People like Ponheary Ly and Lori Carlson are truly inspirational. Ponheary Ly herself is an amazing woman and what she has done - empowering the next generations of Cambodians to become educated and re-establish the brain infrastructure to rebuild Cambodia - is what will work in this recovering land, and Lori Carlson has provided a truly catalytic presence.
As the new year approaches, it reminds me it is time to support the Ponheary Ly Foundation and Cambodia's future once again.
I will match FlyerTalk members' contributions through 31 Jan 2012 up to a total of USD $500.
Post your contribution here, or PM me.
JDiver, that's really great of you to do. I hadn't heard of the Ponheary Ly Foundation before now, but I'm glad it was mentioned here. I've sent them $25... thanks for matching!
It really is true, education is truly key to empowerment and abolishing ignorance. What happened in Cambodia was a tragedy, and I am continually surprised about how little attention the Khmer Rouge genocide gained compared to other comparable massacres. Here is a video on what happened for those who do not know: http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...64859238659487
And the award-winning documentary, also very distressing, on the subject: Thet Sambath - Voices from the Killing Fields.
Always makes me beyond sad seeing and thinking about what happened in Cambodia
Finally, a song by Pan Ron, one of Cambodia's best singers executed by the Khmer Rouge: Snaeha - Pan Ron
Regarding the Ponheary Ly Foundation, please let me know if there's more I can do to help out... my girlfriend lives on the border of Thailand with Cambodia (Aranyaprathet), so I hope to visit her this summer... I haven't been to Cambodia yet but I'd like to take a trip and there and take along anything useful at the same time if possible.
Last edited by JDiver; Dec 31, 11 at 10:36 pm..
Reason: extend challenge date
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Ponheary is coming to the US!
Efforts are underway to sponsor a trip to the US for Ponheary Ly.
Quote:
We want to set up speaking engagements for Ponheary in 4-6 cities, with a fundraising goal in each city. The speaking engagements do not have to be in a large venue, sometimes small intimate events are equally good. Our hope is that a core group in each city would secure transportation and housing for that "leg". And of course, point us towards others in the community that might want help support our work. We have set our sights on an August-to-mid September 2012 time frame.We need to be back in Cambodia before school starts in October.
Our rough outline at the moment involves flying into California, going on to Austin, Washington DC and NYC.
