Supporting Cambodia: energy crisis goes beyond plight of stranded cruise passengers

Sir, – Within hours of 200 residents of the Villa Vie Odyssey cruise ship being put ashore in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, this week, their story was being reported by RTÉ, Newstalk, The Irish Times and outlets around the world (“Luxury cruise ship that left Ireland two years ago strands passengers in Cambodia”, World News, October 28th).

The ship’s Belfast departure gave it an Irish angle, and a “cruise for life” ending abruptly in a Cambodian port makes for a compelling image. I sympathise with those affected.

Having lived in Cambodia since 2014, however, I could not help contrasting that coverage with the near-silence that has greeted a far larger abandonment with far greater ramifications. Last year the United States froze its foreign aid and then terminated 30 programmes in Cambodia worth $260 million (€235 million), covering health, education and child protection.

Sweden ended its development support at the end of 2024. Little has been said, either, about the fuel shock squeezing families here. The same price rises that halted the Villa Vie Odyssey have pushed up pump prices here by about 40 per cent since February, driving up the cost of everything, and the World Bank warns that a prolonged shock could push more than a million additional Cambodians into poverty.

The good news often goes unreported, too. Ireland has held its course. In 15 remote primary schools on the Thai border, where Irish Aid funded the district’s first teacher training centre, the share of children meeting the minimum reading standard rose from one in 10 to more than one in four in a year.

Two-hundred stranded travellers is news. Millions of Cambodians losing support, and children learning to read against this backdrop, should be news too. – Yours, etc,

COLM BYRNE,

SeeBeyondBorders,

Siem Reap,

Cambodia.