Red, a former military man, lost his legs in 1982. The cause? A land mine – one of many the Khmer Rouge scattered in various parts of Cambodia during its rule.
At 53, Red now works with the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), counselling families who have also been affected by these explosives. On November 4, he took Bishop-elect of Salford and Auxiliary Bishop in Westminster, John Arnold, to a militarised zone at the Thai border to visit three of these families.
Bishop Arnold visited Cambodia in November in his role as Chairman of the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) to observe how CAFOD’s partners are working to improve the lives of those affected by poverty.
During his visit, Bishop Arnold got a glimpse into the kind of lives lived by the families Red helps.
“In each case it is the man who was injured by a land mine while serving in the military. One also lost an eye, one of the men lost both legs. The military have offered no compensation and no pension and they live with their families in poverty. The houses were amongst the worst I have seen, and almost empty spaces,” said Bishop Arnold in his online diary in the Diocese of Westminster website.
He added that he experienced a country that is still recovering from Pol Pot’s oppressive regime of the 1970s and where the work of CAFOD and its partners has become so important in helping people work towards a better quality of life for themselves and their communities.
Before leaving Cambodia, Bishop Arnold also visited JRS Cambodia’s Metta Karuna Reflection Centre in Siem Reap. This is an interfaith centre where Cambodians and foreigners are welcome to spend time seeing the challenges of Cambodia through the eyes of the poor.
“This is Red’s work base and he is clearly very proud of it – and so he should. It is a wonderful campus of buildings, used by conferences and groups for every aspect of reconciliation, peace-building and interfaith understanding. There were several little ‘shrines’ where statues depict biblical scenes and invite thought and discussion.” Bishop Arnold said the image he found most moving was the figure of Christ kneeling before an amputee who is saying “I have no foot for you to wash.”
Bishop Arnold wrote in his diary that what he saw that day took his breath away. “Sister Denise (an Australian Mercy nun who has worked at the Centre since it was founded in 1989) showed me all around and it is clear that her work is slowing transforming relations between faiths and political factions. Today, a Malaysian general is running a workshop which includes peace workers from Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam. The little chapel was full of rich symbolism and the little altar, a highly-polished single piece of wood, was made by a Khmer Rouge soldier and presented as his way of apologising for his actions.” [Jesuits in Britain]