End or Beginning of the Journey

It depends on how you look at it, right?

As I have mentioned before, I became intrigued by two concepts while in Cambodia: the concept of memory and of the power of question. I wrestled with the idea of memory and how is is situationally different. While I feel there are some tragic events in the United States, that we have struggled to preserve the memory of (i.e. 9/11), I feel in the reverse has occurred in Cambodia. I saw how Cambodians struggled to forget the genocide, in order to move towards the future. To forget, in order to survive. To sweep up all the pain and suffering into a movie or book, that could be sold on the street by a little child for a few bucks. So it no longer had to be part of your everyday history, and so that you could detach yourself from it, in order to have the courage to continue on.

Secondly, I remain intrigued by the power of the question. As I have previously written to my phenomenal and very supportive family of donors, before leaving the United States for Cambodia, I had the overly ambitious hope that I would come back knowing exactly how and to what I would devote the rest of my life to. As I have been contemplating law school, during my trip, I spoke with lawyers who told me to avoid ever becoming a lawyer. I spoke with others who told me that I should definitely consider it. I also spoke with students, international non-profit managers, activists, artists, cooks, doctors, dancers, and many other types of interesting people. Thus, I remain more confused than ever. But I have realized it is okay, as I am fortunate enough to live in a world where so many opportunities even exist. I remain steadfast in my commitment to human rights, yet have become inspired by others to understand that in life, there is often more than one path in the journey. A journey that, in many ways, has just begun.

"We see the chaos and beauty in misdirection." El-P

Bottle Labels

*Please note that this doesn't really have to do with Cambodia directly. But I wrote it a week or two ago and I thought it captured some of my feelings on traveling in general.

I peel the labels off bottles,
first: out of nervousness
because social interactions
are often too laborious
for my awkward little mind,
initiating a policy of isolationism
with the rest of humankind.

Second reason
while others collect stamps
and tossed out things, used,
I prefer the labels off the bottles
of all the world's booze

Singh, Corona, Stella Artois
Heineken, Heferweisen
Gallo, Angkor

A mound of labels begin
to pile into place
maybe it's a part of a higher
aspiration of world peace,
across culture and race,
hands held together from
Afghanistan to Belize.

Or maybe its the thought of
of a kitsch labeled table
or of a lamp
to revamp my apartment
and the prospect of an "ooh and awe"
from strangers and friends,
a far more likely reason.

Reflections on Community Meetings in Sihanoukville and Koh Kong

An hour outside of the city limits, past the Special Economic Zones, past the genocide tribunals, and even past the constructions sites that boast of 52-sky scrapers, there is another Cambodia. A Cambodia that is filled with luscious green rice paddy fields, wooden houses resting on long stilts, and unpaved roads. Another Cambodia which I was fortunate enough to experience as I journeyed with several housing rights activists as they made their monthly meetings to various communities, either immediately threatened by land evictions or organizing to prevent forced resettlement in the near future.

We arrived in the rural commune of Cheko Leu, located within the Koh Kong province, first greeted by a few community members. Yet in half an hour’s time, a few friendly faces turned into forty-two, the majority of which, surprisingly enough, were women. Although the meeting was all in Khmer, I got the sensation that true grassroots efforts were being constructed and I sat back on the cool tile floor, attempting to take it all in, as I frantically tried to capture the key points that were translated in English.

I think what resonated most with me at the meeting of five villages was the grassroots approach that COHRE and other housing rights affiliates had taken in their attempts to address forced evictions. This wasn’t a matter of the all too familiar pattern that many international non-governmental organizations take: “we will give you money and tell you how to spend that money.” Instead, COHRE and others haves stressed the importance of taking a backseat role – COHRE has been committed to providing background research, providing necessary tools and information – in community organizing campaigns. Housing rights activists half-joked that the village organizers were ultimately the drivers in the car, and they saw themselves as the “helpers along the road,” giving encouragement and support as needed: an all too true and clever analogy.

Though the land of these villagers—the rightful owners—has been taken away, and what remains continues to be at risk of being taken, they remain hopeful that their land will be returned to them. While visiting the community, we listened to the report-backs of their journey to Phnom Penh to the Prime Minister’s house, who they earnestly hope will do something to remedy the situation.

This persistence of the community amazes me. “If there is no response to our letter [which they wrote to the Prime Minister, asking for support] then we will return to Phnom Penh.” Indeed they will. As I write this, this community, along with many other communities facing evictions from provinces throughout Cambodia, is coming to the capital in a demonstration of their basic human rights. For the next few days, housing rights activists will be marching to the United Nations with petitions calling on Prime Minister Hun Sen to address their demands.

All of this I find extremely overwhelming. I am very much in awe of these human rights activists and community leaders, but it is not until I ride back from our first meeting in Koh Kong to our second and third community meetings in Sihanoukville, that I understand precisely why. Reflecting with a COHRE housing rights activist, I understand that while these mobilizations are enthralling, they are first and foremost, out of necessity. I think that is what makes me respect their efforts the most. This is not about glamour or recognition. It’s about being in pursuit of the most fundamental rights: the right to a home, which as been systematically denied to thousands of people throughout the country, most often in the name of “development.” Whose development? I’m not exactly sure. In this case, the revolution will probably not be televised, nor will it be screen printed. But it does exist and it is a very important one.

First Week: Reflection on the Cambodian Genocide

Hello all:

I apologize for beginning this blogging experience with such intensity, but I sincerely believe that the tragic/depressing cannot be overlooked in this journey, which has proven to be extremely valuable and powerful thus far.

As many of you may know from 1975 until 1979, there was a genocide within the country, where over two million Cambodians were killed by the Khmer Rouge army, led by Pol Pot. Thousands of families were separated from one another: those who did not starve to death in work camps were shot to death or brutally tortured. The Cambodian Genocide has come to be recognized as one of the worst incidents of human rights violations the world has ever seen.

Currently interns in our program have been boarding at the facilities of Bridges Across Borders, an amazing non-profit organization working in Southeast Asia. Very near the Bridges Across Borders office, is the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, previously a high school until the years of genocide, when the Khmer Rouge converted the space into a prison. Nearly 17,000 Cambodians were said to have been tortured and imprisoned here, many of the bodies buried near the site. During our training with the One World Foundation this past week, both the American and Cambodian participants of the program came together to visit the site.

The following poem/rap is a reflection of my experience at the museum and the conversations I had with people during the visit.

I'll try not to fail you this time around

Just give me multiple choice and
a daily double round.

They say everyone's a rapper
and every rapper's cynical
I'll try to break this cancer down
and prevent the cyclical
nature of the beast, where
it's signing its lease
in the land of a thousand landmines;
where only the shame and
guilt of mind remain.

10,000 crisp golden portraits,
weathered by a concoction
of time, death, and pain,
stare back at me, relentless, all the same.

Failed attempts to avert my gaze
only leave a sickening knot
in the depths of my stomach.
Tattered, dry-blooded cells,
rusted beds of torture
that no junk yard would accept-
except may hell's.

"Lest we never forget"
that no one wants to remember.
Push the tribunals back at least
until September.

To avoid interfering with impunity's
wedding party or the
bat mitzvah of injustice.

Ask Bansky if he'll paint a mural to give us solace;
or find Chris Pape in a tunnel.
But I fear that even his skilled hands
would be unable to reach every
crevice of death,
every tile that once cooled lifeless flesh.

Or even worse, I fear that in 29 more years,
the red drips of his cans
will be indistinguishable from the bloodstains.

Thank you very much for reading this, I appreciate all your support and kindness during this summer experience.

Summer Internship in Cambodia: June 1-August 1, 2008

Greetings to all of those reading this! Thank you for coming to this website!

I have been blessed with the amazing opportunity to work with One World Foundation this summer. The One World Foundation is a non-profit organization based out of New York City that is committed to linking young people from minority or indigenous backgrounds in the United States to a global activist community dedicated to working in the human rights, social justice, and development arenas. The organization annually organizes a series of domestic and international service projects for young leaders, to work in solidarity with non-profit organization partners in developing countries. Each program (lasting eight weeks) consists of a one-week in-country leadership training component and a seven-week service project. If you are interested in learning more about the organization and the work that it does, please visit its website here.

As a participant of the 2008 One World Foundation Cambodia program, I will be working with one of the following non-profit partner organizations: the Cambodia Center for Human Rights (CCHR), the Center on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), Cambodian Living Arts (CLA), and Tiny Toones, on a human rights or development project within the country. I am very excited about participating in this 8-week program where I will work and learn with activists in a developing community overseas and also have an opportunity to grow both personally and professionally.

To those who are reading this, I am personally asking for financial support for the unpaid summer internship program. Until April 27th, I will be working on collecting the necessary program fees, which include: airfare, accommodations, in-country travel fees, food, insurance, and training fees.

All and any donations would be very much appreciated. Of if you have any fund-raising ideas or suggestions of organizations and/or companies that I should approach, please let me know. That too, would also be very much appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read this far! Your support means so much to me.

FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN CONTRIBUTING:

All donations, no matter how small or large, are appreciated and will be honored on this website. However, donors can remain anonymous, if they so choose. Please visit this website in order to make a donation.

For those donating:

$20.00 and below: You will be included on my travel update e-mail listserv to learn about what's going on in Cambodia as it happens. Also, you will receive all my eternal love and undying gratitude.

$50.00+ The above and you will receive a hand-crafted thank you note and a small "trinket" from Cambodia.

$100.00+ All of the above and an invitation to an intimate donor dinner (for donors in the New York City area). There donors will have an opportunity to view a powerpoint presentation based on my experiences in Cambodia. If donors are unable to attend the dinner, they will still have the opportunity to see the presentation, if they so choose.

$250.00+ All of the above and donors will have their original, handcrafted piñata, personally designed and created by me.

$500.00+ All of the above, plus something really fantastic that cannot be conveyed into words at this moment!

If interested, you may donate via pay-pal at http://oneworldcambodiainternshipmagv.chipin.com. Please contact marissaag@gmail.com, if you have any questions or would like to donate by check or a form other than pay-pal. All names of donors and the amount donated, will be recorded on this website, unless otherwise indicated otherwise.

Honoring the Following Contributors

Many thanks to the following donors for their generous financial contribution and support for my upcoming summer internship with the One World Foundation.

Name:________________________Amount Donated:

Laura Tamanaha and Ryan DeBusk________$150.00
Mike Rauch_______________________$10.00
Beth Dana________________________$50.00
Erin O'Brien______________________$100.00
Claudia Rodriguez__________________$100.00
Sandra Chuon_____________________$25.00
Jason Chuon______________________$50.00
Elizabeth Hostetler__________________$50.00
Tony Romano_____________________$100.00
Michelle C. Murray__________________$100.00
Megan Ann Tideman________________$50.00
Anonymous Friends ________________$1000.00
Alexis Hodges____________________$50.00
Margaret Davis___________________$100.00
Cher Lynn Tan

I am sincerely grateful for the support of everyone. You are all very much appreciated!