Wrapping up 2009

It's been a while since our last update, so here's what's happened so far!

The Spring 2009 semester concluded soon after Cambodia Week, which occurred the week of April 13th, the Cambodian New Year! We had events such as a Sharples Takeover, a showing of the documentary New Year Baby, a Cambodian New Year Party, a Tropical Fruits Parlor Party (people who attended got a whole coconut!), a Tropical Paradise Paces Party, a wasabi eating contest, and
more! Overall, it was quite a success.

Over the summer of 2009, I (Jen) went to Cambodia for two weeks to visit family (above) and join one of the Tabitha Foundation's housebuilding groups!

I happened to attach to a rather large group; about 25 in all, pictured to the left, along with the homeless families who we built houses for. You can see some of the houses behind us.

The houses aren't much; they amount to some wood held together by nails, sitting on four small stone pillars for support, a silver tin roof, and green tin sides. Our job was to nail the wooden floor in (the easy part), then nail the green tin siding in (not as easy as it seems! In fact, it was downright difficult. Only the two buff farm boys we had could manage to work the entire time). Each house only costs about $1000.

The schedule of a housebuilding group usually runs like this:
Day 1: Group meets up briefly to talk about schedule; get over jet lag
Day 2: Orientation at Tabitha (in Phnom Penh), visit The Killing Fields and Toul Sleng prison (S21)
Day 3: Drive to the build site; we built in Battambang province, which is about a 4-5 hr drive from Phnom Penh
Day 4: Wake up early to build; we built 7 houses in five hours.
Day 5: Finish up the houses; built 3 more, and then had a ceremony to give away the houses. Visit various communities in different stages of development, then head out to Siem Reap
Day 6: Visit temples (Angkor Wat is amazing)
Day 7: Visit more temples, or floating villages, markets, etc
Day 8: Group disbands; head back to Phnom Penh or do whatever you want

As you can see, the housebuilding doesn't take all that long...but what does last is the impression that the homeless families make on you.

They sit in the shade and watch with hopeful eyes as you steadily nail their house together. Families who have essentially nothing finally have a home.

The mission of the Tabitha Foundation (and part of SwatCambodia's own mission) is to bring hope to and empower Cambodian families, by teaching them about savings, and helping them realize that their hard work really can pay off, in the form of finally receiving pots and pans, having the ability to purchase a pig or cow, and to have a roof over their heads. These families don't receive these things for free, but must earn them.

For more information on the Tabitha Foundation, please visit http://www.tabitha-usa.org

To see more of my photos from my trip this summer, visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022158&id=1464390009&l=65669db427

Feel free to friend me on Facebook :) And join the SwatCambodia Facebook group!

Happy holidays!

GoodBye

Lieh HAOY
(LEE-uh howie)
This is the word for Goodbye in Khmer.
And with this word we conclude Khmer word week!

Hope

Songkhem

It goes without saying that brutality and devastating effects of the Cambodian genocide is still painfully felt in the Cambodian culture. Yet the sense of hope resonates among Cambodians. They continue to fight to presere their culture and livelihoods. Hope thus is not a mere emotion but a driving force that has helped many overcome their forced situations.

Love

sraline

Today's word is love.

Friend

bpoouk mak

Today's word means Friend. Friendship helps many people find happiness in dark circumstances and companionship in triumphant times. It is our hope to build long lasting friendships in Cambodia and with our Cambodian peers here in the U.S., which will based on exchange of priceless lessons.

Hello

Suesday
(soo-ess-DAY)
As in every language it is very important to be able to greet others. So knowing how to say Hello is important especially to those going on the Housebuilding project in May.

Thank You

Ah-kun
This is to everyone who has supported SwatCambodia. To everyone who has helped raise awareness about the genocide in Cambodia. And everyone who continues to help out there. Thank you!

Khmer Word Week Begins!

For the next seven days, we will posting up different Khmer words to help you get more acquainted to Khmer language and culture. Each blog will be titled by its word in English.
Before we introduce today's word, here's a little background on the Khmer language:
As the official language of Cambodian , Khmer has been influenced by neighboring languages and forms of writing particularly Thai, Lao and Vietnamese. Yet it differs from these languages in that it is not a tonal language. Like many other aspects of Khmer culture it also holds much Hindu and Buddhist contributions. Furthermore the Khmer script is called an abugida (in English) or Aksar Khmer (in Khmer)
Today's word is kruesa (crew-ess-AH) which means FAMILY. The brutality and violent means of the Khmer Rouge separated and disintegrate many Cambodian families. Even so Cambodians have found much strength in their family units making the word FAMILY powerful in the Khmer language.

Khmer Music

Rich in its use of the drum gong ensemble, free-reed mouth instruments, Cambodian music has very strong similarities with the music of Cambodian neighbors and foreign settlers. Even so Cambodian music is unique to its own culture . It flourished not only as entertainment or in village environments both also for particular purposes and in royal courts. For instance, different forms of Khmer music are associated with different events and aspects. While weddings include kar music and spiritual interaction arrak music. As with many other cultures, Cambodian music for pleasure involves many forms from ayai repartee singing to basakk theaters.

Coconut Dance

This yet another stylish and artistic dance performed by Cambodians. It also celebrates Khmer culture for its richness and detail.

Khmer Dance

Although the Khmer traditional dance was almost completely devastated by the Khmer rouge killing fields of the 1970s, they prevail as important factor Khmer life and tradition. Khmer classical dance has shares common ground with many of Thailand's and Laotian dances. Most known in the English world as the Khmer royal ballet or the Cambodian court dance , Cambodians take pride in their beautiful detailed "robam preah reachea trop" or "robam kbach boran khmer." The artistic dance is mainly performed by females, its dancers are known as aspara dancers.

Cambodian Wonder: Angkor Wat

During the rule of King Suryavarman II in the 1100s, a beautiful and intricate temple was built in Angkor, Cambodia (the capital city at the time). The temple has not only been preserved throughout centuries but is a cultural and religious mark for Cambodians. Deeply rooted in its religious influences (a temple dedicated to god Vishnu), it now appears on the national Cambodian flag.
Labeled as a "Place of Power and Peace" and a "Sacred Site," Martin Gray has briefly describe its historical implications and religious value in the Hindu and Buddhist tradition on an online article (http://www.sacredsites.com/asia/cambodia/angkor_wat.html) taken from his book about grouped pilgrimages, Sacred Earth.
The following is a clip that describes Angkor Wat's historical and territorial base in more detail and elaboration.

Cambodian Religion

For over a thousand years Buddhism still strives in Cambodia as its dominant religion. Cambodian Buddhism is dominantly Theravada. Indeed ever since the 13th century Theravada Buddhism has been the Cambodian state religion (this is of course with the exclusion of the Khmer Rouge era). It is thus unsurprisingly the faith of ninety five percent of the Cambodian population. Yet Cambodian religion has several and notable Hindu influences. These were implanted consequently to the first thousand years of Khmer history. Early Khmer was governed by various of tolerate Hindu rulers.
The late 1900s proved to be a difficult era for Buddhism as the communists who took over Cambodia and almost succeeded in destroying Buddhism. By 1979 (during the Vietnamese invasion) little signs of Buddhism prevailed in Cambodia.

In an keen and determined effort Cambodia today strives to restore its Buddhist fervor even with its shortage of Buddhist scholars. Even so Cambodians have remained strongly religious and close to their Buddhist traditions.

Buy a Case? Build a House?

Jennifer Trinh at Swarthmore College is selling self-made crocheted cases for cellphones, calculators and cameras. She takes donations from $5 and up for these cases. You're free to give more than $5. All sales made are to help fund raise the group's trip to Cambodia to build houses. If you want a specific case she charges accordingly.
Interested? Please contact Jen at jtrinh1@swarthmore.edu. (The pictures to sides are just two examples of her work.)

Upcoming Event

The maker of New Year Baby Socheata Poeuv is working on amazing and awe-inspiring new project, Khmer Legacies.

Khmer Legacies is creating a video history archive about the Cambodian genocide from the perspective of survivors. The organization has a goal of videotaping thousands of testimonies of Cambodian survivors by having children interview their parents. The archive will then be used as an educational tool to deepen understanding about the Khmer Rouge genocide for researchers, students, and the world. The mission of Khmer Legacies is to: provide an opportunity for healing for survivors by witnessing their testimonies – taking a conversation of shame and transforming it into one of heroism bridge the generational divide between Cambodian parents and their children prevent future mass atrocities by preserving the history and deepening understanding of the Khmer Rouge genocide for the world. Khmer Legacies is a non-profit organization incubated at Yale University’s Genocide Studies Program in New Haven, CT. SwatCambodia is hoping to be bring this remarkable and dedicated woman to Swarthmore to speak a little more about Khmer Legacies. If anyone wants more information you can contact www.khmerlegacies.org.

Cambodian Genocide

So you are probably wondering what exactly happened during the Cambodian Genocide and what were its causes. The following is a clip from YouTube that summarizes the three horrible years of the genocide in a few minutes. It is very touching and paints the horrors many faced during 1975 to 1978.

The Killing Fields - December 4th

On December 4th SwatCambodia will be showing the film "The Killing Fields" from 7 to 9 P.M. in Science Center 101. Below is a short clip of the trailer. Please come see the film and support our cause.

New Year Baby: Documentary

This amazing documentary is not only available in McCabe but highlights the mission and goals of SwatCambodia. Below is a clip from the astonishing documentary:

Welcome to SwatCambodia!

Mission Statement

SwatCambodia seeks to help address Cambodian-related issues both locally and abroad. We hope to promote awareness about the genocide in Cambodia and the culture in the country today.

Meetings and Events

SwatCambodia holds weekly meetings. We host events to raise awareness of the genocide that occurred in Cambodia, and also events to raise money for a summer trip to build houses for the homeless in Cambodia. All awareness and fund-raising events are open to the campus, but the housebuilding trip is closed to group members only.

Membership

SwatCambodia is an open group, and anyone in the Swarthmore College community is welcome to join. Members are asked to participate in and help plan fund-raising activities and/or awareness events.

Organizational Structure

SwatCambodia has a treasurer, a manager, and a travel planner. The duties of the treasurer are to arrange the budget proposal and approach SBC for money, as well as to keep track of raised funds. The manager keeps records of events and fund-raising activities that the group engages in, thus ensuring institutional memory. The travel planner is in charge of planning the house building trip to Cambodia. The group calls for volunteers to fill these positions, but if multiple people wish to be in a position, they may choose to share the responsibilities. Underclassmen are encouraged to fill these positions to ease the transition of duties each year.