Cambodia Calling: Who's reading who?

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Who's reading who?

Garlic--believed to keep evil away. I took this photo in Nepal.

I get a fair number of visitors to this blog--some of whom I prefer not to have. Let me explain.

My friend John told me about this thing called Site Meter which I have installed. It shows me who is reading the blog and also lets me know how they find the blog (for fellow bloggers, go to www.sitemeter.com and you will also be able to follow who is following you--it's all very voyueristic).

Most people are first time visitors who come across this blog via Google, or for quite a number from the US, via MSN live search. The most popular topics are the touristy ones, so my post on the Water Festival, which is coming up in 10 days, gets many hits. So do "Taxi/bus from Siem Reap to Bangkok" and "Questions I get about Cambodia".

The posts on Cambodian property also do quite well. In addition, I get a number of visitors who Google "marry Cambodian" (it's good to know Cambodians are desirable marriage partners!). They get directed to my post on Chhun Hy's dreams of marrying a foreign woman, which would not help them much if they were looking for Cambodian laws on marriage.

The recent post "Singlish in Cambodia" did well with Singaporean readers because it was picked up by a few Singapore sites. Many people also got pointed to my entry on Chomsky because the headline was a close match to what people were Googling, namely "Chomsky turns 80; interview with the BBC".

Unfortunately, because Google works by searching all the words on the blog, anyone typing in "naked Cambodian women" will get directed to my blog, because of the entry "Bloom cafe and the naked chef", even though the words "Cambodian" and "women" occur elsewhere. It is interesting that the only people who search these words are in the US. I even had one person in California search for "Cambodian singer sex" and ended up on my post "Popular Cambodian singer shot". I suspect they are Khmers living in the US.

But the ones that really, really disgust me are those who type "sex childish", or some other wrong spelling of those terms. These people have come from the US (2), Brazil (1), Peru (1) and Yemen (1). How do they end up on this blog? Because of one post entitled "Sex trade in Cambodia, Childish Khmers and the Blame Game". Of course, once these sickos realise it's not what they are looking for, they leave.

If only garlic worked in cyberspace...

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Some argue that "Shopping is more important than voting", and that the disposition of money is the most basic role we play in any system of economics. Some theorists believe that it is the clearest way that we express our actual moral choices, i.e., if we say we care about something but continue to buy from parties that have a high probability of risk of harm or destruction of that thing, we really don't care about it; we are practicing a form of simple hypocrisy." - Ethical Consumerism, Wikipedia

THE BLOOM MANIFESTO

1. We believe in the right of all people to a decent life, free of poverty and with access to education

2. We believe you will be enriched helping the poor

3. We believe women hold up half the sky

4. We believe workers should always be paid a fair wage

5. We believe if you knew the truth, you would not be an accessory to the exploitation of workers

6. We believe exploitation is evil

7. We believe in the power of good over evil

8. We believe in the power of the individual to bring about change

9. We believe your bag is a reflection of you - are you really a sheep?

10. We believe quality is worth paying for

11. We believe in love at first sight - at least where our bags are concerned!

12. We believe in life, liberty and the pursuit of handbags!

WHAT IS A SOCIAL ENTERPRISE?

A social enterprise has as its central objective, a social or environmental purpose, and not the obsession with profits. Yes, of course we want to be profitable, but it is so we can hire even more people in unfortunate circumstances, and offer them a shot at a better life, and not because we want to "increase shareholder value" or for the sake of lining our personal pockets. In fact, the only foreign staff (and founder/funder) does not get a salary from Bloom.

At Bloom, our mission is to alleviate poverty and save the environment at the same time, through our recycled bags.

As a social enterprise in Cambodia, we are competing with many NGOs on the one hand (which get donations) and for want of a better word, capitalistic businesses (which drive down costs in an effort to maximise profits). We recognise and accept the challenges that face all business, but are committed to principles of Fair Play, and will NEVER sacrifice those principles in order to be competitive. This means, for instance, we will never sacrifice workers' pay just so our bags will be cheaper. The average pay at Bloom today is 2.13 times the market rate.

So please, before you ask us to discount our bags, remember that we are not a minimum wage factory; we are a social enterprise. If you want a cheap factory-made bag, Bloom is not what you are looking for. If you agree that workers (where-ever they are--Singapore, Germany, France, the US) should always be paid fairly and are not here to produce goods and services at low wages for the profit of big business, then please consider Bloom. Bloom bags are all hand-made by our small team who spend our working hours dreaming up and making bags.

All Bloom profits go to our Khmer staff and to growing Bloom. Ultimately the aim is for Bloom to be a workers' cooperative, where workers own, manage, grow the business and share the profits.

WHO WE ARE

Bloom is a social enterprise established in Sept 2006 with the intention of providing fair-paying jobs to abandoned, widowed and divorced Cambodian women. Bloom is not a factory. We are a small workshop of nine people who work closely as a team to produce original, quality handmade bags made from recycled rice and fish feed bags.

Every Bloom Bag is meticulously designed, cut, glued and sewn by the Bloom team in our workshop in Phnom Penh. Each bag is handmade with love and attention to detail (the Bloom team really enjoys making bags!), resulting in beautiful, unique bags we are sure you will love and your friends will want!

All Bloom Bags are handmade by our team. We do not outsource to other sewers because we want to be in control of the supply chain, to ensure that everyone involved in making a Bloom Bag is paid fairly. There is no middleman taking a cut and passing on the work to another.

Please Visit Bloom's new workshop off Norodom Boulevard in Phnom Penh and our retail outlets. Bloom is next to Warehouse Pub in the Old Market Area in Siem Reap and at No.808 Russian Market, Phnom Penh.

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Who's reading who?

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