Cambodians on community mission in Pune

PUNE, June 26: Even as diplomats and international analysts debate the bleak future of Cambodia in wake of the present political storm in t...

PUNE, June 26: Even as diplomats and international analysts debate the bleak future of Cambodia in wake of the present political storm in the war-ravaged country, a group of government officials from Phnom Penh paid a quiet visit to Pune recently to seek solutions to their day-to-day problems related to housing, drinking water and sanitation.

Their visit was organised as part of an ongoing exchange programme between the Squatter and Urban Poor Federation (SUPF) in Phnom Penh and the National Slum Dwellers’ Federation (NSDF) in India, “to see similar problems of slum dwellers being dealt with in different ways.”

The interactive session between the visitors and locals held at a construction site in Dattawadi area where about 50 families displaced from Rajendranagar slums in the city are engaged in a collective effort to build their own houses, turned out to be a revelation for all those present.

“The poor in my country have no time for politics. They are more worried about getting food, shelter, drinking water, sanitation, shelter and clothes, for themselves,” Meas Somaly, a social worker with the Urban Resource Centre, told The Indian Express. Somaly was leading the group of seven Cambodians and also pitched in as an interpreter translating their native Khmer into English.

“We are encouraged by the progress achieved by the poor in Pune. In our country, a poor family ends up selling all their possessions to make ends meet.

The strategy adopted by our counterparts here in forming co-operatives, organising collective savings and negotiating with the local administration to explore house-building, can be adopted in our country,” felt Nuon Sim of SUPF.