Today we met Sok Kho (78) in Phnom Penn, director of the Old Peoples Association in one of the Phnom Penh areas, and his fellows from the OPA: Ma Sarun (77), Ek Sary (62) and Nuon Chun (76). The idea of a cooperation where several people spread the risks in earning their livelihood by working together is very old in The Netherlands. It ceased to exist thanks to the now dominant Anglo-Saxon model of putting your own profit first at any cost, also called Reaganism, after the late president of America.
The cooperations in Europe were based on the idea of sharing resources that were too expensive for the members. Like buying a tractor that could be shared by more farmers. Even a bank like Rabobank is originally based on that concept. And the original concept of an insurance also. It would be a social innovation if we in western world start cooperations of Elderly like in Cambodia, that go beyond only sharing resources. In Cambodia they also care for each other, making visits to each other and sharing important holidays.
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