A Day in the Life

Tonight I was sitting in my hotel room watching television when I got a phone call from Aki Ra. We’d spent the day getting his visa at the US embassy in Phnom Penh and running errands in town. We’d finished a phone interview with Voice of America at 8pm and he and a friend finally got a chance to go to his favorite restaurant in town and have Chinese dumplings. I went back to the hotel to get some rest.

At 9:45 he called me. While eating dinner one of the waitresses had collapsed on the floor. She couldn’t move or speak. The owner simply picked her up and tossed her out the door, telling her if she couldn’t work, she couldn’t stay.

Aki Ra went outside, picked her up, got a taxi and took her to a clinic down the street. When I got there she’d been there 30 minutes. Seems she had been working long, long hours and had collapsed from exhaustion. The doctor had treated her, given her some medication and she was recovering. When I got there she sat up, crying, and thanked Aki Ra for his help.

Aki Ra had called one of her friends, who came to the clinic to be with her. She got her prescription filled, we paid the $7 bill and Aki Ra was taking her home to rest.

He’d had a serious conversation with the restaurant owner also.

He was bewildered that anyone would toss a human being into the street like a bag of garbage. He’s going to check on her the next couple of days while he waits for his visa to be prepared.

He'd never met her before in his life.

Makes me even happier I nominated him as a CNN Hero.

Babu

CRAZY CRAZY CRAZY

Been a real hectic couple of weeks here. Last month Aki Ra got nominated as a CNN Top 10 Hero and things have started to take off.

CNN arrives next week to do some more filming. We'll be working at the Museum, in the mine field and around Siem Reap.

Then on the 16th of November Aki Ra and I travel to Los Angeles for the taping of the Tribute Show for 2010. It will be taped at the Shrine Auditorium and broadcast on Thanksgiving night at 8pm EST/PST on CNN.

This has been a real labor of love for me. I nominated Aki Ra, not really expecting him to be recognized. We've struggled for so long to get the Museum up and running, to get the demining team in the field, and to get people to recognize the problems that still exist...I just figured that my little submition would get shunted aside.

Then when he was chosen as one of the 25 to be featured on the website and promoted on TV I was just amazed.

At that point I really thought maybe we had a chance to tell the world about the work this guy and his friends are doing. When he made the 25, I felt confident he could make the 10.

Now it's up to you.

The 'winner' ( a really bad term) will be chosen by on-line voting. The winner last year got 2,500,000 votes.

You can vote for Aki Ra at: http://heroes.cnn.com/vote.aspx

And you can vote more than once.

Thank you CNN for recognizing my hero as one of your heroes.

Babu out

AKI RA CHOSEN AS A CNN TOP 10 HERO FOR 2010

AKI RA CHOSEN A

CNN TOP 10 HERO

everyday people

changing the world

It has been a hectic and busy few days since I last had a chance to post anything. On Thursday the 23rd CNN announced the Top 10 Heroes for 2010.

The announcement was made at 1pm Eastern Daylight Time, very convenient for those of you in the US and Europe.

It was midnight over here........

About a dozen of us got together at a local hang-out for expats, the Warehouse. We tuned into CNN at midnight ... and got the regular, hourly news report. Oh No! I'd been telling people for days to get up at midnight and see if Aki Ra was chosen. A bunch of the staff from the Landmine Museum had even driven into town and were at Aki Ra's house to see the show.

I got a little nervous......

Then I called my mother..... They were watching in the US and told me that CNN had announced that 'sometime' during the hour the announcement would be made.

About 12:40 in the morning we all started screaming at the barkeep to turn down the music and turn up the TV....the announcement was coming.

About 10,000 people were nominated as CNN Heroes this year. To have Aki Ra chosen in the Top 25 was an amazing honor. To be chosen as one of the Top 10 was, well, just stunning.

I first saw CNN Heroes a couple of years ago and I always thought Aki Ra should be nominated.

In June I sat down at my computer and filled out the on-line nomination form.

Then I pretty much forgot about it. I knew that in 2009 around 9,000 people were nominated and the odds were .... well ......

Later in June, just before Jill and I headed home we were notified that Aki Ra had been chosen as one of the 25 to be featured on the website and CNN TV.

The 'winner', and that's a bad word to use, since all the nominees have already proven themselves huge winners, will be chose by viewers in on-line voting. You can vote at CNN Heroes . (You can vote more than once).

The Tribute show will be broadcast Thanksgiving nite at 8pm EST. For those of us outside the US, that's Thursday 25 November at 8pm, New York time.

The show will be taped at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. They've held the Academy Awards there several times.

Aki Ra and I will fly to LA a few days before the celebration and return to Cambodia to watch it at 8am on Friday the 26th at my house. We'll have about 50 people there.

Should be a blast.

It certainly is an honor.

More as the craziness starts.......

Babu from the Jungle

New News From the Jungle

It's been a pretty hectic 2 weeks. It's hard to believe we've been back that long.

On the other hand it's hard to believe we were ever gone.

We got back on the 3rd. Sophary got back on the 5th since she flew through Phnom Penh...we've seen her twice.

Last week it rained most of the week. We think we have the leaks in the house plugged. We're still waiting for the landlord to fix one.....we've been waiting since May, so I don't know when that will get done. I'm gonna duct tape it today.

I saw on the internet that CNN Heroes is announcing the Top 10 in their CNN Heroes program on Thursday, September 23, 2010 at 1pm ET (US). That'll be midnite here. We'll all be up watching to see if Aki Ra makes the final 10. IF he does, you'll be able to vote on line for your hero of the year.

We were pretty excited when Aki Ra got picked. I don't know how many were nominated this year. Something like 9,000 were nominated last year. This year CNN chose about 25 to feature on TV and the website.

When I nominated him, I certainly thought he deserved it, but never really thought we'd make the cut to TV, and really had doubts about making the Top 10. I, personally, thought he should be number one, but to make the TV cut was such a long shot, and we are so far away.......

We'll be watching on Thursday with a lot of our friends. If you're in town (Siem Reap), come by the Warehouse at midnite and watch Anderson Cooper announce the Top 10.

Also, the artist Blake will be exhibiting his work at the Hotel de la Paix from 23 September to 3 November. His show, entilted 'Fragment', has been exhibited across the globe. Part of the proceeds will go to support Aki Ra's demining NGO, Cambodian Self Help Demining. Aki Ra will make some brief comments at the opening.

More from the jungle as we uncover it.....

Babu out

Halfway Around the World and Into the Monsoon

My my my....what a week. I can't begin to believe that it's only been 7 daze since we were driving through LA checking out the sights.

We got home on Friday after a 30 hour sojourn. We left Palm Springs on Wednesday afternoon and drove into LAX. Jill and Sophary helped pack the car. We said goodbye to my mom and dad for perhaps a year, locked up the house, put Mikki in the backseat and headed off.

We met friends at LAX, checked ourselves in and then had a tense 1 hours wait to check Sophary into her flight. Checking ourselves in is easy, but getting Mikki (our dog) into her kennel, and through the check-in routine is always heart wrenching. She just sits in her 'box' (a little stoned) and looks at you like 'What are you doing to me?' Really hard to do.

We also wound up taking a whole lot of extra stuff back. So much that we had an extra bag. Luckily, Thai Airways was very accomodating. When we explained what we did, they turned a blind eye to the extra bag, but asked us not to do it again. Ot ai tai (hakuna matata).

Then we went to check Sophary in............a VERY long line, and only an hour before we boarded. China Air let us use the 1st class line, and we were off.

Now ... have you ever had to check 6 computers through security? Not a pleasant experience. But eventually we got everyone and everything cleared and to the proper gates.

It's a 16+ hour flight to Bangkok. The flight attendants told us when Mikki was on board and as we were about to land told us she was fine. They could hear here barking in First Class. I bet those were some 'pleasent' conversations....

The last time we came through BKK we told them we were immediately going overland to Cambodia. That was not good; it cost us $170 to get Mikki out of the airport. This time we told them we were staying in Thailand. Cost us $31.

2 1/2 hours to the border, half an hour to cross, and another 2 hours later we were home. Sau and the family had all come into town to greet us, and it was great to be back home again.

It's monsoon season over here and we've been told everything leaks. Well, our house sure does. The master bedroom has 2 major leaks and we've had to move out. The master bath has a crack in the ceiling. The kitchen floods (but we knew that) and the living room windows aren't tight and leak.

DUCTAPE!!!

I brought back a BIG roll, bought some plastic sheeting and showed the Khmers how a fat old barrang (foreignor) takes care of leaks. They WERE suitably impressed. I then explained my house in California also has a flat roof and I learned these tricks over there. They were even MORE impressed.

I've asked a friend to send 2 more rolls of ductape. Cannot get it here. Proof that Cambodia still needs to progress.

So we are now sitting in a dry house getting ready to go out and have a quiet Sunday meal before starting work again tomorrow.

The repairmen came this morning and are going to go about fixing the leaks that happen on the roof patio. Then when everything dries they''ll do the fix ups in the rooms. $40........ I love it here.........

Good to be home.

Hell of a lot better than playing golf.

Babu out......

Ps: The radiator in the car blew at dinner. Ductape it?

It's Time to Sign the Mine Ban Treaty

The following letter was sent to President Obama in May. It was signed by 68 Senators, 10 of them Republicans. To bacome law the treaty needs to be ratified by 2/3 of the Senate - 67 Senators.

It is now time to ratify the treaty.

Read the letter and understand why this needs to be done. The imbedded pictures and the hilited text are my own.

May 18, 2010

The Honorable Barack Obama,

The White House,

Washington, DC. 20500

DEAR MR. PRESIDENT,

We are writing to convey our strong support for the Administration's decision to conduct a comprehensive review of United States policy on landmines. The Second Review Conference of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction, held last December in Cartagena, Colombia, makes this review particularly timely. It is also consistent with your commitment to reaffirm U.S. leadership in solving global problems and with your remarks in Oslo when you accepted the Nobel Peace Prize: "I am convinced that adhering to standards, international standards, strengthens those who do, and isolates and weakens those who don't.''

These indiscriminate weapons are triggered by the victim, and even those that are designed to self-destruct after a period of time (so-called "smart" mines) pose a risk of being triggered by U.S. forces or civilians, such as a farmer working in the fields or a young child. It is our understanding that the United States has not exported anti-personnel mines since 1992, has not produced anti-personnel mines since 1997, and has not used anti-personnel mines since 1991.

We are also proud that the United States is the world's largest contributor to humanitarian demining and rehabilitation programs for landmine survivors.

In the ten years since the Convention came into force, 158 nations have signed including the United Kingdom and other ISAF partners, as well as Iraq and Afghanistan which, like Colombia, are parties to the Convention and have suffered thousands of mine casualties. The Convention has led to a dramatic decline in the use, production, and export of anti-personnel mines.

We note that our NATO allies have addressed their force protection needs in accordance with their obligations under the Convention. We are also mindful that anti-personnel mines pose grave dangers to civilians, and that avoiding civilian casualties and the anger and resentment that result has become a key priority in building public support for our mission in Afghanistan. Finally, we are aware that anti-personnel mines in the Korean DMZ are South Korean mines, and that the U.S. has alternative munitions that are not victim-activated.

We believe the Administration's review should include consultations with the Departments of Defense and State as well as retired senior U.S. military officers and diplomats, allies such as Canada and the United Kingdom that played a key role in the negotiations on the Convention, Members of Congress, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and other experts on landmines, humanitarian law and arms control.

We are confident that through a thorough, deliberative review the Administration can identify any obstacles to joining the Convention and develop a plan to overcome them as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Patrick Leahy,

George V. Voinovich,

Richard G. Lugar,

John F. Kerry,

Jack Reed,

Orrin G. Hatch,

Daniel K. Inouye,

Carl Levin,

Olympia J. Snowe,

Charles E. Schumer,

Joseph I. Lieberman,

Robert F. Bennett,

Jeff Bingaman,

Dianne Feinstein,

Susan M. Collins,

Ben Nelson,

Max Baucus,

Lisa Murkowski,

Judd Gregg,

Robert Menendez,

Arlen Specter,

Barbara A. Mikulski,

Sheldon Whitehouse,

Christopher J. Dodd,

Harry Reid,

Sherrod Brown,

Benjamin L. Cardin,

Kent Conrad,

Mike Crapo,

Bill Nelson,

Richard J. Durbin,

Patty Murray,

Ron Wyden,

Blanche L. Lincoln,

Byron Dorgan,

Mark Warner,

Evan Bayh,

George S. LeMieux,

Michael F. Bennet,

Mary L. Landrieu,

Russell D. Feingold,

Tim Johnson,

Maria Cantwell,

Thomas R. Carper,

Herb Kohl,

Kirsten E. Gillibrand,

Robert C. Byrd,

Frank R. Lautenberg,

Jon Tester,

John D. Rockefeller IV,

Edward E. Kaufman,

Daniel K. Akaka,

Mark L. Pryor,

Kay R. Hagan,

Tom Udall,

Jeanne Shaheen,

Claire McCaskill,

Al Franken,

Mark Udall,

Jeff Merkley,

Debbie Stabenow,

Robert P. Casey, Jr.,

Mark Begich,

Amy Klobuchar,

Tom Harkin,

Barbara Boxer,

Roland W. Burris,

Bernard Sanders.

CNN Heroes

A year or so ago I saw one of CNN's programs about every day people making a a difference.

I was sitting in my guest house in Siem Reap after returning from a mine field with Aki Ra. I thought "Shoot, Aki Ra should be on that show!".

In June I sat down at my computer and Googled 'CNN Heroes' and spent about 15 minutes nominating Aki Ra.

I read about the process. Last year over 9,000 people were nominated as CNN Heroes. The CNN staff read every application and 28 were selected as CNN Heroes. Their stories were aired on CNN and its partner networks between February and September. A panel advanced 10 names to the final list. The final decision was made by viewers such as ourselves who had the chance to vote online.

A month ago I received a call from CNN telling me that Aki Ra had been chosen as a CNN Hero. CNN sent a film crfew to Siem Reap to film Aki Ra, Cambodian Self Help Demining and the Landmine Museum.

I was in the United States!!!

Jill and I had scheduled our annual return to the US for the week CNN arrived. When I bought the tickets the agent told me, in no uncertain terms, that I could change the return portion of the ticket, but under no circumstances could I change the outgoing portion. Oh well. Sophary, Gerry, Bomber, and Sao took the CNN crew all over the province to do the filming and seeing the results, they did a phenominal job.

It is a wonderful tribute to Aki Ra and the people who work with him.

Watch CNN Heroes - Aki Ra, on line at: http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cnn.heroes/index.html

There are 2 videos to watch. One is marked 'video', and its about demining. The other is marked 'extra' and it is about the Museum and the kids. Be sure and see both.

Sophary and Naret are here visiting. They were unfamiliar with 'jetglag'. NOT ANY MORE!

Babu in California