Sunday, March 30, 2008

Star of the Killing Field died...

By RICHARD PYLE, Associated Press Writer NEW YORK -yahoo news!

Dith Pran, the Cambodian-born journalist whose harrowing tale of enslavement and eventual escape from that country's murderous Khmer Rouge revolutionaries in 1979 became the subject of the award-winning film "The Killing Fields," died Sunday, his former colleague said.

Dith, 65, died at a New Jersey hospital Sunday morning of pancreatic cancer, according to Sydney Schanberg, his former colleague at The New York Times. Dith had been diagnosed almost three months ago.
Dith was working as an interpreter and assistant for Schanberg in Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital, when the Vietnam War reached its chaotic end in April 1975 and both countries were taken over by Communist forces.
Schanberg helped Dith's family get out but was forced to leave his friend behind after the capital fell; they were not reunited until Dith escaped four and a half years later. Eventually, Dith resettled in the United States and went to work as a photographer for the Times.
It was Dith himself who coined the term "killing fields" for the horrifying clusters of corpses and skeletal remains of victims he encountered on his desperate journey to freedom.
The regime of Pol Pot, bent on turning Cambodia back into a strictly agrarian society, and his Communist zealots were blamed for the deaths of nearly 2 million of Cambodia's 7 million people.
"That was the phrase he used from the very first day, during our wondrous reunion in the refugee camp," Schanberg said later.
With thousands being executed simply for manifesting signs of intellect or Western influence — even wearing glasses or wristwatches — Dith survived by masquerading as an uneducated peasant, toiling in the fields and subsisting on as little as a mouthful of rice a day, and whatever small animals he could catch.
After Dith moved to the U.S., he became a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and founded the Dith Pran Holocaust Awareness Project, dedicated to educating people on the history of the Khmer Rouge regime.
He was "the most patriotic American photographer I've ever met, always talking about how he loves America," said AP photographer Paul Sakuma, who knew Dith through their work with the Asian American Journalists Association.
Schanberg described Dith's ordeal and salvation in a 1980 magazine article titled "The Death and Life of Dith Pran." Schanberg's reporting from Phnom Penh had earned him a Pulitzer Prize in 1976.
Later a book, the magazine article became the basis for "The Killing Fields," the highly successful 1984 British film starring Sam Waterston as the Times correspondent and Haing S. Ngor, another Cambodian escapee from the Khmer Rouge, as Dith Pran.
The film won three Oscars, including the best supporting actor award to Ngor. Ngor, a physician, was shot to death in 1996 during a robbery outside his Los Angeles home. Three Asian gang members were convicted of the crime.
"Pran was a true reporter, a fighter for the truth and for his people," Schanberg said. "When cancer struck, he fought for his life again. And he did it with the same Buddhist calm and courage and positive spirit that made my brother so special."
Dith spoke of his illness in a March interview with The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., saying he was determined to fight against the odds and urging others to get tested for cancer.
"I want to save lives, including my own, but Cambodians believe we just rent this body," he said. "It is just a house for the spirit, and if the house is full of termites, it is time to leave."
Dith Pran was born Sept. 27, 1942 at Siem Reap, site of the famed 12th century ruins of Angkor Wat. Educated in French and English, he worked as an interpreter for U.S. officials in Phnom Penh. As with many Asians, the family name, Dith, came first, but he was known by his given name, Pran.
After Cambodia's leader, Prince Norodom Sihanouk, broke off relations with the United States in 1965, Dith worked at other jobs. When Sihanouk was deposed in a 1970 coup and Cambodian troops went to war with the Khmer Rouge, Dith returned to Phom Penh and worked as an interpreter for Times reporters.
In 1972, he and Schanberg, then newly arrived, were the first journalists to discover the devastation of a U.S. bombing attack on Neak Leung, a vital river crossing on the highway linking Phnom Penh with eastern Cambodia.
Dith recalled in a 2003 article for the Times what it was like to watch U.S. planes attacking enemy targets.
"If you didn't think about the danger, it looked like a performance," he said. "It was beautiful, like fireworks. War is beautiful if you don't get killed. But because you know it's going to kill, it's no longer beautiful."
After Vietnamese forces invaded Cambodia in 1979 and seized control of territory, Dith escaped from a commune near Siem Reap and trekked 40 miles, dodging both Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge forces, to reach a border refugee camp in Thailand.
From the Thai camp he sent a message to Schanberg, who rushed from the United States for an emotional reunion with the trusted friend he felt he had abandoned four years earlier.
"I had searched for four years for any scrap of information about Pran," Schanberg said. "I was losing hope. His emergence in October 1979 felt like an actual miracle for me. It restored my life."
After Dith moved to the U.S., the Times hired him and put him in the photo department as a trainee. The veteran staffers "took him under their wing and taught him how to survive on the streets of New York as a photographer, how to see things," said Times photographer Marilynn Yee.
Yee recalled an incident early in Dith's new career as a photojournalist when, after working the 4 p.m. to midnight shift, he was robbed at gunpoint of all his camera equipment at the back door of his apartment.
"He survived everything in Cambodia and he survived that too," she said, adding, "He never had to work the night shift again."
Dith spoke and wrote often about his wartime experience and remained an outspoken critic of the Khmer Rouge regime.
When Pol Pot died in 1998, Dith said he was saddened that the dictator was never held accountable for the genocide.
"The Jewish people's search for justice did not end with the death of Hitler and the Cambodian people's search for justice doesn't end with Pol Pot," he said.
Dith's survivors include his companion, Bette Parslow; his former wife, Meoun Ser Dith; a sister, Samproeuth Dith Nop; sons Titony, Titonath and Titonel; daughter Hemkarey Dith Tan; six grandchildren including a boy named Sydney; and two step-grandchildren.
Dith's three brothers were killed by the Khmer Rouge.
___
AP News Research Center contributed to this report.

Friday, March 28, 2008

Book I'm reading...


When jockey Martin Stukely dies after falling in a steeplechase at Cheltenham races, he accidentally embroils his friend Gerard Logan in a perilous search for a stolen video tape. Logan, half artist, half artisan, is a glass blower on the verge of widespread acclaim for the originality and ingenuity of his work. Long accustomed to the frightful dangers inherent in molten glass and in maintaining a glass-making furnace at never less than eighteen hundred degrees Fahrenheit, Logan is suddenly faced with a series of unexpected and terrifying new threats to his business, his courage and his life. Believing the missing video tape to hold some sort of key to a priceless treasure, and wrongly convinced that Logan knows where to find it, a group of villains sets out to force from him the information he doesn't have. Narrowly escaping these attacks, Logan reckons that to survive he must himself find out the truth. The journey is thorny, and the final race to the tape throws more hurdles and more hazards in Logan's way than his dead jockey friend could ever have imagined. Glass shatters. Logan doesn't...but it's a close run thing.

Interesting Thing about US presidental election

If...
* McCain, from the Republican party is elected, he will be the oldest first-term US president (72 years old this july)
*Obama is elected, he will be the first black president ever elected in the US
*Clinton is elected, she wiull be the first female president of the US

Interesting right?

Monday, March 24, 2008

Big day is coming...

Guys, guess what the big day is? It's the Khmer New Year Celebration at IFL. It's going to be on this saturday. Some new events have been put up, while some old are cancelled. Just wait and see...

P.S for guys who are living abroad, what a pity! you cannot join! but you are welcome to give contribution, either in cash or material. Contact me directly.

For Your info...

Hey guys check out on this website...it's cool. You make lists of books you own, have read, wish to read...

http://shelfari.com

Friday, March 21, 2008

Problems

No life is as easy as eating soup with spoon. In fact, we always confront with problems; that's real life. Problem! People tend to face/cope with a problem in different ways. Some choose to resent it, run away from it, or even deny the presence of problem in their life. Others understand more about life, so they accept the challenges in life. I, no different from other, used to feel very dreadful towards problems that come hamping me from reaching my goal. Mostly, I was afraid to apply for scholarship or enter any competition; I was really afraid of failures, afraid of the pain I would receive if I failed to pass. Even if I was on my way in reaching my goal, upon facing a problem, I felt so undermined that I gave up doing things. It is until recently that I have learnt to see problem as a testing machine, the one that helps me build my mental strength.

Since commencing uni, I have always longed for Peace Scholarship. Maybe, bcos it doesn't require applicant to sit in an examination or interview that urge me to try for the scholarship. Another thing is that, compared to other scholarships, I think I stand a better chance winning. I spent a great deal of time writing a 500-word essay, and filled in a 9-page application form. However, procrastination still haunted me. It was until the very last day, the deadline, that i managed to submit my application forms.

After submitting all necessary files, I reflected from when i started to work on Peace Scholarship application. I realized that I have solved many problems during the process. I have learnt to see problems more positively. I have come to consider problems as the way god uses to test my talents, to make me more mature, and capable of handling hardship enthusiastically.

So now I am ready to accept the result of my hard work, whether or not it is the grant of a 2 semester scholarship to Australia. If I dont get it, it's ok cos I still have another chance next year...

For Your Information

Essay competition 2008

[English] [Español] [Português] [Français] []

Young voices in research for health

The Global Forum for Health Research and The Lancet are holding their third joint essay competition for the under-30s on the theme:

Climate change and health: research challenges for the health of vulnerable populations

Rules and guidelines

  • Authors must have been born on or after 1 January 1978.
  • Each author may submit one essay only.
  • Essays may be submitted in English or French and should be 1500 words maximum.
  • Essays must be based on the author’s own ideas and not be derived from another source.
  • Essays must not have been previously published.
  • Entries are individual (i.e., the work of a single author).
  • They should include original, even provocative ideas and not be technical or academic texts: tables, charts and figures are probably not necessary; references should be limited.
  • Authors are free to be idealistic, passionate, to take established practices to task, albeit in a constructive fashion.
  • Within the context of research for health, the theme allows authors to include any aspect that interests them particularly – for example, extreme weather, natural disasters, fuels and energy, transport, water management, vectors, food production, demographics, urban planning, security.
Deadlines
  • The deadline for receipt of entries is 30 April 2008.
  • A shortlist will be announced by the end of June. Shortlisted authors will be asked to provide a high quality photograph and to confirm original authorship and date of birth.
  • The winners will be notified by the beginning of August 2008. The judges’ decision will be final.
Prizes
  • A selection of shortlisted essays will be published in an anthology as well as on the Global Forum and Lancet websites.
  • Winners will be invited to take part (with all expenses paid) in the Global Ministerial Forum on Research for Health, which will take place in Bamako, Mali, from 17 to 19 November 2008.

Staff members of the Global Forum or of the Lancet or their immediate families are ineligible to enter the competition, as are authors of shortlisted essays published in 2006 and 2007.

For any questions, please contact susan.jupp@globalforumhealth.org or f.mclellan@elsevier.com

Thursday, March 20, 2008

G' Bye Kanitha

No meeting has no end. Sooner or later, the one who used to talk with us, joke with us, and even argue with us would have to leave to take another step in life (study, work,...etc). However, one thing that make the meeting unforgettable is that everyone would still hold memories of those sweet and bitter moment we used to cherish together, a memories that would stay with us forever.
S0...Kanitha, though u no longer physically be with us, laugh with us in class....remember this: you were, you are, and you will always belong to our crazy class, no matter it is M1.1, M2.1, M3.1 or M4.1. You will always be welcome if you find time to visit Cambodia again, and dun forget to drop in our class...

Have a safe journey
Enjoy your study and life in London
And Enjoy the reunion with ur sis and Dara (you lucky to have K1 going to London, Dara!)
Bye :-))

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Selective Quotes of George Owell

Every generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.

In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.

On the whole human beings want to be good, but not too good, and not quite all the time.

To see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle.

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.

All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.

A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus: 1. What am I trying to say? 2. What words will express it? 3. What image or idiom will make it clearer? 4. Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?

In certain kinds of writing, particularly in art criticism and literary criticism, it is normal to come across long passages which are almost completely lacking in meaning.

Political language -- and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists -- is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.

The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink.

People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.

If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable – what then?

War is a way of shattering to pieces, or pouring into the stratosphere, or sinking in the depths of the sea, materials which might otherwise be used to make the masses too comfortable, and hence, in the long run, too intelligent.

The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it.


Just A Simple Quiz for You

It doesn't make sense: We blow on our hands to warm them when they are cold, but we blow on our food to cool it when it's hot.

*** How can blowing make things both hot and cold? :-))

Monday, March 3, 2008

M Back

M back! Sorry for being away so long...YOu guys must miss me right?
Oh...and Da, sorry I didnt keep my promise.
This post is to make up for my absent
Enjoy
Hope you not get tired of reading it na.


World’s Bank Conference—03/Dec/07

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


My last day at Cambokids and VI joint project—27/Dec/07

It was my last day with Veteran International as a volunteer from Cambokids Association, since Cambokids would finish it project at the end of the year. I was some kind of sad to say goodbye to those kids, because they were fun to play with and maybe because they liked me. Well, indeed, though I hadn’t spent time at VI much, those kids remembered me quite well, thanks to my nature of being friendly and outgoing :-)) (Readers, do you believe me?)


Relative Reunion at my mum’s cousin’s house—30/12/2007


It was great to see many of our relatives again, wasn’t it? In fact, at the party, I had a chance to see many of great-granda’s children, nephews, nieces, grandchildren, grandnephews/nieces, great-grandchildren…etc. The list was quite long. Especially, I got to see my granduncle and grandaunt, uncles and their wife, and my many cousins from Canada. The whole evening was filled with fun, jokes, laughter’s from all of us. Having joined this reunion party made me realize that, oh preah chi mjas, my now 92-year-old great grandma had nearly a hundred of KON CHAO, which of course means that I had lots and lots of relatives. Oh and one interesting thing you might want to know is that at the table where I sat and had dinner with a bunch of my young uncle, young aunt, and young cousins was the table with the many cans of coke and beer. We, the youngsters, just kept eating and drinking until having every empty can placed completely around the so-called flat glass for moving food around the table (sorry no idea what the English calls this).

A joint party( friend’s reunion and friends’ b’days) at Huong’s flat—01/01/08

Haha…It seemed my life was pretty busy with parties those past few days. Actually, I had been very very busy on the first day of the new year 2008. From morning till evening, my schedule of that day was totally no empty space. In the morning, I helped my friends cooking, though not much help, slipped out with Longdy and Theary to buy cake for the three pretty girls whose birthday were on the SAME month, December. Actually just to make up for not having bought the presents for them as we were quite busy and BROKE. Also, I even had a chance, slipping to meet with lecturer NPD since he promised to take me to the TASK/HALO project’s office at 11. And I was also to say goodbye and gave him a farewell card as well, because he would leave for Australia to pursue his dual master’s degrees. Then bout 20mins later, here I was back at Huong’s beautiful flat and continued the party. The food was delicious since we had roast shrimps, chicks, meats and of course cans of coke—my favourite drinks. At about 4, it was time for surprising, eating or fighting to eat cake. If you had seen the video how we fighted for the cake, I believe you would think that we were some kind of poor street people who hadn’t eaten anything for weeks, geee. I’ll try to get in to youtube and attached it with this post for you, if I can.

Da’s Bro’s Wedding Party—02/01/08

I might not need to report much bout this big event since you will find detail bout the party in both Da’s and Longdy’s blog. Just to show you guys how meaningful my life is! HasHa

Stationary Support to rural Children at Phnom Da, Angkor Borei—12/01/08

Here is another piece of my community activity. With the Initiatives of Change, I and other young and old volunteers went to distribute stationary to 240 students from 4 rural primary schools in Angkor Borei, the place believed to be the start of Cambodian History. There were around of 25 volunteer, 10 of whom were foreigners, joined this trip. The road to the site was heavenly bumpy! We even got lost twice before arriving at Phnom Da in our 25-seat mini bus. Then we took another half-an-hour boat trip to Angkor Borei primary school, if I was not mistaken. In fact, I was unsuccessfully snapped the picture of the school’s gate, sorry guys. Because we got lost twice, we arrived quite late until 11. And guess what? Students had been waiting for us since 9. So we started our coming activities right away. We started with students singing our national anthem. If you were there, you would find it amazing listening to those kids singing, very fast and kind of messy (I dun mean to be negative about them as I found it new, fun and cheerful listening to their singing, believe me. Then came with short welcome speech by the village chief, school principle, Vice-President of ICA, project organizer, and last ME. It was my very first time delivering such a formal speech in front of many people. Though I only had half an hour prepared what I would be saying, I thought I did it quite well, maybe because it was in Khmer, and I was fluent with Khmer language :-)). After speeches, we distributed the stationary package to every one include teachers and villagers.

I think this trip is one of my most memorable trip I have made so far. It was my first time directly interacting with villagers in rural area. Also two things really upset, intrigue, and inspire me. Firstly, I felt both pitiful and inspiring seeing classrooms at the school. Guess what? There were only 4 rooms at that primary school, but students there ranged from grade 1 to grade 6 in both shifts. How come they learn? It was what I call double classes in a single room. Get what I mean? Well, it is operated like this. In one room and at the same time, two classes learn together. Students from one class face, let say, the north, while the others from another class face the south. Students from the two classes, but studying in the sharing room, have to take turn read lessons out loud. You might wonder why I was inspired by this. Actually, I really admire those kids, hard-working and knowledge-grapping kids. In spite of the many obstacles they are facing, they do not give up their hope of getting educated. Many of you, Cambodian, might know that villages at Angkor Borei is half-a-year dry and half-a-year flooded right? This means that schools there last bout 6 months only, whereas the normal one lasts 4 months longer. And students from faraway villages need to take boat as a mean to go to school. What overwhelmed me the most bout it was the sense of helping each other that is rarely found back in the crowded city. It was the older students who propelled and navigated the boat while the younger kids and teachers were passengers. I really like this unique scene (and even drop a small tear of joy!).

One Fabulous Week with My new 8 Mexican Friends

#3 At Veteran International again, but not as a Cambokids Volunteer—31/02/08

I got a very great chance to assist 8 Mexican friends during their stay and volunteer activities in Phnom Penh. On Jan 31, we had an activity at Veteran International to play with the kids. It was fantastic to see kids there again. And even more fantastic when they still remembered me and asked why I no longer showed up on Thursdays as before. Oh, I was very popular, see? After, filling in the colors to the computerized drawings, our Mexican fellows organized games to entertain those little kids. We really had lots and lots of fun playing and taking pictures together.

# 4 At Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum—01/Feb/08

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

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

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

Note: T0 be continued..........
and Photos will be attached later