Cambodian garment workers in UK to push for end to rights violations
A different type of tour takes place in the UK today, with the arrival of two Cambodian garment workers who are hoping to use their visit to draw attention to the appalling conditions faced by garment workers in the supply chains of British and multi-national brands and retailers. Athit Kong, vice president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union (CCAWDU) and Pherak Ly, of Womyns Agenda for Change (WAC), will be in the UK from today until 5 June to push for improvements in working conditions in the Cambodian garment industry, with public events in York, London and Norwich. Ms Ly will be returning to London to support the launch of a report into working conditions in the supply chains for the Olympic games.
Garment exporting is one of the main sources of foreign exchange for Cambodia and it remains one of the cheapest countries to source from. Violations of workers rights are common, including poverty wages, excessive working hours, lack of social security, poor health and safety and suppression of trade unions. Workers face an insecure future as more are forced to work on piece rates and temporary contracts. Changes in trade rules have led to many factory owners and brands shifting production to China and elsewhere leaving workers without jobs or compensation. A number of British and European retailers including Asda George, Primark, H&M, Zara, Debenhams and Arcadia are known to source clothing from Cambodia.
Cambodian trade unionists face harassment, dismissal and even death whilst trying to demand better rights. Three Cambodian trade unionists have been murdered in the last few years, several others have suffered assualts and arrest. An international campaign has been launched to urge the Cambodian government to bring to justice the killer of trade union leader Hy Vuthy, shot in February 2007, and also to reopen the investigation into the murder of Chea Vichea in 2004 following the conviction of two men for the killing, who are widely-viewed as innocent.
Find out more here.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Garment workers on tour
Rithy Panh in TouchStone
For many readers, getting hold of a copy of TouchStone, the quarterly magazine produced by Cambodian NGO HeritageWatch, is impossible. Which is a real pity as it contains a lot of very interesting articles including this focus on, and interview with, filmmaker Rithy Panh, which I've reproduced here.
Cambodia’s premier filmmaker Rithy Panh (pictured) talks with TouchStone about Cambodia’s future, film and the events that have influenced his craft.
Decades of wars, military coups and the genocide of the Khmer Rouge regime have profoundly affected the Cambodian people. Beyond the millions of deaths, the Khmer Rouge destroyed an entire identity and a culture. Today few archives remain from the Cambodian audiovisual heritage. In hope of giving Cambodians back their heritage, the Bophana Audiovisual Resource Center patiently collects pieces of Cambodian memories and is committed to supporting development in the audiovisual sector by implementing an audiovisual training programs and production.
Why did you name the Center Bophana? The name emphasizes the intention to relay the message of resistance, courage and dignity, as left by a 25 year old woman detained in the Khmer Rouge’s infamous S21 prison named Bophana. The main project is to reconstruct the Cambodian audiovisual heritage. Creating access to memory is fundamental to transmit history and culture to future generations and to build a future together.
What are the Center’s objectives? Rich or poor, it is for everyone. We want to generate respect among Cambodians, to be proud and to learn to love their heritage and culture. Bophana was never designed to be a national archive but a space where everyone can go, watch and interact – access is the key. Some of the footage in our archives dates back to as early as the late 19th century, years before the first movie was released. When Cambodians watch the footage we have here you can literally see their faces light up, as though something new has stirred.
How will this help prospective Cambodian filmmakers? Images play a very central role in supporting education. We need to train a new generation of filmmakers focusing on history. Modern film making in Hollywood and Cambodia is fine, I have nothing against it as it ultimately imparts knowledge and skills for the whole process from technicians and directors to editing and even make-up. Ultimately I want to teach my students and the young generation of Cambodia to know about more than entertainment, I want them to know how to create cinema.
How did you end up in France? I was born in the 1960s in Tuol Kork in Phnom Penh. In 1975, like so many others, my family was forcefully relocated by the Khmer Rouge to a very harsh and cruel existence in Battambang province. I was one of the few members of my family who survived. When I wanted to leave Cambodia all I knew was that I wanted to get away for a while. I had to get away, anywhere. At the time Australia seemed like a good option – it’s an enormous country where I could hide out and not have to ever see or speak to anyone, ever. However, I had family in France already so that is where I ended up going.
How did you first get involved in film? By accident really. I knew of Yule Brenner and Charlie Chaplin but that was about it. I was suffering and the memories of what had happened during the Khmer Rouge regime to me, my family and others, every day I felt like I was drowning, I couldn’t breathe or find a way out of my anguish and sorrow. How is it possible to recapture your life and move on when you are haunted by why you didn’t save your parents or children? I needed to find a release. After dabbling in painting, music and writing, all of which I was particularly bad at, someone gave me a small cinema and it felt good. Someone then recommended I attend a famous film school in Paris. I was very interested but mainly because I was told I could get an ID card that would entitle me three years of free movies!
When did you come back to Cambodia? I came back to Cambodia in 1988 and filmed a documentary on the refugee camps at the Thai border. This was my first film here and the first documentary by a Cambodian director on refugee camps.
Does your experience during the Khmer Rouge affect your life today? Yes, of course, on so many levels, it is who I am ask anyone that has been through something like this, ask the Jewish people and the Rwandans. More than war, genocide affects you so deep inside, it is total destruction of your core being; it aims to destroy the humanity in you and the humanity around you in each and every person. It destroys your ability to speak, to laugh and to play. To come back you have to learn everything again. When you don’t have parents or a base, you end up without any roots so I tend to go wherever and whenever I feel the need to move on.
How did the Khmer Rouge regime affect Cambodia’s identity? When you rebuild a country you have to rebuild identity. Genocide destroys culture and identity. Sadly, the Khmer Rouge killed many intellectuals, which is why we need to rebuild the memory first – if you don’t link this then there will be impunity, and then you will always have problems.
Your film S21 is notorious for its graphic and emotional account of the torture prison of Tuol Sleng, why did you make this film? I wanted to give those that died here some dignity – for the world to understand what happened and how it happened. We found the perpetrators were eager to express their point of view and their pain. Over a ten year period, I had to train a completely Khmer crew to gain the trust of those we were filming and re-counting their stories, men and women, the victims and the perpetrators of the regime, still alive today in the villages of Cambodia. I don’t want people to watch this and go out partying after. It’s for the world to stop and to think. This happened in Cambodia, but it could have been anywhere and it’s still happening today, we keep making the same mistakes and allowing it to happen.
Do you believe it’s important the younger generation are educated in school about the KR regime? Yes, absolutely. Now it is only given a few pages of attention in their history classes. It needs more. A bridge is broken. As the older generations have died, are too ill or old, it’s up to my generation to play a role like a bridge between the younger ones of today – they have to know what happened to heal the country.
Can you name someone or something that is inspiring to you? I was once in India and went to the home of where Ghandi lived. There was a book with an inscription that read something along the lines of ‘real generosity is not about giving and indulging, it’s about never taking more than what you actually need’. That really affected me and still does today, especially with the way our society behaves. We need to think beyond today, everything is of consequence and we need to start taking responsibility for our actions.
Birmingham in colour
From Wednesday (6 June) artist and musician Colin Gabbidon will present an exhibition of twenty of his paintings at The Drum in Aston, Birmingham. In Birmingham & the People Of, Colin has captured the beauty of Birmingham city, the people and their rich cultures from the 1920s to the present day. Featuring oil paintings, pastels and water colours tracing Birmingham's historical landmarks through the decades. I've known Colin for a few years and he's already exhibited his art in Germany and in his home town of Birmingham at the Symphony Hall and Central Library. He's sketched and painted many famous musicians which he's sold to retail outlets and is available for private commissions. When he's not painting, he's the drummer with reggae group Gabbidon, who are playing at The Jam House in Birmingham tonight. You can find out more about Colin here.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Contact telephone number
I've just changed my contact telephone number. It's now:
+ 44 (0) 788 063 7727
The + sign signifies whatever code is needed locally in order to get an international dial tone, and 44 is the international dialing code for the UK. If telephoning from overseas, drop the zero in brackets. If you call me from the UK, it's 0788 063 7727.
My e-mail address remain unchanged: andy.brouwer@btinternet.com
TouchStone Magazine
The latest edition of TouchStone (April-June), the glossy quarterly magazine produced by the NGO HeritageWatch landed on my doormat today. Its designed to keep a high profile public focus on the richness of Cambodia's heritage, culture and arts and the necessity to preserve it. Its eighty pages are again brimming with informative articles on a variety of topics from interviews with award-winning filmmaker Rithy Panh and ace photographer John McDermott, feature stories on the temples of Banteay Chhmar (by yours truly) and Krol Romeas, a focus on organisations making a difference such as PEPY and Youth Star Cambodia, as well as arts and crafts, forthcoming events and businesses giving back. And it's free, just pick up a copy in key retail outlets, restaurants, cafes, bars and guesthouses. All proceeds from advertising is used to fund their Heritage Friendly Tourism Campaign to raise awareness about Cambodian heritage and the trade of illegal antiquities. Find out more about HeritageWatch at their website. Below: Page 1 of 4 pages of my article on the remote temple of Banteay Chhmar.
KR Tribunal snippets
Whilst the article is a couple of weeks old, this feature by Macleans magazine in Canada provides an overview on progress of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal in Cambodia. Click here, or go to the Comments section to read the article in full.
Meanwhile, The Center for Social Development (CSD) has announced its third public forum of 2007 on Justice & National Reconciliation will be held in Svay Rieng province on 8 June. Its a poignant location for CSD executive director Theary C Seng and ECCC press officer Reach Sambath, as its where they both suffered the loss of parents during the Khmer Rouge years. The forums are used as a platform to discuss the Khmer Rouge period to aid peace, healing and reconcilation, as well as manage expectations as to what the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) can provide in terms of justice. All of the forums are broadcast on local television and radio stations. Already this year, forums have been held in Siem Reap and Mondulkiri, with future forums scheduled for Kompong Thom, Kep and Battambang later this year. In 2006, forums were held in Pailin, Kampot and Kratie.
CSD is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation, established in Phnom Penh since 1995, and seeks to promote democratic values and improve the quality of life of the Cambodian people.The mission of CSD is to encourage broad participation (at both national and local levels) in public affairs, develop a respect for human rights and the rule of law, enhance transparency and accountability in the public sphere, and raise awareness of issues of national concern through all forms of media. Find out more about CSD at their website.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Bones That Float, A Story of Adopting Cambodia
Cambodia gatecrashes your psyche, it worms its way into every pore of your body and it captures your heart like nowhere else. That's how I feel about Cambodia and in her book, Bones That Float, A Story of Adopting Cambodia, Kari Grady Grossman exudes similar feelings for this magical faraway land. Not only did Kari and George Grady Grossman adopt a son, they also adopted a country and its culture. Bones That Float is a beautifully written book - it felt like a tutorial in love, as well as lessons in history, survival, cooking and hope for the future - that brought me to tears and happiness in equal measure. I loved it.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
e-Visa update
The folks at Cambodia's Foreign Ministry are pushing hard the convenience of their new e-Visa online service for travellers. So far 10,000 applications have been processed and getting your visa beforehand avoids any delay on arrival at the five entry ports it currently supports - Phnom Penh and Siem Reap airports, Koh Kong, Poipet and Moc Bai. Everyone arriving at Phnom Penh airport will have their own comic story of the fifteen-minute wait as a dozen or so officials handle your visa application and passport. The e-Visa costs an extra $5 to process (so $25 in total) but it'll be processed in just three days and arrive in your e-mail inbasket and the application form now supports 25 languages. The e-Visa website makes the process a straightforward one, uses paypal for the payment section and also contains a blog to keep you up to speed with further developments as well as a page for sharing your stories about your Cambodia experiences. The e-Visa won't suit everyone but credit to the Foreign Ministry for increasing our service options.
Digital here I come...
For far too long now I've been procrastinating on when to change from my point and shoot camera to digital...well, my mind is now made up and here's the nail in the coffin:
A complete reel of film, 36 pictures, all look like this, ie. one photo superimposed on top of another...and both films were ones which I'm gutted are ruined. The original film was taken in Cambodia and included shots from the Angkor Conservation Depot and Kim's leaving party, as she waved goodbye to her friends at the Shadow of Angkor guesthouse for her studies in Australia (that's who the crowd of people are on the photo above). The second film, superimposed on the first, included photos from a Yaz Alexander concert, some family snaps and the pictures I took at the recent FA Trophy Final at the new Wembley (that's a picture of myself and my brother Tim with the pitch in the background). I should've changed to digital a long time ago and this is the nudge I need to actually do it.
The Flute Player
An integral part of the forthcoming Cambodian Living Arts tour of the UK starring Kong Nay and Ouch Savy, two of Cambodia's master Chapei musicians, will be an hour-long documentary about the life and work of Arn Chorn-Pond, called The Flute Player. The tour kicks-off in Norwich on 19 July and a full list of dates can be found here. Arn Chorn-Pond was nine years old when the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia in 1975 and separated him from his family. Now, after living in the United States for over twenty years, Arn returned to Cambodia to save its once outlawed traditional music from extinction by founding Cambodian Living Arts, formerly known as the Cambodian Master Performers Program. The documentary film, produced by Jocelyn Glatzer, was first premiered in July 2003 as a POV showcase on PBS television in the US. POV provides an excellent website to accompany the film, which also has its own website.
Other PBS stories on Cambodia include Pol Pot's Shadow in October 2002 for the Frontlineworld series and two Independent Lens' film-sites for the documentaries Sentenced Home and Refugee. PBS, headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, is a non–profit media enterprise owned and operated by the nation's 354 public television stations. A trusted community resource, PBS uses the power of non-commercial television, the internet and other media to enrich the lives of all Americans through quality programs and education services that inform, inspire and delight. Available to 99% of American homes with televisions and to an increasing number of digital multimedia households, PBS serves over 75 million people each week.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Book Ends
There's been a dearth of books on Cambodia so far in 2007, so I'm pleased to highlight half a dozen or so publications that have either just appeared, or will soon appear in bookstores. I'll start with a forthcoming book by Benny Widyono that will lay bare the inside story of the UNTAC period in early 90s Cambodia. Widyono was a career UN diplomat serving with UNTAC in '92 and '93 and as an envoy to the UN secretary-general in Cambodia from 1994 to 1997. Dancing In Shadows: Sihanouk, the Khmer Rouge and the United Nations in Cambodia, will untangle the battles and agendas of all parties involved during that remarkable period in its 280 pages. In this article, Widyono looks at the UN's record in Cambodia and Iraq. Recently published in paperback is Bun T Lim's Surviving Cambodia, The Khmer Rouge Regime, the story of Bunthong's trials and tribulations under Pol Pot and his eventual escape to America; 196 pages and produced by Trafford Publishing. On The Road To Angkor is a 209-page exploration of Buddhism found along the ancient Royal Road of the old Khmer Empire by Margret Hargreaves-Allen, published by iUniverse in March.
Friday, May 25, 2007
Rieng's family snaps - Siem Reap
Above: Rieng, far right, with his family in Prey Chrouk.
Sokhom's family snaps - Kompong Thom
Above LtoR: Sroy, Sokhom and Kunthea alongwith three of Sroy's sisters and their children.
Eradicating trafficking & illiteracy
The eradication of trafficking and illiteracy amongst girls in Cambodia is something that I feel very strongly about. Two programs that are doing just that are the Girls be Ambitious program run in conjunction with the JRfC/AAFC's Cambodian School Project, and the Cambodian Arts & Scholarship Foundation. The objective of the Japan Relief for Cambodia/American Assistance for Cambodia's (JRfC/AAfC) Girls be Ambitious program is to prevent the trafficking of Cambodian girls and women for sexual and labour exploitation through an incentive program for girls from poverty-stricken homes to stay in school and receive additional vocational training aimed at providing alternative employment and increased income. You can read more about the program that piggybacks the Bernie Krishner-inspired drive to build more schools in rural Cambodia, here. Meanwhile, the Cambodian Arts & Scholarship Foundation (CASF) is a charity that I've raised funds for in the past and who do a fantastic job in improving the lives of girls, often denied equal access to schooling. CASF collaborates with local communities to identify potential students, provides financial, emotional and medical support to these students and their families, and sustains this support for as long as the child wants to learn. CASF has recently launched its new website here. The task of eradicating illiteracy and child trafficking won't be solved by these two organizations alone but both are making a real difference to real lives, every day.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Children's Book
July will see the publication in paperback, by Random House, of Home Is East, a children's book by author Many Ly. Originally published in 2005, it's the compelling story, set in America, of a young Cambodian girl and her struggle to come to terms with her mother's disappearance and its effect on her father, as they move home to start a new life. The author herself came to America as a 3 year old refugee in 1981 after leaving Cambodia. She was a teacher before moving to Pittsburgh, where she now works for an organization that helps adult learners. She's currently finalizing her second fictional novel, Roots and Wings, about the loss of a young Khmer girl's grandmother.
If anyone has details of a 2oo4 book release, From Genocide to Freedom, by Pan So and Savan Prum, please let me know.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Silent Sentinels, Coward's War (1995)
Silent Sentinels, Coward's War, produced in 1995, is the fifth of half a dozen David A Feingold documentaries I've been sent by DER Films, to celebrate their release on dvd for the public market. Directed by Feingold and co-produced with Deborah La Gorce Kramer, this film looks at the threat of landmines to lives and livelihoods in Cambodia, long after the fighting has stopped. The film begins with images of a Bayon face and classical dance students before we see a unit of Khmer Rouge soldiers near the Thai-Cambodian border receiving instruction on mine-laying techniques. We delve deeper behind the problem facing Cambodia through interviews with mine victims and deminers such as Halo's Richard Boulter, Tim Porter and Robin Biddulph as well as MAG's Norman Stewart, Martyn Jordan and Chris Horwood. Both of these British demining organisations are at the forefront of the long and arduous job of making Cambodia safe again.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
More on Bun Heang Ung
The following article on the outstanding animator, cartoonist and friend of this blog/website, Bun Heang Ung appeared in the Phnom Penh Post newspaper (Issue 16/10) recently.
Cambodia: Critical Cartoonists Deterred by Defamation Suits, Imprisonment Threat
From to Pol Pot to Winnie the Pooh, this pencil-wielding polemicist has made cartooning his life's' work-his political satires incite laughter and controversy.
Few dare caricature Hun Sen, but Ung Bun Heang does. Cambodia's press is marked by a smattering of biting political cartoons, but the ruling elite, royalty and the Prime Minister in particular are adverse to satirical critique. The threat of defamation suits and imprisonment is a powerful deterrent to cartoonists with a critical bent. But from the comfortable distance of Sydney, dissident cartoonist Bun Heang, 55, is providing a restive counterpoint to constraints on the press, with searing critiques of Cambodia's political scene on his blog Sacrava Toons.
After surviving the Khmer Rouge regime, Bun Heang used his artistic skills to forge travel documents and left Cambodia as a refugee in 1979. He now focuses from afar on the political life of his homeland. And no one is safe from his caricature - not Hok Lundy, not Hun Sen, not even King Father Norodom Sihanouk. In Australia, Bun Heang has worked as a children's book illustrator, as well as an animator for film studios, including Walt Disney, winning a daytime Emmy as part of the production team for "The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh." But politics is his real passion. "My father warned me to not get involved with politics because it would lead to jail, assassination, or political asylum," Bun Heang told the Post by email. "But I believe it's been my destiny to have been involved with Khmer politics - not as a politician but as an observer with a pencil."
Bun Heang has published a graphic history of life under the Khmer Rouge and was an editorial cartoonist for the Far Eastern Economic Review from 1997 to 1999. Although many Cambodians are only now beginning to discover his work, he has been dissecting the Kingdom's politics with his pencil since the Lon Nol coup in 1970. As a student of painting at Phnom Penh's Fine Arts School from 1965 to 1975, Bun Heang sought an outlet for his real passion. "I loved to draw cartoons but we didn't have any course or animation studio in Phnom Penh so I went to some newspapers to show them my work," he said. Soth Polin, novelist and editor of the independent newspaper Nokor Thom, gave the 18-year-old a job as an editorial cartoonist. Working alongside journalists, economists, and university professors, Bun Heang remembers his four years in the newsroom as a period of intellectual ferment. "I was a good listener and from those years, I became addicted to this political opium. It's all inside my body, my mind, and even my dream," he said. "But I'm glad I'm hooked to it." Each Thursday night he worked until dawn to produce a cartoon for the front page of the paper. He continued to work for Nokor Thom until its last issue in 1974, when Polin fled the country. Sam Sarath, the senior cartoonist and illustrator for the Center for Social Development, remembers clearly Bun Heang's Nokor Thom cartoons, which he adopted as a model for his own work. "I admired his work a lot more than any other cartoonist," he said. "His cartoons were political, meaningful and easy to understand."
When the Khmer Rouge entered Phnom Penh and forcibly evacuated the city, Bun Heang put down his pencil and headed for his home village in Prey Veng province. Hiding his background as a "bourgeois intellectual," he worked the paddy fields and built dams. He witnessed executions, purges of Khmer Rouge cadre, and the massacre of more than 30 relatives. He also married and with his wife survived until the arrival of the Vietnamese in 1979. They returned to Phnom Penh and Bun Heang found work with the Vietnamese-backed regime in the Ministry of Information. His job was to draw cartoons for animated propaganda films that lauded Vietnam's liberation of Cambodia. "My job was to show smiling Vietnamese soldiers helping Kampuchean peasants," he recalled. When his superiors took offense to his habit of caricaturing the Vietnamese with bucked-teeth, he was hauled before a committee, who accused him of being in sympathy with the Khmer Rouge and of stirring up nationalist sentiment against Vietnam. Bun Heang apologized profusely and narrowly avoided internment in a re-education camp.
Soon after, he forged travel documents for himself, his wife and five-month old daughter, as well as his mother and two sisters. In December 1979 they headed to the Thai border and after a perilous ten-day journey arrived at the Khao I Dang refugee camp. After six months they were resettled in Australia. "When the plane took off from the runway, my heart told me that I would be a free man again," Bun Heang recalled. During his first two years in Australia, Bun Heang drew 90 intricate drawings of his experiences during the Khmer Rouge regime."I put so much detail on each drawing because I wanted to them tell their own story. Each took 12 to 14 hours to finish," he said. Working with Martin Stuart-Fox, a former Vietnam war correspondent, he published the drawings with the story of his experience under the Khmer Rouge in the book Murderous Revolution: Life and Death in Pol Pot's Kampuchea. "While working on the book I spoke to Martin using broken French and English plus my body language. It was a fun and unforgettable experience," he said. In 1995, Bun Heang began posting political cartoons online called Khmer Sweet. As his audience grew, he launched Sacrava Toons in 2004. As more Cambodians log on, his cartoons are becoming increasingly well known, particularly among youth. His work now appears both on his blog and on the popular KI Media website.
Bun Heang last visited Cambodia in 1994, but was warned against staying. "One of my old teachers told me: 'Go back to Australia. There's no room here for people like you. You'll be killed at any time'," he said. He now remains in touch with the Kingdom via the internet. "I contact Khmers in Cambodia every hour and receive news from inside CPP, the Royal Palace, and rural Cambodia," he said. "There is a Khmer patriot network and thanks to the mighty IT tunnel, we can be in touch in less than five minutes." Bun Heang's work focuses on what he considers the major issues affecting the country, including corruption, "fake democracy," deforestation, lawlessness, impunity, land grabbing and what he perceives to be an overreaching influence of Vietnam. His cartoons are highly critical of the ruling Cambodian People's Party. "Hun Sen always reminds Khmers to thank CPP but forgets that it's his government's duty to protect Cambodia's interests," Bun Heang said. "They all get paid to do a job and they ought to thank the Khmer people who provide them with the best living-style, while millions of Khmers live in poverty. What I can see is that everyday they're not serving Khmers, but oppressing them." Despite his critique of the ruling party, Bun Heang said he was not aligned with any opposition party. Describing himself as "a diehard Khmer republican," he said his brother, Ung Bun Ang, a former Sam Rainsy Party senator, once tried to persuade him to join SRP but he refused. "I said no because no one controls my head - only Cambodia and its people," he said. "I'm an observer. I like to poke fun at anyone or any government who doesn't do the right thing for Cambodia, even Rainsy." Bun Heang's work is often anti-Vietnamese and includes blatently racist caricatures and epithets, but he's adamant his attacks are not racially motivated but political. "I admit that my cartoons are always anti-Vietnam but I'm not against the Vietnamese people," he said. "I'm against the policy of Hanoi towards Cambodia. It's nothing to do with the Vietnamese people, who love peace just as Khmers do."
Ou Virak, head of the Alliance for Freedom of Expression, a coalition of 28 NGOs, said that while Bun Heang's work was often controversial, he was making an important contribution. "You don't always have to agree with what he says - and I don't always - but the act itself is what's important," he said. "Freedom of expression should be welcomed regardless of whether you like it or not." Virak said it was unlikely Bun Heang's work could be published in Cambodia, as the government was not ready for such searing satire. "They're critical political cartoons, which we don't see in Cambodia. They're conveying a message and are probably doing it better than any of us here can," he said. "It would be a plus for Cambodia if they could [be published]. It's a tremendous way to convey political opinion to illiterate people." Sarath said it was a "great thing" that Bun Heang's work was now becoming known in Cambodia. "Not many people know his work from the Lon Nol period because most of those people have died," he said. "I would like to be able to draw critical cartoons like his new work but in order for my security I need to avoid it." Bun Heang has now moved away from his finely detailed drawings and instead produces multimedia cartoons. "With new technology, like Photoshop, I can draw cartoons within an hour, which is fun for an old dinosaur like me," he said. Bun Heang now places his hopes for Cambodia's future on the youth. "Everyday I'm so pleased to receive comments from yoBun Heang Khmer. It's my message to Khmer kids to learn our past, present and prepare for the future," he said. Despite his outspoken critique, Bun Heang said he had never felt in danger in Australia, and vowed to continue Sacrava Toons "until the last minute of my life." "Everyday I'm surrounded by my beautiful family and that makes me think of Khmer families in Cambodia who have no chance to enjoy prosperity like mine," he said. "Their suffering is what inspires me to draw for free everyday." [courtesy of Phnom Penh Post]
UK tour dates announced for Kong Nay
Originally booked to appear at the Womad Festival in Wiltshire on 27-29 July, Dickie Chappell has done a great job in expanding Kong Nay's visit to the UK into another dozen tour dates across the country. In addition to the master musician, famed for his likeness to Ray Charles and his expertise on the Chapei, a traditional form of improvised song-making that is often compared to American Delta Blues, the tour will include his protege, Ouch Savy and an hour-long documentary film about the life and work of Arn Chord-Pond, titled The Flute Player. For all of the dates, that include appearances at The Barbican in London, as well as Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow and Oxford, in addition to The British Museum, click here. The tour starts in Norwich on 19 July and must not be missed. It's great to see that Kong Nay will also make an appearance on Khmer rapper praCh's forthcoming album, as traditional style meets the new generation. To read more about the revival of traditional Khmer performing arts, click here.
Im Srey Peouv
One of the guest singers on the forthcoming praCh album, Dalama...memoirs of the invisible war, will be the gorgeous Im Srey Peouv, already a singing sensation in the Khmer-American community and who just happens to be praCh's cousin. She's written many of the tunes on her three albums to-date, MTV Volumes 1, 2 and 3 and is currently working on her fourth release as a feature artist for Kolab Angkor Productions. Originally born in Battambang, she now lives in Washington State and has a large following amongst the Khmer community in the US. She hails from a musical family, her father is a teacher of classical Khmer music, her brother is a musician and her sister, Im Sitha, is a singer and lyricist. The youngest of five children, she arrived in the States at the age of six, some twenty-two years ago and recently made her first return visit to her homeland. Listen to Im Srey Peouv here.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Ryman Rap
Geoff Ryman is known across the globe for his science fiction novels and of course his 2006 novel about the life and legacy of Cambodia's King Jayavarman VII in The King's Last Song. Another string to his bow is his appetite and appreciation for current Khmer musical styles. And you can listen to the award-winning author on the London radio station Reasonance 104.4fm this evening at 7pm (in the UK), as he takes us on an hour-long journey through Khmer hip hop, a heady mix of South East Asian and Afro-American culture brought to Cambodia by returning refugees and featuring the music of and interviews with praCh Ly, Sok Visal, A Ping, DJ Boomer, Tony Real, and Silong. The show is called Geoff Ryman - I Let My Pen Bleed: Rap in Cambodia, and you can listen on the internet here. If you are in Cambodia, you can catch the show at 1am on Tuesday 22 May!
Following on from my recent exclusive interview with Khmer rap star praCh, you can find a lot more information about his soon-to-be-released (probably October) album, Dalama...memoirs of the invisible war, here. praCh has gathered together a collection of outstanding individuals to accompany him on this new album including Kong Nay, U Sam Oeur, Im Srey Peouv and Silong. And I'm really pleased to hear that animator and artist Bun Heang Ung will be helping out on the album sleeve design and an animated video. This is how Geoff Ryman sees it: "praCh Ly is the most authoritative voice in Khmai and Khmai-American rap. [Dalama..."memoirs of the invisible war."] not only shows his music taking on new beats and new sounds from traditional and other sources. The lyrics have a new focus on all of the Cambodian tragedy from 1970 to the present. Aware, furious, respectful, precise - this is political writing at its finest. Like Nelson Mandela had rapped when he was young."
Note: My blog was very quiet over the weekend as I was staying with friends in Birmingham. A big thank you to my hosts Nancy and Faz for taking such good care of me and feeding me til I was ready to burst.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Sam Lorn leads the way
Sam Lorn, 40, is a pioneer of Cambodian-American cinema. He’s an accomplished independent filmmaker with thirteen years experience in the film industry as an actor, screenwriter, producer and director. He’s produced three feature-length films including Young Survivor (1999) and Lovesick (2005) that bring modern Cambodian-American experiences to the big screen, he’s written ten screenplays and had parts in several films and on television. He’s currently in Cambodia filming District Lights, a drama based in Phnom Penh and has another drama, Moira, in production.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Dary in charge
Any visitor to Cambodia will know that motos and cyclos - usually hired for short trips around town - are a male-only domain, unless you take a trip to Kratie and Prey Veng. Bernjul reported on Lonely Planet's Thorntree messageboard that Miss Dary Saing (pictured right) is the only female motodop in Kratie, speaks very good English and will arrange tours around her local area. Meanwhile, in Prey Veng, there are around 150 working cyclos - cyclos are rarely seen beyond the outskirts of Phnom Penh - and there's at least one woman cyclo driver. If you know of more, please leave a comment. If you're looking for a reliable male motodop, click here.
Gigs & CamboFest
For UK reggae fans, here's some reggae gigs to be aware of - and which I'll be attending - in the next few weeks.
GABBIDON will be playing at The JamHouse in Birmingham on Wednesday 30 May, starting at 9pm, and taking you through a history of reggae music will be Basil Gabbidon, Leonie Smith, Indigo and the band.
JEAN McLEAN returns to the Ipanema Bar, Broad Street, Birmingham on Sunday 3 June to bring you her own tunes from her album I'm A Reggebaby and some songs from her favourite songwriters. Memphis will provide the backing sound. 7.30pm start, cost £3.
YAZ ALEXANDER is scheduled for a support performance at The Sanctuary in Birmingham on Friday 15 June, with Freddie McGregor top-billing, and Ras Negus, Natural Black and The Rasites also on the bill.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Typically Topical - flashback to 1989
Whilst editor of the Kidderminster Harriers match-day programme, called The Harrier, in May 1989, I penned this article which is worth posting before it disappears into the mists of time…
The best move I ever made! I wonder how many players have said that – well, it can apply to the backroom staff too. After fifteen years, my allegiance to Cheltenham Town was on the wane when the call came from Graham Allner to take on the programme editors’ job at Aggborough. I didn’t need to be asked twice by Graham, whom I first met when he was Allan Grundy’s assistant at Cheltenham. Already working for the Harriers was my younger brother Tim, who was helping out Nick Savage on the commercial and lottery side of things and after watching quite a few of the Harriers games in 1985/86, my mind was already made up.
Of course, I couldn’t have hoped for a better first season with the FA Trophy Final at Wembley and the never-to-be-forgotten Hawthorns replay, perhaps the only disappointment was our league form., Last season, the Challenge Shield win at Scarborough and the Welsh Cup victory at Hereford particularly stand out, while the FA Cup defeat at Maidstone provided the most frustrating moment. This season, leading the table for so long prompted a few lofty thoughts but perhaps next season, while our successes over Cardiff and Hereford and the Maidstone game (I still can’t believe we lost 6-3!) are particularly memorable.
On a personal note, my football watching began when my family moved close to Cheltenham Town’s Whaddon Road ground. My first game, aged 11, was in the old Division One North of the Southern League in August 1971, the start of a love affair that was to last the next fifteen years. In that time, I didn’t miss a home game (honest!), took on the programme editors’ job in 1978 as well as reporting for both the Western Daily Press and Severn Sound Radio, while also helping out on the club’s public address. Actually, the move to Aggborough felt more like a holiday!
Although compiling the programme will take hours but reading it can take minutes, it’s a job I love and take great pride in. However, its not a one-man show and I’d like to thank everyone that’s helped me out this season (particularly my long-suffering girlfriend Carolyn). If there’s any item that you want to see in next seasons’ programme, drop me a line and we’ll do our best.
In my time at Cheltenham, and here at Aggborough, I’ve been privileged to watch some great teams and outstanding individuals and I’ve listed below my all-time favourite line-up (although some of the names may be unfamiliar) :
In goal, ex-Blues keeper Dave Latchford was superb before work commitments ended his spell at Cheltenham. Mark Buckland stands out at right-back, while the other full-back berth goes to ex-England Amateur international Julian Lailey, who was also my economics teacher. At the centre of defence, Malcolm Kavanagh and Clive Boxall had great spells at Whaddon Road but did even better once they’d left!
Graham Mackenzie, who made a lasting impression on his Robins’ debut in 1978, is my skipper and playmaker and is flanked in midfield by the precocious talent of Alan Ollis and Cheltenham’s current England semi-pro cap Steve Brooks. Ollis oozed with natural ability, while Brooks never stopped running or shooting. Up front, Kim Casey is joined by two of Cheltenham’s mercurial strikers of the early 80s, Charlie Green and Jimmy Gough. Yorkshire-born Green was a centre-forward in the old-fashioned mode, while Gough knew every trick in the book and used most of them. On the bench, I’ve picked Paul Tester, who stood out at Cheltenham before spells at Shrewsbury and Hereford. Have a great summer and see you next season.
Postscript: In a subsequent interview in the same programme, in November 2001, I was asked what was the high point of my time as a Harriers fan. My answer was: ‘Making my debut as a substitute for the Harriers on their Summer [1988] trip to Eire against EMFA Kilkenny. I got an elbow in my ribcage after a minute and struggled to get my breath back for the rest of the game! Tim also got on, as a replacement for an England international, namely Paul ‘Ocker’ Davies.’
An exclusive interview with Sichan Siv
Sichan Siv is the Cambodian-born former United States Ambassador to the United Nations, whose inspiring story will be published in his memoir, due out in March 2008. Read my exclusive interview with him below:
I am both. I am an ABC: American By Choice or American Born Cambodian! I feel privileged to be an American of Cambodian ancestry, enjoying the blessings of freedom and opportunities, and being able to maintain an ancient cultural heritage.
Q. What was the catalyst for your career at the White House and then at the UN? I became interested in the US political process while watching TV coverage of the Democratic and Republican national conventions in the summer of 1976. From my involvement in refugee resettlement and the plight of Cambodia in the 70s and 80s, I became more familiar with how Washington works. In 1988, I volunteered for the Bush campaign to better understand presidential elections. The thought never crossed my mind that I would end up working for two Presidents of the United States.
Q. What has been the rationale and motives behind your successful career?
Adapt and be adopted! I had two dollars in my pocket when I arrived in America in 1976. I worked hard to adapt myself to America, so that America would adopt me. My mother told me when I was a child to “never give up hope, no matter what happens.” Hope kept me alive and helped me move forward in some of the most difficult circumstances.
Q. To be employed by 2 US Presidents is a rare achievement, but what would you consider as your proudest moment...and your greatest achievement?
At the White House, I was proudest when I said “On behalf of the President.” At the United Nations, when I walked in, my colleagues from 190 countries looked at me. Through me, they saw America. They saw its promise. They saw its opportunity. They wanted to hear what I had to say. When I uttered: “On behalf of the President and Government of the United States and the American people,” that was my proudest moment. My greatest achievement has been the ability to implement the President’s policies that help hundreds of millions of people around the world.
Q. Were you able to achieve anything working for the Administration that aided and supported Cambodia and the Khmer people?
My two presidential appointments, at the White House under President George Bush (41) and as an ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush (43), had national and global scope. They were not to work on Cambodia. Yet, at the White House I was able to participate in the peace process that led to the 1991 Paris Accord and organize numerous briefings on Cambodia to maintain awareness and keep the issue front and center. At the UN, the United States has been the leader in all UN development, economic, and humanitarian programs. I am happy that the Khmer people have benefited from them.
Q. Briefly, what did your Ambassadorial role involve over the last 5 years?
The focus was from “cradle to coffin.” My responsibilities ranged from children, to health, HIV/AIDS, economic issues, food crises, humanitarian disasters, human rights, refugees, women, all the way to aging. The United States is the largest donor to all these programs and my office at the US Mission to the UN oversaw some 70% of the U.N. budget.
Q. Have you returned to Cambodia since leaving in the 70s?
I returned to Cambodia the first time in March 1992 while I was still at the White House. It was 16 years after my escape from the Khmer Rouge forced labor camps. It was quite an emotional trip. In 1994 I took my wife to visit. Since then, we have been to Cambodia on a regular basis. Each time, we enjoy staying longer and longer. I am also pleased to support Cambodian communities around the world.
Q. Can you encapsulate the flavour of your memoir to be published early next year?
GOLDEN BONES is a human story. It recounts my journey from humble beginnings in a sleepy village in Cambodia to the corridors of power in Washington, DC. It is about an extraordinary escape from hell in Cambodia; an American journey from apple orchards to the White House; a timeless and universal tale of love, dreams, hope, and freedom. This is the unique history of two lands: opposite sides of the earth; two cultures: ancient and modern; two nations: weak and strong; two societies: poor and rich. It is the true story of one mother’s love and sacrifice, of her son’s hope and struggle for survival, and his life between these different worlds.
Q. Finally, what does the future hold for Sichan Siv?
It is hard to predict the future. I will continue to connect, to share, and to inspire. Hopefully, “the best is yet to come!”
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Illustrating The Past
The excellent illustration above is taken from the HeritageWatch comic book, Wrath of the Phantom Army, part of their awareness campaign using radio and television commercials alongwith educational comics and storybooks, and aimed at Khmers and tourists alike, informing them of the looting and plundering that is affecting Cambodia's heritage.
Marathon man Jonathan Deddis
Jonathan Deddis is a well-respected London-based chef who has an unusual personal history. Jonathan (pictured above) is Cambodian – his Khmer name was Sutheephelk – and he was adopted by his Northern Ireland parents in the early 70s, thanks to the personal intervention of Ian Paisley, and it’s this colourful background that has acted as the springboard for his involvement in a range of fund-raising activities. His latest is to run the Edinburgh Marathon on 27 May, where he’s set himself a target of raising £2,000 to be split between two charities, Save The Children Fund and SAO Cambodia. Now 38 and married with two children of his own, Jonathan embarked on his career in catering by studying at Portsmouth College before moving to London. He has a burning desire to return to the country of his birth but for the time being, he’s playing his part in helping the children of Cambodia. I asked Jonathan for an insight into his background.
Q. what do you know of your childhood, and adoption?
I only remember waking up and hearing people shouting and loud explosions all the time, also it was very hot. I used to have these memories when I was living in Northern Ireland. About the adoption, I remember only of being on a plane and going into the cockpit and meeting the pilots and seeing all the different switches and controls. Then arriving at Heathrow and all four of us children being taken away by different parents. Arriving at Belfast airport and getting in a car and seeing my new brother and sister, and waking up in the morning and seeing this monkey teddy bear hanging on the bedroom door. My first word was jam, must’ve been spreading it on toast in the morning.
Q. how did you adapt to your new home, family and environment?
It was very easy to adapt to my new life, I was about 3 or 4 years old and didn’t feel left out ever. The school used to help raise money for Cambodia, so my part was to let people pick me up and guess my weight - I was very thin and had suffered from malnutrition. I still have the clothes I wore and pictures of me when I first arrived. The only records they have of me was my name, Sutheephelk and born in Phnom Penh. My date of birth given to me was my Irish grandmother’s date of birth, whom I never met, as she died in 1968. I was the only ethnic child in primary right up to college level. So I got a bit of stick now and again from other children but nothing too bad, I never told my parents about it, just dealt with it myself. I used to compete in Olympic freestyle wrestling, I was Irish champion and second in the British Championship, and also got picked for the Commonwealth Games but dislocated my thumb 3 months before the games so I didn’t go. I got a lot of newspaper and school publicity from that, so everyone at school was nice to me and respected me after that.
Q. how did your desire to be a chef develop?
My mum was a great cook so I helped her a lot and I used to cook Sunday lunch and make cakes and biscuits most days when I was home. I decided to go to catering college and passed as top student and then worked in London and Switzerland learning pastry and desserts. Eventually I came back to London and now I’m a private chef for a Hong Kong-Chinese family. I travel with them sometimes and cook for them in St Tropez or America, where they have homes.
Q. how has your Cambodian identity been a factor in your life?
I noticed more and wanted to find out about my identity when I came to London and met more Asian people here, and the cuisine was a major factor. When I tried palm sugar and mangoes for the first time it brought back memories of a taste I had eaten before! Because of my own stupidity, I went through a phase of my life when I didn’t speak to my family for two years, I felt they weren’t my real family and that I was Cambodian not Irish. I am glad I grew out of this and I am happy about my identity now. Through SAO Cambodia and Ivor Greer, who helps run the charity and is from Northern Ireland, I want to go to Cambodia and help the people and try and trace, if I can, my family history. I am running the Edinburgh Marathon on the 27th May for Save the Children Fund and SAO Cambodia. I really feel blessed to be alive and realise I was saved so I can do my bit to help the children in my birth country. Sooner or later I will go back which I know will be very emotional for me but will hopefully trigger something for me to remember other events in my past.
If you want to support Jonathan in his forthcoming marathon run, click here. Find out more about his chosen charities at SAO Cambodia and Save The Children.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Choices in life
On my recent visit to Cambodia, I visited the offices of Our Books, the only non-profit organisation focused on the development of comic art in the country and picked up a copy of Life’s Choices. Its a glossy 48 page A5 full colour comic that has been widely distributed in Khmer and English across Cambodia through NGOs, schools and universities. The book focuses on the lives of students and is intended to raise awareness about corruption in everyday life and how to respond to it. The comic can also be found online, in both languages, here.
Our Books is developing comic art by publishing quality comics for both entertainment and education, as well as archiving historical comics, and have already scanned and archived over 200 classic Khmer comics. You can find out more about them on their website.
Preserving a musical tradition
Kong Nay is the most celebrated of the Cambodian musical masters to have survived the Pol Pot regime and who can be found passing on his skill and knowledge onto the younger generation. He's the blind musician whose appearance is dominated by thick dark sunglasses and a toothy, face-splitting grin. This article by Matt Ozug appeared on the newswires today.
Gunn meets Sage Insights
The following article by photographer-cum-cyclist Rick Gunn appeared in yesterday's Nevada Appeal newspaper. Rick is on a two-year, 20,000-mile bicycle trip around the world and he stopped off in Cambodia to join the children of the SAGE Insights school at Prey Chrouk. Its a school I visited myself in January and the kids are great. SAGE are doing some superb work in providing an opportunity for the children of the village to receive proper schooling, and Rick tried his hand at helping out. Here's his story:
Cambodian lessons
13 May 2007 - Rick Gunn for the Nevada Appeal, USA.
By the time I'd entered Cambodia, I'd passed through a doorway. Not of the physical type, nor the gateway to another country. But a doorway of perception, where just beyond its threshold lay a new way of seeing. I'd moved quickly across the landscape - 50 miles in three hours, nonstop. A gathering of clouds whispered above the palms, and a light rain began to fall. As it did, I tilted my head back, and welcomed each cooling drop like silvery liquid trinkets from the sky. That's when they'd made themselves known. "Sok sa bai! Sok sa bai! (Hello! Hello!)," came the initial shouts from Cambodia's children. It was the first of a flood of many tiny greetings. As I cycled through a succession of villages, they fled to the road by the hundreds. All of them seemingly waiting to greet the random cyclist. All of them running from simple huts, to the edge of the roadway, if just to hold out their hands or shout out welcoming calls of glee. It was a scene I'd witnessed a thousand times throughout Southeast Asia. A scene, I might add, that I never tired of.
These tiny voices brought a kind of settling to my mind, and I welcomed them into my heart, as I did the falling rain. Despite the rain, it was Cambodia's dry season, a time when the harvested rice fields gave way to a tannish-brown stubble. Near their edges stood simple stilted huts that were surrounded by a patchwork of small garden plots. I'd cycled 105 miles that first day. And did so with a certain ease. This is how I spent my time. Pedaling through the hours, then days, until the days had turned into months. This for nearly two years. I no longer questioned it. It was simply what I did.
By midday next, I'd cycled upon the traffic-choked fringes of Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh. Before I would navigate a tangle of intersections in the heart of the city, I would cross the Mekong one last time. This before it flowed east, and branched like a watery sea fan through the delta lands of Vietnam. I stopped for a moment on a small bridge to gaze out over its tea-colored waters. When I did, my vision was hijacked by a riverside slum: a gathering of tin dwellings, and impossibly ill-constructed shacks. Catching a speck of movement from the corner of the scene, my eyes landed upon a young boy crouching above a small dirt drainage. He was evacuating his bowels into an open ditch. When he'd finished, he descended the garbage-filled slopes into the astoundingly polluted waters. There, he took his morning bath. What I was observing was "extreme poverty," a termed coined by Jeffrey Sachs, (economic advisor to the secretary general of the United Nations). During a recent interview about Cambodia on PBS, Sachs stated that this "extreme poverty" was "not the poverty of inconvenience, not the poverty of jealousy, not the poverty of wanting to catch up with one's neighbor. But the kind of poverty that threatens to take life. And not just threatens ... takes millions of lives (around the globe) from those too impoverished for an adequate diet, that are too impoverished to see a doctor, that are too impoverished to gain access to clean water that they need for survival."
In short, he was talking about much the of poverty I'd observed for the last seven months. Only this time I was done observing. This time, I'd come up with a plan. Obviously I couldn't do everything for everyone, but I could do something, for someone. For me, that something meant spending a week volunteering to teach English to a group of impoverished rural children near Siem Reap.
Shortly thereafter, I stashed my bike, hopped on a bus, and made for the north-central city of Siem Reap, a city made famous by its proximity to the temples at Angkor Wat. The volunteer program I would take part in was the brain child of Andy Booth. Booth, a successful businessman who'd retired at age 37, was the founder of SAGE Insights, a full-service travel company whose proceeds are dedicated entirely to growing sustainable business in the region, and helping Cambodia's neediest children through educational and social projects. Andy believes that "a lasting solution to poverty lies in providing the tools and knowledge to a population to help themselves." I couldn't have agreed with him more. A day later, I arrived at the Prey Chrouck School, 40 kilometers outside of Siem Reap. The school consisted of 637 pupils, four toilets, no running water and no electricity. Most of the students were the impoverished children of subsistence farmers.
As I ducked beneath the 6-foot door frame into the classroom, all eyes widened. "Goot monning teechaah!" they shouted in unison, after they'd jumped to their feet. "Sok sa bai!" I bowed, greeting them with palms pressed together. This released a cascade of giggles. Their eyes began to race, setting off mumbles and murmurs around the room. My intuition told me that this was speculation. Speculation of whether the new teacher's-assistant was born of a giraffe, or more likely, about which of them was going to have to cut a hole in the ceiling to accommodate him. With little time to waste, I went straight to it, driving home the hard work of spelling words like, "cat" and "pig." These were funkified foreign words to the native Khmer child, and they wobbled off their tongues like a row of stumbling ducks. No sooner had we mastered those words, then we began busting out with a rendition of "Ol' MacDonald Had a Farm." Although I'm sure they all wondered what an "Ol' MacDonald" was, when it came to the "meow, meow" here, and an "oink, oink" there part, there was instant recognition. And with this, the crowd went wild.
I finished out my short time at the school, assisting students, or performing simple tasks that included sharpening pencils, passing out papers or pinning the letters of the alphabet to the wall. As dull as it sounds, I took pride in each tiny task. All of it culminating into a small collection of memories of immeasurable pleasure. When the students finally gathered to say goodbye, I reached out my hand. Reluctant at first, they began reaching back. Before long, a small stampede moved in and began grasping, as if only to claim that they'd touched the freakishly tall stranger before he left.
To volunteer or learn more about the SAGE Insights travel company, go to www.asiatravel-cambodia.com or e-mail andy@asiatravel-cambodia.com. You can read more from Rick's world tour at his own website.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Mak Remissa finds his niche
Mak Remissa is regarded as one of the most successful Khmer photographers of his generation - alongside Associated Press’ Heng Sinith - and credits his first and third places in the National Photojournalism competition in 1997 held by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club and chaired by Phillip Jones Griffiths, as a major catalyst in his career. Currently working as a photojournalist for the European Press photo Agency, his work is often seen on the international news wires. He’s also utilised Phnom Penh galleries like Popil and Java and the Angkor Photography Festival to showcase his 2005 fine art photography exhibition, titled after a traditional Khmer proverb: “When the water rises, the fish eats the ant; when the water recedes, the ant east the fish.” You can see some of the exhibition work here.
What a day - but the wrong result!
Yesterday was undoubtedly a memorable occasion for most people - the first cup final at the brand new Wembley stadium, and involving my team, Kidderminster Harriers, too - but I'm a bad loser so the 3-2 defeat has left me in a very sombre mood today. And it looked set for being a great result when James Constable's two goals in the first-half left Stevenage almost dead and buried. But the Harriers didn't repeat their initial dominance after the break and to rub salt in the wounds, Stevenage scored their winner just two minutes from time. I'm absolutely gutted! Okay, it was a great occasion, the record crowd of 53,000-plus saw a great game but the result is everything and I'm going off to lie in a dark corner of the house and lick my wounds....
Friday, May 11, 2007
Spotlight on Hor Nambora
A career as a diplomat seemed inevitable for Nambora. He’s one of five children, and his father is Hor Nam Hong, Cambodia’s current Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister and one of their country’s key political figures. Prior to his posting to London, Nambora spent five successful years as the Ambassador to Australia and New Zealand, which followed a brief period as a political appointee as an Under Secretary of State. Following his Tuol Sleng job, he was director of Humanitarian Relief in the port of Sihanoukville, before joining the Foreign Ministry and subsequent postings in Bangkok and Geneva. Married with three children, his current Ambassadorial portfolio also includes Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway. Below: HE Hor Nambora presents his credentials to Queen Elizabeth II.
* * * * *
Tomorrow (Saturday) is a BIG day. The first final to be played at the brand new Wembley Stadium will be the FA Trophy Final and involves my team, Kidderminster Harriers, against Stevenage, kick-off at 2.15pm. I'll be there, with my brother Tim, exercising my lungs to their fullest capacity. We have £25 seats near the Royal Box (there are rumours the crowd may reach 80,000!) and we'll make a day of it with a cooked English breakfast in a greasy spoon cafe early tomorrow morning and drive up to the outskirts of London, to meet up with our Harriers' pals for a pre-match beverage. On our day, the Harriers can beat anyone, lets hope tomorrow is THAT day.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
More books on Cambodia
Dutch photographer and artist Eric de Vries loves Asia and you can see that love in his photographic books, one of which, Images of Cambodia was published by Cleartrails last year. The 200-page book has de Vries' black & white and colour photos taken between 2000-2005 and includes the complete series from his 2005 exhibitions in Phnom Penh and the Netherlands. He's also published two other books, this year, A Blues For Buddha and Hanoi Black and White. You can order his books via his website.
Bun Yom is currently completing his second book covering his life in America after fleeing the Khmer Rouge and the Cambodian genocide. His first book, Bun's Story - Tomorrow I'm Dead, tells the story of the Khmer Rouge takeover and how it affected the fifteen year old Bun from Pailin, who later became a freedom fighter before his flight to the States via the Philippines. Today he lives in Washington State and runs his own restaurant. Bun's website has more details of his first book.
Cambodian Pagodas
Up until now the only book I'd seen on Cambodian Pagodas was Ray Zepp's Field Guide, published in 1997 by Bert's Books. Ray was a trail-blazer with his series of Cambodia guidebooks and his field guide helped me understand some of the wall paintings I saw on my visits to numerous wats around the country. If you see a copy, buy it. A brand new book on the same subject is Wat Painting in Cambodia, published by the Reyum Institute and is the result of six years of research by graduates like San Phalla. Out of 20,000 photos from over 600 wats, Reyum have put together a book and an exhibition (that opens on 18 May at the Reyum Gallery in Phnom Penh) to document this important part of the social fabric of the country and its Buddhist beliefs. Find out more about the Reyum Institute here. Below: This typical wall painting is of Buddha and his 60 disciples called the Sangkha. Its from Wat Ponlea Chey in a small village near Stoung on Highway 6.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Film Fever
I don't really need an excuse to post a photo of the lovely Chhom Nimol, the lead singer with the Los Angeles band Dengue Fever, but a new, feature-length documentary, Sleepwalking Through The Mekong, showing the group's first live shows in Cambodia was debuted at the Silver Lake film festival at the weekend. Director John Pirozzi, who's also responsible for the forthcoming film Don't Think I've Forgotten, followed the band to Cambodia in 2005, where they found inspiration at every turn and gained a deeper appreciation of the music that brought them there. Nimol also discovered new things about her native land and found a reconnection with her culture. Dengue Fever are hot to trot at the moment, playing their unique 'Khmer Rock' sound and are planning a third album release this year, having toured almost constantly, both home and abroad, in 2006. Find out more about the band here and watch a clip from the documentary.
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Youk Chhang in Time's 100
Youk Chhang hit the world stage this week when Time Magazine announced him in their top 100 Most Influential People in The World, sandwiched between Tyra Banks and George Clooney in the Heroes & Pioneers category. Read more about him in an earlier blog post from last June. It's a suitable tribute to a man who has dedicated the last decade as executive director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, to bringing awareness of the Khmer Rouge crimes to our attention, and providing evidence to the forthcoming KR Tribunal. No doubt, he will deflect the praise onto his DC-Cam team and others, but make no mistake, this man deserves all the credit and kudos he receives. It's a second Time award for Chhang in a matter of months as Time Asia Magazine, at the end of last year, named him as an inspirational Asian Hero.
Delving into the past - Flashback to 1982
Some might say, rather sadly, I used to spend a lot of time at the reference library in my teens and early twenties. When I wasn’t reading the odd book to be found on Cambodia, I was researching a book I wanted to compile on Cheltenham Town football club. Here’s an article that was published in The Gloucestershire Echo on 20 March 1982.
Andy Brouwer delves into the Robins’ past
Not many people would be content to spend much of their lives collecting information for a book which will probably never be written and which, if it was, would likely find few readers anyway, writes Derek Goddard. Andy Brouwer is more than happy to do just that. For the past seven years, he has spent hours browsing in libraries and interviewing old players researching the history of Cheltenham Town AFC. So far, the result of his many hours’ of loving labour is a mass of notebooks full of jottings and one day, one day, he will begin to try to sort it all out.
Brouwer (22), and a clerk at the Cheltenham and Gloucester Building Society, finds fascination in the kind of detail that throws up men like Jack Wheeler, once Cheltenham’s goalkeeper. Wheeler is now sponge-man at Notts County: “he holds the record for the most sponge-man appearances – he made more than 1,000 on the trot,” reveals Mr Brouwer. And Cecil Green, another ex-Robin who is now a director at Swindon Town, once wrote his a nine-page letter…. Jerry Woodrow, club secretary and a player before the war and now 82 and registered blind, wrote, with the help of his wife, a series of letters.
Brouwer’s involvement with the club began in August 1971, when he was 11. He had just moved to live near GCHQ at Oakley and discovered, through new-found friends, that Cheltenham had a football club. The first match he saw was a 1-1 draw Ilkeston, and he has not missed a home game since. For the last five years, he has not missed an away match either. His involvement became more active when he went to work at the building society on leaving Cheltenham Grammar School at 16, and met Richard Jones, the chairman of the Robins’ Supporters Association and programme editor. At the start of the 1978-79 season, Jones asked Brouwer to take over the programme, and he has been spending all day Sunday, Monday and Tuesday evenings, doing the work ever since.
He gets nothing but satisfaction from doing it: “I just have this consuming interest in non-league football, and I have various contacts who keep me informed what is going on. One in Oswestry tells me things that are happening in the north, and so on.” It would be his delight if his programme was adjudged the best of any in non-league soccer. He did quite well when he was awarded second place in the Southern League section of the Wirral national programme survey last season. “The club that beat me was Kidderminster Harriers – and they were second overall out of more than 500 entries,” he says, proudly.
The idea for a book began while he was still at school. He heard that they had played Blackpool in the third round of the FA Cup, wanted to find out more about it, and spent the first of limitless hours in the reference library. “It is such a time consuming thing. When I was at school, I used to spend all my holidays in the library reading old newspapers and writing down all the facts and figures. The 1920s and 1930s are pretty well covered, but before that, the information is in dribs and drabs. Nobody knows exactly when the club was formed. They say it was 1892, but I think it was before that.”
Like all supporters, he has particular memories from matches he has watched: at Altrincham, when Dave Lewis played in goal and Dennis Brown scored two early gaols to carry them through: Lewis again, hurling himself through the mud for a magnificent headed goal against Banbury United… This season’s two-match pulverising of Bath City stands high; a 4-3 win at Bath in the FA Trophy in 1974 with Lewis’ late hat-trick; Alan Jefferies’ own goal against his goalkeeping brother Malcolm in the FA Cup at Hereford in 1971-72, the season of Hereford’s big cup run…all are wedged in his memory. His biggest disappointment was when they failed to qualify for the Alliance Premier League, and a constant frustration is their failure to do themselves justice when extra interest is generated in a match.
Away from work and the football club, he plays Sunday League soccer for EG Bagpuize, who have just finished second in Division One and was with Mosquitos and Whaddon and College as an under-16. At the end of the 1978-79 season he was nominated Cheltenham’s supporter of the season and with Martyn Herbert, who has just watched his 400th consecutive game, is vying for the supporter-of-the-century accolade.
Postscript: Cheltenham Town were my hometown team for 15 years, I never missed a home game at Whaddon Road (it was like a drug) and for the final ten years, apart from a fateful day at Chelmsford City, I didn't miss an away match either. Throughout that time, I progressed from standing behind the goal with my pals to programme editor (a labour of love that I did for eight years), as well as public address announcer, local radio reporter (with Severn Sound for five years) and part-time reporter for a few newspapers. There were some great times, a few not so great times and a bagful of memories before I became disillusioned and accepted an offer - a free transfer in football parlance - to join Kidderminster Harriers, as their programme editor for the next four years. In my first season, we reached the FA Trophy final at Wembley and won the replay at West Brom, which was probably the greatest single night of football I've experienced as a fan. In 1990 I decided to hang up my pen after twelve years as programme editor with Cheltenham Town and Kidderminster and began playing local Saturday football in Cheltenham, at the tender age of 31.
