Mt Pritchard's Nola awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia [-Congratulations and Thank you, Nola!]

Nola May Randall-Mohk, (correct), of Mt Pritchard, has been awarded the OAM, for her services to the Cambodian and Khmer communities. With Nola, are her two Grandchildren, Pik Meas, 14, and on right is Sotheary Thach, 8.

26 Jan 11
By Lauren McMah
FairfieldAdvance (Australia)

IT’S not the kind of work you get into for the praise.

But after over 25 years of assisting multicultural and refugee communities, Mt Pritchard’s Nola Randall-Mohk has been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia.

“I’m pretty excited,” Ms Randall-Mohk said.

“I don’t even know who nominated me. It’s a relief to know someone noticed that the system works.”

Inspired by the plight of refugees from Cambodia’s Pol Pot regime, Ms Randall-Mohk has given particular assistance to Khmer communities, and has been public officer and director of human resources for the Cambodian-Australian Welfare Council of NSW since 2000.

She said she was saddened by many people’s attitudes towards her Cambodian students during her time as a TAFE teacher in the 1980s.

SRP MP Son Chhay awarded the Order of Australia Medal: Congratulations MP Son Chhay!

SRP MP Son Chhay

We are pleased to advise that SRP MP Son Chhay was awarded the Order of Australia award for his services to Cambodia, on Sunday 14 June 2010, during the Queens' Birthday. Please see the announcement below:

MEMBER (AM) IN THE GENERAL DIVISION OF THE ORDER OF AUSTRALIA
The Honourable Chhay SON, Morphettville SA 5043

For service to international relations, and to the community through the Cambodian-Australian Association of South Australia.
Cambodian Parliamentary service includes:

• Member of Cambodian Parliament, since 1993.
• Member of Parliament, Phnom Penh, and Party Whip, Sam Rainsy Party (formerly Khmer Nation Party), since 1998.
• Chair, Cambodian Parliamentary Caucus on Myanmar, 2006.
• Chair, National Assembly Committee on Foreign Affairs, International Co-operation and Information, 2005-2008.
• Member of Parliament, Siem Reap Province, 1993 -1998.
• Chair, Parliamentary Committee on Public Works, Transport, Telecommunications, Post, Industry, Energy, Mines and Commerce, 1998-2003.
• Parliamentary Secretary, Committee on Education, Culture, Tourism and Religious Affairs, 1993-1998.
• Founder and Vice-President, Cambodian Australian Association of South Australia, 1981-1985.
• Founding Member, Association of Southeast Asian Nations Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus, 2004.
• Founding Member, Global Organization for Parliamentarians Against Corruption, 2002.
• Coordinator, South East Asia Parliamentarians Against Corruption, for 2 years.
• Founding Member, Coalition for Transparency Cambodia, 2001.
• Lecturer, Phnom Penh University, Cambodia, 1991-1993.
• Teacher at various schools and colleges in South Australia, 1986-1998

KI-Media note: Thank you Lok B.N. for the report!

Dorothy Missingham has been named a Member (AM) in the Order of Australia for her service to help Cambodian refugees in the 80s

Quiet achiever works for love of humanity

26/01/2009
Southern Highland News (Australia)

FORMER Robertson resident Dorothy Missingham has been named a Member (AM) in the Order of Australia for her service to international humanitarian aid through contributions to refugee resettlement and migrant assistance programs in South East Asia and Australia.
Educated at Robertson High School and Moss Vale Primary School, Ms Missingham graduated as a Bachelor of Arts in Canberra and became a teacher.

While travelling in Cambodia, she heard of Pol Pot’s atrocities and joined the Indo China Refugee Association (now known as the Australian Refugee Association), working to resettle orphaned refugee children.

From 1984 to 2000, she returned to Thailand and Cambodia to work with young Cambodians and also worked in Sydney with young refugees at Burnside Homes NSW, developing innovative approaches to help refugees through supported accommodation and community networks.

She worked as a volunteer to settle Cambodian orphans in Australia, the USA, Switzerland and Canada.

Australians awarded the Order of Australia for helping Khmer refugees in Thai camps in the 80s

Ms Dorothy Lucy MISSINGHAM, SA

For service to international humanitarian aid through contributions to refugee resettlement and migrant assistance programs in South East Asia and Australia, and to the community.

Employee, Indo China Refugee Association (now known as Australian Refugee Association), working with resettlement of orphaned refugee children, 1984-2000; during this period she returned to Thailand and Cambodia to work with young Cambodians and also worked in Sydney with young refugees at Burnside Homes NSW; developed innovative approaches to assisting young refugees through supported accommodation and community networks.

Volunteer, involved in the settlement of refugee Cambodian orphans in Australia (Sydney, Canberra and Adelaide), the United States of America, Switzerland and Canada, early 1980s; assistance included taking refugees into her own home.

Ms Missingham continues to support several former refugees, now adults, from this period.

Volunteer, Khao-I-Dang Refugee Camp and Sakaeo Refugee Camp, Thailand-Cambodian Border, in the early 1980s; support and rehabilitation work in the camps through International Aid agencies and United Nations agencies.

Resettlement work with subsequent refugee groups including Eritreans, Ethopians and Kurds, and from the former Yugoslavia.

Board Member, Save the Children – Australia, during the 1990s.

Welfare work with asylum seekers at Port Hedland, during the 1990s.

Campaigner against landmines, for many years.

Founding Member, Survivors of Tortur and Trauma Assistance and Rehabilitation Service (STTARS) in South Australia.

Current Assistant Lecturer, School of Chemical Engineering and School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Adelaide.

Dr Barbara Julienne WAKE, SA

For service to international humanitarian aid through contributions to refugee resettlement and migrant assistance programs in South-East Asia and Australia, and to the community.

Employee, Indo China Refugee Association (now known as Australian Refugee Association), during the 1990s; working with the resettlement of orphaned refugee children.

Volunteer, involved in settlement of refugee Cambodian orphans in Australia (Sydney, Canberra and Adelaide), the United States of America, France, Canada and New Zealand, early 1980s; continues to support several former refugees, now adults, from this period.

Volunteer, Khao-I-Dang Refugee Camp, Thailand-Cambodian Border, in the late 1970s and early 1980s; support and rehabilitation work in the camps through the International Red Cross and United Nations agencies.

Campaigner against landmines, for many years.

Senior Lecturer, University of Adelaide, since 1994.

Congratulations to Mr.Ben Nhem

Friday, June 13, 2008
Opinion by Jayakhmer
On the web at http://modernprogressivekhmer.blogspot.com

As I sift through the headline news from Cambodia, I found much depression news of political defections, political maneuverings, finger pointing, mud slinging, and political scapegoating.

Then, BAM!!! Thank you K I Media for posting the story.

The story of Ben Nhem hits me as though someone was throwing a bucket of cold icy water on my face in the otherwise sleepy afternoon of a hot day. As I read the story, I could not contain all the emotions that ran though my mind. The Ben Nhem's story was a story of what is right with Khmer people. It was a story of courage, of resilient, and of survival. It was a story of human triumph over obstacles, and it was a story of extraordinary human being.

Although I am very proud of Ben Nhem who was recognized and honored with an Order of Australia medal for his devotions to the community, the people, and the country he loved, it was the narrative of his life that truly moved me.

His life's story touched my heart because he represents hundred of thousands of us whose lives have been impacted by the war and the devastation that caused by Indochina War and the Khmer Rouge. He represents those of us whose parent or parents and relatives were murdered mercilessly by the Khmer Rouge. He represents all of us who work very hard on a daily to defy all odds in foreign lands whose people love and fully embraced us. These lands and its people give us new lives with endless opportunities to be educated, to pursuit our dreams, and to live with dignity.

The memory of the Khmer Rouge regime while it is not so fresh to those who involved in the heinous acts is very fresh for all of us who are the victims. This is why the Khmer Rouge tribunal, may be served as a pawn in a political chest game for others, it is very important for us. Doing it right means a great deal to all of us who want to close this darkest chapter in our lives.

The Ben Nhem story should be a constant reminder to all our leaders that their actions whether they realize it or not impact million of innocent lives.

As a Khmer in a foreign land, I would like to join my fellow Cambodians across the globe in congratulating Mr. Ben Nhem.

Congratulations!!!
Jayakhmer

Congratulations to Mr. Ben Nhem, recipient of the Order of Australia Medal

Accounted for: Ben Nhem was surprised to receive an Order of Australia medal in the Queen's Birthday honours.

Honour astounds

10/06/2008
BY KYLIE STEVENS
St Mary's-Mt Druitt Star (Australia)

BEN Nhem, an orphaned teenager when he arrived in Australia with his younger brother from Cambodia in 1983, has received an Order of Australia medal in the Queen's Birthday honours.

It was for his tireless work with the Cambodian community in Australia.

'`I thought it was only for big guys like government ministers who would get this kind of award,'' Mr Nhem, an accountant of Rooty Hill, said.

``Some years ago, I never knew what the Queen's Birthday Honour was all about.

``Later on, when I understood what it meant, I thought to myself that I would not dare to dream about it.

``This award means so much to me.

``I feel more at home in Australia than in Cambodia these days.''

Mr Nhem formed CambodiaWatch Australia in 1997 to lobby for improved human rights in Cambodia. The group, now the Cambodian Network for Peace and Reconciliation, also raises funds to build wells in poor villages.

Mr Nhem also formed the Cambodian Ex-War Orphans Support Group and was on the Khmer Community of NSW committee for many years.

He was 10 when his father was killed by the communist Khmer Rouge in 1977, two years after it took over Cambodia at the end of the Vietnam War.

Mr Nhem was sent to prison not long after for stealing rice to eat.

He escaped and found his mother and sister dying from hunger and overwork.

Two years later, Mr Nhem and his brother, aged 8, walked 100 kilometres barefooted to Thailand where they were picked up by international aid workers and put into a Red Cross camp for orphans. They became state wards when they arrived in Australia and lived at the Burnside Home in North Parramatta.

Mr Nhem attended Ashcroft and Canley Vale high schools, studied at university, and has had his own accounting practice for 10 years.

``I have never seen any generous country in the world like Australia, and the Australian people,'' he said.