REACHING OUT: Youths at the Kampot Traditional Music School for Orphaned and Disabled Children put on a show.
By LOUISE SOUTHERDEN
www.stuff.co.nz
Every country has a dark side. Cambodia's is just more visible than
most, and more recent - decades of civil war, genocide and foreign
occupation that ended only in 1993 - but that's part of its appeal.
The country's uniqueness lies in its stories and the spirit of its
people. And, increasingly, tourism is playing a part in its recovery.
Fewer than 120,000 international tourists visited Cambodia in 1993;
in 2012, it received more than 3.5 million visitors and is hoping for 4
million in 2013, according to the Ministry of Tourism.
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Behind the welcoming smiles of the Cambodians, however, it's impossible to ignore the signs that all is still not well.
You see people with limbs stolen by landmines. Anyone over about 40 -
a tuk-tuk driver, a vendor at Phnom Penh's Russian Market - remembers
the Khmer Rouge's brutal regime (1975-79).
There is widespread poverty, child abuse and HIV infection (Cambodia has the highest incidence of HIV in south-east Asia).
Louise Southerden
Bou Meng at the genocide museum.
Then there are places such as the Killing Fields, just outside Phnom
Penh, that break your heart and inspire you to help in some way.
Michael Horton, founder of ConCERT (Connecting Communities, Environment
and Responsible Tourism) has seen this countless times. Read the entire article here.
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