For the last several years, it has been my privilege to work among the indigenous Bunong people of Cambodia’s remote Mondulkiri province (bordering Viet-Nam). The Bunong have their own language and culture quite distinct from the ethnic Khmer. In the small province town of Sen Monorom, we have a coffee and crafts shop, a boarding school dormitory, a community center and other projects.
A few days ago, two Bunong men carried their very sick father in a hammock slung from a long pole between them from their remote village to the hospital here in Sen Monorom. They walked for ten hours through the jungle, along the road and into town.
As the sick man was carried in front of our shop, our Bunong staff rushed out to see what was going on. On learning the situation, they immediately pooled their pocket money to buy food and water for the man and his family then went to the hospital to see how he was doing.
When they returned from their first visit to the hospital, we discussed the case. Heng, the 23-year-old designer at our shop, told me the sick man was “very old.” Remembering that I am nearing retirement, she quickly added, “Well, not as old as you, but old.” As age is revered here, I accepted the compliment and realized this was a young woman with a mission: she was going to do what she could to help the poor, elderly patient and his frightened family.
When the staff realized that cash from tips at our shop could be used in such cases, they went off to the market and bought a sleeping mat, a mosquito net, a blanket, bottled water, fruit juice, rice soup and other small items the patient and his family would need during their stay at the hospital.
Heng also realized that the patient’s family did not speak Khmer well, so now she serves – several times each day - as translator between the family and the Khmer medical staff. When one of the Khmer male health workers started yelling at the desperately ill patient for waiting until he was so sick to come to the hospital, Heng cut him off: “Hey, this man is sick. He came here for your help. Now help him!”
When she learned that the patient was severely anemic, Heng organized the staff from our shop (including this old man) as well as students from the boarding school to go to the hospital to be tested to see if any could donate blood. Some had the wrong blood type and some were too young to donate but their willingness to do so was really exciting. Heng told the technician at the hospital to call on us if they needed any of our blood types for future patients.
After several days, compatible donors were found. First, a colleague found a matching donor – also a Bunong student – and he gave blood but a second unit was needed. Hiep, the student manager of our shop, had been visiting his village during the crisis. When he returned, Heng immediately took him to the hospital where his blood was determined to be the right type and he gave the second unit.
At this writing (ten days after his arrival at the hospital), the patient’s condition continues to improve steadily though he may need surgery when he is stronger. Heng and other members of our staff visit several times each day and we have set up a phone link with the family at the hospital so they can reach us easily if they need assistance.
Heng will leave her job at our shop next month to become a kindergarten teacher in Bousra – much more responsibility in a much more remote location for much less pay. Why? “Because I want to be a teacher,” she says proudly. We are trying to put together a small project for her to teach design and sewing to village women there when she is not teaching children. That should give her a bit more income and make even better use of her considerable and varied skills.
Several years ago two development workers were driving in a car on a deserted Cambodian country road in the heat of the early afternoon. A motorbike with two men was approaching in the distance. Suddenly, the motorbike driver lost control and the two men were sent skidding across the gravel and came to a stop in a bruised and bloody heap. The driver of the car – a prominent “leadership trainer” much in demand - simply sped off leaving the two injured men in a cloud of dust to fend for themselves.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. identified three types of leaders: those who prepare the way, those who show the way and those who stand in the way.
Leadership training can be a valid activity but let’s not overlook the fact that there are natural leaders all around us – and thoughtful, conscientious people who will follow them. Let’s spend more time identifying these leaders and helping them get the resources they need to do the work they can do best. Most importantly, let’s don’t stand in their way!
