August 11 Forum

First for the bad news: I think I snotted on the Governors. I was worried that my Khmer language skills wouldn't be up to scratch before attending a one day forum in Battambang last week. (The topic was Enabling Environment for Development Effectiveness.) It was the least of my concerns.

My indiscretions started the moment I arrived. It seemed like a good idea to rent half of the front passenger seat for the 100km+ trip from Poipet. Why not?! It's normal around here. Five bucks for a taxi ride... who cares if you are squeezed in with another local woman in the front seat with four guys in the back? However, when we stopped in front of the large, spacious hotel, I noticed the car park was already crammed with SUVs and 4WDs with NGO and Government plates. The parking attendant politely opened the door as I uncrumpled my body from the crowded Camry. He gave me a questioning look before helping me negotiate a zig-zap route between the vehicles to the lobby. Hmmm...maybe there is a different kind of normal here?

The next morning I awoke with a killer sore throat and a cold. We were a bit out of town so it wasn't easy to stop into a pharmacy and buy some drugs. A hot coffee with sweet milk revived me somewhat and I checked the schedule. Registration from 7:30am, official start at 8am. I thought I was punctual to enter the conference room at 7:45am but the seats were already about two-thirds full. I noticed a table near the front was almost empty so I joined the two men who were already seated. My judgment was based partly on the fact that I wanted to be close to the front to give myself every opportunity to stay awake during the forum! I didn't realise that I'd sat down with two of the Provincial Governors and that our table soon filled up with the most senior government officials out of the 70 or 80 delegates that were present. Oops! I was probably the only person in the room silly enough not to recognise any of these guys and naive enough to sit down at their table, knowing that there would be group discussions about problems between NGOs and Government in enabling development. Haha! Good luck there Pippy!

But perhaps you are still wondering about my mucus faux pas? Less than an hour into the meeting, I sneezed. This was no ordinary sneeze. Out of my huge, honking, foreigner nose came a violent expulsion. There was but a millisecond of awareness that the sneeze was coming... so I lurched forward, desperate to grab a wad of tissues from inside my bag. I was only partly successful. Some of the snot was caught in the wad of tissue paper, some splatted on the outside of my bag and some splashed down the front of my shirt. I would not be surprised of some of the Governors were similarly baptised. Not good.

The day did improve after 9am! It was great to hear intelligent, articulate Cambodians put development into a global perspective. We heard that the US and Europe's focus is on Africa and that if other poor countries in the bottom billion are going to compete for the 'aid dollar' we need good project implementation and transparency in our reporting. It was also fantastic to hear a Provincial Government leader admonish his peers by saying that money given from generous sponsors for the community is for the community. "It is not money for your pocket," he said. "You must have a separate bank account and separate accounting systems for this money." It is donated by generous people for the poor. Finally, despite feeling sick, I was able to exchange some name cards and have short, interesting conversations with some of the other delegates. As a female under the age of forty, I was in the minority. As a white foreigner.... well I was the only one. I hope that if I go to similar meetings in the future, I will recognise some of the leaders and they will remember me too. I just hope they don't remember that sneeze!