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Oh! Oh! Here's something that won't help, either"

The Cambodian government must do more to help more than 1.4 million of the country's children estimated to be working, many for 50 cents a day or less, the World Bank said in a report released Wednesday.

The bank said that although rates had probably improved on 2001 estimates of 52 per cent of seven to 14 year olds already at work, the number was still too high and urgent action was needed.

It said children active in the labour sector had a drastic effect on school enrolment and school performance, and that could have negative impacts on the economy for years to come if the trend was not reversed.

Well, duh, duh and double duh!

I wonder how much their report, "Children's Work in Cambodia: A Challenge for Growth and Poverty Reduction" cost ...

If you'd like to read more about NGOs in Cambodia, this article, "NGO Fever: Democratization and its Discontents in Cambodia" is very interesting.

I'm especially fond of the line: There are so many NGOs and international funding organizations in these few square blocks that one wonders flippantly for a moment why more problems have not been solved with this much aid pouring in.

There's more, of course:

The parallels between development and colonialism are striking. Upon visiting Phnom Penh, a first generation Indian-American man said that the city reminded him of colonial India where "the haves had white skin and the have-nots had brown skin… only in Phnom Penh, the white-skinned people are development workers." Perhaps we should not be too surprised by this fact, as development has its ideological roots in colonialism. But as white middle class do-gooders seeking to make an ethically orchestrated impact in the world, the implications of our very presence here sometimes make us queasy.

And here's a story about humanitarian projects taken on by the Swiss.

They're responsible for hospitals that treat up to 85% of ill children in Cambodia.

There will soon be bus service between Ho Chi Minh City and Siem Reap, if anyone is thinking of traveling economically between Vietnam and Cambodia. Ticket details are in the link.

For an story that will underline exactly why our kids need their citizenship sorted out for certain, here's a report on a man who'd been living in the US since childhood, but was banished back to Cambodia after slugging his girlfriend.

Not a nice guy, perhaps ... and not an adoptee ... but he's paying a very high price.

And here's a report about ethnic Vietnamese living on the Tonle Sap.

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