Monday, August 27, 2007

Camping Cambodian Style!



This past weekend was a great opportunity to build some friendships and bridges with the Cambodian community in Portland. We spent the weekend at Camp Meriwether, on the Oregon coast and had a great time. Every year, hundreds of Cambodian Americans get together to share food, friendship, and fun - in no particular order.

The purpose of this annual event is to unite the Cambodian community, preserve their cultural heritage, and to create awareness of their presence and impact in society. The entire event is youth directed and the teenagers and young people in the community were given the enormous responsibility of handling the weekend's events. They did a spectacular job and the whole weekend went smoothly.

The highlights for me, were being able to sit and talk with people - to hear their stories and share experiences. Their stories of surviving the Pol Pot-era, living in refugee camps, and their struggles to make a life here in the United States. They have made it through so much and yet; the older generation has higher hopes for the next generation of young people to make something special for themselves and the world. Some of them are on their way.



One young lady is on her way to Columbia University to attend law school. Others are attending Stanford, USC, and other high profile colleges. They have high goals of working in law, medicine, and business - to impact the world in a meaningful way. My kids had a great time sharing their experiences from living in Cambodia with these young people, of whom, many have never been to Cambodia.

On a similar level, I had the opportunity to share with many people in the Cambodian community as to what Transitions Cambodia is doing in their home country to preserve its next generation, which they were excited to hear about. It was a great time of sharing and connecting with a sense of shared love and concern for Cambodia's next generation...

The weekend was filled with lots of Khmer food (Chanly and Sophorn's grandma fed me all weekend - Thank you Ma!), dancing, and laughter...Ashley and Gabe worked with the Cambodian youth - setting up, registering guests, doing performances, and Ashley was even the co-MC for the final evenings festivities.

By the end of the weekend, we were all tired from staying up too late and getting up early. Yet, I would not have passed up the chance to spend extended time talking and sharing the common desire to see the world a better place - both here and in Cambodia.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Transitions Cambodia Progress - Website & Interviews

This week has been hectic. We are working on our website, making adjustments and changes to make the site great. Our web developer is hoping to have something up by the 27th of August, but we will see. Any changes Athena and I make impact the actual launch date. In the meantime, here is an update...

I had the distinct pleasure of talking with Richard Greenberg of NBC's Dateline. Many of you will remember the Cambodia special they aired in 2004, focusing on the child sex trade. This special was the impetus to our family moving to Cambodia less than a year later! Richard heard about our work through a friend and called to talk. We shared some about our experience and the work we are doing...so, Richard is considering a follow up story, possibly including the work we are doing with Transitions Cambodia, Inc. Very exciting - we are hoping this will highlight the tremendous need to support these young ladies, that have been through so much, with the capacity to have a future.

Also, a wonderful friend, Sophia Hall from CBS Radio, has been gracious enough to interview me this last week on the work TCI is doing - the piece will air on Sunday, August 26th throughout the day and we will post it on the website as soon as we can. Sophia has been a great advocate and she is working on some other wonderful things for us, which we will let you know at the appropriate time. Keep your fingers crossed!

We have also taken the plunge on returning to Cambodia - I will be leaving October 6th, following some fund raising opportunities. I will be working with the transitional home staff on new programs and policies to help make TCI the best organization we can. We are hoping to have some potential donors to visit, as well as, a potential visit from Dateline's crew.

For now, I am taking a well needed break - taking the kids camping for the weekend with the Cambodian community in Portland. Should be fun with lots of great Khmer food!

Monday, August 13, 2007

Transitions is getting under way!


After just a couple of months, we realized that we needed to continue the work we started in Cambodia. The options were to either find a job and be involved in Cambodia part-time or find a way to turn it into a lifetime pursuit. We moved to Oregon, ready to start over from scratch. From buying a house to getting plates and silverware - we had nothing. But, as we were getting settled, we realized that this was the one opportunity we had to do anything we wanted.

I could jump back into corporate sales or something else making good money or we could re-invent ourselves. Athena and I decided to take the leap! We met with an attorney, did our research, and embarked on starting our very own 501c3 Non-profit organization. We had pioneered the very first transitional home in Cambodia and it was doing well. Other organizations wanted us to stay and continue our work in the areas of reintegration and repatriation of sexually trafficked girls.

We chose the name Transitions Cambodia, Inc. (TCI) based on the transitional home model. We have started on the website, completing all of the formalities, but we are just a short way off from being a legitimate non-profit organization. We are currently beginning fund raising and anticipate being back in Cambodia operating by October or November of 2007!

If you are interested in being involved or donating to TCI, please contact us at:

Transitions Cambodia, Inc.
6617 NE Marina Ct.
Hillsboro, OR 97124

OR

jamespond@transitionscambodia.org

We will be journaling our progress, as well as, informing our supporters and partners of what is happening. Please join us in helping these young victims of sex trafficking to find healing and help.