I am reading a grim book called Cambodia's Curse: The Modern History of a Troubled Land, by Joel Brinkley, a former New York Times correspondent and fellow student at the University of North Carolina in the 1970s. If I had read this book before visiting Cambodia, I probably wouldn't have gone. He depicts a lawless society in which international non-governmental organizations enable corruption and shore up the retro communist government of Hun Sen, who has been leader of the country since 1985.The annual per capita income of Cambodia is less than $600. A large part of the population suffers from PTSD, passing it on to their
children. There are only three or four licensed
psychiatrists in the country of 14 million people. A recent writer said he
saw a schizophrenic being "treated" by being roped to a tree.
