David Calleja

Writer's Biography

David Calleja is from Melbourne, Australia, and has an undergraduate and postgraduate degree in the social sciences from RMIT University, majoring in International Relations and International Development respectively.  He is a contributing writer to Foreign Policy Journal (www.foreignpolicyjournal.com), with a specific interest on matters relating to Burma.  

You can watch his videos on YouTube by clicking on the following links:

A Garbage Diet - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbA9PGsik18
Smoky Mountain Estate - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHAEm1ph3Rk
The Children of Loi Tailang’s Kindergarten - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0nt1xPWdck

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Featured Travel Stories in Oriental Tales Magazine

Phnom Penh, Cambodia: A Banquet For Phnom Penh's Rubbish Dump Residents
- Story by David Calleja
- 11th Online Issue

My message is attempting to tell everybody to please make two lines. The limits of my Khmer are obvious to everybody in earshot, but even in a time of crisis, I am still able to obtain laughter from those who seek another type of medicine.

This is Stueng Meanchey, Phnom Penh’s Waste Dump. I am one of four frontline feeders, handing out packages of baguettes, mandarins and bananas to the outstretched hands, hats and cupped t-shirts of boys and girls, men and women. There are three other men helping me, each trying to keep their lines in order as I am. My journey for the day has taken me through an open market in Phnom Penh to shop for bread and fruit, taking a hands-on role of preparing a care package on the truck (the second row feeders) to hand to anyone strong enough to hand out food at the coalface (front row feeders.) I found out about this experience by seeing a laminated flyer behind some deodorant at a small grocery store in Phnom Penh, unsure what to expect for my fifteen dollars, apart from a warning of ‘seeing some distressing scenery’.

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