As the destruction caused by explosive remnants of war continues, so too does the Cambodia Campaign to Ban Landmines – but with the compassion that these merciless objects lack. On March 14, that compassion was acknowledged when the Campaign was awarded the 15th Tji Haksoon Justice and Peace Award 2012 for its dedication to the welfare and rights of landmine victims. Cambodia is the fourth most mine-affected country in the world.
Mohammad is one of the many Muslim Rohingya refugees forced to flee their homes in western Burma. After a hazardous journey across Burma, he was able to cross into Cambodia and apply for asylum. Sr Denise Coghlan RSM, Jesuit Refugee Service Cambodia Director, shares JRS’ work with the Rohingya.
Mohammad’s story
Following MAGiS 2011 in Spain, a MAGiS Experiment was held in Cambodia with 27 young people from Hong Kong, Korea and Cambodia. It was held in the city of Kampong Thom, north of the capital Phnom Penh, from January 22 to 27. The theme of the experiment was “With Christ at the Heart of the World”.
Banteay Prieb, a training centre set up by Jesuit Service Cambodia for Cambodians maimed by the war or by landmines, celebrated its 20th anniversary on December 20, 2011.
The Centre of the Dove, as it is called in English, is located in a former military communication centre, prison and Khmer Rouge killing field. But the centre has transformed the former place of fighting and killing into a place for peace, justice and reconciliation.
An estimated 20 million people across Southeast Asia have been affected by flooding since June. Most are in Thailand, but typhoons struck the Philippines in October, and Laos was hit by cyclones in July and August. About 1.8 million people in Cambodia and Vietnam are also suffering from the worst flooding in a decade. Myanmar also is experiencing flooding, though the extent is unclear because little information has been released from the country. Local media there reported some 30,000 people were hit by flash floods last month that killed more than 160.
On October 30, 2011
As the floodwaters in Cambodia recede, the work of recovery and reconstruction begins. Fr Greg Priyadi SJ, Director of Jesuit Service Cambodia, reflects on the damage caused of by worst floods the country has experienced in years and the tough times faced by the people who have lost their homes, their harvest and their livelihoods.
Floods have devastated Cambodia since August and at the beginning of October had affected 1.2 million people. Tess O’Brien, a volunteer with Jesuit Refugee Service in Cambodia, provides an update.
Although I have lived in Cambodia for two years, I lost any tolerance I had developed to its heat after only a month of Korean winter holiday. I came back to this country in the middle of the dry season, the hottest, dustiest time of the year.
The day after my return, and with barely any time to clean my room, I joined the female students and members of the staff on an Angkor Wat tour to celebrate International Women’s Day.
It was in the quiet moments of the long bus ride that I found myself asking, “What made me want to come back here?”
Spanish Jesuit Enrique Figaredo, Bishop of the Apostolic Prefecture of Battambang, Cambodia, presented Queen Sofia of Spain with an update on the project for deactivating landmines in Cambodia when he met her recently.