http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-MhjvDXl8g
Showing posts with label US citizens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label US citizens. Show all posts
Sunday, February 05, 2012
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Opinion: Cambodia will break your heart
Cambodian women hold their children as they wait near a hospital in Phnom Penh, June 18, 2007. (Chor Sokunthea/Reuters)And, with a corrupt Ministry of Health, it sure won't heal what ails you either.
December 9, 2009
By Joel Brinkley
GlobalPost
PALO ALTO, California — James and Cara Garcia say they just wanted to do some good. She’s a registered nurse, he’s an emergency medical technician, working in South Carolina, and last year they found themselves on vacation in Cambodia, indulging Cara’s new interest in Theravada Buddhism.
Suddenly Cara was seized with the idea of uprooting their lives, moving to Cambodia and opening a health clinic for the poor. Her husband eventually agreed, and without realizing it, they stepped into a drama that proved Joseph Mussomeli’s prophetic warning about the state.
Mussomeli was the United States ambassador to Cambodia from 2005 to 2008. While there, he would tell visitors: “Be careful because Cambodia is the most dangerous place you will ever visit. You will fall in love with it, and eventually it will break your heart.” In a country where NGO scams are not unknown, the Garcia's story was found to be true.
The Garcias sold most everything they owned, netting about $40,000, and managed to raise another $16,000 in donations. With that they set off for Phnom Penh, hoping to open a clinic and begin treating patients right away.
Altruism is a rare commodity. And while Garcia was telling the truth when he said, “we were just trying to do a good thing,” the couple did have another motivation. Cara had a mental disorder that made it hard to get a job. She was considered disabled. What’s more, six years ago, she was caught, twice, stealing prescription drugs from the pharmacy in a hospital where she worked. The South Carolina State Board of Nursing censured her. Needless to say, all of that made it virtually impossible to get a job. The new venture might give her a fresh start.
Cambodia is a charity state. International donors pay for nearly all of the nation’s social services, and the health minister, Mam Bunheng, spends much of his time ingratiating himself to foreign benefactors. So it was with the Garcias. He gave them permission to open a health clinic in Kampong Thom province.
Using their own money, they began seeing patients, hundreds of them – more than 900 every month. But when they asked the local health-ministry office for the supplies, drugs and medications they needed, the local representative said the warehouse was bare.
“We put in request after request but were always told they had no medications,” Garcia said. Then finally the Garcias happened by the ministry’s local warehouse when the doors were open and saw that it was fully stocked with all the medications they had been requesting. Garcia asked why his requests were turned down but said the warehouse manager told him simply: “None of this is for you.”
Not long after, while Cara Garcia was out for a walk one night, she saw two SUV’s pulled up to the warehouse doors. Two men were filling the vehicles with medications and equipment. When the Garcias asked about this during a local donors’ meeting, they began to broach the second part of their Cambodian adventure, under Mussomeli’s gloomy formula.
Most likely, they were told, the men were carting off the drugs, intending to sell them and keep the money. Across the province, the health ministry operated 19 clinics like the Garcia’s, but most of them were closed; some were boarded up. Three or four were regularly open, though only a few hours a week. That allowed bureaucrats at the health ministry to pocket the salaries of ghost employees – a stratagem with a long, inglorious history in Cambodia. Suddenly, in October, the Garcia’s good intentions ran full force into the ingrained customs of the nation they were trying to help.
Cara Garcia, particularly, did not like it. She raged at government officials, questioned their honesty, blamed them for the deaths of patients the Garcia’s could not properly treat. Cambodian corruption, she kept shouting, was killing little children.
In Cambodia and much of Asia, women just don’t behave have like that. She quickly made several powerful men quite angry. A few nights later, the Garcias said, Cara was walking home from a meeting when several men jumped out of a car, dragged her into a rice paddy, beat and raped her for several hours then left her for dead. She didn’t die, but she was broken.
The Garcia’s went to the police in several locations. All of them were unresponsive. Now the Garcias were radioactive. No one wanted to touch them, proving the maxim that is naive and foolhardy to carry American values to a foreign land and expect everyone to comply.
They began packing up their belongs, and settling accounts – only to discover, Garcia said, that their office assistant had been stealing from them for months.
They had nothing left, “no home, no car, no possessions or belongings except what was in our suitcases,” Garcia said. They had no more money and had to solicit help to get home.
Back in the United States, Garcia reflected on their journey
“We gave all we had,” he recalled. But Cambodia “defeated our spirit” – and broke their hearts.
Suddenly Cara was seized with the idea of uprooting their lives, moving to Cambodia and opening a health clinic for the poor. Her husband eventually agreed, and without realizing it, they stepped into a drama that proved Joseph Mussomeli’s prophetic warning about the state.
Mussomeli was the United States ambassador to Cambodia from 2005 to 2008. While there, he would tell visitors: “Be careful because Cambodia is the most dangerous place you will ever visit. You will fall in love with it, and eventually it will break your heart.” In a country where NGO scams are not unknown, the Garcia's story was found to be true.
The Garcias sold most everything they owned, netting about $40,000, and managed to raise another $16,000 in donations. With that they set off for Phnom Penh, hoping to open a clinic and begin treating patients right away.
Altruism is a rare commodity. And while Garcia was telling the truth when he said, “we were just trying to do a good thing,” the couple did have another motivation. Cara had a mental disorder that made it hard to get a job. She was considered disabled. What’s more, six years ago, she was caught, twice, stealing prescription drugs from the pharmacy in a hospital where she worked. The South Carolina State Board of Nursing censured her. Needless to say, all of that made it virtually impossible to get a job. The new venture might give her a fresh start.
Cambodia is a charity state. International donors pay for nearly all of the nation’s social services, and the health minister, Mam Bunheng, spends much of his time ingratiating himself to foreign benefactors. So it was with the Garcias. He gave them permission to open a health clinic in Kampong Thom province.
Using their own money, they began seeing patients, hundreds of them – more than 900 every month. But when they asked the local health-ministry office for the supplies, drugs and medications they needed, the local representative said the warehouse was bare.
“We put in request after request but were always told they had no medications,” Garcia said. Then finally the Garcias happened by the ministry’s local warehouse when the doors were open and saw that it was fully stocked with all the medications they had been requesting. Garcia asked why his requests were turned down but said the warehouse manager told him simply: “None of this is for you.”
Not long after, while Cara Garcia was out for a walk one night, she saw two SUV’s pulled up to the warehouse doors. Two men were filling the vehicles with medications and equipment. When the Garcias asked about this during a local donors’ meeting, they began to broach the second part of their Cambodian adventure, under Mussomeli’s gloomy formula.
Most likely, they were told, the men were carting off the drugs, intending to sell them and keep the money. Across the province, the health ministry operated 19 clinics like the Garcia’s, but most of them were closed; some were boarded up. Three or four were regularly open, though only a few hours a week. That allowed bureaucrats at the health ministry to pocket the salaries of ghost employees – a stratagem with a long, inglorious history in Cambodia. Suddenly, in October, the Garcia’s good intentions ran full force into the ingrained customs of the nation they were trying to help.
Cara Garcia, particularly, did not like it. She raged at government officials, questioned their honesty, blamed them for the deaths of patients the Garcia’s could not properly treat. Cambodian corruption, she kept shouting, was killing little children.
In Cambodia and much of Asia, women just don’t behave have like that. She quickly made several powerful men quite angry. A few nights later, the Garcias said, Cara was walking home from a meeting when several men jumped out of a car, dragged her into a rice paddy, beat and raped her for several hours then left her for dead. She didn’t die, but she was broken.
The Garcia’s went to the police in several locations. All of them were unresponsive. Now the Garcias were radioactive. No one wanted to touch them, proving the maxim that is naive and foolhardy to carry American values to a foreign land and expect everyone to comply.
They began packing up their belongs, and settling accounts – only to discover, Garcia said, that their office assistant had been stealing from them for months.
They had nothing left, “no home, no car, no possessions or belongings except what was in our suitcases,” Garcia said. They had no more money and had to solicit help to get home.
Back in the United States, Garcia reflected on their journey
“We gave all we had,” he recalled. But Cambodia “defeated our spirit” – and broke their hearts.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Follow up from the American family reported by Khmer Intelligence
On 14 November 2009, Khmer Intelligence published the following report:
Tragedy of an American family in Cambodia (2)
An American family who have come to help Cambodia and made big sacrifices to run a medical clinic providing basic health care to the poor, are victims of corruption and violence, which characterize the prevailing political system.. The e-mail we publish here has been circulating among their countless known and unknown friends who are deeply moved by their tragedy and revolted by the Kafkaesque situation they are facing. You can read their story by clicking at http://tinyurl.com/y8duql9
Below if a follow up from the family:
---------------
Dear Khmer Friends,
Thank you everyone for your patience with us, considering the ramifications of our story.
If you your site could use the information in this letter to make a difference in the corruption rampant in the medical field in Cambodia, please contact me to discuss how we can cooperate. This is a bit long, but please bear with me.
We came to Cambodia to save lives, but because of our outspoken stance againt this corruption, we became targets and nearly lost our lives.
Yes, we managed to escape Cambodia, thanks to supporters of our NGO who used their personal funds and air miles to arrange a ticket. We have nothing left but our suitcases, and must start over here in the US. Cara is still unwell, and will require continued medical care for some time.
For your patience I'll provide you the details, but please be aware this is not a simple story of another assault. As they say in Cambodia, there is little random violence. There IS violence, but nearly all of it is for a reason. It's the reason for the attack that had us so worried.
The initial details of the attack are outlined in the forwarded letter below. It wasn't until a few days later that we put the pieces together to realize this wasn't random.
Since we arrived in Cambodia this past March, we had been working at a small clinic in Kampong Thom Province. At the request of National Assembly Representative from Kampong Thom, His Excellency Nhem Thavy, we were given a closed down Community Health Center. Using our own funds, we renovated and restored the clinic. We were incredibly successful, seeing up to 100 patients a day, who often came hundreds of K's and waited days to see us, as we were the only reliable and available care in the provinces. It reached the point we were getting busloads of sick people arriving daily from past Siem Reap, Kampong Cham, and kampong Channg. As long as we were spending our own cash, we were fine. We had opened on the advice and request of the Ministry of Health while awaiting our MOU to be finalized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We had thought that it would be completed shortly, but as of Oct 12, the day of the attack, it had not yet been approved. We had been told by many other NGO's that a significant "donation"(bribe, specifically cash, a nice camera, or laptop) needed to be paid to get our MOU cleared, but we refused to pay. Therefore, we were told repeatedly by the MFA that our MOU wasn't good enough- basically our budget was under $100,000- too small for their % cut. We were given odd reasons, like we dated it before it was signed, then we removed the date, then it was declined because it didn't have a date. We had used the old Min of Health Logo. We used blue ink on the stamps, and red ink is supposed to be used prior to approval. Then, they didn't like our date. Then, our typeface was too small. We kept making these ridiculous modifications to appease them, until finally, "the ink on our logo was too bright". It reached the point the Secretary General Leng Peng Long, Vice President Nguon Nhel, the Assembly President and finally Minister of Health H.E. Mom BunHeng all appealed to the MFA and we still never got approved. And all this time we were still saving the lives of 100 people a day from our little clinic.
That was the big corruption we were dealing with, but not the most deadly. It was the little guys who we believe came after us. In the Baray-Santouk referral district of Kampong Thom Dept of Health, there are 19 health care centers just like ours. Almost like our, that is. They are all boarded up, shut down, and non-functioning. Some see a few patients, but not many people go to them because they have no medicine and no staff. At the Baray-Santouk Referral Hospital, there are 10 paid doctors and 37 paid nurses on staff- but me made a practice to bring by every international visitor and challenge them to find a health care worker on the grounds. Not once in 8 months was someone working there. They average 3 to 5 patients a day, and most are never given the medications they need. We would often visit there, and on occasion gave money to the patients to catch a bus to Siem Reap so they could actually get treatment- if you didn't have $50 cash, you couldn't take one of the three empty ambulances sitting there.
But it wasn't the lack of treatment and staff that was the big problem. Each of the other 18 closed down health Care centers in the District were reporting to the Regional Director Dr. Meas Cham that they were treating 900 patients a month. The medicine for these imaginary patients was being shipped there, stolen, and sold by the staff. Every week we would submit our legitimate medication requests, only to be told "we don't have any". Our patients were dying over 50 cents worth of Cipro, and we were quickly running out of our own funds to purchase medicine. We finally confronted Dr Meas Cham and his Supervisor, Dr Vao Lough Kuhn, Kampong Thom regional Director, over this issue, and were told we were going to be reported (to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs!) over our outrageous behavior.
Every time we demanded we be sent the even the basic medication that they were already listing as being distributed to us, we were told they had just run out, or that our "MOU wasn't completed so they didn't have to send us anything". We did not receive one dose of vaccines for 6 months when we were seeing over 1800 patients a month. They had run out every single month. At one point we contacted the head of the Cambodian Red Cross, HE Ho Noun, who paid a visit to our clinic. She was very impressed, and we had a big media day, but still no medicines came. Every now and then we would get a box with 10 IV's, and a few bottles of the stuff that no one could sell (Vitamin A and Birth Control Pills), but never Paracetemol or Antibiotics.
The situation was becoming critical, and we began to put more pressure on the district. We staged a visit with "simulated" visitors from World Health, who asked about why vaccines weren't being delivered. Dr Meas Cham walked out on them, so we called some friends and were arranging an actual aduitor come visit to help out. AT the end of September, we had to close the clinic. We were out of our personal money, and without our MOU, could not even apply for grants and loans. We did get some funding from the Camkids Charity (Dominique and Benita Sharpe, very nice people), but could not operate without adequate supplies. We hoped closing for a few days would put pressure on the MFA and MOH to get our papers completed so we could operate. That's when the top level of the Nat'l Assembly began to put on the pressure. It looked like we might finally get it done, and the local Min of Health would be forced to give us the required medications.
And that was precisely when Cara was attacked.
You see, a lot of people were making a lot of money off of those stolen medications. A lot of staff had very nice Camrys, and a Lexus or two, and without that extra cash, they could lose them. Most importantly, if two westerners could legitimately open and operate a clinic, and treat 2000 patients a month with almost no money, then they might be expected to improve THEIR standards a little bit.
So we were battling corruption everywhere- the MFA at the top, the MOH in the middle, and the thieving doctors at the bottom. This was never our intent- we just wanted our medicine so we could save lives.
We asked for help, and told of the corruption- asked for help from the Red Cross, from Parliament, from UNICEF and World Health, but it seems everyone has their finger in the pie, and everyone had a lot to lose by us succeeding. We were succeeding, and with a completed MOU would have the clout to get around these hurdles.
What's also implied is that many of the larger NGOs in Cambodia are aware of this situation as well- we sat through endless lectures on Child and Maternal Health from UNICEF, when it struck us that they were getting their statistics from the same people who were forging patient records to get enough medicine to sell so they could make their car payments. How many children die every year in the jungles? Who really knows, because I swear every statistic is made up by the other 18 boarded up health care centers that never actually treated patients. Take a drive up Road 6 one day, or any of the tiny villages, and spend 5 minutes visiting the little "Blue H" signs. Do you see 900 patients a month being treated there? Maybe at Sihanouk inPP or Angkor in SR, but not where these statistics are coming from. We can tell you that despite the MOH charging 28000 Riels to deliver a baby, the midwives are charging them $75, so they never come, deliver alone at home, and die a few days later from the jagged episiotomies, the inevitable blood loss or infection, or the tetanus that follows. But UNICEF doesn't see that, they just take the fabricated numbers, spend $3 million on writing the nice powerpoint report, and never see the dying children who never got the stolen tetanus shots.
Someone needed to stop us. So we got what they consider "a warning" in Cambodia. Those details are outlined below.
We are grateful we got out alive- Cara was never meant to survive this attack. We are most grateful it wasn't our children (Samantha, 13, and Moira, 10) who were injured- we don't know how we would have recovered from that.
So we hid for a week, and got a donated flight out of there. We stayed a few days in NY, then a week in Ohio to get Cara medical treatment near her family. We are finally back in South Carolina, and hope to put our lives back together. We will keep our NGO "open" long enough to recover some of the costs for getting home and Cara's medical expenses, and would be grateful for any donations to our website www.sharethehealthcambodia.org
We hope at some point to find the right people to go to with this information. As you know, Cambodia receives close to $1 BILLION in foreign aid, much of it for health care. When the world discovers NONE of that money or medicine actually makes it to the people who need it, things may change. Even telling this story puts us in more danger, but we came to Cambodia to help the people, not to buy Camrys for corrupt doctors. When Ho Noun came to visit us, the staff at Baray-Santouk heard she was coming and washed the walls in the front rooms, and hired people from the village to pose as patients so it looked like they were functional. It was a good ploy, because no one ever really checked. Somehow and somewhere, we'll find the right people who are interested in where all that money goes. Maybe then, the people who need the help can actually get it.
Several people have asked me if I'd ever consider returning to Cambodia. I say yes, with a bullet proof vest and a team of inspectors and auditors from the UN intent on cleaning up corruption. I personally saw too many children dying over 50 cents worth of antibiotics while the people that were getting these millions to care for them were laughing and sipping coffee.
We were careless in speaking openly about corruption while we were still in Cambodia. That was our mistake. When they tried to kill my wife, they didn't get the job done. That was their mistake.
James Garcia
Share the Health Cambodia
Tragedy of an American family in Cambodia (2)
An American family who have come to help Cambodia and made big sacrifices to run a medical clinic providing basic health care to the poor, are victims of corruption and violence, which characterize the prevailing political system.. The e-mail we publish here has been circulating among their countless known and unknown friends who are deeply moved by their tragedy and revolted by the Kafkaesque situation they are facing. You can read their story by clicking at http://tinyurl.com/y8duql9
Below if a follow up from the family:
---------------
Dear Khmer Friends,
Thank you everyone for your patience with us, considering the ramifications of our story.
If you your site could use the information in this letter to make a difference in the corruption rampant in the medical field in Cambodia, please contact me to discuss how we can cooperate. This is a bit long, but please bear with me.
We came to Cambodia to save lives, but because of our outspoken stance againt this corruption, we became targets and nearly lost our lives.
Yes, we managed to escape Cambodia, thanks to supporters of our NGO who used their personal funds and air miles to arrange a ticket. We have nothing left but our suitcases, and must start over here in the US. Cara is still unwell, and will require continued medical care for some time.
For your patience I'll provide you the details, but please be aware this is not a simple story of another assault. As they say in Cambodia, there is little random violence. There IS violence, but nearly all of it is for a reason. It's the reason for the attack that had us so worried.
The initial details of the attack are outlined in the forwarded letter below. It wasn't until a few days later that we put the pieces together to realize this wasn't random.
Since we arrived in Cambodia this past March, we had been working at a small clinic in Kampong Thom Province. At the request of National Assembly Representative from Kampong Thom, His Excellency Nhem Thavy, we were given a closed down Community Health Center. Using our own funds, we renovated and restored the clinic. We were incredibly successful, seeing up to 100 patients a day, who often came hundreds of K's and waited days to see us, as we were the only reliable and available care in the provinces. It reached the point we were getting busloads of sick people arriving daily from past Siem Reap, Kampong Cham, and kampong Channg. As long as we were spending our own cash, we were fine. We had opened on the advice and request of the Ministry of Health while awaiting our MOU to be finalized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We had thought that it would be completed shortly, but as of Oct 12, the day of the attack, it had not yet been approved. We had been told by many other NGO's that a significant "donation"(bribe, specifically cash, a nice camera, or laptop) needed to be paid to get our MOU cleared, but we refused to pay. Therefore, we were told repeatedly by the MFA that our MOU wasn't good enough- basically our budget was under $100,000- too small for their % cut. We were given odd reasons, like we dated it before it was signed, then we removed the date, then it was declined because it didn't have a date. We had used the old Min of Health Logo. We used blue ink on the stamps, and red ink is supposed to be used prior to approval. Then, they didn't like our date. Then, our typeface was too small. We kept making these ridiculous modifications to appease them, until finally, "the ink on our logo was too bright". It reached the point the Secretary General Leng Peng Long, Vice President Nguon Nhel, the Assembly President and finally Minister of Health H.E. Mom BunHeng all appealed to the MFA and we still never got approved. And all this time we were still saving the lives of 100 people a day from our little clinic.
That was the big corruption we were dealing with, but not the most deadly. It was the little guys who we believe came after us. In the Baray-Santouk referral district of Kampong Thom Dept of Health, there are 19 health care centers just like ours. Almost like our, that is. They are all boarded up, shut down, and non-functioning. Some see a few patients, but not many people go to them because they have no medicine and no staff. At the Baray-Santouk Referral Hospital, there are 10 paid doctors and 37 paid nurses on staff- but me made a practice to bring by every international visitor and challenge them to find a health care worker on the grounds. Not once in 8 months was someone working there. They average 3 to 5 patients a day, and most are never given the medications they need. We would often visit there, and on occasion gave money to the patients to catch a bus to Siem Reap so they could actually get treatment- if you didn't have $50 cash, you couldn't take one of the three empty ambulances sitting there.
But it wasn't the lack of treatment and staff that was the big problem. Each of the other 18 closed down health Care centers in the District were reporting to the Regional Director Dr. Meas Cham that they were treating 900 patients a month. The medicine for these imaginary patients was being shipped there, stolen, and sold by the staff. Every week we would submit our legitimate medication requests, only to be told "we don't have any". Our patients were dying over 50 cents worth of Cipro, and we were quickly running out of our own funds to purchase medicine. We finally confronted Dr Meas Cham and his Supervisor, Dr Vao Lough Kuhn, Kampong Thom regional Director, over this issue, and were told we were going to be reported (to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs!) over our outrageous behavior.
Every time we demanded we be sent the even the basic medication that they were already listing as being distributed to us, we were told they had just run out, or that our "MOU wasn't completed so they didn't have to send us anything". We did not receive one dose of vaccines for 6 months when we were seeing over 1800 patients a month. They had run out every single month. At one point we contacted the head of the Cambodian Red Cross, HE Ho Noun, who paid a visit to our clinic. She was very impressed, and we had a big media day, but still no medicines came. Every now and then we would get a box with 10 IV's, and a few bottles of the stuff that no one could sell (Vitamin A and Birth Control Pills), but never Paracetemol or Antibiotics.
The situation was becoming critical, and we began to put more pressure on the district. We staged a visit with "simulated" visitors from World Health, who asked about why vaccines weren't being delivered. Dr Meas Cham walked out on them, so we called some friends and were arranging an actual aduitor come visit to help out. AT the end of September, we had to close the clinic. We were out of our personal money, and without our MOU, could not even apply for grants and loans. We did get some funding from the Camkids Charity (Dominique and Benita Sharpe, very nice people), but could not operate without adequate supplies. We hoped closing for a few days would put pressure on the MFA and MOH to get our papers completed so we could operate. That's when the top level of the Nat'l Assembly began to put on the pressure. It looked like we might finally get it done, and the local Min of Health would be forced to give us the required medications.
And that was precisely when Cara was attacked.
You see, a lot of people were making a lot of money off of those stolen medications. A lot of staff had very nice Camrys, and a Lexus or two, and without that extra cash, they could lose them. Most importantly, if two westerners could legitimately open and operate a clinic, and treat 2000 patients a month with almost no money, then they might be expected to improve THEIR standards a little bit.
So we were battling corruption everywhere- the MFA at the top, the MOH in the middle, and the thieving doctors at the bottom. This was never our intent- we just wanted our medicine so we could save lives.
We asked for help, and told of the corruption- asked for help from the Red Cross, from Parliament, from UNICEF and World Health, but it seems everyone has their finger in the pie, and everyone had a lot to lose by us succeeding. We were succeeding, and with a completed MOU would have the clout to get around these hurdles.
What's also implied is that many of the larger NGOs in Cambodia are aware of this situation as well- we sat through endless lectures on Child and Maternal Health from UNICEF, when it struck us that they were getting their statistics from the same people who were forging patient records to get enough medicine to sell so they could make their car payments. How many children die every year in the jungles? Who really knows, because I swear every statistic is made up by the other 18 boarded up health care centers that never actually treated patients. Take a drive up Road 6 one day, or any of the tiny villages, and spend 5 minutes visiting the little "Blue H" signs. Do you see 900 patients a month being treated there? Maybe at Sihanouk inPP or Angkor in SR, but not where these statistics are coming from. We can tell you that despite the MOH charging 28000 Riels to deliver a baby, the midwives are charging them $75, so they never come, deliver alone at home, and die a few days later from the jagged episiotomies, the inevitable blood loss or infection, or the tetanus that follows. But UNICEF doesn't see that, they just take the fabricated numbers, spend $3 million on writing the nice powerpoint report, and never see the dying children who never got the stolen tetanus shots.
Someone needed to stop us. So we got what they consider "a warning" in Cambodia. Those details are outlined below.
We are grateful we got out alive- Cara was never meant to survive this attack. We are most grateful it wasn't our children (Samantha, 13, and Moira, 10) who were injured- we don't know how we would have recovered from that.
So we hid for a week, and got a donated flight out of there. We stayed a few days in NY, then a week in Ohio to get Cara medical treatment near her family. We are finally back in South Carolina, and hope to put our lives back together. We will keep our NGO "open" long enough to recover some of the costs for getting home and Cara's medical expenses, and would be grateful for any donations to our website www.sharethehealthcambodia.org
We hope at some point to find the right people to go to with this information. As you know, Cambodia receives close to $1 BILLION in foreign aid, much of it for health care. When the world discovers NONE of that money or medicine actually makes it to the people who need it, things may change. Even telling this story puts us in more danger, but we came to Cambodia to help the people, not to buy Camrys for corrupt doctors. When Ho Noun came to visit us, the staff at Baray-Santouk heard she was coming and washed the walls in the front rooms, and hired people from the village to pose as patients so it looked like they were functional. It was a good ploy, because no one ever really checked. Somehow and somewhere, we'll find the right people who are interested in where all that money goes. Maybe then, the people who need the help can actually get it.
Several people have asked me if I'd ever consider returning to Cambodia. I say yes, with a bullet proof vest and a team of inspectors and auditors from the UN intent on cleaning up corruption. I personally saw too many children dying over 50 cents worth of antibiotics while the people that were getting these millions to care for them were laughing and sipping coffee.
We were careless in speaking openly about corruption while we were still in Cambodia. That was our mistake. When they tried to kill my wife, they didn't get the job done. That was their mistake.
James Garcia
Share the Health Cambodia
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
3 Men Accused of Sex Tourism [in Cambodia] Plead Not Guilty
September 21, 2009
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Three men charged with traveling to Cambodia to engage in sex acts with children have pleaded not guilty in Los Angeles.
Ronald Boyajian, Erik Peeters and Jack Sporich entered their pleas Monday in federal court.
The men are being held without bail and each has been scheduled for trial Nov. 10, said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office.
All were expelled from Cambodia and brought to the United States last month under a new initiative targeting child sex tourism in Cambodia, which authorities described as ground zero for child sex tourism.
Sporich and Peeters are each accused of molesting three children and Boyajian one child. If convicted, each could face up to 30 years in prison for each victim.
Danny Davis, Boyajian's attorney, says the charges are false and fabricated. He says his client was defending himself against the allegations in Cambodia but the process was interrupted when the U.S. brought Boyajian to the United States.
Peeters' attorney declined to comment. A message was left for Sporich's attorney.
Ronald Boyajian, Erik Peeters and Jack Sporich entered their pleas Monday in federal court.
The men are being held without bail and each has been scheduled for trial Nov. 10, said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office.
All were expelled from Cambodia and brought to the United States last month under a new initiative targeting child sex tourism in Cambodia, which authorities described as ground zero for child sex tourism.
Sporich and Peeters are each accused of molesting three children and Boyajian one child. If convicted, each could face up to 30 years in prison for each victim.
Danny Davis, Boyajian's attorney, says the charges are false and fabricated. He says his client was defending himself against the allegations in Cambodia but the process was interrupted when the U.S. brought Boyajian to the United States.
Peeters' attorney declined to comment. A message was left for Sporich's attorney.
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
Accused Pedophiles Transferred to US
By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
01 September 2009
Original report from Phnom Penh
01 September 2009
Three Americans arrested for pedophilia in Cambodia in 2008 were taken into US custody Monday, arriving in Los Angeles after being held in Phnom Penh, the US Embassy said Tuesday.
All three were arrested by national police in February, having allegedly traveled to Cambodia to procure sex from underage boys and girls, the embassy said.
Ronald Gerard Boyajian, 49, reportedly traveled to Cambodian in September 2008 and allegedly engaged in sexual activity with a 10-year-old girl from Vietnam, at Kilometer 11, an area on the outskirts of the capital frequented by child sex tourists.
Erik Leonardus Peeters, 41, was accused of sexual acts with three underage Cambodian boys.
Jack Louis Sporich, 75, is accused of abusing one underage boy, and, according to affidavits against him, would ride through the streets of Siem Reap on a motorcycle, throwing money to attract children.
The charges against them “clearly demonstrate to the Cambodian people that the United States will not tolerate this type of abuse,” US Ambassador Carol Rodley said.
The cases sent a signal to the victims that the US is committed to justice, and would “act as a powerful deterrent” for would-be pedophiles traveling to Cambodia, she said.
The arrests came from cooperation between the Cambodian government, local organizations and US authorities, in an ongoing operation called Twisted Traveler, the embassy said.
Lt. Gen. Khieu Sopheak, a spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, told VOA Khmer the arrests were a “positive sign” for the reduction of sexual exploitation of children.
“I understand that this is to strengthen the law and is the result of cooperation between the concerned authorities to eliminate this problem,” he said.
Seila Samneang, the country director of Action Pour Les Enfants told VOA Khmer the group was happy “three bad men” had left Cambodia “to face strong condemnation in the United States.”
“We hope these three dangerous men will be strongly controlled in the United States, and we hope they will not have any opportunity to make relations with children abroad,” she said.
Twelve offenders in 30 reported cases of sexual exploitation of children were arrested in 2008, she said, while 40 child victims from ages 8 to 16 had been rescued. This year, 24 offenders have so far been arrested, and some 70 children rescued.
All three were arrested by national police in February, having allegedly traveled to Cambodia to procure sex from underage boys and girls, the embassy said.
Ronald Gerard Boyajian, 49, reportedly traveled to Cambodian in September 2008 and allegedly engaged in sexual activity with a 10-year-old girl from Vietnam, at Kilometer 11, an area on the outskirts of the capital frequented by child sex tourists.
Erik Leonardus Peeters, 41, was accused of sexual acts with three underage Cambodian boys.
Jack Louis Sporich, 75, is accused of abusing one underage boy, and, according to affidavits against him, would ride through the streets of Siem Reap on a motorcycle, throwing money to attract children.
The charges against them “clearly demonstrate to the Cambodian people that the United States will not tolerate this type of abuse,” US Ambassador Carol Rodley said.
The cases sent a signal to the victims that the US is committed to justice, and would “act as a powerful deterrent” for would-be pedophiles traveling to Cambodia, she said.
The arrests came from cooperation between the Cambodian government, local organizations and US authorities, in an ongoing operation called Twisted Traveler, the embassy said.
Lt. Gen. Khieu Sopheak, a spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, told VOA Khmer the arrests were a “positive sign” for the reduction of sexual exploitation of children.
“I understand that this is to strengthen the law and is the result of cooperation between the concerned authorities to eliminate this problem,” he said.
Seila Samneang, the country director of Action Pour Les Enfants told VOA Khmer the group was happy “three bad men” had left Cambodia “to face strong condemnation in the United States.”
“We hope these three dangerous men will be strongly controlled in the United States, and we hope they will not have any opportunity to make relations with children abroad,” she said.
Twelve offenders in 30 reported cases of sexual exploitation of children were arrested in 2008, she said, while 40 child victims from ages 8 to 16 had been rescued. This year, 24 offenders have so far been arrested, and some 70 children rescued.
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
U.S. charges three men with molesting children in Cambodia
They are the first to be charged under an international law-enforcement operation that targets U.S. citizens who travel to Cambodia for illicit sex. They could face 30 years in jail for each victim.
September 1, 2009
By Raja Abdulrahim
Los Angeles Times (California, USA)
Three American men who are suspected of traveling to Cambodia to molest children have been charged in federal court as part of a new initiative aimed at cracking down on the child sex tourism business there, authorities said Monday.
Ronald Gerard Boyajian, 49, of Menlo Park, Calif.; Erik Leonardus Peeters, 41, of Norwalk; and Jack Louis Sporich, 75, formerly of Santa Monica and currently living in Sedona, Ariz., were arrested by Cambodian police in February, authorities said. They were recently expelled from the country and arrived Monday at LAX in the custody of U.S. immigration officials.
The three men, all previously convicted of sex offenses in the U.S., were charged here in absentia earlier this year with traveling overseas for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with minors, a charge that could bring up to 30 years per victim, authorities said.
They are the first to be charged under an international law-enforcement operation dubbed "Twisted Traveler," specifically targeting American sex offenders who travel to Cambodia, a country that one U.S. immigration official said was "the world's ground zero for child sex tourists."
"These types of cases are disturbing not only because young, defenseless children were victimized in unspeakable ways," U.S. Atty. Thomas O'Brien said at a news conference Monday. "But also because the defendants went to such lengths to engage in their dark activities overseas."
Although they were also charged in Cambodia for their alleged crimes, O'Brien said the sentences they face in the U.S. if convicted are "severely stronger."
Boyajian is suspected of traveling to Cambodia a year ago and molesting a 10-year-old Vietnamese girl, according to court papers. Peeters is accused of sexually abusing at least three Cambodian boys whom he paid between $5 and $10, according to a court affidavit.
And Sporich is suspected of molesting at least one underage Cambodian boy after he arrived in November 2008, according to the affidavit. Authorities said he would drive his motor bike through city streets and drop money as a way to lure children.
Americans have been arrested in the past for having illicit sexual contact with minors in foreign countries. But under this new initiative, the focus is on Cambodia, and FBI and immigration officials are training foreign nationals in evidence gathering, surveillance and victim interviews, O'Brien said. Their goal is to obtain evidence admissible in a U.S. court, he said.
"We are committed to the difficult but necessary task of ending this scourge, despite cost, despite distance, despite international boundaries," said John Morton, assistant secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "There can be no place for the abuse of foreign children by U.S. citizens."
September 1, 2009
By Raja Abdulrahim
Los Angeles Times (California, USA)
Three American men who are suspected of traveling to Cambodia to molest children have been charged in federal court as part of a new initiative aimed at cracking down on the child sex tourism business there, authorities said Monday.
Ronald Gerard Boyajian, 49, of Menlo Park, Calif.; Erik Leonardus Peeters, 41, of Norwalk; and Jack Louis Sporich, 75, formerly of Santa Monica and currently living in Sedona, Ariz., were arrested by Cambodian police in February, authorities said. They were recently expelled from the country and arrived Monday at LAX in the custody of U.S. immigration officials.
The three men, all previously convicted of sex offenses in the U.S., were charged here in absentia earlier this year with traveling overseas for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with minors, a charge that could bring up to 30 years per victim, authorities said.
They are the first to be charged under an international law-enforcement operation dubbed "Twisted Traveler," specifically targeting American sex offenders who travel to Cambodia, a country that one U.S. immigration official said was "the world's ground zero for child sex tourists."
"These types of cases are disturbing not only because young, defenseless children were victimized in unspeakable ways," U.S. Atty. Thomas O'Brien said at a news conference Monday. "But also because the defendants went to such lengths to engage in their dark activities overseas."
Although they were also charged in Cambodia for their alleged crimes, O'Brien said the sentences they face in the U.S. if convicted are "severely stronger."
Boyajian is suspected of traveling to Cambodia a year ago and molesting a 10-year-old Vietnamese girl, according to court papers. Peeters is accused of sexually abusing at least three Cambodian boys whom he paid between $5 and $10, according to a court affidavit.
And Sporich is suspected of molesting at least one underage Cambodian boy after he arrived in November 2008, according to the affidavit. Authorities said he would drive his motor bike through city streets and drop money as a way to lure children.
Americans have been arrested in the past for having illicit sexual contact with minors in foreign countries. But under this new initiative, the focus is on Cambodia, and FBI and immigration officials are training foreign nationals in evidence gathering, surveillance and victim interviews, O'Brien said. Their goal is to obtain evidence admissible in a U.S. court, he said.
"We are committed to the difficult but necessary task of ending this scourge, despite cost, despite distance, despite international boundaries," said John Morton, assistant secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "There can be no place for the abuse of foreign children by U.S. citizens."
Monday, August 31, 2009
U.S. Pedophiles Nabbed in Cambodia Sex-Tourist Sting
Monday, August 31, 2009
By William Lajeunesse
Fox News (USA)
By William Lajeunesse
Fox News (USA)
LOS ANGELES — EXCLUSIVE: Three Americans "tourists" are on their way home from Cambodia Monday after being arrested in an on-going federal sex tourism investigation.
The arrests are part of “Operation Twisted Traveler,” an effort by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to identify and prosecute sex tourists to Cambodia.
The suspects — whose names will be released by ICE officials at an L.A. news conference Monday — are all convicted child sex offenders who served time in U.S. prisons. After their release investigators say they all headed to the most destitute neighborhoods in Cambodia, one of the poorest nations in Southeast Asia, where it is believed that they once again sexually assaulted young boys and girls.
FOX News was given exclusive access to the suspects and video of their arrest.
One of the men allegedly bought a 13-year-old Cambodian boy for $2 and a bag of rice, and raped him five times.
As one of the thousands of Western pedophiles, this 41-year-old California sex offender thought he could get away with the crime by escaping to Cambodia, the capital of the billion-dollar sex tourism trade in Southeast Asia.
But local police and U.S. investigators had the American under surveillance.
Now, he and two other California pedophiles are on aboard a jet landing Monday morning in Los Angeles from Tokyo.
Another of the men on board is a 74-year-old police call the ‘Pied Piper of Pedophiles.” He spent nine years in a California prison for molesting as many as 500 boys.
After his release from Atascadero State Hospital, where he refused treatment, records show he traveled to Southeast Asia at least eight times, where sources say he rode his motor scooter through the poorest neighborhoods of Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh, dropping a trail of U.S. dollar bills, to lure young boys back to his home where they were allegedly sexually assaulted.
The third man, a 59 year-old convicted of 18 counts of sexual intercourse with minors in 1995 in Menlo Park, was caught molesting a 10 year-old Vietnamese girl in an area called Kilo 11, a haven of child brothels 11 kilometers outside Phnom Penh.
“Cambodia in particular has been known for some time as a pedophile haven because there’s been a broken justice, no rule of law, and actually no laws on the books that would have been enforceable against these types of activities until recently,” said Jeff Blom, an investigator with International Justice Mission.
“We need to change the fear equation, make pedophiles fear going to jail.”
Cambodian police say other victims were believed to be given $5 or $10 after each sexual act and the children were photographed naked. Mothers of two of the abused boys lived on the street and sold their boys for $100 because, they said, “they needed the money.”
Investigators say all three sex offenders lived in or just outside the capital city of Phnom Penh while on their multiple trips to the Asian region in the last few years.
In the U.S. the men face charges under the Protect Act – a 2003 law that provides life terms for child sex offenders with prior convictions, a much longer sentence than offender would get abroad.
Investigators say the men are part of a thriving billion-dollar sex tourism business. After a crackdown in Thailand on child sex, the industry has moved primarily to Cambodia where pedophiles molest Vietnamese girls and Cambodian boys with little risk of being caught.
ICE hopes the arrest, done in conjunction with federal prosecutors in Los Angeles, Cambodian Police and two anti-child trafficking organizations, International Justice Mission and the human rights organization Action Por Les Enfants, will send a message that police are watching. Since 2003, ICE has arrested 70 international sex offenders under the Child Protect Act.
The arrests are part of “Operation Twisted Traveler,” an effort by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to identify and prosecute sex tourists to Cambodia.
The suspects — whose names will be released by ICE officials at an L.A. news conference Monday — are all convicted child sex offenders who served time in U.S. prisons. After their release investigators say they all headed to the most destitute neighborhoods in Cambodia, one of the poorest nations in Southeast Asia, where it is believed that they once again sexually assaulted young boys and girls.
FOX News was given exclusive access to the suspects and video of their arrest.
One of the men allegedly bought a 13-year-old Cambodian boy for $2 and a bag of rice, and raped him five times.
As one of the thousands of Western pedophiles, this 41-year-old California sex offender thought he could get away with the crime by escaping to Cambodia, the capital of the billion-dollar sex tourism trade in Southeast Asia.
But local police and U.S. investigators had the American under surveillance.
Now, he and two other California pedophiles are on aboard a jet landing Monday morning in Los Angeles from Tokyo.
Another of the men on board is a 74-year-old police call the ‘Pied Piper of Pedophiles.” He spent nine years in a California prison for molesting as many as 500 boys.
After his release from Atascadero State Hospital, where he refused treatment, records show he traveled to Southeast Asia at least eight times, where sources say he rode his motor scooter through the poorest neighborhoods of Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh, dropping a trail of U.S. dollar bills, to lure young boys back to his home where they were allegedly sexually assaulted.
The third man, a 59 year-old convicted of 18 counts of sexual intercourse with minors in 1995 in Menlo Park, was caught molesting a 10 year-old Vietnamese girl in an area called Kilo 11, a haven of child brothels 11 kilometers outside Phnom Penh.
“Cambodia in particular has been known for some time as a pedophile haven because there’s been a broken justice, no rule of law, and actually no laws on the books that would have been enforceable against these types of activities until recently,” said Jeff Blom, an investigator with International Justice Mission.
“We need to change the fear equation, make pedophiles fear going to jail.”
Cambodian police say other victims were believed to be given $5 or $10 after each sexual act and the children were photographed naked. Mothers of two of the abused boys lived on the street and sold their boys for $100 because, they said, “they needed the money.”
Investigators say all three sex offenders lived in or just outside the capital city of Phnom Penh while on their multiple trips to the Asian region in the last few years.
In the U.S. the men face charges under the Protect Act – a 2003 law that provides life terms for child sex offenders with prior convictions, a much longer sentence than offender would get abroad.
Investigators say the men are part of a thriving billion-dollar sex tourism business. After a crackdown in Thailand on child sex, the industry has moved primarily to Cambodia where pedophiles molest Vietnamese girls and Cambodian boys with little risk of being caught.
ICE hopes the arrest, done in conjunction with federal prosecutors in Los Angeles, Cambodian Police and two anti-child trafficking organizations, International Justice Mission and the human rights organization Action Por Les Enfants, will send a message that police are watching. Since 2003, ICE has arrested 70 international sex offenders under the Child Protect Act.
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