Hagar Featured On The Blind Project

The organization that is near and  dear to my heart was featured by the blindproject – an organization based out of New York, NY that is committed to supporting women and children throughout the world who are victims of trafficking.  This particular blurb mentions Hagar in light of Global Giving - and from now until the end of March, or when Global Giving’s money runs out, anyone who makes a donation to Hagar through GG will see their donations doubled!  Double the impact.

Coffee is good for me

This is a slightly old article, but I just discovered it through a friend’s blog.  This is great news for those of us concerned about justice who are also obsessed with coffee.  Hooray!

Matthew 25 by John Stott

I am always inspired by the people I meet in Cambodia – Cambodians and expats alike.  I am challenged by them.  I am humbled by them.  And I always go home overwhelmed and grateful that God has created so many precious people – each so unique, so differently passionate – yet all made in the same image.  And we’re all on the same team!   

Kim is one of these people.  I went to the clinic in Phnom Penh where she’s been working for the past six months.  I went home changed.  Down a dusty side road on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, next to the open canal that stinks for miles, Kim helps women who work in brothels.  She loves them and cares for their babies.  She gives them medecine and walks with them as they learn preventative measures so maybe they won’t need so much medecine anymore. 

Thank you Kim for your work and your sense of humor and your willingness to share your experiences with us.  And for reminding me that following Jesus is about love – not just justice, but justice in love.  And that as we give cups of water and feed the least of these – we are serving Jesus himself.     

From Kim’s latest blog post: 

An interpretation of Matthew 25 by a homeless women:

I was hungry and you formed a humanities group to discuss my hunger.
I was imprisoned and you crept off quietly to your church and prayed for my release.
I was naked and in your mind you debated the morality of my appearance.
I was sick and you knelt and thanked God for your health.
I was homeless and you preached to me of the spiritual shelter of the love of God.
I was lonely and you left me alone to pray for me.
You seem so holy, so close to God,
but I am still very hungry – and lonely – and cold.

By John Stott

Canadian Human Rights Activist in Cambodia

Land grabs in Cambodia push poor out

Rights groups press government to end forced resettlement as parcels sold off `to highest bidder’

A Toronto Star article about Canadian Human Rights worker who was in the Dey Krohm apartment block while the police were forcing evictions.  Go Canadian activists go!

Poverty Prayer Week

Global Poverty Prayer Week - Get on your knees for the world's most vulnerable.

  “The world is not dangerous because of those who do harm but because of those who look at it without doing anything.” Albert Einstein

We might not be able to change the world, but we can pray.  Jesus did say that if we had the faith the size of a mustard seed that we would move mountains.  And faith starts with prayer right?  Talking to God?  Tear Fund UK is hosting the Global Poverty Prayer Week from Februay 23-March 1 this year.  I will be praying that my heart will broken by the things that break the heart of God.  And for creativity, passion, wisdom, and a heart that is willing to sacrifice for my brothers and sisters around the world who are enslaved, trafficked, malnourished, and hopeless.

Genocide Trials

Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, looks on during a hearing Tuesday at the UN-backed genocide tribunal in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

The Khmer Rouge genocide tribunal has been on the forefront of my mind and everyone else’s these days.  Everyone in Phnom Penh lives and works within 10 km of the buildings where the trials are being held, and as the new apartment that Steve and I are moving to in 10 days sits directly across the street from Tuol Sleng.  From our balcony, we will see the former secondary school that was used as an interrogation and torture centre that claimed the lives of 14,000 Cambodians between 1975 and 1978.art of three decades for genocide trials to happen – and unfortunately many former high level Khmer Rouge cadres were never brought to justice.  Pol Pot himself, the author and perfector of the horrific regime that claimed the lives of 2 million Cambodians, died at home in 1998.  Ta Mok, another high ranking Khmer Rouge cadre who was known as “The Butcher” died in 2004.  

But this is an important step.  If anything, an opportunity for Cambodians to bring the many, many people who were responsible for the tragedy to justice in their minds, through Duch’s trial.

 

 

 

Justice 30 Years On

REUTERS/ AFP/GETTY – One of the many piles of human remains that dot Cambodia. Top, Chum Mei is on the left of the survivors; middle, prisoners await inspection; above left, Duch and an unknown soldier at the infamous Tuol Sleng prison.

The long awaited trial for Duch – the infamous interrogator at Tuol Sleng’s prison has finally begun – thirty years after the fall of the Khmer Rouge. 

Long awaited justice. 

It is estimated that approximately 14,000 people were interrogated, tortured and sentenced to execution by Duch during his three-year patronage of Tuol Sleng. 

During the Khmer Rouge regime – approximately 2 million Cambodians died of starvation, illness, and execution. 

It’s about time this is happening.

New Hopes for Abolition

Yes, slavery does still exist.  It might not be the same as the transatlantic slave trade, but it does exist.  According to Kevin Bales (author of Disposable People and expert on the contemporary slave trade) there are about 27 million slaves in the world today. 

This article talks about just that – that slavery does exist and the hope that Barack Obama (who’s rise to the American presidency is a remarkable example of one man’s triump over the history of slavery) will propel America into a new era of abolition.

Cambodia For Sale

Country For Sale - a new report from Global Witness.

Global Witness just produced this new report on the state of Cambodia’s natural resource.  A mind-boggling look into what modern Cambodia is like.  Corruption, abuse of power, and systematic frustration for everyone working in the non-profit and for profit sectors trying to ameliorate the lives of Cambodia’s poor. 

Power Politics – A Modern Cambodian Tale of Oppression

Photo by: SOVANN PHILONG. Former Dey Krahorm residents gather Monday outside the National Assembly building where they thumb-printed documents protesting their forced eviction Saturday.

Forced evictions are a regular occurance in Phnom Penh these days, in favour of large-scale, glossy and new apartment complexes, office buildings, etc. 

This is the latest in a series of evictions, fires and other “natural phenomena” that have seen many, many families their their homes, their belongings, their livelihoods, and just about all hope.  

Read the article from the Phnom Penh Post.