Here's another letter. His photo catalog seems to have a wide range of
impressions on me. I thought the boat races and the markets looked quite
nice. The photos of the killing fields museum is quite gruesome.


Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2004 19:49:19 -0800 (PST)
From: Robert Mellis
Subject: Breakout

It just gets better and better.
We had a prison break on Wednesday. Twenty-one guys made it over the
wall. Their escape is the stuff of novels. They peed on their cell
bars, corroding them and making them thin (doesn't this seem like a
really long-term strategy?). One of the convicts was hospitalized and
his family brought him a hacksaw. He used this to cut through his bars,
presumably because his pee was weak.
The guards shot into the air when they saw the boys breaking out,
sliding down ropes made of clothing and sheets. "We would have shot to
kill them if they had weapons. But we have learned about human rights,"
a guard said.
They caught 11 of the cons and then they beat them to a pulp. "We did
this because we were angry," the prison guard told The Cambodia Daily.
Apparently human rights protocols do not involve beatings, only
killings.
The other 10 are roaming the city as I write. The prison chief, trying
to minimalize the damage, said only half of those at large are
murderers. The other are just rapists and thieves.

Jo and I went to the Russian Cultural Center on Monday. This is a
dreary place, with lots of photos in the empty bookshelves that show
Gagarin and the past glories of the Cosmonaut program. We attended a
video, shot by an Australian, about the use of Agent Orange in Vietnam.
Both of us thought we knew enough about the serious problems brought on
by the use of this defoliant in the Vietnam War. It also was used in
Laos and Cambodia. But it was staggering to see how this Weapon of Mass
Destruction lives on - and will continue to do so for the next
500-1,000 years.
Not only were the U.S. soldiers who loaded the Agent Orange aboard the
planes severely affected by the chemical, but the children of the
children of the Viet Cong now have massive birth defects. Children come
with three knees, they have massive heads, some have four eyes, some
have none, and some have no limbs. The ongoing destruction is just
mind-boggling. And the U.S. refuses to discuss its culpability in all
this.
Three Vietnamese have just filed a class action lawsuit in U.S.
district court in New York against Monsanto, Dow and 15 other chemical
companies. But you and I know that the grandchildren of the Vietnamese
children who are being born today will be born with their newest birth
defects before there is resolution of this suit.
There were mostly expats at the film and most of them believed that the
U.S. TV channels will not show such a report for fear of retribution by
big business and the U.S. government. The belief was expressed that
Public Television would not dare to show this horror story because it
gets funded by the U.S. government. I just can't believe this. So, when
we returned home, I wrote Bill Moyers to ask is there was any
possibility of shining his spotlight on the subject. Frontline would be
another powerful medium. I also know it takes years to organize
something like this. But attention needs to be paid.

I have a pet gecko that lives on the wall in front of my office
computer. He comes out every morning and looks at me. Then he sets to
work collecting the mosquitoes that buzz around my office and take
chunks out of my ankles. We have a wonderful symbiotic relationship. I
chat with him about the daily struggle. He goes to work on breakfast.
My bites are less bothersome.

Sokhan wanted to go home to his village this week because his mother is
very sick. He had planned to drive his dad and his sister back to the
village from Phnom Penh. His father prevailed on him to stay here and
do his job, though. They took the bus. Sokhan was buoyant when dad
called the next morning to say that mom was doing better. They had a
witch doctor (his words) come in and call out the evil spirit of his
mom's mother who had been bothering her. The spirit came out and mom is
feeling better, Sokhan said. I asked him about the evil spirit. "Is
this your grandmother who forced the (Muslim) Cham people to eat pork
during the Khmer Rouge time?"
He said that was his grandmother on his father's side. The Cham
murdered her after the Vietnamese came into the village and liberated
it in 1979. Sokhan doesn't know how they killed her. He said his
grandfather was a good man and the Cham said he should not watch. They
tied her hands behind her back and took her away to the woods. The
family never found her body and has never been able to cremate her. So
her spirit is wandering around Kampong Chang. But mom is feeling better
now.
I, on the other hand, thought it might be good to get her back to PP so
she could go see a western doctor. Jo has ties to one who has agreed to
treat her at no cost. But Sokhan says he thinks they should hold off
until they see if the witch doctor's magic will hold.

Sokhan said, as he drove along, "You won't believe me. But we stick a
candle on an egg. Then we light the candle. The candle lies down. We
then call the evil spirit. If we call the right evil spirit, the candle
will stand up and the flame will be straight above the egg. This is
when we know we have called the right spirit." I told him I believe
almost everything when it comes to Cambodia. He chuckles.

The U.S. ambassador paid $1,000 each for the destruction of 283
missiles this week. These are old Soviet things and they are really
excellent for Army personnel to sell to the Osama bin Laden crowd. So
we paid to blow the buggers up.
All the missiles were pointed down into the ground when they were
ignited. But one flipped over and flew straight at the assembled
bigwigs. "We thought we were done for," a soldier said after he hit the
dirt. I'm meeting the U.S. ambassador next week when the folks come in
from New York. Can't wait to ask him if he blinked.






=====

Cambodia pictures are at:

http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jorob2004/my_photos

http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/margaretjmellis

Sailing and other travel pictures are at:

http://photos.yahoo.com/robertsmellis

Ferg wrote:
Here's another letter. His photo catalog seems to have a wide range
of impressions on me. I thought the boat races and the markets looked
quite nice. The photos of the killing fields museum is quite
gruesome.

well, that's interesting.

how did he get a gig teaching in cambodia? peace corps or something?

how did he get a gig teaching in cambodia? peace corps or something?


I'm not sure, I get these second-hand from my Father. If you e-mail him
he'll likely be happy to explain.

John.