Srey Mom seeks justice

Looking ahead

Srey Mom is a vibrant young GATE scholar who recently shone out from a crowd of more than two thousand applicants to win herself a six month data management operator training with CISTRAIN in Phnom Penh. This will be followed by paid work with Digital Divide Data in Battambang, where she plans to study law and information technology.

When we asked Srey Mom why she chose law, this is what she told us. “I’ve seen a lot of injustice in my community. Those who are in the right often lose at court while relatives of village heads win cases. My friend was raped, and when her case went to the district magistrate the perpetrator paid the judge. The case was dismissed as the judge decided the rape was consensual,” says Srey.

“My friend’s life has been ruined. She felt ashamed and ran away, unable to continue living in our village. She wanted to be a teacher and had already done the exams, now she’s doing sewing. Her life has been destroyed by this; I want to become a lawyer and work to get justice for people like my friend.”

With the 20 hours of weekly English instruction Srey Mom will receive during her six months at CISTRAIN, we expect that she will be well prepared  not only for the language demands of college but also  to compete in the professional market. Thanks to support from our donors, she will have every chance to attain her dream of becoming a lawyer and make a powerful impact for justice and women’s rights. We look forward to telling  you her story as it unfolds, as well as those of dozens of other GATE graduates who will enter this program.

The Magic School Bus

by LO Executive Director Erika Keaveney

Virtually every morning I step outside to enjoy a cup of coffee and watch a small yellow school bus pull up and wait in front of my house. My next door neighbor wheels her young disabled son out and works with the bus driver to secure the boy on the wheel chair lift so he can be taken to public school.

The apartment in which they live is part of a cramped, austere and poorly maintained complex inhabited primarily by working-class, first generation immigrants from Mexico. Like many of the immigrant communities in San Diego, they have come here in search of economic opportunity and a better standard of living. Though they themselves work tirelessly to escape the dictates of poverty, the fact that their children have ensured access to education is surely a boon to their efforts.

Ensuring access to education

Study after study reveals that all over the world, education is the single most effective catalyst for reducing poverty and remedying its myriad consequences—from lower life expectancy to maternal mortality to malnutrition. Though there are seemingly countless reasons for gaps in education access in the developing world, our work in India and Cambodia has shown us repeatedly that transportation is often the single largest gap and—thankfully—one of the simplest to fill.

In a given academic year, the U.S. will spend $692 for each student that receives transportation to and from school. Unfortunately, this fundamental element of ensuring children’s access to education does not exist in much of the developing world and millions of children are left behind as they transition to their nation’s equivalent of junior high and high school. In India and Cambodia many villages do not even have a secondary school, meaning students must travel to neighboring villages to continue their education.

Lotus Outreach began filling this gap by providing bicycles to Cambodian girls and, more recently, chaperoned bus transportation to adolescent girls in Mewat who live too far from the nearest secondary school to commute by foot.

A recent case study to come out of Mewat, however, has shown us how this bus service is filling another critical gap: access to education for the disabled.

The story of 16 year-old Arastun illustrates how something as simple as a ride to school can offer new hope.  A spinal cord injury meant she could no longer commute by foot, and her family lost hope for her education. Read her own poignant account of how the Blossom Bus changed her fortune here.

Today, we are transporting approximately 450 children to school every day—all of whom would otherwise never learn to read and write and would surely (like their parents) confront a life of subsistence labor in the local fields or brick kilns.

With your help, we will continue to provide the bridge to education for Arastun and her classmates. You can learn more about the Blossom Bus and pledge your support here.

Photo credit: Rawich

Shasta College graduate chooses LO

By LO board member Kathryn Gessner

Lachlan Waterbury embarks upon a sustainable future

As a part of his celebration of his graduation from Shasta College and transfer to California State University, Chico, Lachlan Waterbury requested a benefit raffle for Lotus Outreach.  Lachlan is already a Lotus Outreach donor, but what made his graduation special is his own story of lifestyle-transformation and re-education for the benefit of family and planetary health.

When party hosts Chris Schiller, Bethany Schaarschmidt and I met Lachlan in 2007 he was considering a major life change.  Chris and I took a class with him called "Writing: The Environment"  for students interested in writing about the environment and leading a sustainable life.  Lachlan was fully engaged in the corporate life and its stresses at the time.  He gave that up by semester’s end and dedicated himself to his studies and a new job at the local organic grocery store, Orchard Nutrition.

We all gave presentations on our writing at the end of the course.  My presentation centered upon my work with Lotus Outreach and the importance of reaching out to developing countries as a strong component of a sustainable life.  When I asked Lachlan what inspired him to choose Lotus Outreach for a graduation raffle, he provided this response:  “What has remained with me over a few years’ time is hearing Kathryn Gessner describe one of her visits to Southeast Asia.  She recounted a story of rescuing an unprotected girl from the sexual predation of local boys."

"Although the event may have been tangential to LO’s mission on that trip, it is clear that without their presence and intervention, the girl would have been lost.  I have been on both sides of the abuse produced by packs of young, unguided boys, and have first-hand knowledge of how that kind of victimization can halt healthy development.  Added to that my newfound understanding of how this world can become more sustainable by elevating women around the globe, and my intuition that in a smaller organization the money can travel less fettered from source to destination, and Lotus Outreach becomes my obvious and easy choice.  Keep it up!”

Lachlan graduated with Honors from Shasta College with an additional Certificate of Achievement in Geographic Information Systems.  Lachlan and his wife Molly have young children at home, and he’s focused on being a great dad, too!  Even with all his extra sleep-deprivations, Lachlan excelled at student leadership and became an inspiration to us all. Graduation party hosts Bethany and Chris provided the raffle items, complete with CDs donated by the Muletown String Band.  Together, our students, faculty, family and friends in attendance raised $310 for Lotus Outreach.  Many thanks to Lachlan and his wife Molly and family for their support, and best wishes for Lachlan’s continued success in his chosen field, political science!

 

LO's youngest champion explains her passion

Treasurer Ed Malley visits Sigal and her stunning presentation

My name is Sigal Alcheck and I go to Ronald C. Wornick Jewish Day School. The Tzedakah Project is when all of the students in the 7th grade choose different organizations to support and we raise money all year. The root tzedek means justice, so tzedakah literally means "doing justice."

I chose Lotus Outreach because I believe that it is an effective way of helping the people less fortunate than I am. When I was doing the research in the beginning of the year, I stumbled across an article on trafficking. When I first read about sexual abuse I was astonished. I can't imagine that girls who are my age, who live in the same world as me, are being treated like that. I knew from that moment that I wanted to help.

I have chosen a sermon about slavery today and how it relates to Pesach, which is the Jewish holiday celebrating the exodus from Egypt after being slaves there for hundreds of years. The sermon explains that we, as Jews, were once slaves in Egypt and no one helped us. We have gained many rights, but the people who are slaves in third world countries don't have any. We know how it feels and now it is our turn to help.

During Pesach we have a seder to remember that we were once slaves, we still live in a world which accepts slavery and it is our duty to liberate them. The book of Deuteronomy says: "You shall not turn over to his master a slave who is rescued from his master to you. He shall dwell with you in your midst, in whatever place he will choose in one of your cities, which is beneficial to him; you shall not taunt him.”
לא תסגיר עבד אל אדניו אשר ינצל אליך מעם אדני: עמך ישב בקרבך במקומ אש– יבחר באחד שעריך בטוב לו לא תוננו

To me, this quote means that if someone is a slave it is not their fault, and that we should help them learn how to be free instead of holding it over them. After we came out of Egypt, a whole generation of people died in the desert because they didn't know how to be free. People thought that it was a better life for them being slaves and wanted to go running back to Egypt. When someone has been treated as an object that can be traded his/her whole life, they need help to learn how to be free.

Lotus Outreach helps with education, counseling, healthcare and even clean water. If these people go straight back to working, they will probably be taken advantage of. Lotus Outreach gives people like this an education so that they can have a better life than the average person who lives in poverty in Southeast Asia and rural India.

These people are coming out of slavery. No one helped us when we were in Egypt, but we shouldn't make the same mistake of not helping. If we just stand by and watch people suffer, it is also on our shoulders.

We can help these people if we do it together. The main Jewish value that Lotus Outreach reflects is tikun olam, or fixing the world. Lotus Outreach helps to stop the cycle of poverty which is helping to make the world a better place for everyone who lives in it.

From the Tzedakah Project I learned that I need to be more aware of different problems in the world. I also need to be more appreciative of what I have and give more aid to those less fortunate. The process that we have been going through all year really helped us all grow as people.

People told me that this subject might be too inappropriate for me. But I thought, "If it's inappropriate for me, then its definitely not appropriate for the five year old girls who it's actually happening to."

LO Society Canada visits Banteay Meanchey (part 3)

Visiting SMART

That afternoon, we travelled to two destinations. First, we went to Phrasekop with a Safe Migration and Reduction of Trafficking (SMART) team who provided information brochures and kits for those workers planning to cross the border into Thailand to work. They also operated a mobile library, administered first aid, made referrals to health centers, and showed a video - using the battery of their vehicle for electricity! The SMART team was responsible for rescuing two of the grade 12 girls we met from Thailand. Alison felt sure one of them would have been sold to a brothel, as she was really beautiful.

Our final destination was Kor Koh Junior Secondary School in Svay Chek district, where we met with a Local Education Working Group, normally consisting of seven teachers, students, parents and a deputy chair. The groups are responsible for distributing $3 per month to each scholarship student, $2.50 for extra school fees, following up on any sickness or absence, delivering rice support to families, holding orientation for parents at the beginning of the school year, receiving applications, and screening families for need, among other things. Again, I was very impressed with the management. As an aside, I was most impressed that the students study and teachers teach - unlike my travel experiences in Thailand and Laos.

This trip was an amazing experience for us, and I heartily welcome any of you who wish to visit Cambodia and see what is going on there to do so. I would like to thank Glenn Fawvcett, LO’s director of field operations, and Raksmey, LO’s country representative in Cambodia, for all the help they gave us. Again, I would like to thank you for all your assistance to young girls and women in this region. Their lives are infinitely better off as a result of your contributions.

For my part, I am again hitting the pavement in the upcoming Sun Run. We have an LO team, and all members are canvassing their friends and family for funds. You are my “family” - how about we start with a “toonie” per kilometer? There is no maximum. Donations can be made by check, payable to Lotus Outreach Society Canada and sent to PO Box 93650 (Nelson Park)Vancouver, BC V6E 4L7. Or you can now go to our website: www.lotusoutreach.org/canada and click on “donations” and “Canadian donations”. If you wouldn't mind, let me know if you are donating for the run - we team members are competing for how much money we raise.

In any event, thank you so much for your support in the past, and hopefully your ongoing support. I couldn't help these girls without your help.

Warmly yours,

Brian

A beautiful souvenir