A friend in Cambodia writes:
The high cost of food and fuel is on everyone’s mind. For the city people, this mean going for days each month with no money on their hand phone, and more carefully checking the weights in the market, but for many of the rural poor, this means having less to eat. The local TV news is crammed with pictures of concerned government officials handing out sacks of rice to “the poor”.
Also:
…the doubling of the price of food this year. Until recently when the government stopped it, neighbouring countries were buying up Cambodia’s harvest to meet their own shortfalls.
Well, we hoped that the price for the exercise books would hold but we weren’t expecting a price hike of around 40% !
Yes, Mr Hon quickly alerted us to a price adjustment and that $400 was still needed to stock the school with exercise books for the coming school year.
Quite amazingly, the email from Mr Hon was followed closely with an unexpected email advising that another $400 was available for us.
Amazing it sure was – exactly the right amount needed!
Nevertheless we anticipate that this year’s assistance will be costing much more.