Swiss doctor calls for more help to stay afloat

Women watch over their children who are receiving treatment at the Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospital in Phnom Penh yesterday. Photograph: Hong Menea/Phnom Penh Post

Tuesday, 12 June 2012
Bridget Di Certo
The Phnom Penh Post

On vibrantly patterned straw mats, crowded around small plastic hampers of food, children – some with balloons, others with neon-coloured fans – huddle against their parents under the noon sun.

But the parents are unblinking; some of the children barely have a pulse.

Families have travelled up to 10 hours to this small square of dappled sunlight to wait in a crowd of thousands at one of the five Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospitals for free health care.

The man behind the hospitals, Swiss doctor Beat Richner, said that unless the Cambodian government and the international community stepped up, the delivery of free, world-class medical care would disappear with him.

Fundraising for the Khmer Post in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on 31 March 2012

If you cannot attend the fundraiser, you can still donate to The Khmer Post by clicking this link and click on the "donate" button on the right hand side of the window.

Two TV stations set up foundations to seek funding for troops [-Gov’t can’t support troops?]

08 Feb 2011

Everyday.com.kh

Translated from Khmer by Soch

Hun Xen announced yesterday that two TV stations – Bayon [owned by Hun Xen’s daughter Hun Mana] and CTN [owned by Hun Xen’s crony Kit Meng] – set up a foundation to raise funds to provide for troops along the frontline. Hun Xen also called on Cambodians to contribute funds to encourage Khmer troops who are fighting the Thai enemies who violated Cambodia’s territorial integrity. Hun Xen said that the CTN fund started on Sunday and the Bayon fund started on Monday

US-Cambodians Establish Fund for Bridge Victims

Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer
Washington, DC Wednesday, 22 December 2010

“We will continuously raise funds for the victims.”

Cambodian Americans in the Washington area met on Saturday to raise funds for victims of the Nov. 22 Diamond Bridge stampede.

“We want to help victims and surviving family members through a scholarship program for children of the dead who need support for their study or survivors who need support for medical bills,” said Keo Tom, vice president of the Angkor Association, which organized the fundraiser. “We will review their applications and try our best to help.”

The bridge stampede left 353 people dead and nearly 400 injured. Some remain in the hospital. Donations have poured in since the disaster, which was one of the worst in Cambodia in decades.

Around 200 people gathered for the fundraiser at a Washington hotel, where organizers sold calendars and food to raise additional funds.

Keo Tom said the fundraising will be ongoing.

“This is not the only time,” he said. “We will continuously raise funds for the victims.”

Relay marathon to raise funds for Cambodia

Winners 'Team Mad' (l-r) Dave Wylie, Anderson Santos and Mark Roy with a team time of 2:55:58. Photo: Supplied

18th October 2010
Michele McPherson
Bay of Plenty Times (New Zealand)

The soggy weather failed to dampen the spirits of the 29 teams that competed in a Tauranga team relay marathon event to raise money for water sanitation in Cambodia.

The A $ A K marathon, held on Sunday at Fergusson Park, saw each of the teams donate $1 for each kilometre they ran to the World Vision water sanitation project in Cambodia, with the event raising $1218 for the cause.

First to cross the finish-line was Team Mad, consisting of Anderson Santos, Dave Wylie and Mark Roy, who finished in 2:55:18.

Second was Mount Joggers, Team 3, in 3:18:49 and third was The Three in 3:31:23.

The first runner from each team ran 7km, followed by the second who ran 14km and the

third who ran 21km to complete the 42km course.

The event was organised by Tauranga woman Ang Jackson on behalf of Life Network Charitable Trust.

Mrs Jackson said 100 per cent of the funds raised would go to the three-year project,

which is fully funded by New Zealanders.

Mrs Jackson said the event attracted all levels of runners and there was amazing

camaraderie between teams and marshalls.

She said a closing speech from a World Vision representative helped reinforce the message about what could be achieved by the 87 competitors when they worked in

teams.

"It's not a one-person job to do anything for another community."

Bonn Phka Fundraising to help teach Khmer language in Surin, Buriram, Sisaket, Ubol....

Click on the announcement in Khmer and English to zoom in

Khmer Preservation Group Praised in US

By Im Sothearith, VOA Khmer
Original report from Maryland
08 October 2009

Friends of Khmer Culture, Inc., is, according to its motto, “dedicated to supporting the artistic and cultural heritage of Cambodia.” And judging by a recent fundraiser of the US-based preservation group, in the state of Maryland, it’s a motto with a lot of support.

The group “was founded to address these areas that have been neglected by the major donors,” Franklin Huffman, well-known author of “Modern Spoken Cambodian”and an English-Khmer dictionary, told VOA Khmer at the fundraising gathering. The group was established in 2000 by people concerned about the survival of Cambodia’s artistic and cultural heritage.

The group supports training programs for the restoration of the temples of Banteay Chhmar, in Banteay Meanchey province, and of young Cambodian students for conservation work.

While everyone has heard of Angkor Wat, Huffman said, Cambodia has hundreds of other temples and archeological sites across the country.

Hem Heng, Cambodian ambassador to the US, who attended the fundraising ceremony, said he was please to see Cambodians and the US get together to help Cambodia’s temples, which were damaged by the war.

“This is a pleasant opportunity for me to participate in this important fundraising, to help conserve and restore our Khmer temples,” Hem Heng said. “This organization not only helps restore and conserve temples, but also trains people, which is a good gesture.”

Narin Seng Jameson, a member of the group’s advisory council and organizer of the gathering, told VOA Khmer she was happy to see so many supporters. The money from fundraising will support the publication of Khmer arts and culture.

“This proves that we Khmer love our culture and our country very much,” she said.

Friends of Khmer Culture works with Cambodian institutions to support “all forms of Khmer cultural expression and work with Cambodian and international scholars, artists, and institutions to preserve past achievements and encourage new vitality in art, literature, scholarship, and the performing arts.”

The hope, the group says, is to “rebuild civil society and enhance awareness and appreciation of Khmer culture both within and beyond Cambodia.”

Cambodian Relief Fund dinner on Friday [25 Sept. 2009]

Douglas Mendel (Center)

Sunday, September 20, 2009
DAILY NEWS STAFF REPORT (Colorado, USA)

The Douglas Mendel Cambodian Relief Fund invites you to join us for an evening of dining and mingling with friends old and new at Foodhedz in the Frisco on Friday from 5-9 p.m. This fundraiser benefits fire stations and children's organizations in Cambodia. A portion of the nights proceeds will be donated to the nonprofit. Cambodian handicrafts including pashmina and silk scarves and beautiful silk and cotton purses will also be for sale.

Concert to benefit school in Cambodia

Children in Pouk, Cambodia, where Ted and Bonnie Nieman are helping to build a school.

December 06, 2008
By Ron Cassie
Frederick News-Post Staff (Maryland, USA)

IF YOU GO

WHAT: “Harmony for Hope”
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Thursday
WHERE: Walkersville High School
COST: Free; donations accepted
ON THE WEB: Cambodiawecare.org

A benefit concert planned for later this month traces its genesis back three and a half years, to a meeting between a Frederick couple and a former Cambodian refugee.

During a vacation to Vietnam and Cambodia in February 2005, Ted and Bonnie Nieman were overwhelmed by the poverty in rural Cambodian towns. When they returned to Frederick County, they began raising money to build wells for clean drinking water in the villages neighboring their hotel -- work they continue to this day.

Sensavon Bennici, who as a child escaped Cambodia's murderous Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s with her family, read about their efforts in The Frederick News-Post in April 2005 and contacted the Niemans. The Niemans and Bennicis, including Sensavon, her husband Frank and four children, Maria, Anthony, Matthew, and Charles, have been friends ever since.

Now Maria, a senior at Walkersville High School, has organized a concert to benefit the Niemans' latest Cambodian project, a new school for 120 children in a rural village about 30 miles outside Siem Reap (population 10,000).

"I have had this idea since the end of my sophomore year," said Bennici, a classical pianist. "This summer I really got thinking about it, and in July and August I began talking to some of my friends about it. At the beginning of the school year I talked to our principal, David Kehne, and he was supportive. Everyone at the school has been very supportive, taking the time to deal all my questions and make I was doing everything I needed to do."

Bennici named the concert "Harmony for Hope."

Fifteen Walkersville students, including Maria and her brothers, will play. Anthony, 15 and a sophomore at Walkersville, will play classical guitar, and Matthew, 8, and Charles, 7, will both play piano concertos. Maria will perform a duet with each sibling.

"I thought that would be cute," she said.

The first half of the program will be classical. After intermission, the second half will feature more contemporary music.

"Jason Mraz, Train, things like that," Bennici said. "That way everyone in the audience will have a particular favorite."

Admission is free. Donations toward Cambodiawecare.org, the Niemans' nonprofit group, and the new school will be accepted. Bennici said she plans to have Ted Nieman give a brief talk about both before the concert.

Since 2005, the Niemans have raised money to install an estimated 1,000 wells and helped local Buddhist monks construct and launch a sewing center for impoverished women, Ted Nieman said. They have raised $6,000 toward the $30,000 for the new elementary school in Pouk.

About 120 first- and second-graders now squeeze into a single-room schoolhouse. Their two teachers' salaries are subsidized by Cambodiawecare.org. Donated school books and supplies are delivered regularly.

"The kids push and shove each other for a new No. 2 pencil," said Nieman, who with his wife has traveled back to Cambodia five times since their first trip. "They are so eager to learn."

One hope is that eventually the school will be expanded to include third- and fourth-grade classes.

"I was raised to make education a priority and it's very important to me, personally," said Bennici, who is considering Stanford, Carnegie-Mellon and NYU, among other colleges.

"I think the whole world should have access to quality education, and I think what the Niemans are doing is inspiring. It shows you don't have to be Angelina Jolie to make a difference. You can start your own organization or make a contribution to one right here."

Helping build dreams and a dam in Cambodia

The water gate construction crews are using a combination of old and new building methods — local trees become forms and props, and empty cement bags keep freshly poured cement from drying too quickly. Submitted photo

Deer Park man’s work honored at classical music fundraiser Upvalley

Monday, August 04, 2008
By CAROLYN YOUNGER
Napa Valley Register (California)

Four years ago Tobias Rose-Stockwell swung his leg over the back of a motorbike driven by a young, orange-clad monk and putt-putted into the Cambodian countryside with four other monks. The backpacking artist from the Napa Valley had no idea where he was headed.

In June, Rose-Stockwell and one of those monks, venerable Mean Somet, stood on an earthen levee and looked out over the 123-acre embodiment of a dream-turned-reality.

When expected October monsoons drench the Siem Reap region, the massive gate under their feet will be lowered to trap the water in the 50-hectare reservoir. Later the gate will be raised to fill an intricate system of canals — some of them centuries old — that provide liquid life to villages and surrounding rice fields.

The expanded reservoir, repaired levees and reconfigured water gate came about through the unfailing energy and determination of Rose-Stockwell and local village leaders; not to mention a fundraiser held thousands of miles away in the Napa Valley — an evening concert and auction that raised $90,000 for the project.

Organized and produced by mezzo-soprano Meghan Scheibal, the “Young Musicians for Young Humanitarians” concerts featuring classically trained singers, are held several times a year to benefit the efforts of young men and women working behind the scenes to improve the lives of others. Last year, the spotlight was turned on longtime Deer Park resident Rose-Stockwell, then 28.

After nearly four years of scrambling for money, working with village elders, Cambodian government officials, Cambodian Mine Action Center and structural engineers from Engineers Without Borders, Rose-Stockwell was floored by this generous outpouring of support.
First to raise his bidding paddle that night was winery owner Dick Grace. The move added $10,000 to the pot. Then Grace raised his paddle again for an additional $10,000. It wasn’t long before paddles at every table were being raised — at $5,000 a bid.

“The auctioneer couldn’t keep up,” a still incredulous Rose-Stockwell recalled. “We raised $90,000 in three minutes; and after years of scraping together the first $30,000, this was incredible It was overwhelming. I almost fell over.”

The story of those years between Rose-Stockwell’s first visit and the reservoir’s restoration follows in the best traditions of village storytellers everywhere. What seemed at first a farfetched premise — that a 24-year-old stranger from Northern California could come to the rescue of nearly 10,000 men, women and children half a world away — became a tale of heroic proportions.

And there’s a sequel in the works.

“The change has been pretty enormous,” Rose-Stockwell agreed last week during a short visit to his family’s home.

The sometimes harrowing motorbike ride brought him and a friend, Tracey Rolls, to the Balangk commune near the town of Siem Reap. The two “farangs,” or foreigners, were met by 30 community leaders and about a dozen monks who explained their plight. The group asked the pair for help restoring an earthen dam that controlled the water level of the region’s life-sustaining rice fields: A dam that had been unusable for a decade.

“We were totally taken aback,” Rose-Stockwell recalled. “I had the feeling they hadn’t ever gotten anybody to come there, that we were the first.”

Something about the people and the project appealed to Rose-Stockwell and he decided to see what he could do.

In the years that followed, the community worked out a proposal for the dam. Rose-Stockwell made and sold original prints and sketches of the people he had met in both Thailand (where he had worked briefly in an orphanage) and Cambodia. He founded the nonprofit, Human Translation, and set up a Web site with essays and photographs of the region and the people living there.

“That was pretty effective in raising awareness, but not effective in raising big bucks,” he said, “and it was very time-consuming. At that point I thought the project was going to cost $25,000.”

He wrote grants — dozens of them — but didn’t get a response.

He discovered, too, that the region where government troops and the Khmer Rouge regularly clashed until as late as 1998 had never been cleared of landmines. Rose-Stockwell immediately applied for help from the Cambodian Landmine Action Center. It took four months to clear the western embankment where work on the water gate was slated to begin. Mine-clearing continued on the southern and northern embankments of the reservoir, and in and around the canals. (In the canal area mine crews, clearing 60 feet a day, have so far found and detonated 24 anti-personnel and seven anti-tank mines.)

Then he learned about Engineers Without Borders and met with EWB member Steve Forbes who came on his own to Cambodia to take a look at the community and the crumbling levee system.

“He saw it and said, ‘I don’t think you realize how big this is, Tobias. It’s big,’” Rose-Stockwell recalled. “I said, ‘All right let’s do it.’ That was three and a half years ago.”

With Forbes’ encouragement, he was able to get supplemental consulting and support from the organization.

“We could have done it exclusively with Cambodian engineers,” he said, “which we started to do but there was a big communication barrier and I wanted to be actively involved — to learn — and I couldn’t do this with the Cambodians.”

Rose-Stockwell estimates that by this point thousands of e-mails were winging back and forth across the Internet. EWB engineers guided the project through the entire design process, a Cambodian engineering coordinator, Ong Chanda, and translators were hired and 200 community members were trained in the construction and repair of the reservoir and water gate.

By 2006 the estimated cost of the project was $67,000. A year later the projected cost had doubled.

While Rose-Stockwell was coordinating the reservoir’s restoration and working with a full-time paid staff of five Cambodians and a “super volunteer” from Chicago, Wil Haynes-Morrow, he was also beginning to understand the needs of the community: Contaminated water and the resulting illnesses and deaths were major problems. So were the recurring bouts of scabies — barely visible burrowing mites that infected hundreds of children and led to serious secondary infections.

Rose-Stockwell set about organizing a water purification program — the red filter program which provides inexpensive but effective water filters for clusters of local households. He worked with the local hospital to develop a scabies treatment regimen of antibiotics and scabies medicine.

In addition, “we’ve been buying large jugs of benzyl benzoate and going from village to village for scabies cleaning ceremonies,” he said. “Everything is tied in. You can’t just look at one thing as the sole solution to the community’s problems. With the reservoir we were trying to get to one of the most basic issues, the local economy — if they don’t have water to grow rice they won’t have rice to sell. If they don’t have enough rice to sell they can’t afford to send their children to a doctor. It’s the same with water. If they don’t have clean water and they are too sick to work, they can’t plant rice ...”

To help with these projects Scheibal is planning a second fundraising concert, dinner and auction in the Clos Pegase caves Aug. 17. This year proceeds will be earmarked for clean water, basic sanitation, health and education projects, already underway through Rose-Stockwell’s nonprofit Human Translation.

“The basis of Human Translation is regardless of where you live, regardless of who you are, there is a universal human understanding that we should try to help one another,” Rose-Stockwell said, adding, “I’ve learned a lot about people and what it takes to make a difference. It’s a challenging question and the answer is, it doesn’t take much.”

For Children, Brick-Painting Funds Hope

Tiny paintings are providing art therapy, and funding, for some of Phnom Penh's poorest.

By Ros Sothea, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
23 June 2008

Click here to listen the Khmer audio program

On a small 1 centimeter by 2 centimeter brick, Chea Veav painted a picture of himself and his mother walking on a small road surrounded by green rice fields and a mountain. For the 10-year-old boy, the painting was an unrealized fantasy, an imaginary trip with a mother who abandoned him two years ago, following the death of his father.

Chea Veav now lives with his grandmother in a Phnom Penh slum, dependant on the collection of morning glory from the riverbank for survival.

But Chea Veav's art and the painted bricks of other children are helping raise money and awareness and acting as therapy for the children, helping them overcome traumas of the past and imagine a better future.

"I feel hurt that I can't live with my mother, but drawing pictures makes me happy," a skinny Chea Veav said, in tears.

About 70 more children have joined in the brick painting, all of them between the ages of 8 and 20, and most of them orphans that live in the capital's poorest communities. Provided sponsorship by Mith Samlan, or Friends, organization, the children spend three hours each morning drawing pictures on their bricks.

Individual sponsors can then pay to "purchase" the bricks, though these are in fact kept by the children. More than 1,000 bricks decorated with schools, flowers, forests, rice fields and cityscapes were used to build a wall at Friends' Phnom Penh center. Proceeds have gone toward payments for the center.

"On a brick, children can draw what happened to them in the past, what they dream in the future, and provide children with creative ideas," said Sem Ratana, cultural programmer for Friends.

Chea Veav said his brick drawing was a representation of a future hope.

"I draw people going to the mountain, representing my mom and I visiting Tamao mountain," he said. "If my mom comes back, I can go to the mountain."

Young Cambodians in fear of sexual slavery

6 June 2008
By Nicola Kerkenezov
Sunshine Coast Daily (Australia)

Every day, girls as young as 18 months are being sold into the sex trade in Cambodia.

The shocking news has touched Noosa hairdresser Leanne Naylor and artist Lyne Redfern so deeply they are focusing all their energy, and large portions of their personal money, into the She Rescue Home to help stop the suffering.

The pair are asking residents to support the cause by attending a fundraising garage sale tomorrow.

The She Rescue Home is a Citipointe Church Brisbane initiative started by senior pastor Leigh Ramsey.

Leigh and husband Mark founded Noosa Christian Outreach Centre in 1987, then moved to the US to pioneer the Christian Outreach Centre movement, before returning to Brisbane in 2000.

Two years ago, Leigh visited Cambodia and saw how young girls were trafficked into prostitution.

“Girls as young as five-years-old are working in brothels, servicing as many as 30 men a day,” she said.

“On my last night in Phnom Penh, my final meal was spent with a 12-year-old girl telling me: ‘My friend. She is 10. Two men tonight. Mother, father sell. You come, you help. Please?’

“For this girl, a rescue home may be her only hope.”

Lyne said the She Home project aimed to help children who were victims of a culture that encouraged women to have extra babies to sell off just to make enough money for their families to survive.

To date, four homes have been established, each caring for about eight girls. At the shelters they receive education, counselling, health care and training for a long-term job.

With running costs for each shelter about $4000 a month, Lyne said it was “not okay for us to ignore this worthwhile charity”.

She encouraged people to give generously to collection tins at businesses around town and attend a garage sale tomorrow at 17 Wyandra Street, Noosa Heads, from 7am-12 noon. A raffle will be held outside The Warehouse at Noosaville next Saturday, a Art in Park expo at the Noosa gallery on July 13, and a high tea is planned for July 26.

To make a donation or assist with the fundraising and raffle, call Lyne Redfern on 0405 434 655 or email: lovely_ lyne@hotkey.net.au. For more information, visit: www.sherescuehome.org

8-year-old Austin Zappia tries to raise $1,200 for Cambodian orphans by selling lemonade

Local kid raises money for Cambodian orphans

May 2, 2008
By Scott Leamon
WSLS10 Reporter (Roanoke, Virginia, USA)

Spurred by a goal to raise $1,200 for Cambodian orphans by the end of the year, 8 year old Austin Zappia set out to meet his mark one cup of lemonade at a time.

Austin will be selling lemonade and ginger ale for $1 at Claire V. near downtown Roanoke.

He will set up shop Saturday from 10 AM to 1 PM.

The Wasena Elementary School student recently returned from visiting a Cambodian orphanage with his mother last week.

“I made a lot of friends,” Austin said Friday afternoon from his lemonade stand at Claire V., 309 Campbell Avenue.

Austin’s mother, Kelly, started raising money after making business trips to Cambodia with several Claire V. colleagues.

“I really hope that Austin will take away a greater sense of what our world as a whole is like,” Kelly Zappia said.

Many of the kids at the orphanage once scavenged through a city dump, Kelly Zappia said.

The orphans would make items out of recyclables to sell at city markets, Austin Zappia said.

Austin hopes his $1,200 will fund three orphans into the program, the Center For Children’s Happiness.

Austin and his mother plan to go back to Cambodia this October.

For more information, click on the “related links” section above.

Anti-sex slavery activist in Denver tonight

Somaly Mam (John Prieto, The Denver Post)
Somaly Mam and two former U.S. Air Force Academy cadets — Nic Lumpp, far left, and Jared Greenberg — are launching a private U.S. effort to fight the multi-billion sex trade that governments and police have been unable to kill. (John Prieto, The Denver Post)

04/04/2008
By Bruce Finley
The Denver Post (Colorado, USA)

Working as a teen-aged sex slave in a Cambodian brothel, Somaly Mam says she served up to 30 clients a night. Some hit her. "I never thought, just lived hour by hour. I played with nothing. In my head: nothing. It was dark, dark, dark. I never trusted people," Mam said Friday during a visit to Denver.

"I was dead."

She tried suicide, she said.

Her turning point: the day a brothel pimp fired a bullet through the head of her friend, Srymom, who dared refuse customers - warning other girls to obey. Mam said she then began trying to help a newcomer, a girl with dark skin like her, and eventually used the brothel keys to set her free.

Brothel owners soon released Mam, deeming her too old for Cambodia's booming sex trade.

Ever since, Mam has been arranging rescues of child sex slaves - more than 4,000 over the past decade. The group she formed - Acting for Women in Distressing Situations - counsels and rehabilitates them at shelters in Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam.

Now Mam and two former U.S. Air Force Academy cadets - Nic Lumpp and Jared Greenberg - are launching a private U.S. effort to fight the multi-billion sex trade that governments and police have been unable to kill.

Based in Denver, the Somaly Mam Foundation (www.somaly.org) has raised $400,000 and aims to collect $1 million by July, thanks to corporate and celebrity backers such as actress Susan Sarandon.

"We need the United States. Americans are more active," Mam said. Cambodia's own efforts to combat the sex trade have been crippled by corruption of police and courts.

A preview of the film "Holly" tonight at Denver's Starz film center - continuing through next week - is designed to help publicize the effort. A fund-raiser has been set for next week in New York. And Mam's published account of her slavery - "The Road of Lost Innocence" - is scheduled for release this fall.

After graduating from the Air Force Academy in 2005, Lumpp and Greenberg resolved to do something about the global sex trade.

"It outraged us," said Lumpp, 25. "We couldn't just stand by and talk about it. It's a blatant disregard for human life."

Greenberg now works as a management consultant in Los Angeles, and Lumpp runs a Denver-based web business that helps parents teach children financial skills.

They discovered Mam's work and sent her emails. She received these with great skepticism, she said, and told the Americans to come to Cambodia if they wanted to help.

They visited for 10 days last year.

Mam said she still doubted them, suspecting they were sex tourists or pedophiles.

Meeting them at the airport, "I looked at them thinking: They are young. If they have commitment, that's good. I don't think they are pedophiles."

She brought them to one of her 60-person shelters and watched them carefully as they met recently-rescued girls. "I wanted to see their attitude," Mam said.

Lumpp and Greenberg played games. They worked with interpreters to ask girls and young women questions. Lumpp said they noticed those in Mam's shelters aspired to become educated, whereas those in brothels seemed listless.

Mam said she saw the two crying. "I said to myself: we can trust them."

"My staff said: You trust them? I said: Yes. They said: Why? I said: I just do. Normally I never trust men."

The foundation's approach is twofold: campaign to stop foreign sex tourists and others from entering southeast Asia in the first place, and fund continued rescues and rehab for girls and young women at shelters in Cambodia and neighboring countries.

Today sex trade owners seek younger girls, as young as 4, said Mam, who was sold from her village into slavery around age 12 after a "grandfather" used her as a household servant.

Rehab is difficult, Mam said. One girl at her shelter, 7-year-old Sokchea, seemed to recover well at first, starting school and excelling. Then after three months she quit. "We cannot release the pain inside her," Mam said. Another former slave, Srymuch, "has AIDs and is going to die."

U.S. diplomats have visited the 60-person shelters, where girls receive counseling, medical care, basic education, and training on sewing machines.

Rescues are high-risk operations based on tips received at Mam's shelters. Brothel owners have threatened to kill her, and thugs broke up a shelter in December 2004 after a raid on a hotel.

U.S. officials quietly offered her protection, Mam said. But leaving Cambodia is out of the question. "My heart is with these girls," she said.

"If I didn't run these shelters, maybe I could not survive."

Bruce Finley: 303.954.1700 or bfinley@denverpost.com

Inspired upstate NY group finds generosity in campaign to help build Cambodian school

December 24, 2007
By WILLIAM KATES
Associated Press Writer

CLINTON, N.Y.

Chris Willemsen and a group of friends are giving an unusual holiday gift this year - a new school to a village in the Cambodian province of Kompong Thom.

And as satisfying as it feels to help, the way they raised the funds has been equally illuminating:

They sold a handful of cookies here and a pile of lost-and-found clothing there. They organized a ride along the Erie Canal. They relied on friends, family and strangers to kick in a few bucks at a time. Kids at a parochial school paid for the right to dress down one day and turned over the proceeds.

"It's taken off in a way I could not have anticipated. I thought we would be raising funds for the school for at least a year. I didn't realize just how generous people are," said Willemsen, a part-time instructor at Hamilton College, a 195-year-old liberal arts college in upstate New York.

A weekend holiday concert at the community arts center pushed Willemsen's group over the goal of $13,000 they need to pay for a school through American Assistance for Cambodia, a nonprofit organization that has built nearly 400 schools in rural Cambodia since 1999. Ultimately, they'd like to raise $30,000 for more improvements, including a computer teacher, Internet connection for two years and solar panels to power a computer.

"Having this happen over the holidays gives it extra meaning, in part because this project, like the holidays, reinforces the themes of family, friends, and community; as well as generosity, gratitude, and hope," Willemsen said.

It was one of life's unassuming moments that inspired the 43-year-old Willemsen. A newspaper editorial she read last Christmas Eve detailed the plight of poor children in Cambodia and ways people could help. The story mentioned a Washington State school that raised money to build a school.

"I had one of those moments where you wonder, `I can do something like this,"' Willemsen said. "I let it go for a little while. I was busy teaching."

Last spring, Willemsen was co-teaching a course with philosophy professor Rick Werner on "Democracy, Ethics, and Globalization" when the class took up the subject of human trafficking in Cambodia. Student presentations were graphic and startling, and moved Willemsen and Werner to act.

At first, there were just six people: Willemsen and her husband, Werner and his wife, and two other faculty members. The group now totals 19.

After several months researching AAfC's Rural Schools Project and making plans, the group held its first event in late August _ a rummage sale, furnished partly from the clothes students left behind in their dorms. They netted about $750.

"We kept things low-key at first. None of us are big organizers. We've just been doing this by the seat of our pants," Willemsen said.

Then they planned a bike ride along the historic Erie Canal. The bike ride raised an eye-popping $5,000.

Word spread quickly through the village of about 1,800 _ about the same population as the college. In the dental hygienist's chair, the conversation turned to biking. And the rally.

"She immediately pulled out her checkbook and writes us a donation," Willemsen said. "Then she said she was on the social concerns committee of her church. The next week, I get a call from her. She's all excited. Her church had decided to donate $500."

Amy James was a friend inspired to help. The students at St. Mary's Elementary School, where two of her children go, hold a "dress down day" each month, paying a small contribution to not wear their uniforms to class. The 100 or so students came up with $425 for the group's cause, said James.

"Chris came in and talked to the students," said James, an administrator at Hamilton College. "She told them where Cambodia was on the map. She told them about the issue of children not being able to go to school and how fortunate they were to be able to go to St. Mary's."

"I think the kids were very inspired. It's good for them to have an understanding of what they're doing it for," said James, who would like to see students start a pen pal project with the Cambodian students next year.

The student congregation at the college heard about the campaign and donated a Sunday collection worth about $120, said Chaplain Jeff McArn.

"It shows that an ordinary person can make a difference if they try," McArn said.

Decades of war and oppression have left hundreds of villages in rural Cambodia without functioning schools. Using private contributions from individuals, groups and businesses in America and Japan and matching funds from the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, AAfC has raised enough money to open 355 schools with another 40 under construction.

Construction on the Kirkland-Kompong Thom Academy and several other schools should begin in January and take three to four months to complete. The name is a tribute to Hamilton College founder Samuel Kirkland. Willemsen hopes to attend the opening ceremony and meet the students and the teachers.

Each school, built on land donated by a village or added to an existing school, contains three to six classrooms furnished with desks and chairs. The school is then given to the village and recognized by the Cambodian government as a state school. It is staffed with official government teachers who follow the Ministry of Education curriculum.

Uneducated, Borin Chea fled Cambodia in 1979 near the end of the Khmer Rouge's bloody rule, settling first in Canada and then New Hartford, near Utica. Now 49, Chea owns a small chemical plating company in nearby Rome. He has used his success to support four dozen family members who remain in Cambodia.

Chea and his wife were invited to a dinner to hear about the school project. He immediately enlisted in the cause, offering to help bring a Cambodian dance troupe to town for a spring fundraiser. He also said he would seek support from the 80 to 90 Cambodian refugee families who live in the Utica area.

"Education in Cambodia is still much needed," Chea said. "When I found out (what) Chris was doing, I have all my heart for her, and all my respect for her. Even though she is an American and lives well, she is reaching out to help those who are not as fortunate."

Group Launches Plan to Save 189 Birds

In this photo released by U.S.-based Wildlife Conservation Society, a Bengal Florican is seen in Kampong Thom province, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of the capital Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in this May 13, 2006 file photo. An international conservation group launched an ambitious plan Thursday, Aug. 16, 2007 to raise tens of million dollars to save 189 endangered birds over the next five years by protecting their habitat and raising public awareness about their plight. (AP Photo/Wildlfe Conservation Society, HO)

Wednesday, August 15, 2007
By MICHAEL CASEY
AP

BANGKOK, Thailand - An international conservation group launched an ambitious plan Thursday to raise tens of millions of dollars to save 189 endangered birds over the next five years by protecting their habitat and raising public awareness about their plight.

U.K.-based BirdLife International is calling on environmental groups, corporations and individuals to contribute the $37.8 million needed for what it is dubbing the Species Champions initiative.

The campaign comes as the numbers of extinct birds is on the rise, mostly due to poaching, habitat loss and overdevelopment. In the last three decades, 21 species have been lost, including the Hawaiian honeycreeper Poo-uli, Hawaiian Crow or alala and the Spixs Macaw from Brazil, BirdLife said.

The first birds to benefit will be the Bengal Florican in Cambodia, the Belding's Yellowthroat in Mexico, Djibouti Francolin in Djibouti and Restinga Antwren from Brazil. All have seen their numbers drop from a few thousand to a few hundred and their ranges limited to a few isolated locations.

"Critically endangered birds can be saved from extinction through this innovative approach," the group's Chief Executive Mike Rands said in a statement. "This is an enormous challenge, but one we are fully committed to achieving in our efforts to save the world's birds from extinction."

All the birds targeted in the campaign are listed by the World Conservation Union as critically endangered which means they are on the brink of extinction.

Among them are the Black Stilt, a New Zealand shorebird whose numbers have been reduced to a handful. Many like Taita Thrush in Kenya are confined to diminishing fragments of their former habitat. Others like the Red-headed Vulture are still widespread in Asia and still have populations measurable in thousands, but are in dramatic decline, having lost over 80 percent of their numbers in just three generations.

"We all have a negative impact on the environment, and we all have a little bit of blood on our hands when a species goes extinct," said Stuart Butchart, BirdLife's Global Species Program Coordinator. "The Species Champions initiative provides everyone with a personal opportunity to play their part in mitigating these impacts and in saving species from extinction."

BirdLife officials said the funding will also go to implementing environmental awareness programs, helping developing government conservation policies, creating protected area networks and carrying out surveys to better understand, assess and fight the threats facing the birds. Programs will also be aimed at removing invasive species, especially those that threaten island nesting species.

"The initiative is about raising funds to direct at the key people and organizations on the ground who can make a difference for these species on the brink of extinction," Butchart said. "It is the first time this approach has been taken in such a globally comprehensive and coordinated way for an entire class of organisms."

Orphan 'idol' movie aims to raise cash for Cambodian children

Lauren and Marissa Sandler. (Photo: Simon Alekna)

August 12, 2007
Caroline Marcus
The Sun-Herald

THE streets of Cambodia could not be more removed from the privileged Sydney childhood of sisters Lauren and Marissa Sandler.

But the siblings were so touched by the plight of the country's orphaned children during a holiday last year, they have spent the past six months travelling to the impoverished country to film a documentary.

The film, which has a reality-TV format with a philanthropic twist, follows a group of orphans vying for the chance to fly to Adelaide for a two-week fund-raising trip from August 23.

An Australian, Geraldine Cox, runs the Sunrise Children's Village in Phnom Penh without any government funding.

The 60 orphans receive daily song and dance lessons, as well as school classes.

The film will document the competition for one of 25 spots on the Australian trip to perform at 17 fund-raisers. For those who make the cut, it will be the first time they've seen running water and carpet.

Marissa, 29, said many of the children were victims of people trafficking and child prostitution.

"In this whole Pop Idol process, you do get to see their life stories," Marissa said. "The kids really wear the scars of their experience."

One of the most moving stories is that of four-year-old Tiem, a dwarf whose father had trafficked him to the Thai border as a baby so he could beg. Police picked up the pair and put the father in prison, passing Tiem on to a human rights organisation that eventually took him to the orphanage

"At first he would still do tricks when he wanted food," Marissa said. "He would hop on one leg and then the other leg."

The dance and music lessons were introduced to treat post-traumatic stress suffered by children after soldiers stormed the home during a 1997 military coup and pointed guns to their heads.

Lauren, 25, said she hoped the one-hour documentary would raise awareness about the "victims of a forgotten country".

Another fund-raising event is being planned for Sydney in September.

Mini Charity Marathon for Kids in Cambodia

Runners gearing up to race to raise money

Thursday, June 14, 2007
The Seoul Times (South Korea)

If you haven't witnessed it yourself then you would have heard the story of a child with his or hands stretched out begging for money, pleading for help, longing for a bit of hope.

A common sight for tourists traveling in Asia and around the world.

The plight of children in poor countries is not something everyone has witnessed first hand. But for those who have, it's something they never forget.

In Cambodia, where half of the population is under 15, the story is no different.

Child prostitution, homelessness, poverty, a paedophile's playground, human trafficking are just some of the horrors faced everyday.

And something two well traveled women saw for themselves and never forgot.

Andrea Kvasnica and Emma Stringer got the chance to help those children they had seen being exploited, neglected and forgotten during a marathon of a fundraising stint at the weekend.

Andrea Kvansnica and Emma Stringer with co-worker Mr. Cho never forgot what they saw in Cambodia.

What started out as being a fun 10km run between friends turned into a mini-marathon of English teachers in Daegu raising 2.4million Won ($2,700 Canadian dollars) for children of Cambodia.

Along side the river on the morning of Saturday, June 9th, with a back drop of mountains, and below the roaring traffic overhead, 75 people ran, walked, cycled and rollerbladed all with a common cause. To support children of poverty.

"It was just supposed to be a small run with 10 friends, but more people heard about it and it just escalated from there," says Emma, originally from Leicester, England.

The two pals have lived in South Korea for three years and as keen athletes, running about five times a week, they wanted to do another long distance run having completed a half marathon in April.

"The way it works here is that as the season goes on so the distances get longer, but we only wanted to do a 10km so decided to organize our own," says Andrea, from Ottawa, Canada.

With the help and support of other friends they were able to organize the 10km and 5km mini-marathon in Daegu and from their experiences in the impoverished Southeast Asian country decided the children they had seen stuck in a plight of hopelessness would benefit from their hard work.

The two friends, who met in South Korea while working at a Hagwon in Daegu, traveled to Cambodia in October 2005 with the intention of staying for seven days.

But having experienced the plight of children and families there were forced to cut their holiday short. Something they never forgot.

"We were planning to be there for seven days, but everywhere we went it was like people were breathing devastation," recalls Andrea, 27.

Hearing stories from tuktuk drivers who had lost their family to genocide, murder and poverty and seeing first hand the immense problem of child exploitation by paeodophiles they were shocked by how it left them feeling. Were they also taking advantage of the people by being tourists? Were they feeding the corruption of the poor?

"It was really depressing and we felt really bad because we are mega rich compared to them. We were trying to have a vacation and we felt so guilty because we were rich and they weren't," adds Emma, 26.

Andrea says "To go and visit was really hard because every day you are reminded of how dire the situation is. It's in your face all the time. Any time anyone asks me where's the worst place I have been to, Cambodia always pops into my head. That was humans in their worse situation."

Since their trip the pair have learnt more about the history and politics of the country and discovered the charity Children of Cambodia Fund who they chose to donate the money from the mini marathon to. The money will be used to help rescue children living on the dumps and tips of litter and rubbish everywhere because they have no families, no homes and no money.

The organization is trying to combat the problem with child prostitution by setting up orphanages and projects to get the children off the streets.

Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in Asia with 85 percent of the population of 12.5 million people living in rural areas. There is a high infant mortality rate and the average life expectancy is 57 years old. During the notorious regime of Pol Pot in the 1970s around 1.5 million people lost their lives.

"Everywhere has poor places, we know, but it was a massive difference in Cambodia," says Emma.

Andrea adds: "The difference is that in other countries you can see there is some wealth and they can feed themselves and provide houses, but in Cambodia you just don't see it. Everyone is just suffering and the thing is there's no hope. They just don't have the means to move on. Their generation is stumped."

Since starting to organize the mini marathon six weeks ago, Andrea and Emma have realized they are not alone in their experience and know they will not be the last.

"A lot of people told us they had been or were about to go. Cambodia touches a lot of people's hearts from what they have heard or seen," adds Andrea.

The money raised far exceeded the two women's expectations and the support they say was amazing.

"We just want to say thank you to everyone who helped us and we hope it will be of some benefit to the children in Cambodia," Andrea says.

Cedar Falls High School's fundraising for a school in Cambodia

CFHS club reaches fundraising goal early

By JON ERICSON,
Courier Staff Writer
WCF Courier (Cedar Faills, Iowa, USA)

CEDAR FALLS --- When the Cedar Falls High School Amnesty International club started raising money for a school in Cambodia, they figured they'd reach their goal by January 2008.

They finished before the school year ended.

The club raised $15,050 to go toward building a school in Cambodia. The club's donation will be matched by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank.

The Cedar Falls High School club started up just three years ago and this was its first major fundraising project. They began their fundraising on Valentine's Day.

Senior Sheila Moussavi founded the club. She said they were inspired to work on the project after watching the documentary film, "Born into Brothels." Moussavi and other club members developed a serious concern about child trafficking, and then came across the Cambodia program.

"One of the main ways to prevent child trafficking is education," Moussavi said.

Club members started fundraising by getting other groups involved. They brought in sports and arts organizations.

An exhibition basketball game between students and faculty proved a money-making venture, as did a night of one-act plays done by the high school's drama students.

They had bake sales and garage sales, and accepted donations from other high school clubs.

Pablo's Mexican Grill helped out on four occasions by sponsoring Amnesty International days. On those days, the restaurant gave half of the profits to the club from any customers who mentioned Amnesty International.

"Without the community we wouldn't be anywhere near the $15,000," Moussavi said.

The Cambodia schools program requires a $13,000 initial commitment to start up a school. It is also recommended that donors bring in another $1,000 to $2,000 every couple years to keep the school updated. The Cedar Falls club figures its $15,000 commitment can keep their school going for several years.

As a reward for its efforts, the Cedar Falls club will be able to name the school.

"We're thinking some pretty simple names that would incorporate Cedar Falls," Moussavi said.

While Moussavi graduated last week, the Amnesty International club will continue on at the high school.

In the future, the club may be able to communicate with students at the Cambodian school.

Journalism teacher Brian Winkel serves as adviser to the club. He said reaching the fundraising goal so far ahead of schedule shows how motivated the students have been.

Contact Jon Ericson at (319) 291-1402 or jonathan.ericson@wcfcourier.com.

His goal: to build 300 schools

Thursday, May 24, 2007
By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer
Honolulu Advertiser (Hawaii, USA)

Retired American journalist Bernard Krisher, who is devoting his retirement to raising money to build more than 300 small schools in rural Cambodia, will give two public talks in Hawai'i about his efforts.

He will speak at 6 p.m. May 31 at Temple Emanu-El, and at 10 a.m. June 2 at Central Union Church's Adult Education Committee. The public is welcome at both events.

Krisher, a former Asia bureau chief for Newsweek based in Tokyo, raises private funds that are matched or doubled by the World Bank or Asia Development Bank to build small wooden schools throughout the Cambodian countryside.

In 1993, he formed American Assistance for Cambodia and Japan Relief for Cambodia, both independent nonprofit organizations that accept private donations to fund schools.

Eight schools — four in operation and four under construction — have been made possible by Hawai'i donors, including Vanny and Jerry Clay who have become informal spokespeople for Krisher in Hawai'i.

"We just formed a 'donors club,' which meets once every three months," said Vanny Clay, in an e-mail message.

Clay, a teacher at Punahou, and her attorney husband, visited Cambodia in 2002 and saw the high level of illiteracy among children there. Clay, who is from Cambodia, heard about Krisher's work two years later, and the couple got involved. That year they visited him in Cambodia and saw five of his schools.

"We were totally amazed by the success of his program and convinced this is the way to help children," she said. "We donated funds to build a school in a very remote area in the northeastern part of the country. Our dream of providing basic education to impoverished children is now a reality."

The Clays visited the school they helped fund in 2005 and again last year to meet with students and teachers.

"We know that children are the future of the country," Clay said. "We wanted to help these children."

A school can be built for as little as $13,000 from a private donor, which is then matched by about $20,000 by one of the two international aid organizations. Schools built on land donated by a village include three to six classrooms, desks and chairs. Fully constructed schools are given to the village.

The Clays named the school they funded Mr. and Mrs. Sak Nhep School after Vanny Clay's parents.

In addition to teachers provided by the government, the Clays have hired an extra teacher to provide English and computer instruction to the children.

"We keep doing a little bit by a little bit," said Clay. "Some children walk one hour to get to school, so we want to try and buy some bicycles next year."

The school has four classrooms, 277 students ages 5 to 17, and teaches in two shifts, 7 to 11 a.m. and 1 to 5 p.m. Before starting a school day, children work in a garden, watering and caring for the vegetables that are harvested for hot meals at the school. "We want them to know about responsibility," Clay said.

To learn more about Krisher's project, visit www.cambodiaschools.com or call Jerry Clay at 535-8469.

Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com.