is devastating. My sister-n-law and her family is from Laos and she has shared many stories; just sad to hear.