On a small island off the coast of Cambodia, at the border of Vietnam in the Gulf of Thailand, live two lovely little girls, not much different than yours or ours. 50 families live on the island, roughly 4 to 6 children per family. Notice how their appearance is noticeably impeccable, just like any 3 or 4 year old living in poverty. We find this all over Asia, sacrifices for the children come first, above all else for parents.
Their dad fishes for crabs at night with the other men, and sleeps days. There are no schools. They will not learn to read or write. Their math consists of counting fish. A big number means more food, more rice, maybe health care. This is the water the entire village uses for cleaning, washing, some even for drinking.
Dad earns 10 to 15 dollars per night crabbing, depending upon his role on board the wooden fishing boat.
The crab catches are getting smaller, the weight per crab less and less. To the girls, I imagine dad is their hero.
^
We were told that the people laugh at foreigners, because they must be rich. And because as rich as they must be, the foreigners still look at them and ‘see’ them. Cambodian rich look down upon them and won’t look…
One of my favorite Sting song lyrics,
“Don’t judge me, you could be me in another life, in another set of circumstances…”