ASIA/CAMBODIA - Families forced to live in cemeteries where children play among the graves

Wednesday, 9 September 2015

Phnom Penh (Agenzia Fides) - Hundreds of Vietnamese live among tombs and gravestones: a whole community was forced to occupy a cemetery in the south of Phnom Penh to tackle poverty and inequality. In Thmor San, an area of the village of Doeum Sleng, children play among the tombstones and adults prepare food among the tombs. Some families have occupied the land after leaving the countryside in search of job opportunities but, given the excessively high rents of apartments in Phnom Penh, they have accepted to live in the necropolis. Some anthropologists have documented the widespread belief in spirits in Cambodia that are part of the daily reality of people and are worshiped in homes with small altars or 'houses of the spirits'. In Thmor San thousands of inhabitants survive on the small market, the sale of junk and aid of the NGOs. Alcohol, domestic violence, malnutrition, lack of education, abuse and child labor, diseases such as HIV, all aggravated by frequent floods, are among the most common problems. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 09/09/2015)


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