Vicente Bonet
(Professor of Sophia Univ., Representative of the Association)
At the end of last year the Association for "Solidarity with the People of Cambodia" (CAMBOREN) was established. I would like to present here its history and some of its first results.
I was lucky to visit Cambodia, 3 years ago, in a study-tour from Japan. They guided us to regions still infested with landmines, to institutions housing disabled children, to a smoking mountain where many people were working among the dirt, to an institution caring for TB and HIV patients, children included, and to the 'Dove Training Center' where the disable get education and technical training.
Last February I joined again a tour to Cambodia and this time I visited Sisophon, a town northwest of Cambodia near the Thai border. All the participants then were highly moved at the sight of the poor living conditions of the people and the educational needs of children as they receive an orientation based on ongoing programs and detailed records of follow up projects. At that time we felt highly motivated to establish firm relationships with the people of Sisophon and those assisting them and decided to help not only in their material needs, but also in education and health, in rural development projects or in other words in "Human Development" activities. As a result, we launched the "Camboren" association.
Camboren asks its collaborators to offer part of their time, no matter how little, to participate in the activities to know about the situation of the Cambodian partners and to experience solidarity with them; also to cut on personal expenses in order to be able to help to assist projects in Cambodia.
At the end of last year the Association for "Solidarity with the People of Cambodia" (CAMBOREN) was established. I would like to present here its history and some of its first results.
I was lucky to visit Cambodia, 3 years ago, in a study-tour from Japan. They guided us to regions still infested with landmines, to institutions housing disabled children, to a smoking mountain where many people were working among the dirt, to an institution caring for TB and HIV patients, children included, and to the 'Dove Training Center' where the disable get education and technical training.
Last February I joined again a tour to Cambodia and this time I visited Sisophon, a town northwest of Cambodia near the Thai border. All the participants then were highly moved at the sight of the poor living conditions of the people and the educational needs of children as they receive an orientation based on ongoing programs and detailed records of follow up projects. At that time we felt highly motivated to establish firm relationships with the people of Sisophon and those assisting them and decided to help not only in their material needs, but also in education and health, in rural development projects or in other words in "Human Development" activities. As a result, we launched the "Camboren" association.
Camboren asks its collaborators to offer part of their time, no matter how little, to participate in the activities to know about the situation of the Cambodian partners and to experience solidarity with them; also to cut on personal expenses in order to be able to help to assist projects in Cambodia.
Last February we paid a 3-day visit to the programs that the Jesuit Service runs in Sisophon to get acquainted with the situation there.
First of all Fr. Gregory, the Director of the programs, introduced us the overall program with all concrete projects in detail. Then the local staff guided us to the places where each different project was implemented. We visited the literacy classes, primary school, model training courses for teachers, the study groups and the mobile library for the improvement of education.
We also visited houses built by the Jesuit Service. Then, after discussions with Fr. Gregory and Ms Sok Eng, the Projects' Director, we decided that, in order to answer the wishes of our Cambodian partners, Camboren's next solidarity step would be to assist the building of houses.
Concretely, our plan this year is to build 20 houses, 10 small and 10 big ones. By big they mean a house 4x5 m wide that will accommodate a family of 6 persons. The total cost, materials as well as labor, will be around US$400. A small one will be 3x4 m wide and would fit a family of less than 5 members. The cost would be US$350.
The selection of the families will be done according to the following norms. (1) The husband is disable or the family has lost the husband and has some disable member (2) The family is poor (3) The government has provided the land to build (the land has not been bought) (4) The family or friends contribute their labor or materials.
But since Camboren is not financially strong, we could only contribute US$5,000, or about 3/2 of the whole cost.
These are the first achievements of the efforts of solidarity of Camboren to build a necessary space to live a human life and we felt a great joy to be able to provide housing for more than a dozen families. With such joyful experience of solidarity we expect next year to obtain more fruitful results in our cooperation. I pray that it could be like that.

[E-mail contact: ckawachi@m78.com
Jesuit Social Center, Tokyo]
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