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
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Thursday, October 13, 2011
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.
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.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
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
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
Saturday, May 14, 2011
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.
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.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
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
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
Monday, December 20, 2010
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
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
Sunday, November 28, 2010
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'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-
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