Sihanoukville

Boy and boats-Sihanoukville

I came to Cambodia for the first time in 2007. Then my ‘guide’ of choice was Lonely Planet (along with about 99% of all backpackers). I can’t remember the entry for Sihanoukville word for word, but the gist of it was clear. Deep water harbour on the south-west coast of the country, lots of hotels, beaches, hotels with their own’ beach, beach hawkers, colourful nightlife etc etc. It was enough to keep me away. I’ve never been much of a beach-bum and the idea of being somewhere which seemed so dedicated to servicing the tourist was not my idea of exploring the country.

It was with slight trepidation this week that I found myself on a 2 day trip (2 ½ hours down the road) to Sihanoukville for part of this film. Elspeth (the director) was there, as was Cheun (pronounced June) our translator, Peter (production manager) Soy (our driver) and Chakryia (our wheel-chair subject). Only Sam (the editor) was left behind to log and capture footage from previous days and have a day off.

The trip was designed to take Chakryia back to her parents’ home and to see where she had grown up, gone to school and over come the first of many barriersthat would lead to her eventually working for EPIC arts.

Sihanoukville lived up to my expectation and justified my decision to stay away for all these years. Built on several hills it sprawled over quite a wide area and didn’t seem to have a ‘heart’. “A bit soul-less too” was my final conclusion. The lovely Jess (a volunteer at EPIC with the role of acting as our liason with the charity) had unwittingly booked us into a guest house on ‘girly-bar’ street. As our white minibus made its slow way down an unpaved and bustling at 6pm on the first night we had plenty of time to peruse the painted and outwardly cheery bar girls trying to entice (Siren-like) any male who would pass that way. There was evidence of a brothel on the corner to add extra colour and Peter the next morning had his suspicions that our guest house catered for the over spill.

Bar sign

Our first night was saved by the wonderful hospitality of Chakryia’s family, who had invited us to eat with them at their house. A newly constructed 3 storey affair (whose top story still needed finishing and which we were told they had built themselves) it was typically Cambodian in so far as the extended family of older sisters lived next door. We ate around a mat on the floor of the main front room and mother and eldest sister came in from next door with a series of dishes that were some of the best food I have ever tasted in Cambodia – sour fish soup, stir fried vegetables, fat juicy prawns, grilled beef and the all important rice. Real home cooked fare.

Chakryia & Elspeth eating

Family meal

It was obvious from the word go how important Chakryia’s parents were to her – she was so delighted to be back at home that she couldn’t stop beaming that huge broad smile of hers. It was equally obvious how supportive they had been of her ambition to gain a first class education, get a job and become an independent woman not held back by her disability. During the next day’s interviews and location shooting we were to learn how a neighbour’s child had been employed to push her the 15 minutes to her Primary school in exchange for having her uniform and books purchased by Chakryia’s family and how her father had carried her up the stairs of the secondary school where examinations had been held on the first floor.

Chakryia has been a real ‘star’ on this film – clearly loving being in front of the camera. However, even she struggled in the midday heat
as we filmed at the school gates of her secondary school where she had been very lonely and where our presence quickly drew a crowd of 70 + students – though whether they were there to stare at the camera crew or the girl in the wheelchair was hard to fathom.