Dirty Water...Drinking Water
2 Comments Published by seserak on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 at 9:52 PM.
Ugly and dirty as it is, you sure wouldn't think the water in this pond can be used for such purposes as bathing or washing clothes, let alone drinking. But people in Malai district of Banteay Meanchey, a province bordering with Thailand, do drink and use it in their daily life. Now they are having trouble. According to the Cambodia Daily, one person died and between 450 to 600 villagers have fallen seriously ill after drinking the water in this pond.
Such problem is not uncommon in Cambodia where only 27% of the rural population have access to safe water. You don't have to travel to the remote area of the country to witness the lack of water. Just go to my home town in KampongSpue, which is only 48 kilometers from Phnom Penh, and drive down a few kilometers from National Road 4, you'll definitely see it.
( Picture from Kohsantepheap Daily )
So the Cambodia Daily reported today that 1 million stamps bearing pictures of Prime Minister Hun Sen's wife have been produced. Since I have almost no knowldege of the Khmer stamps, I'm just wondering if any other living Cambodians have been featured on the stamps since 1979. Or is she the first living person to be depicted in almost 4 decades?A brief check on google shows that living people had actually been featured on Cambodian stamps before 1979, as for example, former King Sihanouk in 1951 and 1952, both of his parents in the 60s, and former president Lon Nol in 1973.
( Picture courtesy of Kampuchea)
