FINAL COVER OF THE CAMBODIA DAILY →

As Night Editor at the Cambodia Daily, I ran the layout process every night and lead a team of four in designing and proofreading the whole newspaper. I helped lead the design process for our final issue after the newspaper was forced to close due to government pressure.

LATEST UPDATES: CNRP LEADER KEM SOKHA ARRESTED FOR 'TREASON' →

6:45 p.m.: Hing Soksan, the head of the CNRP’s youth wing, said he narrowly escaped arrest this evening as plainclothes police officers swarmed his home in Phnom Penh.

Speaking to reporters by telephone while fleeing his house at around 6 p.m., Mr. Soksan declined to say where he was going, saying only that he was heading somewhere safe.

“The police are raiding my house,” he said. “Now I escaped through the other door…. I cannot say anything about my whereabouts or my house location.”

Kem Monovithiya, the CNRP’s deputy head of public affairs, confirmed the incident but said it was unclear why the youth leader was being threatened with arrest.

1:18 p.m.: The opposition’s meeting to discuss the arrest of its leader is over, but the party would not divulge what—if anything—it has decided to do.

“Any party that harms free and fair elections, please take responsibility yourself and face the international community,” CNRP Vice President Mu Sochua said as she left party headquarters.

Ms. Sochua would not answer questions about the party’s plans, or who could replace Kem Sokha, who has been arrested over accusations of treason, if it came to that.

12:15 p.m.: CNRP spokesman Yim Sovann has left a meeting of party leaders in a rush without speaking to reporters.

The opposition party had been discussing at party headquarters what steps to take after the arrest of its leader, Kem Sokha, overnight.

Earlier, CNRP lawmaker Real Camerin spoke in support of Mr. Sokha before entering the meeting, saying, “My boss, Kem Sokha, never said anything about color revolution. Never told us about a plan to topple the government. Not at all.”

“Kem Sokha, our leader, never wants to make war. I myself have already experienced war. Who wants to experience war again? Why? He wants us to be peaceful and stay calm,” Mr. Camerin said.

11:09 a.m.: “Troops are mobilizing around the city of Tbong Khmum and they’re heading to CC3,” said Ly Heng, an executive committee member for the CNRP in Tbong Khmum province.

The party’s supporters in the province are now gathering to form a plan about what to do, Mr. Heng said.

10:11 a.m.: Asean Parliamentarians for Human Rights chairman Charles Santiago has called the arrest of Kem Sokha overnight “alarming,” and an attempt to “crush” and “cripple” the opposition in Cambodia.

“If members of the international community, including and especially donors, fail to speak up and take action now, they risk ending up complicit in Cambodia’s descent into outright dictatorship,” Mr. Santiago said in a statement.

“The arrest of opposition leader Kem Sokha early this morning takes the ongoing crackdown by the ruling party in Cambodia to an alarming new level. With national elections on the horizon, it is clear that this is nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to crush the opposition before the campaign even starts. For months, we have been witnessing the escalation of government attempts to cripple the opposition, but it appears now that Prime Minister Hun Sen is so afraid of what might happen in a genuine vote, he won’t allow for competition at all,” Mr. Santiago added.

“Kem Sokha’s arrest is a blatant violation of parliamentary immunity protections under the Cambodian constitution and an affront to the rule of law. He should be immediately and unconditionally released.”

9:40 a.m.: CNRP politicians have started to arrive at party headquarters in Phnom Penh amid ongoing confusion about their leader’s situation, and have questioned whether he was actually moved out of the capital as the Interior Ministry has stated.

Lawmaker Ho Vann told reporters that “it is not confirmed whether or not he is at Correctional Center 3 in Tbong Khmum…. Only Khieu Sopheak said that,” referring to the ministry spokesman.

Mr. Sokha’s daughter Kem Monovithya also tweeted that according to her “reliable source,” her father could still be detained in Phnom Penh.

Mr. Vann added that eight bodyguards had been arrested alongside Mr. Sokha.

7:57 a.m.: Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said Kem Sokha had been moved to Correctional Center 3 Prison in Tbong Khmum province at about 1 or 2 a.m. He would not explain why Mr. Sokha had been moved from Phnom Penh, saying it was the courts’ decision.

“The court has the right to decide whatever they can,” General Sopheak said.

Gen. Sopheak added that Mr. Sokha had not yet been charged—“only accused,” he said.

He said Mr. Sokha’s parliamentary immunity did not apply in this case because it was “an on-the-spot arrest,” and authorities had the right to hold him for 72 hours before taking further action.

7:40 a.m.: CNRP Vice President Mu Sochua said party leaders would meet “sometime this morning” to plan the next steps following party president Kem Sokha’s arrest. When asked if the party and its supporters planned to demonstrate against the arrest, Ms. Sochua would only say that the party had already put out a statement condemning it.

“At the moment the top level of CNRP will be meeting this morning, because it all happened very suddenly,” she said.

2:05 a.m. (updated 4:45 a.m.): Cambodia’s opposition leader Kem Sokha has been arrested for “treason” following a raid on his house overnight Sunday, according to a government statement and opposition officials, a move immediately slammed as a “disastrous setback” for human rights and democracy.

The CNRP party president was arrested at his house in the Toul Kok area of Phnom Penh at 12:35 a.m. on Sunday, the statement said.

The government said it had evidence linking Mr. Sokha to a secret plot to “harm” the country, according to the statement released on government mouthpiece Fresh News.

“The Royal Government of Cambodia informs that according to a video clip broadcast on CBN (Cambodian Broadcasting Network) in Australia and other evidence collected, it clearly shows secret plans of a conspiracy between Kem Sokha, others and foreigners to harm the Kingdom of Cambodia.”

“The above act of this secret conspiracy is treason,” added the statement.

The government appealed to people to remain calm and allow the court and police to proceed, it said.

Article 443 of the Criminal Code states that “conspiracy with [a] foreign power”—defined as “having [a] secret agreement with a foreign state or its agents, with a view to fomenting hostilities or aggression against the Kingdom of Cambodia”—is punishable by imprisonment from 15 to 30 years.

The move follows weeks of increasing political tensions, as American democracy NGO the National Democratic Institute was expelled from the country and more than a dozen radio stations carrying content from the opposition and U.S.-funded Radio Free Asia and Voice of America were shut down.

Ten months ahead of a crucial national election, the government has now appeared to have set its sights on the CNRP, the most formidable opponent the ruling party has faced in years. If Mr. Sokha is convicted of a crime, the opposition party could be dissolved under amendments to the Political Party Law that were passed earlier this year and have already forced former party president Sam Rainsy out of politics.

The CNRP issued a statement early Sunday morning condemning the arrest, saying it was “politically motivated” and violated the Constitution.

“The arrest was made in the middle of the night, while Mr. Kem Sokha still has assembly immunity,” the statement said.

“The CNRP appeals to the authorities to unconditionally release Mr. Kem Sokha and ask the international community to intervene for the release, and for the end to intimidation and oppression by police authorities against the CNRP and its officials,” it added.

CNRP Vice President Eng Chhay Eang earlier wrote on his Facebook page that the arrest of Mr. Sokha was a “serious situation for Cambodia,” while Mr. Sokha’s daughter, Kem Monovithya, the CNRP’s deputy director of public affairs, tweeted at 12:35 a.m. that her father’s house was being raided by police.

“Kem Sokha and all bodyguards are taken away by 100-200 police without warrant after they raided his home,” she tweeted.

She later tweeted that he had been handcuffed after “police raided and vandalized his home.”

“Kem Sokha whereabouts is still unknown,” she said.

Prime Minister Hun Sen’s middle son, Hun Manith, said in a tweet that “Kem Sokha betrayed Cambodia.”

“He confessed to have long term plans with the United States of America…,” said the tweet. “Thank[s] to him, we now know who was (is) the Third Hand…”

Mr. Sokha’s party colleagues were left in shock at the news of their leader’s arrest.

“I never expected this to happen. It is a shock. It will shock the world too,” said CNRP lawmaker Ou Chanrath.

“It could be a misunderstanding. We need to really communicate internally at the national level among our Khmer leaders for the peace and stability of our country.”

Rights groups quickly added their voices to concern at the sudden arrest of Mr. Sokha.

John Sifton, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch, described it as “a disastrous setback for Cambodia’s human rights situation.”

“The government’s charges lack credibility, given its long record of misusing its legal system to silence or intimidate critics and political opponents,” said Mr. Sifton in a statement. “For 33 years, Hun Sen has used violence, threats, corruption, and bogus legal charges to stay in power, and in the last year has been intensifying his attacks on civil society and the political opposition.”

Mr. Sifton called on Cambodia’s allies and donors to condemn “this latest attack on democracy, and summon Cambodian ambassadors abroad to explain their government’s actions.”

“The international community, which provides a major percentage of the Cambodian government’s annual budget, should put Hun Sen on notice that if he doesn’t reverse course, it will be impossible to consider next year’s elections free and fair,” he added.

*I contributed significant reporting and assisted other reporters in covering this major news event on September 3, 2017, the last full day of operation for the Cambodia Daily before it was forced to close by the government: https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/nrp-leader-kem-sokha-arrested-treason-134249/

GOV'T SLAMS UN STATEMENT ON ADHOC 5 RELEASE

The government on Tuesday took aim at the U.N.’s human rights office over a spokeswoman’s comments about the release of the Adhoc 5, and urged the intergovernmental body’s “agents” not to prejudice the independence of Cambodia’s courts.

A statement by Cambodia’s permanent mission to the U.N. said the government “does its best” to treat all Cambodian citizens equally, but claimed “some civil societies and NGOs have quite frequently distorted facts, embarked on lie[s], and exacerbated or dramatized some remote cases in order to undermine the legitimacy of [the] state’s institutions.”

“[W]e urge the United Nations agents not to prejudice the independent functioning of the judiciary,” it said.

During a news briefing in Geneva two weeks ago, Liz Throssell, spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, welcomed last month’s release on bail of the five former and current workers for rights group Adhoc after more than a year in detention, but said the office “remains concerned” about their trials despite the lack of evidence.

This article was in the Cambodia Daily on July 19, 2017: https://www.cambodiadaily.com/brief/govt-slams-un-statement-on-adhoc-5s-release-132665/

A TRYBE GROWS IN CAMBODIA →

Technology has invaded almost every aspect of our lives, from how we order food from restaurants to how we travel to and from work. But an overreliance on Western technology and applications has left many in the developing world eager to forge their own path and create systems as well as machines to address localised issues.

Universities across the country are trying to educate students and satisfy the need for technology that addresses problems specific to Cambodia, but a lack of funding and guidance makes it difficult to be an inventor or developer.

To address this very issue, Nadia Wong, formerly a corporate lawyer from Hong Kong, decided to create Trybe, a co-working makerspace for Cambodia’s young inventors.

“Every part of our life touches on tech, and given the youth of the population, tech excites everyone. Are we going to stay stuck in this place where our tech usage is dictated by what is given to us by more developed countries?” she said.

“I heard one member [of Trybe] complain the other day that everyone wants to do ‘the next Uber of tuk tuks’. Why don’t we take a step back from just associating with one successful thing overseas and look at how we can develop our own. If we in Cambodia want to develop our own tech, we have to think a bit deeper and try to understand our own community and the needs of those around us instead of just labeling things the ‘Uber of x’.”

Ms. Wong serves on the steering committee of the University of Puthisastra, and said the idea for Trybe sprung from her conversations with startups, entrepreneurs and students.

“One thing we all had in common was that we were struggling, whether it was with registering a company or figuring out financing or figuring out accounting systems. We’re all at different stages of the struggle, so it’s good to have an environment where we meet and talk and help each other with these things,” she said.

“Its great to provide a place of sharing that normalizes the struggle.”

When she moved to Cambodia from Hong Kong four and a half years ago, she was eager to work with students and wanted to support innovation as well as entrepreneurship. The idea for Trybe began to percolate about a year ago, and in February it officially opened. Trybe serves as a community of inventors, designers, students and entrepreneurs.

Trybe has helped a number of startup companies get off the ground, providing them with a working space, guidance, training sessions and experts eager to help young inventors. It has about 25 members and is home to five companies, including a 3-D printing service, a robotics startup and an open source system integration computer software company.

In addition to giving young inventors a space to ply their trade, Trybe runs a variety of challenges for students focusing on a number of different sectors. One of the challenges they are starting this month is “Invent for Agriculture”, a ten-week product development course for students that will feature lectures from experts, woodwork and metalwork courses, and mentorship from a famous Hong Kong inventor.

Trybe will bring them to two farms and have them think about problems that need to be addressed. They will work through the innovation and development process before creating a cardboard prototype of their design.

Trybe is eager to expand STEM courses throughout Cambodian schools and is looking into ways to create a low-cost engineering kit that schools outside of Phnom Penh can use. They are also considering expanding the idea of makerspaces to the provinces in an effort to not only create communities of inventors, builders and repairers, but also to give children a place to learn skills and test products.

Ms. Wong has placed Trybe at the intersection of technology, agriculture and education, and believes Cambodia’s young people are more than ready to take up the challenge of addressing the country’s problems through innovation.

“There is so much potential for technology in agriculture. We have an abundance of land here and really good soil, so people haven’t been pushed to innovate,” she said. “But there is so much opportunity to innovate and bring technology to agriculture.

That’s a sector of Cambodia that a lot of young people can step in to.”

*This article was featured in the Phnom Penh Post on November 29, 2017: https://www.phnompenhpost.com/supplements-ict/trybe-grows-cambodia

TRUMP CRITICIZES 'DUMB' AUSTRALIA REFUGEE DEAL →

Australia’s efforts to move detained refugees off Nauru and Manus island hit another snag yesterday with reports of US President Donald Trump’s reticence to accept a deal that would see many of the asylum seekers go to America.
 
Officials from both countries claimed the phone call between Mr. Trump and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Saturday went well and reaffirmed both leaders’ commitments to preserving the longstanding relationship between both nations.
 
“The deal specifically deals with 1,250 people, they’re mostly in Papua New Guinea, being held…there will be extreme vetting applied to all of them as part and parcel of the deal that was made,” government spokesman Sean Spicer told the White House press corps earlier this week.
 
“The president, in accordance with that deal to honor what had been agreed upon by the United States government…will go forward.”
 
But yesterday, the Washington Post reported that the call was far from cordial, with Mr. Trump severely criticizing the refugee deal and criticizing Mr. Turnbull.
 
“Do you believe it? The Obama administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal!” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter yesterday morning.
 
He had much harsher words for Mr. Turnbull during their call, reportedly telling the Australian prime minister that he “didn’t want these people” and that it was the “worst deal ever.” He slammed Australia for what he said was its attempt to send the “next Boston bombers” to the US, referencing the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 that killed three people and injured hundreds.
 
Mr. Turnbull told the Australian press after the call that Mr. Trump had agreed to honor the deal, which was set up by the Obama administration late last year before he left office and would see up to 1,250 refugees moved to the US.
 
But the Washington Post quoted several senior US officials who said it was a “hostile and charged” conversation that ended abruptly after 25 minutes.  
 
Mr. Turnbull allegedly attempted to change the topic of conversation to military efforts in Syria, but Mr. Trump hung up on him. All of Mr. Trump’s calls with other foreign leaders that day had lasted one hour or more. He reportedly told Mr. Turnbull that it was the “worst call by far.”
 
Reports of the call are contrary to Mr. Trump’s previous actions, which included sending US officials to interview refugees on Nauru and Manus island. Mr. Trump even added a clause to his controversial ban on any immigrants from seven Muslim-majority nations, making an exception for “pre-existing” international agreements in reference to the deal with Australia.
 
However, Mr. Trump allegedly left room for the US to back out of the deal, with senior officials saying he told the Australian leader that it was his “intention” to abide by the deal, a term they said was specifically used to give him leeway.
 
Australia has spent years attempting to offload the refugees being held on the Pacific island nation of Nauru and Manus island in Papua New Guinea and there have been persistent reports of deplorable living conditions, sexual violence and lackluster healthcare at the camps.
 
Almost 1,900 refugees are being held on Nauru and Manus island, with many of them coming from Iran, Iraq, Somalia and Sudan – all countries mentioned in Mr. Trump’s executive order.
 
Australia struck a deal with Cambodia in 2014 to take some of the refugees, but many refused to come. Those who did take up the offer reported poor conditions and widespread mismanagement of the resources they were promised.
 
All but one of the handful of refugees who came to Cambodia returned to the countries they fled and Cambodian immigration officials have refused to comment on reports of three Iranian refugees allegedly slated to come to the kingdom this year.
 
The refugees held on Nauru and Manus island are now stuck in limbo, waiting to see what Mr. Trump will do or say next. Despite the president’s criticism of the deal and tough talk to the Australian prime minister, a US embassy spokesman in Australia told the Guardian that “President Trump’s decision to honor the refugee agreement has not changed.”

This article was printed in Khmer Times on February 3, 2017: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/35073/trump-criticizes--dumb--australian-refugee-deal/

TRUMP BACKS DEAL WITH AUSTRALIA →

US President Donald Trump assured Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull that a deal signed by his predecessor – which would allow the asylum seekers held on Manus and Nauru to settle in the US – would be honored during the first official call between the two leaders yesterday morning.

The two discussed a variety of issues during their 25-minute phone conversation, but Mr. Trump sought to allay fears that the refugee deal would be scrapped after months of uncertainty.

Australia has been detaining more than 2,000 refugees on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea and on the island nation of Nauru and sent a handful of refugees from Nauru to Cambodia in a much-maligned 2014 deal that largely fell apart when all but one decided to return to their home countries.

The refugees who came to Cambodia under the $30 million deal alleged bad  living conditions, little assistance from the government and lies told to them before their arrival about the kingdom and what compensation they would receive.

Despite reports in October of three more refugees were slated to come to Cambodia under the deal, Kem Sarin, a spokesman for the general immigration department, declined to comment on the future of Cambodia’s pact with Australia in light of the US government’s stance.

Tan Sovichea, the refugee department director, did not respond to requests for comment.

Chak Sopheap, the executive director of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, said the deal was doomed from the start considering Cambodia’s track record with its own refugees.

“While the neglect suffered by those refugees under the deal in Cambodia may pale in comparison to the reports of abuse coming from Nauru, the fact remains that many of the refugees have opted to return to the countries from which they fled, suggesting strongly the extent of the neglect they were subject to here,” she said.

In November, then-US President Barack Obama agreed to bring all of the refugees on both islands to the US pending extensive background checks and interviews. Due to Mr. Trump’s outspoken stance against immigration during his election campaign, many believed the deal would be scrapped once he took office.

But officials from the US State Department have already gone to both Nauru and Manus to interview refugees ahead of their resettlement on orders from Mr. Trump’s administration.

Mr. Trump’s backing of the agreement came as a surprise to many analysts and commentators in the US considering his recent executive order suspending the entry of all refugees to the US for 120 days, banning Syrian refugees indefinitely and stopping the citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the US for 90 days.

Many of those being held on Nauru and Manus are from the seven nations on Mr. Trump’s list of now-banned countries, including Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yemen.

Thousands of protesters crowded American airports in defiance of the order on Saturday after people from those seven countries who had obtained all of the documents and approvals needed to visit or live in the US legally were arrested and held by customs agents in countries across the world.

A court order late on Saturday night temporarily stopped the US government from enforcing the order after a lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Legal experts in the US have criticized the measure, as it runs afoul of a number of long-standing US laws. It is in direct violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which made it illegal to discriminate against immigrants on the basis of national origin.

The law was passed in an effort to remedy a series of race-based government edicts enforced in the early 1900s, the most notable of which – the Asiatic Barred Zone Act of 1917 – was aimed primarily at banning immigrants from Southeast Asia, China and Japan from entering the US and becoming citizens.

*This article as featured in Khmer Times on January 30, 2017: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/34868/trump-backs-deal-with-australia/

CAMBODIAN LIVELIHOODS BEYOND HIV

Sam Samrithea shook his head as Thai Bunthorn laid out the plan for his next money-making scheme.
 

“No, pig raising is too hard. Pigs are more money. They get infected. You have so much potential with your chickens. It’s a risky investment,” Mr. Samrithea said.
 

Mr. Bunthorn then floated the idea of starting a fish farm, which Mr. Samrithea again shook his head at before calmly refocusing the conversation on his chicken farm.
 

“It would be better if you stuck with chickens,” Mr. Samrithea said.
 

Mr. Samrithea – formerly the social enterprise manager for Khana, the largest NGO providing HIV prevention, care and support services in Cambodia – walked over to Mr. Bunthorn’s chicken cages and started giving tips on how to expand them.
 

Mr. Bunthorn, 39, has been living with HIV since 1999. His brother died from AIDS in the early ’90s when the country was still trying to get a handle on the epidemic after its 1991 arrival in Cambodia.
 

In 1995 alone, there were an estimated 23,000 new infections and Mr. Bunthorn said there were no drugs available for his brother at the time.
 

“I’m lucky that I have survived this long,” he said while sitting next to his wife – who is also HIV positive – his mother and his young son.
 

He was born in Poneras village in Kampong Chhnang province and moved between working as a motodop and a laborer before his diagnosis.
 

With the help of Mr. Samrithea and Khana, he is transitioning into farming and is slowly learning the ins and outs of chicken raising, eagerly picking up on the sort of minutia that separate successful chicken farmers from the rest.
 

Mr. Samrithea and Mr. Bunthorn met through Khana’s Livelihood Program, a somewhat revolutionary approach in Cambodia to addressing the social stigmas, poverty and health issues that people with HIV struggle to overcome on a daily basis.

Sam Samrithea (right) discusses Thai Bunthorn’s chicken farm. (Photo: Jonathan Greig)

To commemorate World AIDS Day on December 1, US Ambassador William Heidt and UNAIDS country director Marie-Odile Emond urged Cambodia to “continue efforts to protect human rights, to ensure respect for all, to combat discrimination and to enable legal and policy environments,” for people infected with HIV.
 

But how do you combat discrimination? How do you ensure respect for all?
 

Despite the herculean efforts of both Cambodian medical officials and international organizations to successfully fight the epidemic’s spread in the kingdom, the next step in the process has largely been ignored.
 

The estimated number of new HIV infections fell from its peak of 20,978 in 1995 to 1,003 in 2014 and people living with HIV among adults aged 15 and over decreased from its peak of 102,440 in 2000 to an estimated 72,159 in 2014.
 

However, the lives of these 72,159 people living with HIV have rarely been explored.  Outside of providing medical care and vital antiretroviral therapy (ART), few have asked them how they were coping with the virus, ignoring studies that show strong links between depression and poor adherence to ART, a more rapid progression of HIV and a lower quality of life.
 

Sadly, the situation is dire for many infected with HIV, even those now receiving regular treatment for the virus.
 

Khana’s researchers found that Cambodians with HIV were 3.5 times more likely to be diagnosed with depression than those who were not infected.
 

“There is a vicious cycle between HIV infection and poverty, wherein HIV-affected households are more likely to develop economic problems, which in turn worsen individuals’ symptoms,” they wrote in a study last year.
 

“Using only medical approaches is insufficient for supporting people living with HIV who are dealing with these multifaceted problems.”
 

Due to the physical toll of the treatment, many people with HIV have to search for new, less physically intensive professions, which can be difficult in small towns and villages where social stigmas around the virus outweigh all other factors.
 

This is where Khana stepped in.

Im Srey Mom and her family on their farm in Kampong Chhnang province. (Photo: Jonathan Greig)

Mr. Samrithea has worked on a variety of local economic programs for Khana since August 2007 and said the Livelihood Program started in April 2010.
 

Khana’s executive director Choub Sok Chamreun, one of the founding members of the program, said the idea for the initiative sprouted from the beneficiaries themselves, who told of ceaseless financial troubles and outright discrimination by local community members.
 

One of the goals of the Livelihood Program was to help people with HIV learn how to properly save their money and integrate them into more formal lending practices that can spare them the aggressive interest rates of private loan sharks.
 

For some infected with HIV, treatment can be a costly burden on already tight budgets. In a survey of 510 people with HIV involved in their programs, Khana found their average monthly income to be just less than $88.
 

“We help people save money and promote saving behavior for our beneficiaries. We have learned from our studies that the poor don’t know what they should save for,” Mr. Samrithea said.
 

“They keep their money in the wall so it’s too accessible. They use it and lose it.”
 

Mr. Samrithea explained that Khana, along with their implementing partners at local NGOs, created village savings and loan (VSL) associations comprised of anywhere between 10 and 30 people.
 

These groups were initially meant to stimulate the local economy and increase the savings of people with HIV in the community.
 

“Once they form the group, the first thing we tell them is that there will be three benefits from doing this,” Mr. Samrithea said.
 

“Their own savings, loans to group members at reasonable interest rates and emergency loans in case something happens.”
 

The VSL group creates a set of rules and regulations on a variety of things – interest rates, time limits on reimbursement, punishments for late payments, the group’s meeting schedule – before signing on the dotted line.
 

Each person can buy any number of shares, usually for between 5,000 and 10,000 riel, and the group puts the total sum in a local bank. After 10 to 12 months of accruing interest, people can cash out or put their money in again for the next year.
 

In each successive year, Khana takes less and less of a role in the group in the hope that participants will continue it on their own. But they do continue their support in other ways.
 

“Once people know how to save, give loans and pay loans, then the Khana staff works with them to see how they want to use the money. How are they going to use their new savings?” he said.
 

“Some people want to open small businesses, some people want to raise cows or chickens.”
 

The groups, he said, morphed into brainstorming sessions, with people contributing their own knowledge of certain fields or tasks to help others start businesses and try new things with their savings.
 

Once the beneficiaries figure out their plan of action, Khana provides them with free skills training sessions to help them along.
 

“This is a unique program in Khana. We are providing capacity building in technical skills through trainers with years of experience. They get theoretical skills and practical skills from watching,” Mr. Samrithea said.
 

All of the skills training sessions are held at Khana’s Livelihood Learning Center in Kampong Chhnang province. Beneficiaries are invited to come for free and allowed to stay at the center for the duration of the training. More than 2,000 people have come to the center for classes.
 

Sim Nhep has worked at the center since it was created in 2012 and said local government officials were helpful in providing Khana with land for the facility.
 

For him, participation in the classes at the center was personal. His cousin has HIV and that has propelled him into helping more people with the virus.
 

“They are poor, but they can still get help for these activities. The support, both financial and medical, from Khana brings hope to infected people,” Mr. Nhep said.
 

“We want to make them feel important. We want to let them know that they matter.”
 

Mr. Nhep is an experienced teacher at this point, and Mr. Samrithea said the trainings are a mix of classroom sessions on theory and hands-on lessons.
 

“We are not teaching them from step one. We are only picking up on the areas that are hardest for them,” Mr. Samrithea said.
 

“For chicken raising, we focus on chick selection, vaccination and medicine because many farmers have to deal with deaths. It’s the number one failing in the business.”
 

They also allow people in the group to give tips from their own experience, and this part of the program ended up blossoming into something greater than expected.
 

“We adopt storytelling because we feel that by using stories they can learn a lot from their peers. This is very practical. It’s easy for them to understand and they enjoy an environment where they are comfortable and learning,” he said.
 

The collaborative – as well as lucrative – nature of the groups fostered an unexpected closeness between the participants, turning the VSL associations into something more akin to support groups.
 

Members share their daily struggles with HIV equally as often as they share recipes and business tips.
 

“People with HIV and AIDS need not only medicine, not only prevention, but a livelihood to sustain themselves. By creating the VSL group, they have a platform and mechanism where they can meet, talk about their problems, share their experiences and support each other,” Mr. Samrithea said.
 

“It’s become about more than savings.”
 

The groups have been so successful in some communities that people who are not infected with HIV are eager to join, bringing a new fold into the initiative’s efforts to address the problems of people with HIV more holistically.
 

Siyan Yi, the founding director of the Center for Population Health Research at Khana, said interaction and exposure are integral for people with HIV.
 

“When you live alone, you just don’t know a better way. In the Livelihood Program and VSL, we did not restrict it to only PHIV [people with HIV]. The group only needs to be led by someone with HIV.
 

“When people in the community join, it may help reduce the gap. They work together and speak together and indirectly reduce discrimination.
 

“People still feel it, the shame of the disease,” he said.
 

“But the goal of the program is to reduce the stigma and discrimination in the community, so we provide an opportunity to improve their socio-economic conditions while at the same time connecting them to those who do not have HIV.”
 

Mr. Bunthorn, who has been involved in the Livelihood Program since 2011, said his VSL group finished its fifth year in December and their 30 members, both people with and without HIV, plan to sign up for another year.
 

“I’m proud to be a member of this group. I’m proud to have their support for my ideas and I’m proud to have such good relations with all of the VSL members,” Mr. Bunthorn said.
 

Mr. Yi was adamant that the program needed to be kept going, as Khana’s own research found that it was immensely helpful to almost everyone involved and gave the NGO an opportunity to conduct a variety of groundbreaking surveys on the HIV population in Cambodia.
 

“As you can see, people living with HIV can live normal lives for a long time. So it’s not just about the disease. It’s about the living conditions, the quality of life. Their overall well-being,” he said.
 

“If we only provide medical care and prevention, it will not solve the problem. We have to provide other support to improve their quality of life.”
 

Im Srey Mom agreed wholeheartedly.
 

The 44-year-old mother of four discovered she was HIV positive in 2011, months after her husband, 52-year-old Proeung Sinat, tested positive for the virus.
 

She started participating in Khana’s programs in 2012, joining a VSL group in her home village of Andong Rovieng in Kampong Chhnang province and subsequently receiving business training from the NGO. Her husband, who moved to the area from Battambang province, attended a poultry farming course and has been running his farm for a year now.
 

Their VSL group, she said, was made up entirely of people with HIV and is set to begin its fourth year after a short hiatus.
 

“We have access to loans for medicine and for our business and, at the meetings, we talk about health issues and each person goes around and talks about themselves,” she said.
 

“We feel happy, friendly and open to speak about any issues. By joining this program we can get skills training and have access to ideas about what kind of things we can do with ourselves, both from the group and from the program.
 

“No matter what, we want to continue this, even without the NGO.”
 

In Tek Hout commune, Kampong Chhnang province, Sun Thom’s VSL group helped her expand from chicken farming into making furniture out of coconut shells. Ms. Thom, 43, and her husband, Pov Sovann, moved to the area eight years ago from Kandal province and soon after realized they were both HIV positive.
 

Ms. Thom was forced to sell all of her land in Kandal province and spend everything they had on their treatment and children.
 

They both joined Khana’s programs in 2011, with Ms. Thom taking part in a food processing training session and Mr. Sovann learning chicken farming at the Livelihood Center.
 

They now have 200 chickens and are expanding into other small businesses with their savings from the VSL group, which finished its fifth year in December and has grown from five members to 30.
 

Many of those involved in the group are not HIV positive and plans are underway to split it into two groups to accommodate the deluge of new members for the next year.
 

The VSL group is depositing almost 10 million riel (about $2,500) in their local bank this year, more than they ever have before.
 

“This is what happens when both [HIV and non-HIV] work together. We settle issues easily and motivate each other,” she said.
 

Despite the overwhelming success of the program and the wealth of information gained on Cambodia’s HIV population, funding for the program ended in 2015. Mr. Samrithea said the donors, one of which is USAID’s PEPFAR program, wants more of a focus on health as well as medical treatment and asked them to move on from the Livelihood Program.
 

Cambodia’s success in fighting HIV and AIDS has become a problem for those living with the virus as international donors – who provide the lion’s share of monetary support for HIV and AIDS programs in Cambodia – move funding to other more at-risk nations and populations.
 

“Cambodia’s showing of success in response to HIV and AIDS has led to the funding from donors to decline since late 2015. About $20 million has been cut since then and this funding is going to get less and less in the near future,” Khana executive director Mr. Chamreun said.
 

He added that Khana is now looking into grants from the US as well as from UK Aid Direct and is already preparing proposals that will include some form of the Livelihood Program.
 

UNAIDS chief Ms. Emond said that while funding for HIV/AIDS programs was secured through 2017, subsequent years are shrouded in uncertainty.
 

“The funding for national AIDS response remains highly dependent on external resources, mainly the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria and the US government, whose contribution has been declining for a few years,” she said.
 

“Though there has been some additional national funding allocated for the AIDS response, this does not totally compensate for the external resources’ decline.
 

“Cambodia is on the right track to be among the first countries to achieve its national goals of the elimination of new HIV infections and ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2025 [even before the global goal] but sufficient and well prioritized investment in the coming years will be decisive to make this a reality.”
 

She went on to lament the decline in the number of livelihood programs and said it was key in helping at-risk populations cope with their ailment and advance in society.
 

“Increasingly, people living with HIV who are on HIV treatment are doing much better in terms of health but indeed still need livelihood opportunities and want a job as any other Cambodian as they do not want to be dependent on aid. With external funding declining, there has clearly been a decline of livelihood programs specific for HIV-affected communities,” she said.
 

Even though funding for the programs is largely nonexistent now, both local and international groups have tried to help people with HIV integrate into broader social protection programs that are not specifically tailored to people with the virus.
 

The problem that they face, she said, is discrimination, both in the community and in the distribution of services and resources.
 

“Some key population groups such as sex workers, men who have sex with men, transgender people or people who inject/use drugs who are at higher risk for HIV also face additional livelihood hardship and difficulties to find jobs because of stigmatization and discrimination or other reasons,” she said.
 

“This can be a vicious circle leading some to a poverty trap which further increases their vulnerability to HIV and other health and social issues.”
 

The government, she said, has pledged to “not let successful programs collapse because of a lack of funding,” but the meager amount of subsidies they are now trying to provide will not offset the loss of international donations and cannot sustain efforts like Khana’s Livelihood Program.
 

In spite of the tenuous future of funding for HIV programs in Cambodia, the VSL groups Khana started continue to grow and expand with some freelance help from the local NGOs they worked with in the community. Mr. Chamreun said more than 4,000 people with HIV in 12 provinces participated in the program throughout its run.
 

Mr. Samrithea left Khana last September and took a job at the Mine Action Authority. But he was strident in his beliefs about the effect of Khana’s work and how worthwhile their mission was – while they had it.
 

“The key change is behavior. They know they can save and are willing to save. This is the biggest change. The change is in the confidence in knowing that they can do things like this. They are proud to participate in this social activity.
 

“Before, when there was an invitation to join any social activity, they were scared. But with the change in their livelihood, they seem to want to show themselves to the community. Some even talk about their HIV status without being asked,” he said.
 

“They are now like everyone else in the village.”
 

When asked if he was worried about what would happen to the program’s beneficiaries if there was no one to nurture the Livelihood Program and expand it, much less continue it officially, Mr. Samrithea turned and waved his hand at me as if I’d suggested pig farming.
 

“We were just watering these seeds,” Mr. Samrithea said. “The potential was always there and will be.”

THE WIND UP: BASEBALL CONTINUES GROWTH IN CAMBODIA

Kong Yen rubbed the dirt off his nose with his thumb and put the edge of his glove right under his eyes, staring directly into the meatiest part of the catcher’s mitt waiting more than 18 meters away. 
 

A row of children perched themselves against a nearby fence watching intently as Yen picked up his right leg high, wound up his arm and fired his pitch. 
 

A tall Malaysian batter waiting at the other end didn’t flinch and crushed the ball with the thickest part of his bat before sprinting to first base.

Yen scooped up a new ball from the catcher, firmly adjusted his cap and waited as the next batter readied himself.
 

In most Major League Baseball (MLB) stadiums during a regular season night, a base hit would elicit boos from the home crowd, maybe even a thrown cup or two, depending on the pitcher. 
 

But on this field, in this province, in this country, there were only cheers and whoops. That the game was being played at all, much less on a mint green field in the middle of Kampong Thom province, was cause for celebration. 
 

The Kingdom has hosted Thailand’s national baseball team before, but this event – with the Malaysian National Baseball team and a university team from Hanoi in attendance – was billed as the first international baseball tournament held in Cambodia. 
 

While the tournament was the main focus of the event, there was a larger effort to show how legitimized the sport has, and can, become in Cambodia. Thanks to the solid foundation set up by Joe Cook, the Cambodian-American who brought baseball to Cambodia in 2002, there are Cambodians – like Yen – with serious baseball talent.
 

The problems that players like Yen face are organizational. The team succeeded in getting together and entering the 2007 SEA Games in Thailand only to suffer a series of brutal defeats. 
 

Most players on the team had no experience against outside competition and, more importantly, there were pitches they had never seen before because none of the pitchers in Cambodia were good enough to throw them yet, particularly the breaking ball – an especially deadly pitch.
 

In total, their opponents scored 113 runs to their 13.
 

The embarrassing losses, coupled with a 2009 bombshell article from ESPN detailing Cook’s mismanagement of the national baseball team’s funds, left the team in disarray. 
 

A member of the national baseball team dusts himself off after sliding home. (Photo: Jonathan Greig)

Nhem Thavy, the CPP parliamentarian for Kampong Thom province, managed to pick up the pieces, eventually building his own regulation baseball field next to his resort on Bronze Lake and taking the reins as president of the Cambodia Baseball Federation in 2010.
 

Thavy can trace his love of baseball back to two traditional Khmer games he remembers playing as a kid – “Swar Dandoeum Tee” and “He-ing” – that when combined bear an eerie resemblance to America’s national pastime.
 

“But I remember when we first went to the ministry [of education, youth and sport] and they looked at us and said, ‘Baseball? What is that?’” he said.
 

Since Prime Minister Hun Sen took a renewed interest in the country’s sporting achievements, the government has tried to be more proactive in supporting a variety of grassroots efforts to teach sports like baseball. 
 

Thavy says the federation was asked by the government to teach physical education (PE) classes using baseball in four high schools and two primary schools in Phnom Penh. In addition to the schools in the capital, schools near the field in Kampong Thom province get regular visits from national baseball team members, who teach techniques and basic ball skills to younger students.
 

The goal, Thavy says, is to start from the bottom by teaching kids the game at a young age and expanding it to cities and provinces across the country. Schools in Battambang and Siem Reap provinces have already expressed interest in starting their own regional teams and receiving training from national team members. 
 

Catcher Kan Sokhon waits for the pitch. (Photo: Jonathan Greig)

All of these efforts are in anticipation of the 32nd SEA Games, which will be hosted by Cambodia in 2023. Thavy is hoping to have a full-fledged team ready to compete by then, and few people are more instrumental to this effort than Tony Nishimura, vice-president of the federation and head coach of the national team.
 

Nishimura was hired in 2011 to handle the baseball end of the operation while Thavy dealt with the funding, and he has eagerly latched on to their idea of starting the sport early with primary school students.
 

“[Previously], they just tried to pull out a military guy, a soccer guy, whoever had the best physicals. Put them in a dormitory, hire a Japanese or Korean coach to teach them for like six months or a year. Like they are instant noodles,” Nishimura said. 
 

“We want to do this completely different. We want to make this country famous for baseball. That’s why we’re starting from the elementary, primary and high school level. If we can build that infrastructure, then every year we can have tryouts and selections.”
 

Despite his belief that the process will be slow and may take years, the PE courses are already paying dividends.
 

“We started PE classes eight months ago at Boeung Trabek Primary/High School,” Nishimura said. 
 

“They are playing real baseball now. They know the rules, they know how to play it. They are quick learners, and rumors are spreading to other schools who now want baseball for their PE classes.”
 

Ultimately, Nishimura wants to create an under-15 team, an under-18 team and a fully-manned national team. He also said he was considering a women’s team. 
 

The baseball federation is now faced with a good problem: there are too many schools and groups who want to play baseball and not enough coaches, volunteers, equipment or fields where they can play.
 

Thavy said most of the national team players either run PE classes or teach baseball after school twice a week and on Sundays they hold open practices for anyone who wants to join. To deal with the lack of volunteer coaches, Thavy has looked outward to the MLB and other professional leagues around the world for help.
 

Baseball coaches have been coming to Cambodia to teach players the game since 2002 and Todd Bess, a well-traveled baseball aficionado, is helping Thavy ramp up the federation’s efforts to attract foreign coaches, equipment and expertise on how to build upward. 
 

“Every time I’m on an airplane in the US, I can look down and see 20 baseball fields in a major city. In Cambodia, you can count the number of fields on one hand. Anything big starts small,” he said.
 

“The biggest thing behind what we’re doing here with baseball is with schools at the center of it. Any sport only lasts for a short time, but the education that people can acquire, that can never leave.”
 

Thavy is already making plans to take the sport to between 15 and 20 schools in Phnom Penh by 2017, as well as to create two teams in Preah Vihear – one in Poipet and another in Battambang. Building baseball fields in Phnom Penh seemed impossible, he said, so his hope is that soccer fields can be partially converted into baseball diamonds if there was enough demand.
 

The baseball federation was officially recognized by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport as well as the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia earlier this year and an NGO is now working on translating an official book of baseball rules into Khmer, which would allow the federation to certify baseball coaches and teachers. 
 

The sport will be added to the national budget next year and will receive some government funding, according to Thavy.
 

But baseball in Cambodia is expensive. All the equipment has to be imported – usually through large donations from professional teams in Japan and the US – and once it gets here, it can be costly to transport the gear to schools that need it.
 

Just the cost of renting or buying land for baseball fields is prohibitive for many schools. The 70-year-old federation president said he is looking into attracting corporate sponsors, but is holding out hope for more participation from the Cambodian-American community, both financially and with baseball.
 

Those most affected by the baseball cash shortage, however, are the current members of the national baseball team. Many of the players spoke of walking a tightrope between staying involved in an activity they love and providing for their families in the most real
sense.
 

The federation gives them housing – next to the baseball field in Kampong Thom – and provides them with a stipend. But Kan Sokhon, the 29-year-old catcher, and pitcher Yen said it was not enough to support their families. 
 

Both men are fathers of young children and work as farmers throughout the week, shuffling between their fieldwork and their baseball PE classes at the local elementary school. 
 

Many of the current national team players will be too old for the squad participating in the 2023 SEA Games and some have decided to hone their skills for the next generation.
 

“I have been playing for 12 years and I picked up playing the infield quickly. Now they are starting younger. They already throw like we do,” Sokhon said.
 

Yen, a lanky 24-year-old from Preah Vihear province, said he was immediately tossed on to the pitcher’s mound when the coach saw how fast he could throw four years ago, but yearned for more instruction now that he is progressing.
 

“I really want to learn more, but our living situation is hard because we get some money from the federation but we have to keep our side business as farmers,” he said.
 

“I dream of being a pitching coach. I want the federation to teach me how to play and coach so I can do this.”
 

Back on the mound, Yen fixed his hat, eyeing the new batter stepping to the plate. He wound up and fired off a pitch that was just a bit too high above the plate.
 

As the Cambodian announcer, in his best American accent, yelled, “BALL,” Yen brushed off the dirt staining the blue “Cambodia” stitching on his jersey and prepped for the next pitch.
 

Additional reporting by Ven Rathavong

http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/33204//

CHILDREN GO SILENT FOR DAY WITHOUT SPEECH

The little girl’s pigtails bobbed furiously as she pointed to the whiteboard in her other hand and wrote down the answer. Other students ran to the front of the classroom to see what she was writing on her board, peering curiously over her shoulder at her scribbles. Waving her arms up and down was the final clue needed before everyone quickly jotted down the answer: a bird.
 

A casual observer might call it a strange game of charades, but their silence – or more accurately their lack of words – is far more purposeful than one would guess.
 

These children are participating in Day Without Speech (DWS), a campaign to raise awareness about those struggling with speech and swallowing disorders.
 

Led by OIC Cambodia, a Phnom Penh-based NGO working to make speech therapy available to those who need it, the campaign has flourished, with schools and banks as well as individuals taking up the cause in recent months.
 

Weh Yeoh, managing director of OIC, said the idea was sparked almost three and half years ago by a friend who told him that it might be interesting to give up speaking for a day to get a glimpse of what those with speech disorders go through.
 

Since then, they have enlisted the help of schools across Australia and locally in Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville, and have plans to further expand the campaign in the future. Although speech is not allowed, participants can write down what they need to say.
 

The events have had profound effects on those who have tried it for a variety of reasons, Mr. Yeoh said.
 

“[Students] learn about inclusion more broadly, so it’s not just kids who might have communication disorders but all different types of kids, which helps with bullying. Another thing is learning about Cambodia and people who may be less privileged,” he told Khmer Times.
 

“Day Without Speech in Australia has grown so quickly, and the uptake is so high because it’s such a good experience for kids.”
 

Two students at Singapore International School in Phnom Penh writing down answers. (Photo: Jonathan Greig)

OIC has raised almost $30,000 since the campaign began, and the success has many of its own members itching for a shot at the day-long challenge.
 

Mr. Yeoh recently tried himself and was immediately flooded with insights into how people with speech difficulties cope.
 

“I have a whole new understanding and respect for people who have communication difficulties day to day,” he said. “I knew I would be frustrated, but I was surprised how quickly I became frustrated. My two friends who knew I was doing this decided to just speak to each other, and they even began to speak about me in front of me.
 

“It wasn’t anything malicious but it was just simply, they knew that to engage with me would take so much more effort. Frustration, isolation, helplessness, these were the main emotions that I felt which were negative. But then again, it wasn’t all negative.”
 

After meeting a coworker for lunch, who was also doing the challenge, he suddenly felt at ease, knowing they would not judge him for not speaking, and understood what they were both going through.
 

To his surprise, she was the person he communicated with better than anyone that day, despite lacking the tools of the spoken word.
 

A teacher at International School of Singapore (ISS) in Phnom Penh gestures during a Day Without Speech. (Photo: Jonathan Greig) 

Sam Kendall, fund-raising development manager at OIC, upped the ante for his own attempt, by keeping silent for 48 hours. What was most eye-opening for him was the need to prepare himself before any human interaction in case it was with someone who did not understand or was not supportive.
 

“I did a lot more preparation. Normally I don’t think of five different ways I might need to signal to a tuk-tuk where I need to go, and I may not always go out of my way to make sure I have exact change to pay, but when I couldn’t speak I spent a lot more time pre-planning interactions as simple as a tuk-tuk ride or other possible interactions with people,” he said.
 

“I was always nervous that if I didn’t have a few plans I might not be able to accomplish what I wanted to.”
 

He added that while he saw a number of parallels between the challenge for adults and for schoolchildren, the two experiences did differ because of the structure afforded to students.
 

“For adults it is more about self-education. Adults have to think about: what were they frustrated by? How can they change their own actions in relation to those frustrations going forward?” he told Khmer Times.
 

“The Day Without Speech in schools is more structured. There are lesson plans that teachers can use and a debrief that the students get so that they can think more widely about what they’ve just experienced.
 

“Everyone has a positive experience, but they take something different from that experience.”
 

And that structure was integral for students at International School of Singapore (ISS) in Phnom Penh, who had their kids try the challenge last week. Melissa Close, principal of the school, said students – between the ages of four and nine – took to the challenge eagerly.
 

“We really want to reach out to disadvantaged kids that are like them and support them. So it’s nice to educate and teach our kids how to self-discipline by not speaking, because they’re very active. They like to talk,” she said.
 

“It’s good for them to motivate themselves and do something that is purposeful.”
 

Preparation for the day took about two weeks, and involved teachers explaining the challenge and working with children to understand why not speaking would be important on that day. Even the teachers went silent.
 

For about 10 minutes each day leading up to the Day Without Speech, they went silent before the day’s classes.
 

“The teachers were reluctant at first because we didn’t think the students could do it. So for them to go through with it and pull this off is really impressive. I’m so proud of them,” Ms. Close said.
 

While the event does not capture the totality of the experience of those with speech issues – OIC fully acknowledges that not being able to speak at all is slightly different than being able to communicate but in a different way than your peers – it does give those who partake in it a taste of the daily uphill climb many people face.
 

“[A stutterer] once told me that you have a certain number of words that you can get out, simply because it will take too long. So there are all these words and thoughts that are bottled up inside because you can’t write that fast,” Mr. Yeoh said.
 

“Communication is the basis for almost everything we do. Particularly if you’re ambitious and high-functioning, it would be so frustrating. To keep on going out and facing mixed reactions from people but to keep on going back, that takes a lot of courage.
 

“We take it for granted, and that’s why I think this is really good.”

Managing director of OIC Weh Yeoh holds up special cards for the Day Without Speech event. (Photo: Jonathan Greig)

http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/32040/children-go-silent-for-day-without-speech/

HUN SEN BACKS TRUMP

BY JONATHAN GREIG AND TAING VIDA

US presidential nominees Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are now on barnstorming tours across the country, making their final appeals to swing voters ahead of next Tuesday’s election.
 

Democratic candidate Ms. Clinton has received an overwhelming number of endorsements from a variety of places, including French President Francois Hollande and a bevy of newspapers, as well as several dozen from senior Republican party members.
 

Yet Republican candidate Mr. Trump will be glad to know there is one extra person supporting his candidacy: Prime Minister Hun Sen.
 

During a speech at the Royal Police Academy yesterday, Mr. Hun Sen told the crowd that he believed the brash billionaire would be better for the world than Ms. Clinton.
 

He said geopolitical trends showed that the world was headed towards another Cold War and one of the reasons for this shift was the US election.
 

It was unusual, he said to the crowd, for the US to have two candidates who were so starkly different.
 

“To be honest, I want Mr. Trump to win so badly,” he said. “If he wins, the world situation will see changes and get even better because Trump is a businessman, and as a businessman, he doesn’t want any war.”
 

The premier went on to say that if Ms. Clinton were to be the next president of the US, the world would “face war” because when she was secretary of state under current president Barack Obama, she advised the president to attack and invade Syria.
 

“If Ms. Clinton wins the US election, relations between the US and China could be difficult. And relations between the US and Russia could be hard to predict,” he said.
 

“However, if Mr. Trump wins the election, I think he could become friends with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin.”
 

Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin often compare themselves to one another and Mr. Trump has expressed admiration for the Russian premier’s brand of “leadership.” Many of Mr. Trump’s senior campaign figures have business ties to Russia and a number of former Soviet states.
 

Sadly for Mr. Hun Sen, his beliefs about Mr. Trump’s potential dealings with China do not line up with the candidate’s own comments about the Asian powerhouse.
 

The Republican has repeatedly threatened to start a trade war with China unless they adopt more US-favorable terms in a variety of trade deals. In a March interview with The New York Times, he would not rule out starting a war with China.
 

He has also threatened to go to war with Iran, Mexico, North Korea and a number of other countries if he became president.
 

But Mr. Hun Sen later turned his attention to the effect the election would have on Cambodia, telling the crowd that he was more worried about Ms. Clinton because of her history in supporting US military intervention in foreign conflicts. “He says the truth, unlike Ms. Clinton. Her point of view affects us,” he said.
 

On the other hand, the opposition said the party did not favor either candidate and believed that both Ms. Clinton and Mr. Trump could have an effect on ties between the US and Cambodia.
 

“We all know that the United States is a democratic country where people have total freedom to access information and to speak out,” said Cambodia National Rescue Party spokesperson Yim Sovann.
 

“Our party respects the American voters so we are rooting for no one. We believe both of the candidates will maintain a relationship with Cambodia and other countries.”
 

Yet political analysts in Cambodia have said there is a very decisive difference between the two candidates and worry about Mr. Trump’s lack of a definitive position on Asia outside of trade deals withChina.
 

The unpredictability of his campaign, his own views and his subsequent actions have made it hard to discern how he would approach a country like Cambodia, said Ou Virak, a political analyst and president of the Future Forum.
 

“Hillary wants stronger interna ional relations and will follow some of Obama’s policies,” he said. “I think the relationship between America and Cambodia, including other countries, would not be much different with her, while Trump might change a lot because he is unpredictable.
 

“I expect no change from Ms. Clinton. But for Trump, I believe there would be some changes that concern the international community.
 

“He seems unclear on what he is doing. He talks about Russia but has no clear policies and he may harm the world.”

http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/31678/hun-sen-plays-his-trump-card/

FIT AND READY TO RUMBLE: A FIGHTER PREPS IN CAMBODIA

His day starts at 7:30am in Phnom Penh with a 15-kilometer run, followed soon after by a sprightly two-hour bicycle ride, four hours at Superfit gym in Russian Market, two hours training with the Cambodian National Boxing Team at Olympic Stadium and two more hours learning a litany of moves from Yuthakun Khom fight master Chan Rothana.

This has been Emmanuel Onyedikachi’s life for the last 5 months as he trains for his first professional fight on October 30. The physically imposing neophyte slyly admitted to the magnitude of the task ahead of him: facing an experienced Cuban fighter after only five months of day-to-day fight training.

Many budding pugilists train for years before setting foot in a ring, honing specific skills through hours of sweat and repetition. But almost as many are like the 30-year-old Onyedikachi, finding their way to fighting through an ever-changing panoply of jobs and life experiences. They all believe that a more refined understanding of the fighter’s ethos mitigates their relative lack of functional fight experience. 

“His weakness may be that he has no experience,” says his French manager Benoit Rigallaud. “But his physical fitness and mental fitness are very strong. He is so strong that if he catches the opponent with a good punch, the fight is over.”

The spirit of a fighter – what it takes to confidently stand in a ring across from another person – often can only be developed outside of that very ring.

And for Onyedikachi, it runs in his blood. Both his father and his uncle were boxers in his home country of Nigeria. Born in Anambra State and raised in Lagos, he can instantly think back to his days of wrestling and fighting with other kids and see the seeds of his now sprouting fight career. 

He made his way to Cambodia almost eight years ago somewhat accidentally. He was headed to Malaysia to study, but his plans fell through and he ended up in Phnom Penh.

He started out as a teacher at the Austrian International School before creating a Hip-Hop dance group that performed around Phnom Penh. It was through the dance group that he initially met Rothana and had his first taste of fight training. 

Through mutual friends, he met Rothana, and the two immediately hit it off, living and training together in Takhmao city while he helped out at his restaurant for four months. Onyedikachi now had just enough of a taste of fighting that he knew he needed more.

“I decided to become a personal trainer, so I studied fitness and got my personal trainer certificate online. I ended up working at Superfit for almost a year and a half,” he explains.

Emmanuel Onyedikachi trains for his first fight on October 30. (Photo: Steve Porte)

He worked with other Superfit coaches on gym training for six months before plying the trade on his own, becoming a personal trainer for a variety of wealthy Cambodians and expats. 

After becoming the personal driver for one of his clients, he quit the job entirely and began work as a secretary assistant for the Emergency Lagos Contact Agency, spending a little over a year there before taking up work as the general manager of a PTT gas station.

But eventually he ended up as a personal trainer at the Cambodiana Hotel.

“The salaries were not satisfying. I’m trying to save enough and it wasn’t working. But I managed to open a business in my country. This is how I started training with Selapak and I began to become a fighter,” he said. 

He knew Rigallaud from his days hanging out with Rothana and had played rugby with him while living in Takhmao. The pair help run the Selapak fight gym in Phnom Penh. 

“He came to me and Rothana about six months ago and told us he wanted to fight. We told him the kind of work and effort he would have to put in and he was very motivated so he agreed,” Rigallaud says. “We told him: train first, train hard.”

And train hard he did. He struck up relationships with the Cambodian National Boxing Team and now trains with them on a daily basis. 

“They say it’s very impressive because I am the first Nigerian to really try to fight here. So they appreciate it, for me to choose this as my career in Cambodia,” Onyedikachi says. “They all encourage me so much and want me to go far.”

Onyedikachi comes from a long line of fighters. His father and uncle were boxers in Nigeria. (Photo: Steve Porte)

Many might assume it would be hard for him to fit in with the average Cambodian fight crowd. But he speaks Khmer – he can even read a little as well – and says the team has embraced him like one of their own.

“At the beginning, when I got here, there was a bit of racism. But the boxing team treats me like family. I chose to fight in Cambodia to be a sort of representative of Nigeria. To show them that we as black people are not all into bad stuff,” he says. 

“I want to show that we have some people who are thinking positive and doing good in their lives and that’s part of why I chose to be a fighter in Cambodia.”

From his training with the Cambodian Boxing Federation and his time hitting the bags with Rothana, Onyedikachi feels he is ready to lace up his shoes and step into the ring. 

But his opponent, 30-year-old Felix Merlin, is a wily vet with 20 fights under his belt.

“I’m not scared, but I am nervous. With confidence, I’m not afraid. But it’s my first time,” he admits.

“The reason I can fight after only five months of training is because of Rothana. Not everyone can only train for four months and get a fight. It’s because he is a dedicated teacher and is highly qualified.” 

A pure boxing match was his preference for his first fight because of his familiarity with it and his desire to continue working on his jiu jitsu and kicking skills before trying MMA.

“I decided to start with boxing because I think I’m good at it and confident in my hand skills. I am more confident with boxing than ground stuff, although I have experience in wrestling,” he says. 

Whatever comes of his first fight, Onyedikachi says that deep down, this is what he has always wanted to do and plans to continue doing no matter what happens on the canvas this weekend. 

“I want to fight as my career. My goal is not just to have fun with fighting,” 

“I am dedicating my time to this, my energy to this, my strength, everything. I want to go higher. I am not doing this to become famous. It just makes me happy.”  

http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/31339/fit-and-ready-to-rumble--a-fighter-preps-in-cambodia/

FIGHTING FOR A BETTER CAMBODIA

Any fan of American cinema is intimately acquainted with this sports movie trope: a rag-tag team of misfits is finally blessed with top-of-the-line gear before they take on the league heavyweights. Cue the training montage.

But its ubiquity in coming-of-age sports films has not changed the fact that for some sports, it is a painfully honest facsimile. Few know this better than mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters in Southeast Asia, where the long legacies of ancient fighting styles – serving as part of the bedrock of MMA – have done little to attract major funding for those seeking to dedicate themselves to it full time.

This is where Joe Conway found his niche. 

The Boston native visited the Kingdom in 2012 while living and working as a banker in Hong Kong with his wife and was immediately hooked. But his love for MMA can be traced back to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand.

“My wife and I went to the Muay Thai fights on Friday nights after we were handed a flyer on the street,” he says. “It was amazing to see the respect the fighters showed toward one another, their skill and how they moved around the ring. It was not like Western boxers but more like a fighting dance.”

He started taking MMA classes at his gym in Hong Kong and became even more involved in the sport when he moved back to the US, incorporating kickboxing into his daily workouts thanks to a professional MMA fighter pumping iron at the same gym. 

He returned to Cambodia last April to train in Kun Khmer – a traditional fighting style pioneered here and now used as part of the training for MMA bouts – and found himself at Selapak Gym, training alongside burgeoning MMA stalwart Chan Rothana and professional fighter Kev Hemmorlor, amongst a host of other wily Khmer fight vets and nascent martial arts neophytes. 

He immediately struck up a friendship with the fighters as well as gym manager and promoter Benoit Rigallaud.

“I loved it so much. Training with Rothana was unlike anything I had ever done. He is such a positive person and a great teacher. I noticed after the group classes that were so hard and hot, how happy and positive everyone was,” he says. “I couldn’t get enough of it.”

The camaraderie and positivity did not, however, make up for the woeful lack of training equipment at the gym for each fighter. Many of the fighters, Conway says, were training in flip-flops.

The need for better gear bugged Conway even as he left the country to head home. But on a stop in Hong Kong, he decided it was time to pitch in.

“The training was great but their equipment was a little shabby and Selapak didn’t have enough of the right kinds of equipment. On that trip my next stop was Hong Kong so I shipped them a few kick pads and gloves from there,” Conway says.

“I got a list of what other equipment they needed from Benoit, and over the next few months I sent more pads and some good quality Fairfax bags.”

Throughout his time in Southeast Asia, Conway said he was always looking for a way to give back, and he decided to dive head-first into what would eventually become Fight for Cambodia (FFC).

“I was so happy because I felt like I found the right people to partner with for the idea I had to invest in people through martial arts. I was, and still am, a beginner. But I understand how helpful martial arts is for physical fitness as well as mental toughness,” he says.

He formed an official charitable corporation and obtained tax-exempt status in July 2015, launching the non-profit officially a month later. The US charity arm of the organization helps with fundraising efforts and spreads awareness as well as updates on how the fighters are doing to their benefactors. 

The instant impact of his efforts was visceral, Conway said.

He thought back to his second visit to Cambodia last October, when he took a group of students from the gym out to a market to buy running shoes and training clothes. 

“Most of the guys did construction jobs so they didn’t have any extra clothes for training. I did not realize that most of them were getting the first pair of sneakers they had ever had,” Conway says. 

“Fight for Cambodia grew over the past year and a half in small steps. I enjoy seeing someone like my friend Pheng, who just worked an 11-hour day on a tuk-tuk, come in for class because he loves it so much. The guys who are living and working away from their families wear their team shorts and are feeling pride. The guys all walk a little taller in their new shoes and team uniforms.”

Now quickly moving through its second year, FFC is supporting athletes and coaches with training equipment, workout clothes and team uniforms. They’ve also donated a Gi – a jiu jitsu uniform – to the H/Art Jiu Jitsu Academy in Phnom Penh, but its main partner in Cambodia is Selapak.

Rothana had no shortage of kind words for Conway and FFC, adding that they were an integral part of Selapak.

“FFC brings training equipment and support for fighters while allowing them to get excellent training,” Rothana says. “Selapak would not have been able to do any of this alone.”

Conway, FFC and those at Selapak have now forged a bond that goes far beyond fighting, and the assistance being funneled to the gym is allowing it to provide more services for emerging fighters interested in training there.

“After training with us, he understood the challenges we were facing to support the athletes. Selapak has a lot of plans but no money,” Rigallaud says. 

“Joe started to help Selapak with his own money and the foundation, allowing us to bring in more equipment and fitness wear and helped us bring Cambodian fighters to training camps at Tiger Muay Thai.”

Conway’s business acumen has been a boon for the gym as well, as he helps advise their board on future plans and strategies while beefing up their fundraising efforts.

In the future, Conway is hoping to take the Selapak team to the US to meet with members of the Cambodian-American community and further bonds between the MMA gyms in both countries. He also would like to see Selapak gyms across Cambodia supporting traditional fighting styles like Kun Khmer and Yuthakun Khom, which are now being popularized on the international MMA stage through elite fighters like Rothana, Khon Sichan of Team Phnom Penh MMA and Thai Rithy of Cambodian Top Team.

“The people I met training at Selapak were major factors in starting my organization in Cambodia,” he says. 

“Rothana’s mission is to teach people about Khmer culture and arts. He is such a positive person and I can see how he is teaching the young Khmer students in fighting techniques, but also about respect, honor and how to be a good person. 

“Many young men and women left their provinces to work in Phnom Penh and use Selapak as a place to train. Rothana is like a brother to many of them. I wanted to support this positivity and experience it myself.”

Fight for Cambodia brought Phoe Thaw to Selapak from Myanmar to train ahead of a bout next month. (Photo: KT/Yeun Punlue)

FFC has no plans yet to expand beyond Cambodia, but Conway was in Phnom Penh last week with Burmese fighter Phoe Thaw, who came to train at Selapak ahead of his third ONE Championship bout in Yangon on October 7. Despite being 2-0 in his MMA career, Thaw’s gym in Myanmar had very little fight gear, so FFC sent a few packages their way.

“There is little to no MMA training in Myanmar today. My motivation was for Thaw to learn so he can teach others in his country,” Conway says. 

Thaw knew the Selapak crew from previous ONE Championship bouts and said his time in Cambodia was invaluable both as a fighter and as someone looking to open their own gym.

“I gained so much experience from Rothana. He is a very good trainer and fighter. He is patient and clearly loves what he does,” Thaw says.

But FFC’s goals stretch far beyond fight skills and tactics. The organization, Conway said, is interested in improving people, not just as fighters but as human beings.

“My goal for FFC is to get people skills for fighting in the short term as well as life skills for the long term,” he says.

“The men and women learning at Selapak get an education beyond fighting. They are learning to be better people to each other and their communities.” 

http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/30068/fighting-for-a-better-cambodia/

UN, CPP SPAR ON POLITICAL CLIMATE

BY TAING VIDA AND JONATHAN GREIG

In an open letter to the leaders of Asean member states and the rest of the world, the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) yesterday attacked the opposition for allegedly “undermining democracy, political stability and the image of Cambodia in the international arena.”
 

On Monday, the government was caught with egg on its face after shutting down a major road in Phnom Penh in advance of a march which never happened.
 

Phnom Penh residents were stuck for hours and some local news outlets reported sick passengers stuck in endless traffic throughout the morning.
 

Instead of marching with crowds to each embassy, three opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) members handed open letters to the representatives of 15 embassies.
 

The open letters, addressed to leaders of Asean states and signatories of the Paris Peace Agreement (PPA), slammed the government and the CPP for “violating the will of the Cambodian people…as well as the fundamental principles enshrined in the PPA, through the increasingly inhumane abuse of power and suppression of public and personal freedoms, land activists, human rights defenders and opposition leaders and members at all levels have been detained, arrested and sentenced through manipulation of the judicial system.”
 

Interior Minister Sar Kheng, acting as head of a parliamentary majority faction, responded to the opposition with his own letter and discussed the “political reality” of Cambodia and how it contrasted with the way the CNRP presented the country’s political situation to people outside Cambodia.
 

Opposition members, he said, were attempting to use their own privilege to serve themselves rather than fulfill their duties to their constituents. He claimed they were “using parliamentary immunity as a shield to protect themselves when they violate the law and the constitution.”
 

“The CNRP cannot defame or accuse someone of a crime without evidence, or falsifying public documents or inciting violence and consider it an exercise of freedom of expression,” Mr. Kheng wrote. “It is clear that freedom of expression in the country is higher than in many countries in the region, including within Asean.”
 

He went on to say that opposition leaders “think they are above the law” and referenced CNRP leaders Kem Sokha and Sam Rainsy as examples, eventually excoriating the party for accusing the government of being behind the murder of political analyst Kem Ley.
 

Mr. Kheng ended the letter by urging the international community to understand the “real” situation in Cambodia and ignore the opposition’s attempts to “ruin the interests and reputation of the country.”
 

Head of the parliamentary minority group Son Chhay could not be reached yesterday, but earlier this week in a press conference he said both sides knew exactly what they were doing and hoped the CPP would restart dialogue between the two sides for the benefit of the country.
 

Mr. Chhay added that at the 28th Asean Summit, which is being held in Laos this week, members of Asean should raise the issue of Cambodia’s political situation with the country’s representatives and find an “immediate solution to prevent the return of policies and practices of the past.”
 

“We call on Asean leaders and leaders of signatories to the Paris Peace Agreement to fulfill their responsibility in pushing Prime Minister Hun Sen to put an immediate end to his dictatorial behavior and grave violation of the PPA,” Mr. Chhay said.
 

The government’s claims that the opposition was misrepresenting Cambodia were challenged on Tuesday in a statement issued by Ravina Shamdasani, the spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
 

During a press conference in Geneva, Ms. Shamdasani expressed concern about the “escalating atmosphere of intimidation of opposition politicians, their supporters, civil society and peaceful demonstrators in Cambodia.”
 

She criticized the ruling party for its questionable ties to the army and recent threats to anyone opposing them.
 

“Over the past few days, a strong show of force was conducted by the armed forces at the headquarters of the main opposition party, the Cambodia National Rescue Party,” she said.
 

“This, combined with an increase in rhetoric by high-level army officials, who have vowed to defend the ruling party against political opposition, is deeply worrying.”
 

Addressing the consistent government line that they are only abiding by the law in arresting and prosecuting opposition leaders on what many say are politically-motivated charges, Ms. Shamdasani said Prime Minister Hun Sen and his officials had to “take measures to ensure the safety of all Cambodians, particularly high profile political opponents.”
 

“The weak evidentiary basis of the charges and the accompanying procedural flaws raise serious concerns about the fairness of the proceedings,” she said. “We urge the authorities to adhere strictly to international fair trial standards during the criminal proceedings, including ensuring transparency in the administration of justice.”
 

Finally, she turned her attention to the next elections, saying the government had to do a better job of creating “an environment conducive to the enjoyment of freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association.”
 

Chak Sopheap, director of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, said she appreciated the UN’s effort to put a spotlight on issues affecting the political situation in the country and said recent government actions illustrated their true fear: the power of the masses.
 

“The procedures outlined in the Law on Peaceful Demonstrations are being routinely ignored and this must be addressed before we reach the campaigning period of the commune elections. The decision by the authorities to shut down such a busy street [on Monday] demonstrates an increasing fear of ‘people power’ as we draw closer to the upcoming elections,” she said.
 

“While it is the legitimate role of the military to protect the elected government, recent statements by senior military figures are extremely concerning as they show explicit loyalty to the ruling party. This is creating an environment which is extremely hostile to the exercise of fundamental freedoms, and which seriously threatens the prospects for free and fair elections.”

http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/29505/un--cpp-spar-on-political-climate/

HELPING HAPPY KIDS IN CAMBODIA

Stop for a second and imagine you are standing next to a friend. That friend asks you a question, and as you begin to respond, everything stops. 
 

Your throat seizes up and the only sounds coming out of your mouth are unintelligible. You push, and push, and push, and push some more, yet nothing but indecipherable sounds leave your lips.
 

Few can fathom the feeling of being a child watching his or her peers move from mumbling toddlers to non-stop talking kids while you are trapped inside yourself. The confusion, fear and sadness that washes over you when you first find your words trapped in your throat can lead to a lifetime of anxiety whenever you are prompted to open your mouth.
 

Many children in Western countries have access to both government programs and organizations willing to help provide speech therapy and make sure children with speaking disabilities are able to go to school and live lives similar to their peers. But even in places like the US, the woeful lack of awareness and resources for lower income children leaves many behind, with few options available to assist them in their effort to communicate and contribute to society.
 

The situation in Cambodia is even worse. There are no Cambodian speech therapists, no university courses to teach potential therapists and very little awareness about speech disabilities and all that comes with them. Researchers say one in 25 people in Cambodia is in need of speech therapy.
 

The Happy Kids Clinic is trying to change that. Started by OIC Cambodia, an NGO working to make speech therapy accessible to all those who need it, the clinic is hoping to address a myriad of issues that those with speech issues in Cambodia are forced to battle against. 
 

Happy Kids opens officially on September 3, but has already had consultation sessions with 20 children over the past three to four weeks.
 

Claire Salter, a speech therapist working at Happy Kids, said the clinic would allow them to give Cambodians an idea of what speech therapy is and offer an opportunity to train Cambodian therapists so they can eventually take over.
 

"It is providing us with a platform to show people what speech therapy is instead of just trying to explain what it is,” she says. “It’s good to have a space where people can come and see but it’s also good because it can generate some income for OIC’s efforts.”

OIC is trying to increase awareness about speech disabilities and the need for speech therapy in Cambodia while prodding the government to take the lead in future programs and developing a university course to train the first generation of Cambodian speech therapists.

Philip Nalangan, OIC's communication manager, said the clinic was not a magic bullet, but would help make a difference for children struggling with speech issues.

“This service can give kids a voice to communicate with their family and friends, and ultimately go to school. We’re not only helping our clients, but also the community,” he says.
 

The clinic is located inside Khema International Polyclinic in Phnom Penh, and Happy Kids plans to split profits between Khema, the therapists working at the clinic and OIC. Consultation sessions will be $60, assessments are $140 and following therapy sessions will range from $60-$80 depending on the length. Many families in need are looking to NGOs and their own workplaces to cover the costs, which can be pricey for some.
 

Two Khmer therapy assistants are employed by the clinic, helping western speech therapists translate for Khmer parents and children while picking up strategies from the certified therapists that they can add to their own arsenal of skills.
 

Yim Sreysrors, a 21-year-old Royal University of Phnom Penh graduate, said she was glad to work at the clinic herself, but was overjoyed at the fact that it even existed.
 

“I will be able to develop professional skills here and get some basic knowledge of speech therapy so that I can help children in Cambodia learn to communicate,” she says. “I think speech therapy is truly needed in Cambodia because these children need to know how to take care of themselves and interact with others.”
 

Her psychology degree and training in art therapy, amongst a host of other disciplines, has led her to speech therapy, but she is hoping to branch out into a variety of other types of therapy eventually.
 

Salter told Khmer Times that working with Sreysrors and the other therapy assistant was an integral part of pushing forward OIC's goal of creating a healthy stable of speech therapists in Cambodia able to handle a community that has been underserved, or not served at all, for so long.  
 

“This gives us a chance to train these guys and the eventual hope would be that they would be our first cohort of speech therapists once the university course is set up,” Salter says.
 

But the effort to provide some of the first speech therapy Cambodians have seen has not been without its bumps and bruises. One of the major issues, Salter says, is the lack of awareness about what speech therapy is and can accomplish. Parents have come to Happy Kids expecting it to resemble a general physician visit, only interested in knowing what is wrong, what the doctor can do to fix it and how long it will take, ignoring the often complicated and long-term treatment their child may actually need.
 

“We’re getting kids coming here with quite complex needs. When I ran a private practice [in Australia], I kind of got the kids who weren’t severe enough for government services so they had more straightforward speech and language difficulties. The kids coming here have complex needs that will need more than speech therapy,” she says.
 

“We have to balance our work against the expectations of families, which is tricky because this hasn’t been a profession before here, so parents come here expecting it to be like seeing a doctor. So it's hard to break it to them when you say to them that this is a long-term partnership, and that it will take years.”
 

Happy Kids is working to secure partnerships with a number of organizations so they can refer families to other doctors or groups that can provide them with care they are unable to.   
 

“Because of the kids we've seen come through the door, we may need an occupational therapist. Some kids have lots of sensory needs, so if you don’t get that addressed, you can't get the kid to focus on speech therapy,” she says. 
 

But the situations facing many of the children coming to Happy Kids are dire. Some of the children are 10 years old, yet don’t attend school because they have been summarily turned away or refused service. Some parents have looked at schools but felt the teachers were not sufficiently trained to accommodate their child's needs. Part of Happy Kids and OIC's efforts are to train teachers to be able to handle kids with speech disabilities. 
 

Happy Kids is also serving as an advocate for children, telling schools that these kids deserve to be able to participate just as any other student would. 

Weh Yeoh, OIC's founder and managing director, told Khmer Times that kids, parents and teachers all needed support in assisting children with these kinds of issues, and said the clinic would further their efforts to break any taboos surrounding disabilities in Cambodia.
 

“Hopefully, all of this helps to raise awareness of speech therapy in Cambodia, and reduce stigma about disability in this country too,” he says.
 

But the difficulty with speech therapy is expectations, Salter adds.
 

“It’s what the priorities of the family are, what their key concerns are. I might think that something else should be a priority, but if it's not important to the family, they're not going to participate because it's really a team effort. It's not about the therapist 'fixing' the kid. It's offering techniques, ideas and strategies,” she says.
 

“I talk about speech therapy being three things: its working with a child, training the people in the child's environment and making adaptations to the child's environment to help them participate. So in a school, that might look like a teacher helping a student understand instructions by repeating it, checking with the child and setting them up with a buddy.”
 

Addressing a child's daily environment is integral in helping them cope and succeed with a speech disability. Parents and teachers are instrumental in making a child feel safe and welcome to speak despite their issues.
 

"So [the goal is to] not just make the child the problem. You're also addressing the environment that makes their problem more difficult," she tells Khmer Times.
 

"That’s why there is benefit here in promoting what speech therapy is so we can get people's expectations to be a bit more realistic. There are very few kids who you could see for two months and have them speaking perfectly. Sometimes perfect speech isn’t the goal; it's just being able to be understood by others. You have families coming in basically saying they want their kids to be 'normal' and you have to tell them 'we can't do that'."
 

"Normal can't be the goal here," she adds.
 

Happy Kids is hoping that the already burgeoning demand is evidence that they are providing a service people desperately need. 
 

Nalangan says they have received inquiries from a number of Cambodian and expat families, with one family traveling all the way from Battambang just to see a therapist in Phnom Penh. 
 

"This really tells us that the demand for speech therapy is huge," he says.
 

In the future, Salter said Happy Kids wants children to be brought to them earlier, as the 0-5 age range is critical for language development.
 

"The hope would be to start with kids at a younger age. By the time kids are 10, it's very hard. For kids with speech therapy, you want them as young as possible, preferably age three or four so that you can prepare them for school," Salter says.
 

"If we can get them during that time, we have a better chance of setting them on the right path so that they have a better chance of participating in school, making friends and just being happy kids."

http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/28939/helping-happy-kids-in-cambodia/

CHURCH DENIES CONNECTION TO NIGERIAN DRUG DEALERS

Following the recent trial of eight Nigerian nationals accused of using the Phnom Penh branch of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM) church as a front for selling methamphetamine, the church on Sunday denied any connection to the men.
 

Oladele Bank-Olemoh, chairman of MFM Media Committee Worldwide – a Pentecostal church founded in Yaba, Nigeria, in 1989 with branches in the US, Canada, Europe, the Caribbean, Africa and Asia – told Nigerian news outlet Sunday Punch that the men had no connection to MFM in any capacity and were lying about their roles within the church, before claiming the church was still functioning.
 

“The MFM church is not shut down. Our pastor is there and he’s busy in the ministry. Those arrested are not members of the church. They are neither our missionaries nor workers in the church. The MFM church is the only African church in Cambodia that many black people attend,” he said.
 

A man identifying himself as Ndudsi but declining to give the rest of his name said he was the pastor of the MFM branch in Phnom Penh and confirmed the church was still open.
 

“MFM does not know who these people are at all,” Mr. Ndudsi said. “The press does not have the correct information. These men had nothing to do with our church. They were not involved.”
 

The eight men – Okorom Nhabu Favor, 36, Izuchukwu Chuwuma, 40, Nnamezie Victor, 30, Simon Maduka Ukadu, 45, Sunday Nwabusi, 31, Okorom Kizito Chimedu, 35, Francis Nnamedi, 30, Tony Mmaduka Chuwuonye, 34 – were arrested along with two Cambodian women after police caught the group allegedly trafficking one kilogram of crystal methamphetamine in Phnom Penh’s Chamkarmon district in January 2015.
 

Mr. Victor, who called himself the leader of the MFM church in Phnom Penh during his trial, told the court he had volunteered to come to Cambodia from Nigeria as a Christian missionary in 2014 and has run the church in Chamkarmon district since then.
 

“Police arrested me while I was praying at my own home. They handcuffed me and called me a drug dealer,” he told the court last week. “But I don’t know anything about this case or about any drugs. I am the victim of accusations and arrest by the police.”
 

MFM media committee chairman Mr. Bank-Olemoh claimed that people tying the men to the church were attempting to ruin its reputation, and Mr. Bank-Olemoh went on to erroneously claim that Cambodia was a “Muslim country.”
 

Experts estimate that 95 percent of Cambodians practice Theravada Buddhism.
 

“You know, the country is a Muslim country. This could be a vendetta against the church. This case [of alleged drug trafficking] happened in 2014,” he told the news outlet. “The church was searched and nothing was found, though arrests were made outside the church.”
 

Police had been investigating the group for almost six months before Morn Vinyung, a 31-year-old Cambodian woman working with the men, delivered packages of drugs to undercover officers on three separate occasions.
 

She eventually admitted to being part of a drug ring after police raided three homes owned by the men and found six large packages of crystal methamphetamine weighing 802.44 grams, along with other drug-related paraphernalia.
 

The church was also raided, but no drugs were found there.
 

During the trial, Captain Proeung Pheap, deputy chief of the Anti-Drug Unit at the 9th Intervention Police Office in the Ministry of Interior’s anti-drug department, said the group was using the MFM church as a front for a drug ring, hiding their identities and trafficking under the guise of missionary work.   
 

Initially, all the defendants claimed they were innocent of the charges, but over the course of the trial, some admitted to involvement in the scheme and implicated an alleged ringleader – Obieze Kenneth Uche – who is still at large.
 

Mr. Chimedu, Mr. Victor’s brother and an assistant at his church, said he had nothing to do with drug dealing but was arrested when police raided his home in Boeung Tumpon commune on January 8. Police found no drugs or paraphernalia at his home during their raid, he said.
 

“I was a church assistant, and my job was to prepare bibles and prayer ceremonies for foreigners every weekend,” he said. “I have never smoked or used drugs in my life. I’ve never even seen drugs.”
 

The verdict in the trial, which ended last Thursday, is expected on September 12.

http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/28525/church-denies-connection-to-nigerian-drug-dealers/

JIU-JITSU JOUSTING

Leverage is a concept Vivaddhana Khaou knows well. The 27-year-old holds a French master’s degree in law and worked for several years in the finance and energy sector. 

But now, he’s teaching people about a different brand of leverage: that of Jiu-Jitsu, an ancient Japanese martial art transformed by the Gracie family in Brazil and designed to give smaller or unarmed pugilists a fighting chance against a larger foe.

The French-Cambodian Jiu-Jitsu teacher was born in Paris but went to high school in Phnom Penh, eventually heading back to France for his university and Master’s degrees. After taking jobs in the finance industry, he soon realized it was not his cup of tea and thought back to his brief introduction to Jiu-Jitsu in Japan while on an academic exchange.  

“I’ve been back in Cambodia for a while now and really taken to Jiu-Jitsu since starting with BJJ Cambodia,” he says. “I find it intellectually stimulating, in that I have to figure out what my opponent is contemplating from his position and I have to consider all his possibilities and be able to counter each one of them. It’s like a game of chess.” 

He can trace his admiration of the martial art back to a single moment during a Jiu-Jitsu competition that served as a watershed moment for him. It was his second competition, his first in Japan, and he was dead tired.

“I went out there and thought to myself, ‘why am I doing this?’ I didn’t do so well, but one of the referees came up to me and said ‘it’s not about how good you are but how much heart you have’,” he added. 

“That’s always stuck with me. I’m not a natural athlete but I do find it important to have heart in anything you do and undertake. When you find a passion for whatever it is you do – be it Jiu-Jitsu, reporting or whatever – it becomes your art.”

He trains under the Axis Jiu Jistu banner in Japan and opened the H/Art Academy this summer in Phnom Penh after running Jiu-Jitsu classes out of the Prokout fight gym behind Aeon Mall. He moved to his own studio in an effort to reach a larger audience.

“We were teaching mainly foreigners and even then only the ones who could afford $70 or $80 a month. That wasn’t really my goal because I know expats are only here for a short time. I wanted continuity,” he said.

“For me, I decided to get my own place allowing me to take charge of the schedule, what is being taught there as well as the prices – especially for Cambodians.”

Anyone over the age of 13 is allowed to start with the basics classes at H/Art Academy, and Khaou caters to fighters of all levels. One of his dreams is to set up an Olympic Jiu-Jitsu team here, but first, he has to start at the bottom. The majority of his classes now begin with a focus on self-defense.

“My basic class is what my students would need to know [how] to fight a layman for example,” he said. “But then there’s a regular class which is a bit more advanced – for people who are thinking of competing and thus need the reaction time and a wider array of techniques to outsmart their opponent.”

The gulf between sport Jiu-Jitsu and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is wide. The moves you would try in sport Jiu-Jitsu, Khaou says, would get you punched in the face in a street fight. His classes and own fighting lineage focus mainly on Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, but he dislikes efforts to differentiate between the different styles and believes each brand contributes to the martial art’s overall lessons on how to be comfortable in uncomfortable situations.

One of the signature facets of his fight school is an all-women’s self-defense class designed to teach them techniques they can use against any potential attacker. 

“The key of Jiu-Jitsu is underpinned by the knowledge of leverage and knowing how to use body mechanics in close combat with an opponent. Our basic classes prepare our students, who are often much smaller, to pit themselves against bigger and stronger opponents and [teach them] how to deal with someone who is much larger than you – something which is ideal for women,” he said. 

Vivaddhana Khaou shows a student Jiu-Jitsu moves during a class. (Photo: KT/Yeun Punleu)

Despite his belief in the martial art, he takes pains to stress to his students that when dealing with attackers armed with knives or guns, it is better to give up your belongings than risk injury. 

Khaou now has about 20 trainees and runs group classes as well as private sessions. His students, coming from all walks of life, say his classes are a revelation. 

“H/Art Academy is the very first Jiu-Jitsu oriented dojo in town and you could not ask for more from the group of people we have, a group of diverse cultures sharing one common passion in life: love for the art,” said Cedrick Ragel, a 23-year-old Filipino living in Phnom Penh.

Salla Mankinen, a 36-year-old Finnish woman, said the Jiu-Jitsu classes improved her coordination and understanding of her own body. 

“Practicing Jiu-Jitsu trains all muscles and parts of your body… in a much more holistic way than other sports that often only have focus on certain muscles and movements,” she said. “As a bonus, it’s always nice to be able to spar with guys bigger than you and deliver moves that take them by surprise.”

Khaou hopes that once more people improve on the basics, they will be interested in taking more advanced classes and learning tougher moves. But in the meantime, Khaou is happy just to provide a physical outlet for anyone living in Phnom Penh.

“Some of the people who train here don’t want to be world champions – some of them train to be better fathers, better friends, better bosses and employees. They do it for themselves and their own betterment. So I don’t push anybody to seek something they’re not after,” he said.

H/Art Academy is on the corner of Street 81 and 109, 3rd Floor – Next to Wat Koh and Wat Koh High School.

http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/28360/jiu-jitsu-jousting/

LEAKED FILES SHOW REFUGEE ABUSE

The Guardian newspaper’s Australian edition yesterday published a trove of leaked incident reports from the detention centers on the island nation of Nauru, depicting horrifying conditions, an appallingly long list of sexual assaults and blatant mismanagement by the companies contracted to run them.
 

The revelations have forced a number of Cambodian human rights activists to ask how the Kingdom can still involve itself with the controversial refugee deal signed in 2014, which allowed Australia to send refugees here in exchange for $40 million in development aid.
 

The 10,000-person island has served as one of the staging grounds for Australia’s detention centers, where 442 people – 338 men, 55 women and 49 children – have been held against their will for a number of years. The 2,116 leaked incident files depict detention centers full of chaos, where sexual assault, self-harm and abuse are rampant.
 

Yet despite the endemic crime refugees were forced to live around, the people charged with caring for them, Broadspectrum (formerly Transfield Services) and its subcontractor Wilson Security, were shown to have not only refrained from helping refugees, but participated in the abuse. Multiple reports from refugees said security guards at the center were often involved in the abuse and sexual assault that women and children dealt with while detained on Nauru.
 

One harrowing report depicted a woman approaching a Wilson Security employee after being sexually assaulted, only to be berated for bringing the news to him and turned away.  
 

“You have to take it out of your head if you go into Nauru. Then he [the alleged perpetrator] could be your neighbor or if you go to Cambodia, then he could be on the plane next to you,” the employee told the woman.
 

Women and children at the detention center were the focus of most reports despite the overwhelming number of men held there. The conditions, treatment and diminishing hopes of ever making it to Australia led many to attempt suicide in a horrifying variety of ways.
 

When contacted for comment, the Australian embassy in Phnom Penh directed Khmer Times to a statement from the Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection.
 

In it, they defend their response, even tossing doubt onto the allegations of sexual assault aired by dozens of women detained on the island and claiming that efforts and “significant investment” were constantly being made to upgrade the “health and educational facilities in Nauru, which benefit Nauruans, transferees and refugees living in the Nauruan community.”
 

“The Australian Government continues to support the Nauruan Government to provide for the health, welfare and safety of all transferees and refugees in Nauru,” the statement said. “Many of the incident reports reflect unconfirmed allegations or uncorroborated statements and claims – they are not statements of proven fact.”
 

The statement goes on to say that all criminal incidents reported at the detention centers are sent to the Nauru Police Force and claims to have found no evidence “to suggest that service providers have underreported or misreported incidents in Nauru.”
 

Despite the statement citing a number of Australian laws and initiatives designed to illustrate an effort to specifically protect children detained on the island, the leaked reports show that instances of child abuse increased in 2015.
 

Many in Cambodia have railed against the deal to bring refugees from Nauru to Cambodia, with opposition leader Sam Rainsy saying last year that the Kingdom was being used as a “dumping ground” by Australia.
 

Of the six refugees brought to Cambodia from Nauru, only one remains. Four Iranians and one Rohingya man returned to their home countries after staying in Cambodia for short periods of time.
 

Chak Sopheap, executive director of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, said if Australia and Cambodia actually cared about human rights, the deal and the detention centers would never exist.
 

“These latest revelations of the horrors in Nauru’s processing center merely confirm what we have asserted for years – that human rights are completely absent from Australia’s policy towards migrants,” she told Khmer Times.
 

“While the neglect suffered by those refugees under the deal in Cambodia may pale in comparison to the reports of abuse coming from Nauru, the fact remains that many of the refugees have opted to return to the countries from which they fled, suggesting strongly the extent of the neglect they were subject to here.”
 

The money given to Cambodia in the refugee deal should not overshadow the abuse refugees face both on Nauru and in Cambodia, she added.
 

“The less well-known but neglectful treatment of refugees in Cambodia stands in stark contrast to the significant payment Cambodia has received in return. It is a tragedy for both the refugees and the Cambodian people that their human rights do not rank high in the government’s priorities.
 

“Importantly, considerations of humanity must be placed ahead of financial incentive in any strategy going forward.”

http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/28337/leaked-files-show-refugee-abuse/

SPEECH THERAPY PROJECT AMONG TOP 500 NGOS

OIC: The Cambodia Project, a locally-based initiative aiming to provide speech therapy to those with speaking and swallowing disorders, was ranked among the top 500 NGOs in the world according to NGO Advisor, an independent media organization monitoring nonprofits across the globe.
 

The project, started under local NGO CABDICO in 2013, aims to not only train speech therapists in Cambodia but spread awareness about speech and swallowing disorders. Presently, Cambodia does not have any speech therapists despite an estimated population of 600,000 citizens suffering from speech issues.
 

Many children with speech and swallowing disorders are forced out of school due to a lack of resources and general misunderstanding of what speech disorders are. But OIC, ranked 453rd and the only NGO in Cambodia on the list, has been working to instruct teachers on how to deal with students facing these problems and provide care for those trying to overcome speech and swallowing issues.
 

“It’s an honor to be ranked amongst so many well-known NGOs like Oxfam, ActionAid and Kiva. We are proud to add a Cambodian initiative to this world ranking,” said Weh Yeoh, founder and managing director of OIC. “After only three years of existence, our efforts to change the lives of rural Cambodians are starting to be recognized by the international world.”
 

This is the second year OIC has been named in the list by the Geneva-based news outlet. NGO Advisor uses journalism and research to “to highlight innovation, impact and governance in the nonprofit sector.”
 

OIC has kick-started a number of innovative initiatives, most recently the “Day Without Speech” campaign, which asked supporters to go anywhere from an hour to 24 hours without speaking. The campaign aimed to show people what life is like for those with speaking issues, and through donations to specific groups around the world trying the “Day Without Speech,” OIC made more than $16,000.
 

In April, the project started its first crowdfunding campaign on newly established Cambodian crowdfunding site TosFund, hoping to raise enough money to train 180 teachers in Battambang, Pursat, Prey Veng, Kandal, Siem Reap and Phnom Penh provinces.
 

“Our goal is to work with teachers who already have a background in this kind of work, and eventually have this training be included within the larger framework of how classrooms are run,” Mr. Yeoh said.
 

“Imagine if you are a parent whose child needs speech therapy but you are unable to access any of these services,” he added. “It would be incredibly isolating. This campaign gives parents hopes for their children that they can get them into schools like other children in the country.”
 

Mr. Yeoh himself has been an outspoken critic of the way many NGOs in Cambodia operate, questioning why international organizations in many developing countries, including Cambodia, operate without a specific end date and a why there is “an air of fatalism” when it comes to the eventual handover of projects to the government.
 

Six-year-old Tai blows bubbles with her mother’s help. Blowing bubbles can help children with speech and swallowing disorders. (Photo: OIC)

“Localization is extremely difficult, especially when governments are used to international organizations doing the work for them. It’s far easier to keep the status quo running – the foreign organization doing the work, rather than promoting local ownership,” he wrote in an op-ed. “As long as the international community keeps on doing it, there is no incentive for governments to step in and take responsibility.”
 

But OIC has taken pains to reverse this trend and integrate more local staff to slowly build up to its eventual exit. In its three years in action, OIC has helped more than 100 children with speech issues and been lauded for its concrete 14-year exit plan that it believes will guarantee that speech therapy by Cambodians, for Cambodians can be led by the government.
 

By 2030, OIC hopes to have 100 speech therapists employed by the government, allowing them to completely hand off the project.
 

Mr. Yeoh said he was honored by the ranking and believed it would help spread awareness of their efforts to address a problem plaguing so many Cambodian children and adults in need of assistance.
 

“I hope that this enables us to better serve Cambodian people who need speech therapy through more partnerships with government and other NGOs,” he said.
 

Communications manager Philip Nalangan said OIC’s innovation was a key factor in the ranking, and credited their creativity to the difficulty of the work they are trying to do in Cambodia.
 

OIC Cambodia was established because there is no local speech therapist in Cambodia despite the urgent need of the service in the country,” he told Khmer Times. “One of our major challenges so far has been to increase the awareness amongst government leaders about speech therapy and how lives and communities can be changed by it. We want to spread this positive message to them, and we hope this international recognition gets their attention and support.”

http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/27320/speech-therapy-project-among-top-500-ngos/

US SLAMS PM IN RESOLUTION ON CAMBODIA

Prime Minister Hun Sen and the Cambodian government were accused of demonizing and harassing opposition party members and human rights defenders in a harsh resolution passed by the US House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Asia and the Pacific Subcommittee last week.
 

Even though the bipartisan resolution, written by US Congressmen Alan Lowenthal and Matt Salmon, is largely ceremonial and has no power to force any action or sanctions by the US government, it was passed quickly along with a number of other measures and will now head to the full House Foreign Affairs Committee for a vote.
 

House Resolution 728, co-sponsored by 17 additional House of Representatives members, condemns all political violence allegedly perpetrated by the Cambodian government and calls for “truly” free and fair elections to take place in the country in 2017 and 2018.
 

It lists a selection of events since 2014 illustrating alleged violence faced by unionists, NGO and civil society workers as well as opposition members and supporters during dealings with the government.
 

“I am deeply concerned that there is an accelerated deterioration of democracy and human rights in Cambodia,” Mr. Lowenthal said during a House committee meeting.
 

“This resolution states, unequivocally, that the United States supports an environment in Cambodia that not only respects political opposition, but both human rights and the rule of law.”   
 

Mr. Lowenthal represents Long Beach, California, which has the second largest population of expatriate Cambodians outside Paris. He recently created a Cambodian Caucus in the House of Representatives alongside Ohio Congressman Steve Chabot.
 

Mr. Lowenthal spoke with Kem Sokha, the acting president of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), at the party headquarters last Wednesday before slamming the government for putting Mr. Sokha under effective house arrest while also pursuing multiple defamation charges against opposition leader Sam Rainsy, which he contends are politically motivated.
 

This, along with the government’s arrest of National Election Committee official Ny Chakrya, could lead to a distorted and unfair election cycle in the coming years, Mr. Lowenthal said.
 

“It is critical for Cambodia’s standing in the global community that the upcoming general election in 2017 and 2018 be free and fair,” Mr. Lowenthal said. “Credibility for this election can only be achieved if the Hun Sen government ends all political repression and respects the rights and freedoms of the Cambodian people.”
 

The resolution directly addresses Mr. Hun Sen and his ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), asking them to end the “harassment and intimidation” of opposition party members, drop all charges against opposition leaders and civil society workers and “foster an environment where democracy can thrive and flourish.”
 

Government officials have previously criticized Mr. Lowenthal and the Cambodia Caucus, saying they only speak to opposition party members and seemed to ignore the positive relationship the US has with Cambodia, financially and otherwise.
 

“Our relationship is good. Prime Minister Hun Sen went to California and Mr. Obama did not mention anything related to human rights,” CPP spokesman Sok Ey San said earlier this year when asked about criticism from US lawmakers.
 

“Mr. Obama did not put any pressure on the Cambodian government over human rights issues following criticism by some human rights organizations and CNRP members. He said nothing.”  
 

Representative Dana Rohrabacher, one of the House resolution’s co-sponsors, told the Associated Press that it was “time for Hun Sen to go.”
 

“Whatever happened in the past does not justify Hun Sen’s continuing iron-fisted grip,” he said.
 

The resolution comes on the heels of the brutal murder of prominent government critic Kem Ley. Mr. Ley was murdered only days after speaking out on a recent Global Witness report tying Mr. Hun Sen and his family to some of the country’s largest corporations.

http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/27322/us-slams-pm-in-resolution-on-cambodia/

FROM THE STREET TO THE CUP

BY PAV SUY AND JONATHAN GREIG

Monira Men can instantly think back to his time as a homeless child living along the riverside, kicking around cans and makeshift balls with other kids to pass the time and find a slight reprieve from life on the street.
 

His feet, caked with dust and marked by calluses at the time, have now taken him from the concrete tiles lining the Mekong River to professional football stadiums across the world. He credits that journey to RiverKids, an NGO working to get kids off the street and out of exploitative circumstances, and Happy Football Cambodia (HFCA), which provides football training to disadvantaged kids and runs the national team Cambodia sends to the Homeless World Cup (HWC) each year. 
 

“Homelessness is such a long term issue. I have yet to see a solution and I still don’t know what the government should do,” Men says. “But there are so many foreign organizations helping to reduce the [number of] homeless, so there is hope.”
 

Paraic Grogan, founder of HFCA and team manager for the Cambodian team attending the HWC in Glasgow this week, came to Cambodia in 2003 after living in Melbourne, Australia. After helping set up a school, he noticed that a number of children living on the street were avid footballers keen on playing more organized games.
 

He decided to create HFCA in an effort to give homeless kids a safe and collaborative place to play and learn the sport.
 

By 2008, he applied to have a Cambodian team join the HWC, which strives to deliver a world-class international football tournament for national teams of homeless men and women every year.
 

Cambodians have been competing at the Homeless World Cup in Glasgow this week, securing 2 wins and 3 losses so far. (Photo: Homeless World Cup)

Working with local partners like HFCA in over 70 countries, the event, which was first held in 2003, has grown into a unique movement aiming to use football to not only help homeless people improve their own lives but spread awareness about the prevalent nature and commonality of homelessness found in almost every country.
 

“The sense of empowerment that comes from participating in street football helps homeless people see that they can change their lives,” the HWC says on their website. “The experience is transformational for both participants and members of the audience and challenges attitudes towards homelessness. Players represent their country in front of a supportive audience when previously they were alienated from mainstream society.”
 

HFCA works with four charities in Cambodia and asks them to choose 20-30 kids to send their way for weekly football training. 
 

Up to 100 kids come to professional football stadiums in Phnom Penh on Saturdays to train and play soccer with other kids their age, working with six professional coaches, four of whom are former participants who have graduated out of the program. With funding from Smart, the Credit Bureau of Cambodia and donations from abroad, the program has been able to expand, pay for football shoes and gear, and cover yearly trips to the HWC for a select group of players.
 

The stability of the weekly program and the structure of the training have worked wonders for many participants, who say they were especially moved by the coaching they received from former members of the program.
 

Grogan prides himself on the program’s efforts to stay in touch with all of the players who have come through HFCA. After nine years of playing in the HWC, the organization has racked up a deep rolodex of former players willing to come back and help coach or simply provide support for children going through similar things they went through.
 

“My job is to just provide a platform for young girls and boys to learn about teamwork, staying off drugs and to give them clearly defined pathways,” Grogan says. “When you tell someone ‘if you do this, we can do this. If you work hard, we can get you to the World Cup,’ it helps give them direction.”
 

“It’s up to them to make the most of these opportunities,” he says.
 

The HFCA program and HWC now have dozens of success stories from across the world, with some participants, like Men, eventually playing in professional leagues in their home countries.
 

Cambodians have been competing at the Homeless World Cup in Glasgow this week, securing 2 wins and 3 losses so far. (Photo: HCFA)

Men was taken in by RiverKids as a youngster and went to school there for many years. He was chosen at the time to participate in the weekly football training program run by HFCA, and eventually made it onto the squad Cambodia sent to the 2009 HWC in Milan.
 

Hailing from Russey Sanke commune in Phnom Penh, the 24-year-old was surprised not by how different Milan was from his hometown, but by how similar the cities were to each other. The ability to see part of the world outside of Cambodia – Men has now traveled to nine countries including Italy, Thailand Vietnam and Lao – has been invaluable to his growth as both a football player and a man.
 

“There was so much cooperation and teamwork because it was only a few players back then. Everyone was so supportive,” he says. “We lost to Belgium 5-3 that year, but I got to learn so much about how foreigners play and live.”
 

Men stopped practicing with HFCA in 2013 to pursue his dream: playing professionally in Cambodia. He was first signed by the National Defense squad, but earlier this year transferred to Preah Khan Svay Rieng FC, the 2015 winners of the prestigious Hun Sen Cup, where he earns $200 a month and is able to help support his family.
 

“HFCA and the Homeless World Cup gave me an opportunity to represent my country in Milan. Being part of the program has changed my life forever,” Men says. “Without this support I wouldn’t be a professional player today and [would be] unable to support my family so I am forever grateful for their encouragement.”
 

Grogan said Men was one of the program’s stalwarts and represented what can happen when participants take full advantage of the program.
 

“He’s the best example of what’s possible with this project,” Grogan said. “Monira took the opportunity we gave him and made the most of it.”
 

Despite its life-changing effect on his career, for Men, the most important part of the program was the idea behind it. Giving those with nothing a chance to learn, make something out of themselves through hard work and acquire lifelong relationships with positive mentors has been invaluable, Men said.
 

“The World Cup is important,” he says. “Even though it is not the most famous cup in the world and does not have a lot of prize money, it lets homeless people experience the world and see how other people live. It allows us to expand beyond what we know here.” 

http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/27233/from-the-street-to-the-cup/