Conversations With Ratha Part II

When I flew to Cambodia, I sat next to an American guy on the plane who was living in Siem Reap. He was working for Engineers Without Borders doing temple restoration (is that not the coolest job ever??) Anyway, just as we are about to land, he let's me in on a little secret: Traffic in Cambodia is CRAZY! His advice to me was "Maybe...when you're riding in a car...um...don't look out the window. Just don't pay attention to what's going on." I was like, whaaaatt????

The first 10 seconds I rode in a car in Phnom Penh I think I screamed for my life. OK, I did scream for my life. Traffic there is like...how do I describe this? You know when you're a kid and you look really closely at an ant hill and you see millions of ants, all going different directions, all with different agendas? That is the best analogy I can come up with to describe the tangled, crazy mess of motorcycles (motos), bicycles, and cars that make up the roads in that country. I believe this is why rental cars there come with a driver. Because no foreigner would EVER attempt to negotiate those road rules, or, as it seemed, lack thereof. Once I asked our Cambodian teammates if they ever see motorcycle accidents. Without even pausing to think, almost in unison they said, "Oh yes. Everyday in Phnom Penh."

So anyway, remember my Cambodian dental student friend Ratha? One day he and I were working on a patient and I cannot remember what thoughts lead me to the question, but I asked, "Do you have a moto, Ratha?"

Ratha: "Yes, but I never ride it because I never have money to put gas in it."

Me: "So how do you get to school? Do you have a bicycle?"

R: "Yes", he pauses and looks up. "But I got hit by a car just before I came up here, so I don't know what I am going to do when I go back to Phnom Penh"

Me: "You got hit??"

R: "Yes"

Me: "By a car??!"

R: "Yes. The car hit me, I fall off my bike to the side. Then the car run over my bike and doesn't stop. Just keep going. And the police does not even care. They do nothing to help me. I cannot ride my bike anymore. It is all bent."

Now, because the world is a generous place, Ratha has a new bike.

I receive a message and a picture from him the other day. It said: Now you can see my a new nice bike, sister. God bless you.