obcr

I love electricity..everybody does…well, maybe not the Cambodians! They seem immune to not having it around because electricity is expensive. Electricity costs as high as 18 cents (USD) per kilowatt-hour in Cambodia compared to 5.4 cents (USD) per kilowatt in neighboring Vietnam.  Why so? The country is almost totally reliant on fuel imports due to lack of natural resource that generates electricity. About 95% of the power generation comes from diesel power plant and only 15% of the country’s 14 million people are connected to the power grid.

So in comes Mr blackout- a regular visitor to Cambodia that everyone has to tolerate with..he pops in whenever his girlfriend- Miss Electricity has PMS or decides to take a break. Who can blame him? Reality is the country’s demand for electricity outstrips supply owing to vigorous economic activities in the manufacturing, agriculture, textile and service sectors.

Nonetheless, there have been extensive efforts over the past five years by both the government and private sector to resolve this urgent issue…however it’s absurd to expect Cambodia to have a reliable  power supply overnight.

Electricity, what would I do without you? How would I be able to power my laptop, charge my mobile, and watch TV?

p.s im now in my third blackout just in less than two weeks of being here in Cambodia.

Garment factories are plentiful in Cambodia..they are seen to be the way out of the fields for the teenagers and adults in the rural areas. Teenagers as young as 13 quit school to join the [illegal] workforce working as long as 10 to 12 hours a day to earn $50USD a month.

While OBCR tries to stop this from happening, parents of the children insist that this practice helps lift some burden off the family. Many teenagers also succumb to peer pressure {seeing their employed friends afford some luxury} and the obsession of being able to earn a living without the need for going under the sun.

This practice is expected to continue at least for the next 10 years.

Some facts:

• The garment industry is the largest industrial employer in Cambodia
• The factories are mainly owned by Chinese and Korean companies
• Over 70% of the garments made in Cambodia gets exported to USA
• The industry employs an estimated 350,000 Cambodian teenagers and adults
• There are more than 300 [registered/ accounted for] garment factories in Cambodia
• In the first half of 2011, garment export earnings was at US$ 1.86 billion

A luxury for many of us mean vacationing to the Caribbean, owning a home, an iPhone {then the iPad and what not}, BMW and many other et ceteras. Owing to our constant desire for happyness and fulfillment, these luxuries we want to afford naturally become a goal in our lives.

For the less fortunate however, life has a different connotation. None of those luxuries are ever attainable. In fact, hardly ever thought about because happyness bears a humble definition. One in which there is no worry about whether there would be enough food to put on the table – the rest are luxury. It’s a constant struggle.

Such.. the dismal reality of the destitute.

Dear reader,

thank you for arriving at the right destination. In this blog website, you will be able to peek into an NGO named OBCR based in Cambodia that has been in operation since 2005. Having been involved myself (I am not Cambodian), and experiencing firsthand being humbled by poverty, I hope to plant a helping hand and give this NGO a global presence. I aim to share stories about Cambodia- the ones that matter so you can decide whether you want to lend a helping hand to one of the poorest nation in Asia.

Love,the editor.