Here's a related blog article entitled A Frenchman in Need.The tale of a French beggar in Sihanoukville
A Frechman, Morvan Gil, with his two daughters begging on the streets of Sihanoukville during the Khmer Pchum Ben (ancestors) Festival.
Recently, Khmerization and other local media outlets had published the story of the plight of a destitute Frenchman who had a bad run in Cambodia and became a beggar on the streets of Sihanoukville. Originally, initial media reports said that he became a beggar because he was cheated by his Khmer wife.
However, inquiry and investigations by a local NGO chief found out that, contrary to the media reports, the couple had a happy life together. Mr. Albeiro Rodas, head of Don Bosco School in Sihanoukville, did an on-the-field investigation and found out that the Frenchman had tried to escape the emotional pain of seeing his dear mother dying of cancer and got stuck penniless in Cambodia. Mr. Rodas offered to enroll the 15 year-old illiterate boy, the Frenchman's stepson, in his school and set up a charity fund and offering a daily meal to all his young children. Other Khmerization's readers had offered to donate the money as well as offering things to his family.
According to a new report by Koh Santepheap, the tale leading to this Frenchman's plight is intriguing, or rather incredulous. The report said that his name is Ah Jel and is about 50 years old (he looks younger) and came to live in Cambodia for about 5 years already. The report said that according to neighbours, he became destitute when he met his Cambodian wife and both had irresponsibly spent all their money, $80,000 in total. He and his wife had two daughters named Marie and Sophie. The report said that many people wanted to adopt his daughters, but because he love his daughters so much he refused to give up his daughters for adoption.
The latest report from Mr. Rodas is that the Frenchman's family has already had help from another NGO, but the NGO withdrew its support because the family failed to follow their instructions. Below is what he said to Khmerization in an email:
Dear Khmerization, we found (out) today that the man has already (had) help from another NGO and it tried to support the boy to attend school, but the couple did not follow the instructions. I will update the article with the new inquiries tomorrow.
Another western beggar
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Another western beggar
While we've got the two threads going on in the Speakeasy about western beggars, (Trevor the begger (sic) and The Polite Foreign Beggar/Scammer), Koh Santepheap Daily recently ran an article on a French beggar in Sihanoukville. Here's Khmerization's translation:
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Raksmey Kampuchea ran this a couple of days ago too.shizzle wrote:While we've got the two threads going on in the Speakeasy about western beggars, (Trevor the begger (sic) and The Polite Foreign Beggar/Scammer), Koh Santepheap Daily recently ran an article on a French beggar in Sihanoukville. Here's Khmerization's translation:
Here's a related blog article entitled A Frenchman in Need.The tale of a French beggar in Sihanoukville
A Frechman, Morvan Gil, with his two daughters begging on the streets of Sihanoukville during the Khmer Pchum Ben (ancestors) Festival.
Recently, Khmerization and other local media outlets had published the story of the plight of a destitute Frenchman who had a bad run in Cambodia and became a beggar on the streets of Sihanoukville. Originally, initial media reports said that he became a beggar because he was cheated by his Khmer wife.
However, inquiry and investigations by a local NGO chief found out that, contrary to the media reports, the couple had a happy life together. Mr. Albeiro Rodas, head of Don Bosco School in Sihanoukville, did an on-the-field investigation and found out that the Frenchman had tried to escape the emotional pain of seeing his dear mother dying of cancer and got stuck penniless in Cambodia. Mr. Rodas offered to enroll the 15 year-old illiterate boy, the Frenchman's stepson, in his school and set up a charity fund and offering a daily meal to all his young children. Other Khmerization's readers had offered to donate the money as well as offering things to his family.
According to a new report by Koh Santepheap, the tale leading to this Frenchman's plight is intriguing, or rather incredulous. The report said that his name is Ah Jel and is about 50 years old (he looks younger) and came to live in Cambodia for about 5 years already. The report said that according to neighbours, he became destitute when he met his Cambodian wife and both had irresponsibly spent all their money, $80,000 in total. He and his wife had two daughters named Marie and Sophie. The report said that many people wanted to adopt his daughters, but because he love his daughters so much he refused to give up his daughters for adoption.
The latest report from Mr. Rodas is that the Frenchman's family has already had help from another NGO, but the NGO withdrew its support because the family failed to follow their instructions. Below is what he said to Khmerization in an email:
Dear Khmerization, we found (out) today that the man has already (had) help from another NGO and it tried to support the boy to attend school, but the couple did not follow the instructions. I will update the article with the new inquiries tomorrow.
Different story there.
According to them he's been contacted by the French embassy, who offered to fly him out. He refused, because they wouldn't give his daughters passports.
They also said that after he and his wife had spent the 80k she left him and the poor sod had to resort to begging at temples to survive.
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Is this the version that you had read previously?
A Frenchman became a beggar in Kampong Som [because he was cheated by his Khmer wife]
Preah Sihanouk: A strange event is taking place during the Pchum Ben season in Preah Sihanouk city whereby a Frenchman carrying two young children can be seen begging for alms along pagodas in Preah Sihanouk city during the Pchum Ben day.
Regarding the desperate situation of this foreigner, several Khmer witnesses who live near this Frenchman’s house indicated that he was married to a Cambodian sex worker woman. His wife allegedly used up all his money, then she left him for another man to indulge in drug and gambling and she left behind her two small children to the care of her husband.
One of the witnesses added that the Frenchman is named Jel(?), he is about 46-year-old and he came to live in Kampong Som about 5 years already. When he arrived, he fell for a Cambodian sex worker and he decided to marry her. The couple had a daughter named Marie who is now 3-year old. At the birth of his first daughter, Jel rented a house to open a shop for his wife, but she was uncaring and she spent all the money on drug and gambling until she lost everything. Later on, they had another daughter named Sophie who is now 1-year-old. As he no longer had a mean to feed his family, Jel went to work as a cook at a restaurant owned by his friend. While working, Jel left the children to his wife’s care, but instead of looking after the children, she found herself another man and indulged herself to drug and gambling instead. Because he saw his children hungry almost every day, Jel decided to stop working as a cook and he stayed home with the children instead. To provide for them, he decided to beg for alms.
Cops from the 3rd district confirmed that this Frenchman lives near the train station in Preah Sihanouk city. The cops added that the French embassy came to visit him twice already to ask him to return back to France, but Jel refused to leave unless his two daughters are allowed to go with him.
Would be nice to get the real story here, why is the press such a piece of shit in this country, never the whole story and you can't trust any of them.
Assuming he's not scamming, on drugs or a loonie, poor sod, what a fucking way to end up, and could so easily happen to anyone. Who is the NGO dictating terms for their magnanimity?
And what about the fucking french embassy, if the father is French, surely the kids get french passports too, what a ridiculous offer, to fly him back leaving the kids.
Someone down there offer the guy a job where the kids can run around.
Assuming he's not scamming, on drugs or a loonie, poor sod, what a fucking way to end up, and could so easily happen to anyone. Who is the NGO dictating terms for their magnanimity?
And what about the fucking french embassy, if the father is French, surely the kids get french passports too, what a ridiculous offer, to fly him back leaving the kids.
Someone down there offer the guy a job where the kids can run around.
Last edited by Jack Pot on Fri Oct 15, 2010 6:51 am, edited 1 time in total.
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A agree JP, this does sound like a genuine 'human interest' story. Okay, call him an idiot for falling in love with a drugged-up whore, but he's not the first. By all accounts he's in his situation because of his devotion to his daughters. Fair enough, other single parents manage to work and take care of their children, so there must be more to his side of the story, but he appears to deserve far more compassion than the other barang beggars in PP.
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It could simply be a money issue as far as thats concerned. it recently cost me just over $1200 to get citizenship and a passport for my daughter.Before we go jumping on the Froggy embassy we should know whether they really declined passports for the daughters or not. Not sure either paper got it completely right.
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I hope its not a touching story.
--um, is this a contest??but he appears to deserve far more compassion than the other barang beggars in PP.
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