My New Years Wish -

Dear Mr. President,

I voted for you in 2008 and I will most probably vote for you in 2012. 

I don’t live in the United States any more.  In 2009 my wife and I moved to Cambodia.  I work with a group of ex-child soldiers, widows, villagers and university graduates who are working in small villages around the country to clear landmines.  With nearly 5,000,000 left I can spend the rest of my life here.  My wife teaches English in a small school to kids who are landmine victims, were born without limbs, were abandoned, contracted polio, are orphans and come from families too poor to care for them. 

My social security check pays the mortgage on my home in the US.  I closed my business a few years ago when my friend asked for my help.  I never went back and haven’t regretted it for a moment.

I wore my country’s uniform, albeit for a short time, and I proudly fly the flag of my country from my home in Cambodia.  I am no apologist for the horrible and continuing damage America did over here, but I do make sure that people understand that my country is the largest contributor to humanitarian de-mining in the world, has not used landmines in over 20 years, has ceased their manufacture, outlawed their exportation, and began destroying our stockpiles.

Even though we have refused to sign the Mine Ban Treaty, to which 157 nations have affixed their signatures.  We are, again, in the company of countries who do not share our stated values.  Countries like China, Russia, Cuba, Iran, Myanmar, Libya, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Somalia, to name but a few.  Not a pleasant group of neighbors.

Many of the people I speak to about landmines, Americans and others,  tell me it is not their problem.  But it is our problem.  John Donne said “No man is an island.....any man’s death diminishes me for I am involved in mankind.  Therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.”

You inspired us when you told us  “I am my brothers keeper.”  Don’t forget that.  We haven’t.  

•     My brother is a 42 year Cambodian man who cleared 50,000 landmines by hand. 

• ·       My brother is a 20 year old Cambodian man who lost both his arms when he picked up a cluster bomb from his uncle’s field. 

• ·       My sister is a 24 year old woman who is building programs to empower Cambodian women – rather than pursuing a graduate degree. 

• ·       My brother is a 55 year old Englishman who has been clearing landmines around the world for nearly 30 years.

• ·       Our brothers and sisters are dying every day around the world because there is not enough money to clear the aftermath of wars they never knew.  Wars we waged in their name, on their soil.

I believe in the dream that all men, and women, are created equal and we all have the right to a life without the fear of war.  While my country has not always left the world a better place, we mostly recognize our responsibility. 

The work my friends do here is numbing.  It is tedious, strenuous, and far more rewarding than anything I have ever done before. It is also partly funded by my government, my fellow Americans, and I thank them from the depths of my soul.  Every mine we clear, every unexploded shell we destroy is a life changed for the better.

This month, (my Christmas) our de-mining team built a school for 150 kids who had nowhere else to go.   There are now nearly 200 kids waiting for us to finish the building so they can have classes, and a life they never thought available.  This wouldn’t have been possible without the support of people around the world, who came together when they saw a need.  Helping their brothers and sisters.

In 2012, Mr. President, our country, to whom millions still look for leadership and inspiration, can step up and join over 150 other nations who have sworn to never again plant, or manufacture landmines; weapons that kill indiscriminately and for decades.  Please, sign the mine ban treaty.  These horrible weapons kill more innocents than enemies, more friendly soldiers than foe, and they last for generations.

I wish you peace and prosperity in the New Year.  I do not envy your position or responsibility. But I admire your fortitude and dedication.  

  

And I remain your fellow American.

Bill

William Morse

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Playgrounds and Landmines

Let Your Holiday Gift be Her Happy New Year

Dung Tang Village in northern Cambodia has over 150 kids looking for a school. But there was a mine field in the way.


The villagers built their own school last year, but it was made from sticks and grass, and surrounded by landmines. The recent rains just about washed the school away and their playground had been a minefield.


Aki Ra and the Landmine Relief Fund have promised to build them a new village school. It's going to be 30 meters long and about 7 meters wide. It will have a tin roof and desks and benches for all the kids. We are also going to pay the 4 villagers who act as teachers.

This job will cost us $3,000. We don't have it to spare, but we will not tell 150 kids they can't go to school.


This holiday season give them a Happy New Year and a better future.


Help us build Dung Tang Village school.


donate today at
www.Landmine-Relief-Fund.com
click on the PayPal button






--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Real World

I'm going to go off topic on this one. I'm not even sure anyone will ever see this post, but I've gotta put this down.

I'm living in a country that is undergoing severe flooding. Thousands have been put out of their homes, millions will go hungry in the next few months. My friend and his family are living with us today because his village is under water and he was worried about the health of his children.

And what do I hear about in the USA? The NBA lockout.....

A bunch of overpaid children and their bosses who cannot decide how to split up a $4,000,000,000 (that's billion with a B)pie.

The owners need a collective bargaining agreement to protect themselves from their stupidity, and the players are giving back money the owners would never see if it weren't for them.

But then we do hear about the players who will hurt financially by the lockout.

If you can't make do with a few million dollars, for the rest of your life, you should be shipped off to an island.

I have no use for any of them.

WE are the other 99%, and we just don't give a damn.

Babu

The Other Side of the World - It's alittle different over here...

10/12/2011 8:58 PM PDT

I haven't written anything for a long time. It's been several months since I last posted on what is going on over here.


As many of you know my wife and I live in Cambodia. We moved here from Palm Springs a couple of years ago. My wife teaches English to children living in a relief center, sort of an orphanage. Some of the kids contracted polio, some were born without limbs. Others were abandoned by their parents. And we have others who are true orphans, while a few come from families too poor to care for them. One lost a leg to a landmine. There used to be 18 landmine victims here. Thankfully the number of causlties is dropping. But 1 out of every 290 people in this country is a landmine victim. the kids go to school every day and are tutored at the center. They sleep 3 or 4 to a room and pass down their clothes as they outgrow them. One child told us she used to have nothing, and now she has everything.

I work with, and for, a man who became a soldier at the age of 10 and fought for 12 years in 3 different armies. The common weapon to all was the landmine. Today I help raise money, and work with his de-mining organization. We call ourselves Cambodian Self Help Demining. We are made up of ex-child soldiers, widows, single mothers, single fathers, farmers, small villagers and university graduates; all working to make their country safe for their families, friends and countrymen.

Our Operations Manager was the 2nd woman to graduate from high school and college in her village. In high school she lived in a room with 6 girls, went to school 6 hours a day before working 10 hours a day, 7 days a week for $20 a month. She found a scholarship for college. While there she came to work for us. We pay a liveable salary. She was able to bring her 2 siblings to town and give them money so they go to school without working. She worked for us 6 days a week (the norm here), went to school full time, helped pay off her parents debt, and did volunteer work. When she graduated she decided to clear landmines in small villages and help empower women. She just built a library in her home village and is raising $3,000 for a kindergarten.

She is 24 years old.

I was home for a while this past summer and was stunned at the venality and anger running rampant in America today. We can make this world and our country better if we put forth a bit of effort and work together. No one is perfect. No one has all the answers.

We are one people. It is time we remember that and work to solve some problems together.

Another One of the Good Guys Gone

Yesterday Harmon Killebrew passed away in Phoenix.

I met Harmon in Vero Beach at Dodgertown in 1988. I was a 40 year old wannabe old timer who was going to Fantasy Baseball Camp to play ball with 14 Hall of Fame players.

My first day at camp we found our uniforms hanging in the locker room and no one could withstand the draw of the field. We suited up and started a pick-up game. When my turn came to bat I couldn’t have gotten a hit if I stood in front of the ball. I heard a chuckle and turned around to find, to my mortification, Harmon Killebrew, Duke Snyder, and Frank Robinson watching me fan the catcher.

I tossed my bat in the air, and red faced, slunk from the plate. The Duke gave me some tips, and I did OK. Harmon was there every day watching me play and always had a good word for me and the other ‘campers’.

He was a true gentleman. One of the greatest hitters who ever played the game, he never came across as anything other than a regular guy. He was as interested in our backgrounds as we were in his stories.

I haven’t played ball since then, but I keep a picture of me and the Hall of Famers on my desk at home. And every time I watch a ball game I think of the joy Harmon and the others brought to a bunch of men who could only dream of doing what they did day in day out.

My deepest sympathies go to Harmon’s family and all the baseball players around the world who will no longer get the chance to share a moment or two with this truly remarkable man.

Babu in the Jungle

Helping a Friend

Our good friend Sim Sao has a sister in law suffering from elephantiasis. She is going to Battambang Emergency Hospital tomorrow for some surgeries to her hand. Her entire family (10) came with her last month for the evaluation. Emergency offered to perform the surgeries for free, but she needed to have it done very soon.

She came back today. She and Sao will go check her in tomorrow and the surgeries will be performed next week. We will go to Battambang to check on her in a few days.

After her recuperation and therapy she can go home to her village near Kampong Cham.

We are all chipping in to help with the family costs of getting her here the first time (very scary for her) and to help with her recuperation after she returns home.

She's had the problem for a long time, but through the help of some good people here we found a doctor at Emergency who was happy to help.

A good story for a change.

UPdate From the Jungle

It has been a very very long time since I have updated this blog, and I apologize to those of you who have chastised me for not keeping it current.

We've added a Facebook page for the Museum/Relief Center and for CSHD, and been updating that rather than the blog. But many of you do not do Facebook, so I will attempt to keep this site updated on a more regular basis.

It has been a busy 4 months. We've nearly completed our Tinkle Fund projects.

The first toilet block was finished in April and the second is in construction now.

The school stairs - The Stairs from Angkow Wat were demolished by the kids and replaced with modern wide stairs that everone can use.

We added a roof to the school building. It has helped keep the sun out of the windows and we no longer have leaks from the flat roof.

We are bulding a parking structure for the vehicles we have at the Museum.

We want to start work on the playground that was delayed from earlier this year. We had a group coming to build it with us, but they had to cancel at the last minute and we haven't had the chance to plug that into the schedule.

Our solar system got hit by lightening and we got hit with a $2,000 repair bill we didn't expect, but thanks to Jackie Russell - our Angel from Hong Kong - it's all taken care of. Jackie is moving back to London this month, and we hope to be able to visit her to do a fundraiser in sunny auld England.

We now have 34 children living at the Relief Center. We plan on having 50 by the end of the year - assuming we continue to raise funds as we have in the past year.

The Museum is fast approaching financial sustainability. We currently raise enough money to cover monthly costs. Funds are raised from ticket sales, donations made at the Museum, and sales from our small shop. While tourist numbers are down substaintially since the GFC (global financial crisis) hit in 2008, they appear to be coming back. Since September, our numbers have increased over the same months a year before. That is the first time that has happened since we moved to the new location in 2007.

Our building program has been funded by donations "extra regulum" (outside the norm). We have not had to dip into operational funding for any of our building projects. And that is thanks to you!!

We have positions for 3 volunteers: 2 teach English, one to the beginning students and the other with the advanced class. We also have a staff class for an hour each day. The 3rd volunteer position is as a tour guide in the Museum. That one is very hard to fill as everyone wants to work with the kids.

Thank you all, and I will try and update this a lot more often.

Babu in the Jungle

It has been a busy year in Cambodia and we want to thank all of you for your tremendous help in making it as successful as it has been.

As you may know, our NGO (non-governmental organization) is the only all-Khmer demining NGO in Cambodia completely funded by volunteer donations. When we began this journey, in 2008, we wondered if we could have the impact we wanted.

We are. And it has happened only because YOU have made it so.

In 2010:

■we cleared 7 villages
■we built and support 2 village schools and pay the teacher monthly
■we removed 153 mines and UXOs
■we put 4,695 people back on land that had been killing them
We began the year with 15 deminers.

We ended the year with a team of 25. Twenty-five dedicated men and women who work 25days of every month making Cambodia safe for its people. Khmers working for Khmers.

We work in what we define as 'low priority' villages. These are villages with mine fields 1 - 10 hectares in size, who have suffered death and dismemberment from these fields for years. But because they are small fields, they have not yet reached 'the top of the list'.

These are the places we work. These are the people you are saving.

We judge our success not on how many mines we can clear, but on how many people we can effect, how many lives we can change, and how many villages are now more self sufficient than they were before CSHD arrived.

If villagers are afraid to use a field because it is killing them, it matters not if that field has 1 mine left, or is infested with 1,000 mines. That land is not being used. Most of this country is rural. Most of the population are farmers. Without usable land, they cannot feed their families, and must rely on the charity of other nations to survive.

CSHD, through YOU, is changing this nation!

Our budget runs around $9,000 per month. We pay our deminers $150 - $250 per month. The average income in Cambodia is just over $40 per month. Our second largest expense is fuel. Third is food and fourth is medical expense. If someone gets ill, they are cared for, and the cost is absorbed by CSHD. Malaria, dengue fever, and snakes are some of the every day threats we face. All our deminers are provided with anti-malarial medication daily. Later this month all will receive flu shots. We have a full time medic on site at all times.

Equipment, replacement costs for obsolete and broken equipment, and maintenance vary by month depending on what breaks and how bad the access roads to the villages we clear.

Your donations have kept us in the field. Without you - people die, and that is NO exaggeration.

Earlier this year Aki Ra was chosen by CNN as one of the 10 CNN Heroes of 2010. 10,000 were nominated from over 100 countries. This honor has helped greatly in raising our profile. Many of you receiving this email heard about Aki Ra's work from CNN. If you didn't see the show, it will be re-broadcast on Christmas Day in the US and Europe and Christmas Eve in Asia. Check your local listings for the time.

As the end of the year is approaching, our friends in America can make a final tax free donation to our sister charity in the US, the Landmine Relief Fund. Just click on the PayPal button.

Many of our friends have made donations to our work in lieu of Holiday gifts this year. If you would like to make a donation in some ones honor, let us know and we will acknowledge it to your friends.

And please...NO donation is too small. Together, we can all make a difference. You can be part of the solution to a huge problem. And all you have to do is take that 'one small step'.

Thank you all for your continuing support.

Bill Morse

Aki Ra
www.Landmine-Relief-Fund.com
www.CambodianSelfHelpDemining.org

'No man is an island...any man's death diminishes me for I am involved in mankind. Therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls...It tolls for thee.' John Donne

Another Big Supporter of Aki Ra

Valley business aids one of
CNN's ‘Heroes'

Debra Gruszecki •
The Desert Sun • November
25, 2010

America is thankful for its heroes.

And tonight when CNN televises its “Top 10
Heroes,” Debby Alexander, proprietor of Peabody's
Café & Bar, will quietly celebrate the good works of
Aki Ra and the role the Palm Springs restaurant
played to help his cause.

Ra, a former child soldier for the Khmer Rouge, has
dedicated his life to detonating and dismantling the
landmines he once placed in Cambodia.

For Alexander's part, Peabody's held three separate
fundraising events — at which Cambodian art and
donated items from Palm Springs businesses and
small hotels were sold — with longtime customer
Bill Morse to raise $22,000 for the landmine relief
fund.

When CNN taped its all-star annual tribute in the
Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, Alexander was
one of 13 people to get an invitation from Ra and
Morse to attend the red carpet event featuring
Jessica Alba, Renee Zellweger, Marisa Tormei, Aaron
Eckhart, Demi Moore and Halle Berry as presenters.

“It was a real thrill,'' she said.

“When Renee Zellweger came out and introduced
Aki, he spoke before this big crowd with limited
English,'' Alexander said.

“He spoke about his wife dying last year, and how
much she had helped him. It got emotional.”

Alexander was able to see Morse for a few minutes
as well.

He and his wife, Jill, moved to Siem Reap, Cambodia,
last year to help Ra get international certification
and a license from the Cambodian government to
legally remove landmines that once were deactivated
with a stick.

Morse also helped Ra get a $100,000 grant to buy a
truck and assemble a rapid response team that can
respond to villagers who find mines.

Ra, who sometimes placed up to 1,000 landmines a
day in the 1980s, has not only cleared more than
50,000 of the estimated 6 million explosives the war
left behind. Ra has also cared for dozens of children
who have been maimed by mines.

“I got to see Bill for a minute before he and Aki Ra
flew back to Cambodia,'' Alexander said.

“I got to meet other people who have helped the
landmine relief fund. While at the taping, I also got
to meet Richard Fatoussi, who is making a film
about Ra.”

Alexander said that film, “The Perfect Soldier,'' has
just been presented to judges of the Palm Springs
International Film Festival.

The CNN show will be televised at 5 p.m. today.

Peabody's Cafe, 134 S. Palm Canyon Drive, will be
closed tonight for the holiday and this simple
reason: Alexander has a date with the TV.

http://www.mydesert.com/article/20101125/BUSINESS/11240374/Valley-business-aids-one-of-CNN-s-8216-Heroes-

CNN Heroes Broadcast Schedule

CNN – Domestic (U.S)

Thursday 11/25/10
Showbiz Tonight @ CNN Heroes (Pre-Show)
(CNN & HLN)
7pm ET / 4pm PT
12am ET (Sat) / 9pm PT

“CNN HEROES: AN ALL-STAR TRIBUTE”
(CNN ONLY - All Airings)
8pm ET / 5pm PT
10pm ET / 7pm PT
1am ET (Sat.) / 10 pm PT

Friday 11/26/10
Showbiz Tonight @ CNN Heroes (Pre-Show)
(CNN & HLN)
3am ET / 12 am PT

“CNN HEROES: AN ALL-STAR TRIBUTE”
4am ET / 1 am PT

Saturday 11/27/10
“CNN HEROES: AN ALL-STAR TRIBUTE”
8pm ET / 5pm PT
11pm ET / 8 pm PT
2am ET (Sat) / 11pm PT

Sunday 11/28/10
“CNN HEROES: AN ALL-STAR TRIBUTE”
8pm ET / 5pm PT
11pm ET / 8 pm PT
2am ET (Mon) / 11pm PT


CNN International

Thursday 11/25/10
(Initial Global Broadcast)

ET Buenos Aires GMT & London Europe/Africa
8pm 10pm Fri 1am Fri 2am

Abu Dhabi New Delhi Hong Kong
Fri 5 am i 630am Fri 9am

Friday 11/26/10
(CNNI Exclusive airings)

ET Buenos Aires GMT & London Europe/Africa
5am /4pm 7am/6pm 10am/9pm 11am/10pm

Abu Dhabi New Delhi Hong Kong (PT)_____
2pm/Sat 1am 330pm/ Sat 230am 6pm/Sat 5am 2am/1pm


CNN Espanol

Thursday 11/25/10
(Initial Global Broadcast)
8pm ET

Saturday 11/27/10
“CNN HEROES: AN ALL-STAR TRIBUTE”
7pm ET

Sunday 11/28/10
“CNN HEROES: AN ALL-STAR TRIBUTE”
9pm ET

Update From LA

Aki Ra and I landed in LA exactly 24 hours from the time we left Siem Reap. A long long trip, but worth every minute.

Wednesday we went shopping and Aki Ra bought some things he couldn't get in Cambodia....mainly a good pair of jungle boots. He's breaking them in now for the taping thursday nite..

This evening CNN had a private party for the 10 Heroes and a few of us 'extras'. What an amazing group of people CNN chose. With a very small staff, they started reading the nominations the day after last year's show ended. From over 10,000 they chose 25. A Blue ribbon Panel chose the Top 10. I refuse to say finalists because this not a competition.

Tomorrow is rehearsal and Saturday the big day.

Aki Ra is having fun. But he does miss the kids. I had my wife, Jill, gather Amatak, Mine and Metta together and call Papa this evening from the Museum. When he left and told Metta (almost 3) he was going to America, she said...'the mine field'?

Well, outa the mouth of babes..............

Gonna try and get some sleep.....

Babu from the jungle.

OFF TO LA LA LAND

Aki Ra and I leave in 8 1/2 hours for the CNN Tribute Show filming in Los Angeles.

Gonna be a lloonngg trip:

5 hours from Siem Reap to Seoul
9 hour layover in Seoul
11 hours from Seoul to LA

We get in Wednesday morning. CNN was good enough to get us there a bit early so we could recoup some.

Aki Ra doesn't know it yet, but the kids from the Museum are coming to the airport to see him off. They spent the day making a big sign that says

GOOD LUCK AKI RA

OUR HERO

He still doesn't quite know what he's in for. But I've told him he doesn't need to do anything, this is all being done for him and the other 9 Heroes.

Don't forget to vote, again. Voting continues until the 18th.

Be sure and watch us on CNN on Thanksgiving nite (Thursday 25 November) at 8pm EST/PST.

Wish him luck and learn from him and all the other Heroes that it doesn't make any difference who you are, what you have, or how old you are....YOU can make a difference.

More from Hollywood......

Babu in the Jungle

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

Dogs, Planes, Automobiles, Earthquakes and World Cup

We are back in the United States.

Deja vu.....all over again.

But before I get to that, let's talk about World Cup. I rooted for the US, they got beat. I rooted for England, they got beat. I rooted for Brazil and a friend is not talking to me any more because they got beat. Then I rooted for Germany, and they lost.

So Sunday for the final I will root for NetherEspagne. Probably be the first game decided by a coin toss after the shoot outs.

We left Siem Reap on Sunday headed overland to Bangkok. Upon arrival at 1pm we walked the dog and got her ready to check in for out 7pm flight to LA. But when we got to the counter they asked us for our "export license" for the dog.

Export License? I booked through Thai Airways, confirming with them, and they with me what paperwork I had, never mentioning an "Export License". Well we got bumped. We had to go to the cargo terminal on Monday and get our license for Mikki. Took 2 hours and cost us $1.50. Much better than the $150 they hosed us for when we arrived.

We eventually found a hotel that allowed dogs and had a good nite's sleep.

We arrived in LA on Monday evening and were home by Tuesday morning at 2am. Only additional was the car from LA. Arriving on July 4, the cost was $80. Arriving on July 5 it was $125.

Thank you Thai Airlines.

So yesterday we had a very quiet, get rested day. Today we started getting some things done. Jill has lost 20 pounds and none of her clothes fit, so she had to go shopping. I had to take the computer in, pay the gardener, see the rental company, get some emails done, and clean up around the house.

So I was sitting in front of the TV watching "Law and Order" about 5pm when we got hit by a 5.4 earthquake, centered in Borego Springs about 28 miles from us.

Woke me up.

Scared the heck out of the dog.

Jill laughed and said, "Yep, we are back in California".

Tomorrow start working on my taxes.......yuck.

But good to be back in California. And we can't wait to be home again....in Siem Reap.

Babu