Postcards for $1, wisdom is free
April 16th, 2007 by Wil Robinson
Poverty in Cambodia forces many children to find work in order to supplement their family’s income. Add to the poverty a booming tourist industry surrounding the ancient temples of Angkor Wat, and you get children that experience the world around them without crossing any borders, logging onto the internet, or watching CNN.
A seven-year-old who is moderately fluent in a couple languages is one thing. But a child dropping worldly wisdom in a sidewalk cafe is another.
In the town of Siem Reap, home to Angkor Wat, the streets are filled with travelers - American, French, Chinese, Italian, German, Japanese, Swedish, Korean, Australian, etc. The average Cambodian’s knowledge about the world around them appears to have benefited greatly from this mix of cultures and languages.
In Siem Reap virtually every child knows a decent amount of English. It’s fairly easy to converse with kids of any age - even the very young. They can answer questions - and perhaps more importantly - ask questions. Some of them appear quite fluent, not only in English, but in French or Japanese as well (of course they all speak their native Khmer).
At the various temples you can’t walk more than a few feet without being swarmed by vendors - most of them children. They sell bracelets, trinkets, water, shirts, books - and especially - postcards. And they all sell the same set of ten postcards.
I had decided early on that I would not, under any circumstances, purchase a set.
Competition is fierce. Each child needs to find a gimmick that will convince the tourist to buy their wares. There are a few standard lines and questions the kids will fire off at you - again, in excellent English:
“Hey lady, you want to buy cold drink?”
“Hey mister, you want to buy postcards?”
After the initial “No thank you,” they pull out the big guns. Play on sympathy and cuteness. The kids hawking the set of 10 postcards dive into their first tactic - counting:
“Ten postcards for one dollar. 1, 2, 3, 4…”
After they sort through the stack counting each one, they count again:
“Un, deux, trios, quatre…”
“Uno, dos, tres, cuatro…”
“Ichi, ni, san, shi…”
One boy - not more than eight years old - counted from one to ten in at least a dozen different languages. But if counting doesn’t work, they have more in their arsenal:
“Where are you from?” they ask.
“California.”
“The capital of California is Sacramento. California is in the United States. The capital is Washington City. There are 50 states…”
It goes on. Their geography is impressive, really. Most kids know the capitals of numerous countries - some naming capitals that I don’t know (okay, that’s not saying much).
After repeated “No, I don’t need any postcards,” they usually give up.
“Okay, if you want cold drink you buy from me, okay?”
It’s hard to get frustrated with these kids. They are almost all very polite, and always seem generally excited to just have been able to talk with you, even if you don’t fork out any money and buy their goods. Of course there are the tourists that can’t reciprocate kindness, instead completely ignoring them, or worse, answering with a gruff “No.” How much effort does it take to be nice?
So a few days into the trip, I had grown adept at politely refusing even the most pitiful looking kids, ones that pull out the “If you buy postcards I can go to school” - even though school is free. But while eating lunch at one restaurant in town, I met my match.
Our table was outside, ten feet or so from the sidewalk. While we were eating a boy - perhaps 11 or 12 years old - stopped on the sidewalk and tried to get us to buy something. (The restaurants don’t allow the kids to enter, so they stand at the edge of the cafe’s property and talk from there.)
The boy had books and, of course, postcards. He went into the usual spiel; the counting, the questions, the capitals.
But this kid was different. He named off dozens of countries and capitals - I quizzed him with numerous countries, and he had no problem spitting out the answers. (Okay, I stumped him with Rwanda, but how many of you can name it?)
He didn’t stop there:
“The leader of California is Arnold Schwarzenegger. There are 50 states, Alaska and Hawaii are the newest.”
And then the clincher:
“The president of the United States is George W. Bush, but nobody likes him.”
I was sold.
Later that day we stopped by the post office and mailed ten postcards to friends and family back home.
Tags: Cambodia, President Bush, postcards, Cambodia, children
Great story. Sounds like it belongs in a book about your travels…
It’s pretty amazing: kids (in poverty) on the street in Cambodia selling various goods are probably more knowledgeable on important topics than many American children and others from rich nations — namely with geography and languages. I am amazed every time I see a survey, poll, or documentary showing how little Americans know about their own country, let alone the world.
Bravo Wil!
Have to admit, would have been hard to pass on that sales pitch for me as well. Out of the mouths of babes…
Nice post, Wil. You’re a big softy at heart.
Love the story, Wil. Thanks.
Nice experience, all of it.