Away from the insdicrete gaze with butt stark naked11 March 2010
By Kang Kallyann
Source: Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French By Tout Louse Laut Rek for KI-Media
Click here to read the article in French
In rural areas, hygiene and the availability of toilets remain an elusive luxury. The tough living conditions led to human dramas that are both tragic and ridiculous.
The tragedy is taking place in Svay Rieng province, near the Cambodian-Viet border. During a recent coverage on the border dispute [near Koh Kban Kandal village where the Viet encroachment took place], a villager told me this story: four villagers died there in the last few month because they were bitten by snakes while they were relieving themselves in the forest. At first, I had a hard time holding my laughter when I heard about this story.
Nevertheless, the villager insisted: this snake problem caused a lot of trouble in the village and it is far from being resolved. With the lack of decent toilets, the villagers had no choice but to relieve themselves out in the open air, away from the village and away from any indiscrete gaze. To the chagrin of the villagers, their open air toilet is infested with snakes … but the villagers have no other choice, and they are exposing themselves to this danger on a daily basis. What could be viewed as a joke is in fact a tragedy for these villagers. When I discussed this topic with a local official, he prefers not to talk too much about it: of course, “some villagers” died recently “because of the snakes.” For their safety, the youths were asked to learn how to shoo away the reptilian pests. And, that was the end of the story.
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