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Feeding the Hungry with Food for the Dead

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This story by Roth Meas appeared in the itself in a greatdeal of hostility when she first
Phnom Penh Post last September. Pchum Ben floated the idea almost a decade 4go,
is a very old Khmer tradition for honoring the something for which she was not prepared.
dead. The fourteen day festival ends with A labor of empathy
people bringing sticky rice cakes to their local
temples to feed their ancestors. Ten years ago "When I first sent letters to ask for rice cakes,
even some monks complained and asked why
Sarom found a way in which this festival can
also nourish the living. Now youthful we should help them. Prisoners are the bad
guys; they attack, rape and even kill people,
peacemakers collect sticky rice from over 100 they said. Some monks even cursed me before
temples for the inmates and staff of
Battambang prison. handing over the rice cakes," she said.
Yet Sek Sarom was determined to get her idea
The morning sunshine splays over Pok
Chhma primary school in Battambang, giving off the ground, with much of her resolve
emanating from an empathy she was able to
the orange robes of the monks who work there build for the inmates while teaching them.
an especially vivid sheen. The festival of
Pchum Ben has only just finished, but there " I think prisoners are human beings, just like
will be no rest for these holY men. me. I noticed that most of the prisoners ate
from poor backgrounds and many of them fell
The monks, along with many other into crime because of poverty and a lack of
volunteers, tend giant grills set up to dry
thousands of rice cakes left over from the education," she said.
festival of the dead. These savory treats will Racing against time
ultimately be distributed to Battambang With all of the good will in the world, though,
prison, where they will feed famished Sek Sarom admits she would not be able to
inmates. carry out the initiative without the help of the
Battambang's Dhammayietra Center runs the monks and other volunteers. lt is a huge
initiative, which is the brainchild of one of its operation, with bamboo for the grills supplied
workers, 30 year old Sek Sarom. She by local villagers and small groups of
conceived the idea in 2000, while working as volunteers speeding to Pagodas on
a volunteer language futor in Battambang's motorcycle, in order to meet the relatively
prison. tight time frame between the end of Pchum
7L Ben at around midday and a 2 PM deadline
a "We taught languages to the prisoners. and in when many ofthe temples close.
that time I observed that people did not have
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enough food in the prison. I know that after "Collecting the rice cakes allows many people
:* every Bonn Pchum Ben, there is a great deal to get involved. Not only monks, but also
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of waste in terms of food at the pagodas, so we members of Dhalnmayietra, as well as the
+ decided to begin collecting rice cakes for local community," Sek Sarom explained.
z- prisoners," she said. "After I finish sending them to the prisons, I do
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'l' Sek Sarom felt there was not enough have moments where I think I don't want to do
understanding from the wider community it next year because it is so tiring. But I know I
when it came to the inmates. This manifested will because I feel so much empathy for the
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@ people we are helping."