A Message from Cambodia

OCTOBER 6, 2008

To all my friends and colleagues.

After 35 years of trial practice helping victims of torts and discrimination in the Sacramento area. I decided that it was time to begin a new life of giving to those who have absolutely nothing. What started out as a trip to see Southeast Asia , turned out to be a whole new life for me.

I have been in Cambodia for the last 3 years. I taught English one year and have been admitted to practice before the Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) and that was no easy undertaking.. I have been accepted for membership and I am waiting to be admitted into the Cambodian Bar. The Cambodian Bar Association works at its own pace. It has been 1 year and they have not had a swearing in ceremony. You all know what happened here after the Vietnam War, when Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge came to power. Several million Cambodians with their families were slaughtered like cattle. It was a mad time. It has been 30 years and the Country is still reeling from that time.

The ECCC was established by the UN and Cambodia to try senior members of the Khmer Rouge for crimes against humanity. There is a victims unit that will represent victims of those years and is where I will help. The work is Pro Bono as there is yet to be a fund to pay anyone, however victims have an absolute right to be heard in that Court. The leaders here have arrested what is left of the Kilmer Rouge Cadre, especially Duch who ran the Toule Sleng prison in Phnom Penh were I live. However no-one in power wants a trial. Everyone wants to forget. Yet, I believe without some finality and justice, the echos of those times will never end. I do not know who is right. Western culture says yes, but imposing out view of what is good for Cambodians makes me very uneasy. The rule of law here is quite different then at home. Here there is a kind of social consensus that keeps most people in line. Those that have want more at any cost and do exactly what they want no matter who they hurt. If you have power, you are free to kill if you want as the rule of law that we are use to does not exist at the top end of this society. Here the notion of helping your fellow man is limited to only those in your family. No one wants to help strangers for fear that they will have to pay the police and be accused of causing the problems. That is why no-one ever stops after an accident to help the injured. An ambulance may come but if you have no money it will not take the injured to a hospital or even treat them.. In the hospital, l the family is provides nursing except in rare instances you help, you own it.

Seeing all this as well as the constant reminder and hopelessness was very hard for me, but I have learned that you walk by taking one step at a time. In spite of all the abuse and suffering, the people are wonderfully warm and have an incredible thirst for knowledge. So that has been my calling in these last few years to help the poor receive a higher education. Here, there are no student loans or Government help at all and you must pay for everything. Absolutely nothing is free. Either your family has enough to send to school or you spend endless years working to pay for one class at a time. The average salary is somewhere around $40.00 so you can see without help higher education is impossible without a sponsor. That is why I recently formed a foundation called the Cambodian Future Fund. Please go to my website at www.cambodianfuturefund.com and help educate a young person. I am calling on all my friends and colleagues that I gave to all my working life to assist in my desire to educate those without any hope but me. I have been educating students on my own, privately and now need some assistance. Please drop me an email at dmbblackman@yahoo.com, and let me know what you have been doing. Also, if any of you know how to fund raise I could sure use some help.

Thank you,

David Blackman