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In Cambodia, coronavirus ‘scarecrows’ deployed by farmers to ward off infection
- The effigies known as ‘Ting Mong’ often pop up in villages that have been hard-hit by infectious diseases like dengue or waterborne diarrhoea
- Cambodia appears to escaped the brunt of the pandemic, with 283 infections and no deaths, though sceptics say the low toll is caused by a lack of testing
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Cambodians use scarecrows to scare away the coronavirus
Cambodians use scarecrows to scare away the coronavirus
Armed with a stick, a floral-shirted ‘scarecrow’ with a plastic pot for a head stands guard in front of a rural home in Cambodia – a sentry erected by superstitious farmers to ward off the coronavirus.
Known as Ting Mong in Khmer, the creatively rendered scarecrows often pop up in villages that have been hard-hit by infectious diseases like dengue or waterborne diarrhoea.
This time, “I’ve set up the Ting Mong to prevent the coronavirus from threatening my family,” said farmer Sok Chany, 45.
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She has two posted in front of her wooden stilt home in Kampong Cham province, about 110 kilometres northeast of the capital Phnom Penh.
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The other is dressed in camo-green and has a stick propped like a rifle across its hay-stuffed chest.
“It is our ancient superstition to set up Ting Mong when there are dangerous diseases or to avert evil,” she said.
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