Dear Friends,
As most of you know, I have developed a habit of traveling to some
corner of the world in the winter months, when the pace of my day job
slackens up somewhat.
This year I am going to Southeast Asia, specifically Cambodia. I
have wanted to visit this part of the world for quite a while, and have
long been familiar with the Cambodian tragedy.
In a nutshell, the ancient Khmer kingdom of Cambodia received a
particularly sharp and pointy end of the Colonialism stick.
During the US/Vietnam war, the Viet Cong crossed the border into
Cambodia and there they set up sanctuaries and bases to overthrow the
South Vietnamese government. The US responded by starting a 4 year
secret program of bombing these sanctuaries (Code Name, Operation
Menu). Vast areas of Eastern Cambodia were
carpet-bombed. Estimates for civilian deaths range as high
as 250,000. Meanwhile an indigenous Cambodian revolutionary
movement called the Khmer Rouge gained momentum. So, rather than
eradicate the VC outposts, the US bombing campaign drove them further
into Cambodia where they met up with the Khmer Rouge and aided in the
ongoing Cambodian Civil War. The US backed government fell and on April
17, 1975 the Khmer Rouge marched into Phnom Penh. The war weary
population greeted them as victors, but their nightmare had just
begun. The Khmer Rouge began to enforce their ideals onto the
population, essentially a radical form of agrarian communism wherein
family, wealth and status were irrelevant. Family groups were broken
up, the currency and postal system were abolished and everyday
life, as Cambodian had known it, was turned upside down. Within hours
of their arrival the Khmer Rouge began to clear the city of its
inhabitants. Within a week the city was deserted. Over the next 3
years, 8 months and 23 days 2 million people were killed. The
killing was systematic: political leadership, the monks, the educated,
the elite, even people who wore glasses were singled out. Finally
in 1978 the Vietnamese invaded Cambodia and nominally took control,
though civil war coursed through the countryside for much of the 1980s.
And what all of this served to do was to create a country that had very
little means of developing itself out of its ongoing nightmare.
The population that remains has weathered years of bloodshed, poverty,
famine and political instability. Moreover they have done this (against
all odds) with a smile on their face. And the country is beginning to
pull itself together. But there are hurdles.
In researching this trip, my eyes were reopened to the scope and scale
of the situation there. Statistics such as : “Average per capita
annual income= ~$300 USD per year” Or “10 million land mines
still in the ground” jumped out at me. I began to get an
overwhelming sense of White Guilt. Something about traveling to a
country, walking around, seeing the sights, and then just washing my
hands and going home hit a sour note with me. It seemed like taking,
without giving anything back.
So recently I went to visit a couple in Northern New Mexico who
supports orphanages in Cambodia through their organization, Cambodia’s
Hope. They offer support to children and families in the form of
survival support, education and occupational training. Their goal is to
help the children to learn, play and create, which will enable them to
start on a developmental path towards leadership roles in their country.
http://www.cambodiashope.org/
So rather than just go a-touristing, I am going to spend some time with
the kids, both at the orphanage and on a few excursions. Apparently
volleyball is pretty popular with the children there, as is art. And
here we get to the point of this email. I tend to travel light, so I’m
going to take a couple of big duffel bags full of volleyballs and art
supplies for the kids. I did a bit of online research and a
decent volleyball sells for about 14 bucks. A good “student” set of 36
colored pencils sells for about the same. It occurs to me that
this is the season for giving, so if any of you are interested in
helping out, send me back an email and we can work it out.
And of course, it may occur to some of you that one need not go halfway
around the world to find people in need. We are lucky, fortunate
people. If you are able to help out across town or across the globe,
you will make a difference.
Thanks for reading this (if you got this far) and have a safe and
wonderful holiday season.
Best,
Anthony Sloan
http://www.anthonysloan.com