Shot of the Week: Spring in Madison

Tulips in front of the Wisconsin State Capitol

Lake Mendota

Madison’s famous State Street

Killing Fields: Long Road to Justice

In a groundbreaking new documentary CNN’s Dan Rivers goes on the hunt for Ta Chan, the chief interrogator of the Khmer Rouge’s notorious S-21 prison camp.  For the program, CNN obtained exclusive and previously unseen footage of Ta Chan giving a tour of another Khmer Rouge jungle prison. CNN’s Rivers also details corruption allegations at the Phnom Penh trial of Khmer Rouge leaders, reporting on prosecution and defense fears that the trial will be tainted by the allegations.

Sam Ang Manin: Cambodia’s Future Scientist & I-Sweep Gold Medalist

“I beat an American!” Sam Ang Manin, a 16-year-old Phnom Penh young girl, still cannot believe it: her project to produce biofuel based on jatropha oil won her a gold medal at the I-Sweeep 2009 international contest between budding scientists, when a similar project of a United States high school student was awarded “only” a silver medal. The young Cambodian has even more reasons to be proud since she has also received a scholarship and a special prize of a U.S. firm. She thereby did even better than a previous Cambodian prize winner, who had obtained a silver medal in the same category “Senior Energy” in this contest in 2008 for her coconut diesel.

Way to go girl! You’ve made me and Cambodia so proud. News about your achievement made my day!

More news on this can be found HERE!

Counting Down: Cambodia Here I Come

Exactly two more weeks to go, and I’ll be back in the motherland. Though only for 10 days, I hope I get to spend a lot of time with the people I’ve missed and the foods I’ve long craved for. See you guys soon!

Somaly Mam Among the “Time Top 100″

Having received so many of the world’s most prestigious awards, Somaly Mam has done it again! In their latest issue, Time Magazine has nominated her among the world’s top 100 most influential people. Below is an excerpt on the life of Bong Somaly written by Angelina Jolie:

Somaly Mam and Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge regime were born around the same time — when the U.S. began secretly carpet bombing her country. The bombed villages became fertile ground for the Khmer Rouge’s growth and Pol Pot’s revolution.

By the time Mam was 5, the Khmer Rouge controlled Cambodia and had proceeded to kill 1.5 million people as Pol Pot implemented his radical form of communism. Torture, executions and forced labor were widespread. Families fled for safety, and massive internal displacement decimated Cambodian society in the years that followed.

Against this backdrop, 12-year-old Mam was sold into sexual slavery by a man who posed as her grandfather. She eventually ended up in a Phnom Penh brothel, beginning a decade of horrific rape and torture. She describes this period of her life simply: “I was dead. I had no affection for anyone.”

Terror is the weapon of choice for those who hold women in sexual bondage. They depend on their victims’ being frozen with fear. Traffickers hope that with enough pain and degradation, women will simply accept their fate as inescapable.

But Mam was able to escape. With the help of an aid worker from France, she fled Cambodia in 1993.

The fact that she escaped makes her unique, but what makes her truly extraordinary is that she went back. While, understandably, most people would spend the rest of their lives quietly recovering from their wounds, Mam decided to confront the system that continues to victimize Cambodian girls.

In 1996, Mam created a nonprofit organization called AFESIP (Agir pour les Femmes en Situation Précaire, or Acting for Women in Distressing Circumstances) that works with local law enforcement to raid brothels and reintegrate the trafficked women into society. It is estimated that between 1.2 million and 2 million people are currently being held as sex slaves around the world. Mam, now 38 or 39 (she does not know her birthday), has established a model for addressing this issue and has already helped more than 4,000 women escape the brothels.

She has paid a terrible personal price for doing so, enduring death threats and assaults. In an effort to deter her work, brothel owners even kidnapped, drugged and raped Mam’s then 14-year-old daughter in 2006.

Most people would have walked away. Mam continues to fight back so that others can be spared the pain she once suffered.

Keep up the excellent job, Bong! Just like other Cambodians, I am proud of you!

Shot of the Week: A Sign Spring’s Back

It is often said that once birds are back from the South, that means Spring is back. Yesterday I joined two friends for a long stroll around the Statue Garden in downtown Minneapolis. It felt so good to see loads of birds around. With the grass getting greener, the whole atmosphere just lifted me up. For a good moment, I totally forgot about those boring papers I have to finish by next weekend.

Have a great weekend everyone! Until then, enjoy this picture! My apology for the hiatus and lack of productivity lately.