With the Cambodian workers, I am practising my Khmer again. I am writing down little notes and getting language lessons from multiple people. This is all rather confusing, I am studying Burmese to speak when I return to the dump site in Mae Sot, I speak Thai on the street here in Bangkok daily and now Khmer. I did some Khmer lessons way back when I was visiting Cambodia more often and a "KHYOM CHUMOO GERRY" (My name is Gerry) goes a long way but learning Khmer again is a bit much at this stage, its giving me a headache and hurts my mouth and tongue.
When I am with the Cambodian people any language skills are a big bonus. Any time I speak any Khmer or speak of places I have visited in Cambodia (Phnom Penh 4 times, Sihanoukville 1 time, Siem Riep 2 times and Poipet 4 times) I am a big hit, people love it. As always language is important and knowing as much about the culture and the people you photograph really matters. The more you know not only helps you as a person and photographer it helps build a partnership, a connection with the people that allow you to photograph them.
I keep thinking back to one girl in the Cambodian worker housing area, she spoke Khmer, Thai (and I think Vietnamese), she told me of her family back in Cambodia and how much she missed her children. At one point she asked me if I wanted to see her wedding pictures and when I said yes she quickly showed me some very beat up faded color shots made 9 years earlier. She was so proud of her family, of her husband, of Cambodia. To see her in those pictures and then in her unit here in Thailand working so hard was a quite a contrast.
All of the workers I met in the housing area are young, most under 35. At times when I sit with them their are 11 or 12 people all around, some are even on a second level looking down at me as we talk. They live such boring lives, they work in Thailand away from home to make more money but their lives are so limited, they have so few opportunities. When a barang (Khmer word for Westerner, Thais use farang) walks in its a big thing, everyone comes over to see and talk to you, smiles are everywhere. Being surrounded by over 10 people in a strange inclosed area is a bit intimidating but I feel quite comfortable, the people are so kind and friendly. I got offered water 2 times, its just brought to you by a child or by somone from one of the homes.
When I am with the Cambodian people any language skills are a big bonus. Any time I speak any Khmer or speak of places I have visited in Cambodia (Phnom Penh 4 times, Sihanoukville 1 time, Siem Riep 2 times and Poipet 4 times) I am a big hit, people love it. As always language is important and knowing as much about the culture and the people you photograph really matters. The more you know not only helps you as a person and photographer it helps build a partnership, a connection with the people that allow you to photograph them.
I keep thinking back to one girl in the Cambodian worker housing area, she spoke Khmer, Thai (and I think Vietnamese), she told me of her family back in Cambodia and how much she missed her children. At one point she asked me if I wanted to see her wedding pictures and when I said yes she quickly showed me some very beat up faded color shots made 9 years earlier. She was so proud of her family, of her husband, of Cambodia. To see her in those pictures and then in her unit here in Thailand working so hard was a quite a contrast.
All of the workers I met in the housing area are young, most under 35. At times when I sit with them their are 11 or 12 people all around, some are even on a second level looking down at me as we talk. They live such boring lives, they work in Thailand away from home to make more money but their lives are so limited, they have so few opportunities. When a barang (Khmer word for Westerner, Thais use farang) walks in its a big thing, everyone comes over to see and talk to you, smiles are everywhere. Being surrounded by over 10 people in a strange inclosed area is a bit intimidating but I feel quite comfortable, the people are so kind and friendly. I got offered water 2 times, its just brought to you by a child or by somone from one of the homes.
