Cambodia Women

Media Activism in Cambodia: An Interview with Tive Sarayeth of the Women's Media Center
Off Our Backs

On February 13, 2006, off our backs collective member Angie Manzano visited the Women's Media Center of Cambodia (WMC) in Phnom Penh. WMC is a public broadcasting organization founded by Cambodian women activists in 1993. While there, she met with Tive Sarayeth, codirector of the Networking Department of the Women's Media Center of Cambodia (www.wmccambodia.org), who talked about the history, mission, and values of the WMC.

Can you tell me how the WMC got started?

Well, in 1993, there was a group called Cambodian Women for Non-Violence in Elections. The purpose of this group was to increase women's participation in the upcoming United Nations-sponsored elections. After the elections were over, five of the women involved in this group decided they wanted to keep working on women's issues. These women were the founders of the WMC.

How many people work with WMC today?

We have 60 people on staff, all Cambodian. Before we used to have only women on staff. Now there are men on staff, but we still have a majority of women. When we recruit staff, we focus on women. We want to have as many women involved as possible. We also have many volunteers.

What kind of media work do you do?

We work in three main areas: Radio, video and networking. When we started, the radio station didn't have a very strong antenna. In 2001 we got funding from UNESCO to buy a new antenna, which is 10KW. We now broadcast 16 hours a day, and we reach about 60% of the population of Cambodia. We produce radio programs about women and youth. We have both news and entertainment. We encourage all women to come and talk about whatever on the air. They can even call in if they can't come in. We also encourage women to write and we help them get published in the Cambodian newspapers.

Networking is what I personally work on. I work to advocate women in the media. We also cooperate with women's and human rights organizations. Usually, the people involved in these groups are specialists in their issue, but they don't have the technical media skills. We have those skills. We know how to produce TV and radio shows. We know how to do interviews, roundtable discussions, and so forth. If they want to do a radio show, we will give them one hour of free time. We also have scholarships for women to study at WMC. This is important because it is hard to find Cambodian women with media skills. One of our greatest challenges is the lack of qualified staff.

Can you tell me about the Cambodia video you produce?

Yes, well we don't have a TV station, so we broadcast on other stations. But we also want to reach people in the remote villages who have no electricity and no access to media. We have a mobile unit, which consists of a TV, VCR and power generator. We move it to different villages to screen all kinds of shows-comedy, drama, news, sports, interviews. People say they like the comedy and drama shows the best.

What other kind of feedback have you received from the people In the villages?

They say, "Use simple words." Also when there are words on the screen, they say that we should have a voice-over. This is because many of the people in the villages can't read. They also say they don't want productions about rich people. Once we had a story about a general who had HTV, and the people in the village said, "This is not about us. Rich people live in villas, have lots of cars, lots of girls." They prefer stories about people like themselves. We get a lot of feedback from women who say they want us to do programs on domestic violence and trafficking in women. When we show programs on domestic violence, usually someone will say, "This is the story of the woman who lives near my house! How did you know what happened to her?" One more thing: They say that the programs should be at least two hours long. If we have programs that are shorter than two hours people won't come. That's because many people have to walk at least 2 kilometers to get to the show, and they aren't going to walk that far for a show that's only one hour long.

Are there some people who are offended by the programs-the fact that they deal with Issues like violence against women?

What we do is different because we have a gender perspective. Some men are not happy about this and won't watch. They say it is an "old issue." They are afraid that women will take their power. This is not only the poor, but the rich as well! The reality of Cambodian life and tradition is that the husband is powerful. He has the right to make decisions without discussing them with his wife. He has the right to order the kids and beat the wife.

One time we showed a program in a village and everyone came. Then the next time, two of the families didn't come, because the husbands would not allow their wives to watch. They were ashamed because of our message. Our message is from a different angle. We say no one has a right to beat you, even if it is your husband. But after seeing the show, some of the men change. I know two of the men stopped beating their wives. It's not perfect, because they went from beating their wives to blaming them, but it is better.
You said that many women relate to the stories of domestic violence. Is It common for women In the villages talk to you about their experiences after watching one of the programs?

Many times women come up to us and say, "Where can I go? Who can I contact? My husband has been beating me everyday for 10 years." But when they contact the courts, the village leaders, the police, they won't do anything to help. We put them in touch with people who can help. We know a lot of people and organizations that can help them. Like the Cambodian Women's Crisis Center (CWCC). They assist women who are exploited, raped, trafficked, beaten. They run a shelter and can also help women learn skills. There is also the human rights group Lichado, which can help women going to court. But there is a problem: Some women complain when their husband beats them. Later on, when it is okay with their husband, they withdraw the complaint.

What other subjects do the Cambodia video programs address?

The main issues for women in Cambodia-trafficking in women, rape, HIV. Many women get HIV from their husbands, and then they pass it on to their children. As far as trafficking, what happens is that girls in the remote areas are cheated and sold to brothels in Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Taiwan. Sometimes it happens through their boyfriends and sometimes the parents sell the girls. They tell the girls that they are taking them to find a job in the city, but it's not true.

And rape happens everyday; father rapes daughter, neighbor rapes a girl. Due to Khmer habits, parents are ashamed when their daughter is raped. They don't want it to be heard. Sometimes they will arrange for their daughter to marry the rapist, or pay him money to keep quiet. Many times they can't go to court because they can't afford it. They also have to have a medical check within 24 hours, or else the court will say that there is no evidence. You have to pay for the examination too! If a girl lives in a remote area she often has no money to travel to get the exam or pay for the investigation. Some girls don't know they have to get the exam within 24 hours, so it is too late if they do go in for an exam. So we produce materials that explain to girls what they should do and who to contact if they are raped. We encourage parents not to pay the rapists, because then they know that they can keep doing it to other girls.

There are many other issues, like health. I know a woman who was making between $50-$70 U.S. dollars a month working with the government. But she had to work 12 to 14 hours a day to make that kind of money. She worked too much so she was always sick. All the money she made she had to spend on medical treatment. This is something that happens a lot near the Thai border: If you buy food it costs 5000 riels [approx. $1.25]. If you buy drugs, it costs 500 riels [approx. 12 cents]. If you buy the drugs, it is cheaper and it makes you not hungry, but it can make you lose control. Men who take drugs often lose control and beat their wives.
Do you think that the WMC media programs are having a lasting Impact on the lives of Cambodlan women?

The changes that I have seen are that women are starting to talk, to seek assistance, to work on women's issues and to escape from their husbands. The fact that women can speak openly is a big change! Author Manzano, Angie
 

Cambodia – The Happiest Country in Asia

Given the recent history of Cambodia, you might wonder why I refer to it as the happiest place on earth. Well, there is a real reason if you understand what happy means in Cambodian slang.

Cambodia is located in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Thailand to the west, Laos to the north and Vietnam to the east. As you may know, some very nasty things happened in Cambodia in the 1970s and 1980s. During this period, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge ruled the country or were fighting to do so.

Reign of terror is a phrase often over used, but not when it comes to the Khmer Rouge. The group implemented what can only be called bizarre policies and managed to starve and murder roughly twenty percent of the total population of Cambodia. The reign of terror was eventually ended when the Vietnamese invaded and pushed the Khmer into a small, isolated pocket of land in the far north.

A few years back, I had the urge to travel. I get it every two or three years. I get it bad. I usually sell off whatever I have and travel for as long as I can. In this case, I flew into Thailand because I didn’t have a lot of money and the flight from Los Angeles was cheap, cheap, cheap! Thailand was pretty touristy, so off to the wilds of Cambodia I went.

To be honest, Cambodia is not as wild a place as you might think given its recent history. These are some seriously strong people from a mental perspective. If you walk around the major city, Phnom Phen, it looks like nothing happened. In fact, you keep seeing signs for happy this and happy that just about everywhere. I am not kidding. The signs literally say “happy dinner”, “happy pizza” and so on. Gee, these people are happy.