Back in Phnom Penh, and going north east.

It was of course difficult to leave Stockholm and my loved ones behind after three wonderful weeks together. But luckily, I also felt immediately at home when I landed at the airport in Phnom Penh. It´s amazing how quickly you adapt, isn´t it? Seeing my friends here also helped, of course; thank you Johan, Mimmi & Albin and Marco for being such lovely friends. Now I´m looking forward to Janne´s visit over Christmas and the New Year. Hopefully, I´ll also get visits from some friends as well; Louise in mid-December, and hopefully will Michael be able to make it here from London in October/November.

This week, the work has really kicked off for sure. Tomorrow, I´m leaving for a weeks field trip to north eastern Cambodia . Me and a couple of colleagues are going to Stung Treng and Ratanakiri in north eastern Cambodia, to visit two of our Cambodian partner organisations who works with Democracy and Human Rights there. North eastern Cambodia is supposed to be very different and beautiful, it´s fairly remote and populated by indigenous people, so it´s going to be very interesting to see. The situation for organisation working for human rights is getting more and more difficult, and Cambodian activist are being abducted and/or killed for claiming their rights. Land grabbing is a common problem; rich and powerful people stealing land from poor and indigenous people, taking away their possibilities to make a living. This issue is one of the things we´ll look deeper into during the field trip, so I´m looking forward to a very interesting week.

For some information on where I´m heading this week, check;
http://www.travelfish.org/region/cambodia/northeastern_cambodia
http://www.travelfish.org/province/cambodia/northeastern_cambodia/ratanakiri

Going home and away at the same time, part 2

In an hour, I´m leaving for the airport to go back to Phnom Penh after three wonderful weeks in Sweden. As you might recall from the last posting, I was a bit emotionally puzzled about leaving Phnom Penh - which of course turned out to be a totally waste of energy. Being here in Stockholm, spending time with my loved ones has been fantastic. Thanks to all my beloved friends and family who have made my vacation so warm and lovely. I´ll carry this summer with me in my heart, all the way to the other side of the world.

So, soon to be leaving, of course I can´t help wondering how it will feel to return to Phnom Penh again..? My home away from home... I feel just as puzzled as I did when I was leaving for Sweden... But as that turned out just fine, I guess that this´ll do, too..?

As much as I dread leaving Janne, Polly Jean and all good friends in Sweden, I´m also looking forward to see my friends in Phnom Penh again; Mimmi & Albin, Johan and hopefully Marco who´ll be on one of his regular visits from Holland. It´s really, really nice to know that I have some good friends to get together with when I get back. And it makes this process of saying good bye, just a little bit easier.

So, to all my dear friends in different parts of the world; lots of love to you all, and thank you for being you!