Leng Chhay & Jenny Pearson, Working in Cambodia : perspectives on the complexities of Cambodians and expatriates working together, Phnom Penh: VBNK, 2006

Leng Chhay & Jenny Pearson, Working in Cambodia : perspectives on the complexities of Cambodians and expatriates working together, Phnom Penh: VBNK, 2006

 

캄보디아 현지인과 외국인이 공저한 책으로, 한 단체에서 함께 일하며 관찰한 바를 짜임새 있게 잘 전달하고 있다. 현지인과 외국인들의 의사소통,행동양식 등을 비교하고 있는데, 두 사람의 관점이 충돌하지 않으며, 차이점에 대한 공통적인 인식을 서로 강화시키며 서술하고 있다. (1) 우리가 흔히 문화적인 차이를 부정적으로 경험하고 전달하는데 비해, 서로 다른 것, 타자의 존재를 긍정적이며 필수적인 부분으로 언급하며 시작하고 있는 것이 책의 기조를 선명하게 해 준다. (2) 무엇보다, 캄보디아인들의 행동 양식을 그들이 경험한 현대사와 연관지어 설명하고 있어, 현지인들을 더 깊이 이해할 수 있도록 돕고 있다. (3) 특히 의존성과 리더십 이양 문제는 캄보디아 학생 운동이 지금 통과하고 있는 이슈이기에 더욱 더 잘 살펴 볼 수 있다. (4) 진정한 변화는 어떻게 가져올 수 있는지 진지하게 고민하며 캄보디아를 이해하려는 노력을 이 책을 통해 배울 필요가 있다. (5) 책에서 소개하는 캄보디아 문화와 의식 중 많은 부분이 한국과 닮아 있다. 아시아 여러 나라들이 서구와 다르게 공통적으로 가지고 있는 것들이 있을 것 같다. 불교의 영향 때문이지 중화권에서 벗어난 동남아시아 나라들에게서도 공통점들이 있다. 한국 사회 문화와는 어떤 차이가 있는지 비교해 살펴보는 것도 좋겠다.

 

Chapter 1: Context

Cambodian History - Cambodian Perspective on Recent History and its impact

 

Theses regime changes had a significant impact on Cambodians' lives. During those periods, Cambodians experienced a lot and learned a range of lessons. They observed that a change was often a negative change, I.e. from a better regime to a had one and then to a worse. This may be one of the most crucial lessons that leads Cambodians to fear, lack hope and resists changes. Here is some analysis about some of the impacts of those regimes on Cambodians' lives and attitudes. (2)

 

French Colony: Barang are always powerful... but in most cases the power still exists, and Cambodians listen to and comply with expatriates more than with their Cambodian colleagues... However, this can become a shadow, where the work cannot be done if the expatriate is not there. (3)

 

From the First Kingdom to the Khmer Rouge Regime: So, in 1970, there was a regime change; the first kingdom of Cambodia was overthrown in a coup by General Lon Nol, supported by the USA. This pro-American regime did not make any improvement to the country, but instead brought a lot of damage in terms of war, food insecurity and conflict between the new government and other groups that fought bravely for Prince Sihanouk. The country was in civil war and political crisis. (3)

 

The memory of trauma is still deep within them, and they prefer to avoid change if possible. Change is risky, terrible, bringing fears of disaster... The trauma left by the Khmer Rouge cannot be "let go" easily, and it became a reflective wound that remains in the Cambodian mind and heart and cannot easily be healed. The would blocks Cambodians from moving forward constructively. (3)

 

People's Republic of Kampuchea (PRK) and the State of Cambodia: Vietnamese troops overthrew the Khmer Rouge on 7 January 1979, and the People's REpublic of Kampuchea (PRK) was cread, headed by Heng Samrin, Pen Sovann and Hun Sen, assisted by the Vietnamese army. The political and economic form of this regime was socialist. The country was also influenced by the Soviet Union. During that period, the Khmer Rouge and other armed groups, including a party led by Prince Norodom Sihanouk, situated near the Cambodian-Thai border, fought against the PRK government.... Thousands of people died from fighting, malaria and mine accidents during that time. Politics was one of the important subjects of school curricula, and students were induced to study Vietnamese and Russian as the main foreign languages in the school... The United Nations did not recognise this regime. The regime changed its name to "state of Cambodia" in 1989 during the initial negotiations between Hun Sen and Prince Sihanouk that led to the Paris Peace Accords in 1991.

 

The important lessons learned by Cambodians during this regime were: There is no choice but to follow the leaders. Constructive or negative feedback or criticisms were not welcomed. People need to be careful when expressing themselves. Look around before starting to speak and learn to hide your feelings if possible. People have to say something in accordance with the guidelines of the political leaders... (4)

 

From UNTAC to the Second kingdom of Cambodia: ...A number of local activists of political parties were killed during the election campaigns, mostly from the opposition parties... There were many job opportunities, ... brought social problems such as bars and prostitution, HIV.AIDS etc,... Cambodia recieves foreign aid of more than $500 million every year. This aid has played a crucial role in Cambodia's development.... (5)

 

The social order of Cambodian society, reinforced by some Cambodian understandings of Buddhism, depends upon everyone respecting the social hierarchy and keeping her or his place in it. From childhood, people are taught to obey and respect those with authority. Challenging, questioning, and holding dissenting views are discouraged, conflict is seen as bad and loss of face is to be avoided at all costs. (5) (O;Leary and Meas, Learning for Tranformation: a study of the relationship between culture, values, experience and development practice in Cambodia (Phnom Penh: VBNK), 2001, p,V,

 

Traditionally Cambodian society has emphasized preservation of the status quo, a tolerance of suffering and injustice and a conformity to higher authority. (Harmer, Rebuilding War-Torn Societies: Psycho-Social Vulnerability and Coping Mechanisms in Cambodia, A Social Research Feasibility Study, Unpublished report for IDBC and UNICEF, p.27)

 

Chapter 2. Working Together

 

... creative ideas that were produced by culturally heterogeneous groups wre of better quality and more feasible than thos produced by culturally homogeneous groups (McLeod1996)

 

...It is the "others" who constitute the diversity.

 

Most development practitioners, because they have not taken sufficient time to explore and understand deeply either their own culture and values or those of the organisation or group into which they intervene, are ill equipped to know what will be the most effective change mechanisms for any particular context. (12)

 

Within Organizations in Cambodia: Expatriates hold the significant senior leadership position, giving them control of money and other resources, which inevitably also gives them the vast majority of power in the organisation... Within this relative structural positioning, many Cambodians demonstrate what appears to be dependence on expatriates for decision-making and other essential aspects of management, sometimes to dysfuntional levels.... This dependence can seriously hinder the building of confidence and capacity to take over important organisational roles and functions.... Expatriates are often, in a variety of ways, ambivalent about what the transfer of power and responsibility to national staff really means, and this manifests itself in slow progress towards effecting transfer. (13-14)

 

1. Communication 1.1 Cambodians might speak differently than they think or feel in some situations; to avoid risk to satisfy the boss (both Cambodian and expatriate) to gain favour... Trust building is a long process of informal engagement between people rather than a one-off event.. During a retreat, more time for informal activities is helpful for trust building... It has been observed that an expatriate who can make jokes or informal fun can gain trust more easily than those who are always serious. (15) 1.2 Over time one learns to understand when yes means yes and when it means no, but this cannot always be assumed and it can be very hard to tell the difference... It is a prevailing habit for people to say what they think the more senior person in the conversation wants to hear... Problems therefore go unattended until they get to the point where they can't be ignored any further, whereas an early intervention mihgt have resolved things quickly. (17-18)

 

2. Norms of Behaviour: 2.1 Losing face makes people feel unsafe, frustrated, afraid and angry, and leads to conflict or revenge... Cambodians prefers the flee option rather than the other two(fight or negotiate). How can they challenge the expatriates and boss without being victimised? Agree to disagree. Feedback and criticism are sensitive for Cambodians, and they find it difficult to distinguish between them. (19-20) 2.2 Cambodians automatically and immediately establish who has the highest status... (21)

 

3. Learning: 3.1 Cambodians learn predominantly from the teacher... They are not allowed opportunities to debate or express any ideas developed through their own creative thinking... A helpful way might be to balance between asking questions and giving inputs. Learning should be a balance between 'construction' and 'instruction'. (25-28) 3.2 staff capactiry building needs to be a long-term, cohesive and incremental process. Each step needs to be carefully followed up and grounded before moving on to the next. (30)

 

4. Change 4.1 Aside from seeing change as negative and trying to resist it, there are also Cambodians, especially the young generation, who are fast learners and quick to change. Change can be very positive for capacity building, but Cambodians often worry about the "quick absorption" of foreign ways of behaving that override Cambodian ways but are inappropriate to Cambodian culture... I believe that "walking the talk" has a big influence on individual behaviour, target groups, communities and CAmbodian society as a whole... it will be helpful if expatriates can motivate or empower Cambodian staff through role modeling. The Cambodian staff can then be role models for other Cambodians to make changes. (32) 4.2 “...the structures and behaviour even of "progressive" CBOs and NGOs often reflect and reproduce the inequalities existing in the societies of which they are a prat - even when they consciously aim to eradicate these... Development agencies should... look critically at their own structure and institutional cultures, and tackle the inequalities that may be implicit in these." ... Truly transformational change can happen only at this level, not at the surface level at which most interventions are targeted. Failure to grasp this is a root cause of much misunderstanding in development organisations, resulting ultimately in failure to achieve the desired impacts of programme delivery... For development interventions to catalyse fundamental change, they have to engage with people's identity and values, whether they be individuals, communities, organisations or indeed nations (34) Resistance to change is a survivor behaviour and must be honoured as such before any attempt is made to work with it or around it or to dismantle it. (35)

 

Chapter 4. Khmer Sayings

 

1. An egg should not hit a stone (Pong muan kom chul ning thnor) :

2. If you see an elephant defecate, do not defecate as it does (Khoenh damerey chus kom chus tam damrey) :

3. A cake is never bigger than its basket (Num min thom chieng neal):

4. The four-footed elephant will surely trip, the professional wise man will surely forget (Damrey choeung boun kung mean plat nek prach ches staot kung mean-plek)

5. Women cannot manage even around the stove (satrey bangvel chang kran min chum)

6. Hearing a thousand times does not equal seeing once (Leu mouy poan dang men smeur khoeunh mdang)

7. Knowledge comes from study, wealth comes from business (Ches mok pi rien mean mok pi rok)

8. Speaking is silver, but silence is golden (sgiem cheng sradei)

9. Time is gold and silver. (Pel velea chea meas prak)

10. Drop by drop fills the container

 

Folk Story: Tom Teav

 

 Working in Cambodia.hwp