Kampuchea Crossings

It’s that time of year again… all productivity is grounding to a lazy halt across the Kingdom. The Mekong is reversing current, the air is scalding, the rainstorms are waiting on the periphery, and we’re celebrating the third New Year of the Gregorian calendar …

សូស្តីឆ្នាំថ្មី! ពីភ្នំពេញ
Chunpo Chnam Thmei!
Happy New Year from Phnom Penh!

A woman died today after giving birth to a healthy baby boy. We came across her just in time to see the life fade from her eyes after hemorrhaging in the ward where there were four midwives and an obstetrician on duty. Only one staff was attending to the patient at the time of death – a student midwife.

The term for childbirth in Khmer is chlong tonle, which literally means “crossing the river”; it’s dangerous and you don’t know if you’ll make it across. Death always leaves you stunned. It’s staggering when you see a case that was entirely preventable. Angering when negligence is the cause.

Here’s an interactive update on ODAs from the OECD. It’s a simple, straightforward series, worth clicking through if you like seeing the big picture. The most relevant is that the US still remains the top donor in absolute terms (followed by Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Japan – all present in Cambodia except DfID who exited in 2011). This is despite a real drop of 0.9% from 2010.

Thankfully there’s a consensus among policymakers that foreign assistance is a critical component of foreign policy, even in the midst of calls for massive cuts during this election year. Seriously, US political “debates” are like tragicomedies except it makes your head hurt because you’re aware it isn’t entertainment. But I digress.

Updating trends so that outdated cold/war priorities aren’t perpetuated, and harnessing the US’ strength in innovation, technology and product development to develop public-private partnerships are already being programmed in.

Cambodia could use a bit of these changes. I can’t see USAID funds drying up in Cambodia given the history of the two countries, plus its relative geopolitical importance in this region (ironic isn’t it). But we’ll see a lot of waste because of the China set.

No thermometer, no measuring cups, no heating pads, no double-boiling appartus. I am terrible at following recipes, and the more complex things get the more my eyes glaze over and I just lose interest. I love plain yogurt but for a long time the most common yogurt in Phnom Penh were the sweet flavored ones from Thailand and Vietnam. So I had to learn how to make it. Thankfully our friend and neighbor Kishore taught me how. It’s so simple, with everything just eyeballed and estimated.

Easy plain yogurt recipe:

• ~1/2 cup plain yogurt as a starter – I use the Garden Center Cafe’s probiotic yogurt. It’s a natural probiotic yogurt with active cultures. I hear Stoneyfield is a good starter. You can use the yogurt you make as starter in future batches.
• ~1 box of milk – The 1 liter box milk is what you usually find here, although organic and natural labels are starting to make appearances at the natural food grocery stores.

Directions:

1. Heat the milk on the stove, med-high, until small bubbles start to form and it starts frothing. I don’t stir it, so that film forms on top. See the pic below. Turn the burner off.
2. Let it sit and cool until the milk is about lukewarm, ~20 minutes. Again that film is on top, hardening. I don’t touch it.
3. When the milk is lukewarm, add about 1/2 or 3/4 cup of your starter yogurt. Mix it all gently in a glass bowl.
4. Cover the bowl and place in a warm spot, like in an oven which you aren’t going to be using, where it will be not be bumped, moved or otherwise disturbed for around 12 hours.
5. Let sit overnight.
6. When it has reached a solid state, it is ready. Place in containers and stick them in the refrigerator.

Heat the milk on med-high heat

Turn the burner off when the milk starts to bubble and froth a bit

Guesstimate about 1/2 or 2/3 cup plain yogurt as starter

After mixing your starter yogurt into the milk which has cooled to lukewarm, put in a warm spot