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Global Children director forges bonds between U.S., Cambodia
Brattleboro Reformer November 25, 2000
- By TOM MARSHALL (Reformer Staff)
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BRATTLEBORO -- Laura Louisell
grew up with a foot in two communities --
Brattleboro and New York City."I have eight parents," she said with a laugh. "My dad grew up here. I spent weekends and summers here my whole life." Shuttling between those two communities as a girl in the late 1970s, she could not have been aware of the strife tearing the nation of Cambodia apart -- or the trail that would lead her there. Smith is the executive director of one of America's newest aid agencies, Global Children. She returned from Cambodia recently to raise funds and awareness for the organization. "There's something about the Cambodian people that is extraordinary," she said in an interview Friday. "All the suffering they've gone through, all of the loss through the Pol Pot times." Cambodia found itself embroiled in the Vietnam War in the late 1960s -- a conflict which was directly followed by a murderous four year period of genocide under the Khmer Rouge, a Cambodian ruling elite that killed an estimated 2 million of its own people between 1975 and 1979. Despite that history, Smith said that she instantly fell in love with the people and culture during a visit 10 years ago. "A friend of the family had been working in Cambodia, and he asked me to take photographs of his work," she recalled. "I was 17 years old. It was my Christmas break." A student at the United Nations International School in New York, Smith had been exposed to different cultures and photography. "By the time I was 13," she said, "I was focusing on social issues" -- homelessness, alcoholism. When she arrived in Cambodia, everything came together. "They have wonderful souls," she said of the Cambodian people. "When Cambodian people smile, they light up." She began fund-raising in 1993, and began to make a difference. "I'd go to orphanages and find out what they needed, and we went to the marketplace and bought it," she said simply. And she began strategizing. "How could I spend the rest of my life working there, in a way that would help the people?" she asked herself. A few key people, all of them Cambodian, helped to provide the answer. Arn Shorn-Pond survived the Khmer Rouge and ended up in a refugee camp on the border, where he was eventually adopted by an American family. "He came to the U.S. and has gone on to become one of the most incredible peace activists in the country," she said. Shorn-Pond received the Reebok Human Rights Award Smith, he founded Cambodian Volunteers for Community Development (CVCD) -- Global Children's local partner. By joining with a local group, Smith hopes to avoid the trap of imposing foreign solutions, as many aid agencies have done. "We (wanted to) implement programs or projects which were culturally appropriate, and work with local agencies to insure this," she said. As an American-based partner, Global Children can provide a funding stream and technical assistance while allowing local control to continue. Since her organization became incorporated in September, three local staff members in Cambodia have been hired -- one of which is CVCD's local executive director, Arun Sothea, who will coordinate the partnership. Projects include English and computer classes, funding for two schools in squatter communities in the capital of Phnom Penh, health education and neighborhood cleanup initiatives. Helping Cambodian culture to survive is a challenge, now that the country is finally modernizing, Smith said. English and technology are the new languages in global society, and such training provides one of the few routes out of poverty. Two more projects are in the pipeline -- a larger refuse-cleaning project in the city, which has no free garbage pickup, and a program that will send masters of traditional Cambodian music and dance to train children at an orphanage. The music program, the Cambodian Music Masters Project, was also funded by Shorn-Pond, and reflects an effort to save an aspect of the nation's culture which nearly died. "Traditional Cambodian music was almost wiped out during the Khmer Rouge," said Smith. "It's also about giving (the musicians) back some self-respect and letting them know they're important." The war years might be over, but for many Cambodians the genocide will fade slowly. "I don't think I've ever met a Cambodian who was not dramatically affected by the Khmer Rouge," she said. "I've never met anyone whose family is still intact." Given that reality, she said, the resilience of Cambodia's people is even more remarkable. Having created a new aid organization, Smith is now getting her master's degree in s Management from the School of International Training. And she has enlisted classmates at SIT to write grants for her new organization. But make no mistake: Smith intends to spend as much time in Cambodia as she can, subject to negotiation with her husband, a New York architect. "I love Cambodia," she said. "I'm in love with this country." And she plans to keep alive the Brattleboro connection, since both her father and Global Children board members live here. Donations, however small, will be happily accepted. "Five dollars is a day's salary for many people over there," she noted. "I would rather have people give a small amount than not at all. Twenty dollars goes a long way in Cambodia."
Donations can be sent to Global Children, 300 Central Park West, Apt. 10-B, New York, NY. 10024.
New or lightly-used clothing can be dropped off at 167 Main Street, Suite 305 in Brattleboro.
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GLOBAL CHILDREN T-SHIRTS FOR SALE.
Click here for info.
and to order a shirt |
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