Dead Or Alive

It was a beautiful Sunday morning in Cambodia. The sun had started its climb into the majestic sky, the air was still fresh,the traffic on the road was minimal. We started our journey back to Siem Reap from the Aknuwat School in Kampong Thom. Ahead of us just over two hours of riding. That was mainly due to the fact that our rented motorbikes couldnt get there a whole lot faster.

The first few kilometers rushed by as we each thought about the memories from our visit to the school. The children again had delighted our group with laughter and smiles beyond the despair in which they live.

Very shortly that would all be forgotten.

As I went around another bend and straightened the direction of the motorbike my eyes suddenly focussed on an object laying in the middle of the road ahead. Initially I thought it was an animal, then as we neared slowing our pace, it was obvious, it was in fact a human body. The body was covered in something, I couldn't establish what until I got a little closer. My heart started thumping.

I slowed my bike in unison with my traveling partner. We glided by the body then stopped. A rush of adrenalin raced through my body, was the body dead?

I noticed a slight movement of a foot. I breathed again. We slowly dismounted from our bikes then approached the body on the road. No vehicles were in sight, for now.

My Cambodian friend Las unwrapped part of the blanket, as he did he uncovered a weaping middle aged woman. The tears in her eyes were of despair, drama, and hopelessness.

We coaxed her off the road, several seconds later a truck went roaring past. Oh my god I thought, how close was that. If we hadn't........dont even think about that.

Las spoke to the women, each of her words a sobering cry of emotion.. Her eyes were swollen, her lips blue, terror rained from all of her senses. We found out that her husband had left her the night before, she had four children, no money, no food, no home. The only choice in her mind was to end it all.

So she wrap herself in a dirty grey blanket laid down in the middle of the main highway between Siem Reap and Phnom Penh awaiting her fate.

I tried to fathom the choices people have to make in this country, how hopeless they become, how unhearlded their existence. Millions upon millions of dollars of aid, going where?

Why after years are there still people in this situation. I am energized to do more. Each time I visit I am struck again with another impossible situation. A world so far removed from the 'plastic fantastic' world I am living.

We stay with the woman for some time. Calming her down. Las providing some words of resolve, I'm unsure exactly what he said, my Khmer is still non existent. As the scene calmed I gave the woman some money. I explain to Las to tell her to find some shelter, some food for her children, pleading with her not to go back on the road. She opened her mouth nodding her head, a flurry of Khmer followed, I was lost.

We gingerly mount our bikes, then restart our trip. I didn't look back, I couldn't, surely we have done all that we could. I couldnt begin to think what happened next. We ride for the next hours, no talking, just the whining sound of the tired old motorbike engine, cars and trucks go whizzing by in the opposite direction, hopefully their paths unimpeded.

The living memory of this experience now firmly planted inside my helmet forever.

Life in Cambodia. Please help.

The Tiger Foundation Launch

The official launch of the Tiger Foundation will take place in Singapore on Sunday April 13th. Anybody interested in either attending the launch or wanting information about the Tiger Foundation should contact Mark Philpott at philpott.mark@gmail.com