Documentary links talking-head arguments to real people

by Kerry Lengel – Feb. 4, 2010 08:10 AM
The Arizona Republic

Read here; http://www.azcentral.com/thingstodo/movies/articles/2010/02/04/20100204poverty0205.html

ADM Tries to Take Down Funny Davos Video; Big Business Has No Solutions; Now What?

• ADM video still available here, here, and (for download and reposting) here; page here
• Fake initiatives pages, with links to organizations seeking change on these issues
• More information about last week’s website and videos
• Contact: scurrilous@theyesmen.org, bportello@cinemalibrestudio.com

A legal complaint from agribusiness giant ADM has resulted in the removal from Youtube of a fake video of ADM’s CEO making over-honest pronouncements. (The video is still available here, here, and, for download and reposting, here.)

Last week, the filmmaking team behind The End of Poverty? partnered with the Yes Men to create a parallel, imaginary World Economic Forum in which world leaders came up with real solutions to poverty. The leaders seemed, in a < a href=”http://www.we-forum.org/en/events/AnnualMeeting2010/index.shtml“>series of videos, to be supporting a set of initiatives based on 10 Solutions to End Poverty, a petition for which the filmmakers are trying to get ten million signatures by the end of 2010.

Each of those initiatives pages has links to organizations that are fighting hard for change on these issues.

In contrast, the actual World Economic Forum ended Sunday with a profound lack of results, some seemingly satirical but all-too-real headlines (like Goldman Sachs’s Lloyd Blankfein’s rumoured $100 million bonus), and one fruitless complaint to Youtube.

“If we can bail out bankers to the tune of trillions of dollars, surely we can solve poverty, which will just take a few structural changes, plus a whole lot less money,” said Beth Portello, the producer of The End of Poverty?

“All the crises we’re facing are rooted in massive inequality and poverty,” says Philippe Diaz, the film’s director. “If these leaders really wanted to make a difference, they would work towards ending poverty, however uncomfortable that might be for business.”

“It’s easier to remove funny videos from Youtube,” added Portello.

###

The press release and links to videos can be viewed online at: http://theyesmen.org/adm

DETAILS:  The End of Poverty? is a critically-acclaimed feature length documentary narrated by Martin Sheen and directed by Philippe Diaz which is currently in theatrical release in New York (Cinema Village), Los Angeles (Laemmle Monica 4) and Phoenix (Harkins Valley Art) with more cities to follow.  It is produced and distributed by Cinema Libre Studio (www.cinemalibrestudio.com).

 CONTACT: press@cinemalibrestudio.com

Q&A’s with co-producer Matthew Stillman Fri. (2/5), Sat. (2/6)  and Sun. (2/7) following 7:20pm!!

Phoenix, Harkins Valley Art (509 S. Mill Ave.) – starts today (2/5) for one week run!
Showtimes Daily: 1:00pm, 3:30pm, 6:05pm, 8:25pm

Los Angeles, Laemmle’s Monica 4-Plex (1332 2nd Street) – This weekend only (2/6 & 2/7))
Showtimes: 11:00am on the 6th and 7th

THE END OF POVERTY returns to NYC at Cinema Village on Friday 1/29 and Los Angeles at Laemmle ’s Monica this weekend. Starts 2/5 in Phoenix at Harkins Valley Art


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 28, 2010

Scurrilous Videos Besmirch, Enrage Forum, Leaders, World
Videos threaten very existence of WEF

• Close examination of fake website reveals outrageous, elaborate subterfuge
• Videos may be viewed here or downloaded
• Lefty filmmakers mainly to blame
• Contacts: scurrilous@theyesmen.org, info@theendofpoverty.com

In a series of diabolically stupid video manipulations, a cabal of anti-poverty filmmakers have performed an elaborate slander of the World Economic Forum, showing its “leading lights” taking a dramatic departure from the litany of meaningless pledges they usually make at the annual gathering in the Swiss resort town.

In response, WEF spokesperson Adrian Monck could barely contain himself. “The only defense to satire is common sense!” he sputtered, before racing back into the WEF war room to deal with the burgeoning crisis.

Fortunately for the WEF, few media outlets picked up on the WEF’s fantastic but fictional approach to world poverty (”World Leaders Pledge Strategy to End Poverty Now”). Instead, the media was dominated by coverage of a real WEF press release warning of “Over Regulation of the Financial Sector” (sic).

The forged videos showed eight of “leading lights of Davos” outlining a few clear strategies to end poverty.

The CEO of Archer Daniels Midland, the world’s largest agribusiness conglomerate, spoke of “agriculture’s role in today’s economic savagery, and the broader long-term issues of robbing whole groups for the greed of the food industry,” before calling for “universal justice and agriculture’s reform” via Food Sovereignty. “We want to undo the injuries of global capitalism,” added a much-improved “Klaus Schwab,” founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum.

“The source of our financial treasure was violence towards the colonies of the global South,” admitted “Queen Elizabeth II” most refreshingly, before pledging to sell her lands and use the proceeds to improve the lot of the world’s poor. “We have caused this disaster,” added “Prince Harry” with a stalwart giggle. “Nobody wants a catastrophe,” Canadian Prime Minister “Stephen Harper” chimed in most helpfully.

“Haiti was a house of cards that we built through a history of exploitative economic policies,” said a tired-looking “Bill Clinton.” Now we have a chance to rebuild a more independent society by ending exploitation, forgiving their debt and bringing back real sustainability.”

The perpetrators included a prominent film director, several Hollywood voice actors, at least one disaffected member of the World Economic Forum itself, and thirty-four of the Yes Men.

“Yes, these are real talking heads,” explained Robert Diaz Leroy, a Hollywood film producer who was one of those behind the action. Another co-conspirator, film director Philippe Diaz, went into greater detail.

“We did this out of frustration with the fact that each year in Davos, the wealthy and powerful figure out ways the global economy can continue to benefit them,” said Diaz, who directed The End of Poverty?, which opens this Friday in New York. “Even this year, they’re still talking about economic growth and de-regulation as the solution to poverty. That’s especially obscene in light of this year’s economic crisis, which resulted from those exact policies and has disproportionately affected the poor.”

Despite the WEF’s annual posturing, neoliberal policies have proven to be a massive failure for the vast majority of the poor, said Diaz. “When a disaster strikes a poor country like Haiti, our culpability becomes graphically clear.”

Diaz explained that growth has by and large benefited only the wealthiest fraction of the population. “Our economic system depends on the resources of the global South that we have plundered since 1492. Only the tools have changed: nowadays we rarely use guns or armies, we mainly use economic instruments. But the damage is just as real.” (See the fake press release for some real statistics to that effect.)

“What you won’t hear in Davos is anything about the structural factors at the root of global poverty,” said Beth Portello, who produced The End of Poverty?. “Poverty is created: it’s the byproduct of centuries of exploitation of human and natural resources maintained into modern times by unfair trade, tax and land policies, and odious debt.”

“Unlike the lip-service solutions from Davos, the proposals on our fake WEF site would actually end poverty,” said Diaz. “We’re going to do everything we can to make them happen. The film is just the beginning.”

“Poverty isn’t an accident, and it won’t end by accident, either,” added Portello.

In a dramatic bit of irony, it was revealed that the fake Queen Elizabeth II was played by boy actor James O’Keefe, who was recently arrested for feloniously attempting to tamper with the phone line of U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu, not long after being honored by House Republicans for his “ACORN pimp” role last year.

“Oh that queen,” said Andy Bichlbaum of the Yes Men. “Who knows what trouble she’ll get into next.”

***

The End of Poverty?, a film with some real solutions to global poverty, is currently playing in US theatres. If you happen to be in New York City this weekend, come meet Philippe and Beth at screenings this Friday (1/29), Saturday or Sunday matinee at Cinema Village in lower Manhattan. Phillipe, Beth and Andy are all available for interviews in NYC or by phone: conta ct press@cinemalibrestudio.com to arrange.

The court split 5 to 4 over the ruling, with its conservative members in the majority.

“When government seeks to use its full power, including the criminal law, to command where a person may get his or her information or what distrusted source he or she may not hear, it uses censorship to control thought,” the court said in a decision written by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy. “This is unlawful. The First Amendment confirms the freedom to think for ourselves.”

President Obama sharply criticized the decision, saying it gives “a green light to a new stampede of special interest money in our politics” and represents “a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans.”

…Read the rest of the article at The Washington Post

But local activists are planning to showcase another side of Vancouver: chronic homelessness, open drug dealing, mental illness and prostitution that mar the neighborhood only blocks from some Olympic venues.

A few days before the official Games begin, advocates for the poor will stage a “Poverty Olympics,” aiming to push the city’s social problems into the global spotlight. The parody, which claims to “reflect the unique local flavor of the host city,” has a cockroach, a bedbug and a rat as mascots.

“In the Downtown Eastside, the street scene isn’t so pretty,” said longtime community activist Jean Swanson, referring to the neighborhood that a U.N. official called one of the worst slums of a wealthy city. “We have the same HIV rate as Botswana, and we’re a developed country.”

…Read the rest of the article at The Seattle Times

First from this Daily Trust article that we found at All Africa, we find Dr. Kpakol’s comments.

Daily Trust had reported that in 1980, 28% of Nigerians were poor; in 1985 the poverty ratio grew to 46% and dropped to 42% in 19992. In 1996, the ratio was 65.6%, in 1990 it was 70% and in 2004 it fell to 54.4%. He said the current poverty rate is less than 50 per cent and that Nigerians are richer.

…Read the rest of the article at Poverty News Blog

Natural disasters, such as hurricanes and floods that have regularly afflicted Haiti, have plagued mankind throughout history. As the world has become wealthier, the ability to cope with such calamities has grown; annual deaths due to such disasters have declined by 96 percent since the 1920s.

Economic growth has made it possible for countries around the world, increasingly including developing nations, to mitigate damage done by “acts of God.” Growth typically brings sturdier construction, insurance schemes, better infrastructure, a more diversified economy, an improved ability to respond to emergencies, access to savings and credit, and so on. Unfortunately, growth has bypassed Haiti. Despite receiving more than $8.4 billion in foreign aid since 1980, Haiti is poorer today than it was 30 years ago.

…Continue reading on The DC

Eric Toussaint – Sophie Perchellet[1]

There is a great risk that one of the largest relief operations in history will be similar in nature to the tsunami relief efforts in 2004, unless a radically different approach to a reconstruction model is adopted.  Haiti was partially destroyed by an earthquake measuring 7 on the Richter scale. We have all shed tears and the media, as they bombard us with apocalyptic images, report on financial pledges generous States have made. We know that Haiti needs to be rebuilt, this country hard-hit by poverty and “its curse”. Therefore, at the moment, the focus is on Haiti. Comments fail to look beyond the terrible earthquake. We are told that it is one of the poorest countries in the world without any explanations provided.  We are led to believe that poverty just happened, that it is a situation beyond remedy: “Haiti is an accursed land”.

There is no doubt that this recent natural disaster has lead to considerable and unforeseeable material and human damage. Emergency aid is therefore needed and everyone can agree on this point. However, this earthquake was not the root cause of poverty and squalor. This country needs to be re-built because it has been stripped of its means to rebuild itself. Haiti is neither a free nor a sovereign country. In recent years, its domestic policy choices have been made by a government constantly under pressure by orders coming from outside the country and by manoeuvres carried out by the local elites.

At best, Haiti is described as a violent, poor and repressive country. There are few comments remembering the independence gained in 1804, after a hard-fought struggle against Napoleon’s French armies. Rather than focusing on their humane approach and their fight for Human Rights, savagery and violence are the traits attributed to Haitians. Eduardo Galeano talks about “the white curse.”

“At the border where the Dominican Republic ends and Haiti begins, there is a large sign with the following warning:  The bad path. On the other side, it is black hell. Blood and hunger, poverty, plagues[2].”

It is therefore necessary to look back at the struggle for emancipation waged by the Haitian population, because in retaliation against this double-faceted revolution, both anti-slavery and anti-colonial in nature, the country inherited the ransom France demanded for independence, amounting to 150 million francs (that is, France’s annual budget at the time). In 1825, France decided that “The current inhabitants of the French part of Santo Domingo will pay into France’s Federal deposit and consignment offices, the sum of one hundred and fifty million francs, to be paid in five instalments, year after year, with the first term due 31 December 1825. The money will be used to compensate the former colonists who will demand compensation.[3]” That is equivalent to approximately 21 billion dollars nowadays. From the outset Haiti had to pay a very high price. Debt became the neo-colonial instrument used to maintain access to this country’s many natural resources.

The payment of this ransom is therefore the founding element of the Haitian State. In legal terms, this means that it was contracted by a despotic regime and this contract was used against the interests of the people. First France, then the United States, whose sphere of influence expanded to Haiti from 1915, are entirely responsible for this.

Now, whilst it would have been possible to face up to their painful responsibilities of the past in 2004, the Régis Debray Commission[4] report preferred to scrap the idea of repaying this sum on the pretext that it was “legally unfounded” and that this action would open a “Pandora’s box.” The Haitian government’s request was rejected by France: no compensation was warranted. Moreover, France does not recognize the role it played in the shameful present it gave to the dictator in exile “Baby Doc” Duvalier, by granting him political refugee status and thus, immunity.

The Duvaliers’ rule began with the help of the United States in 1957: it lasted till 1986, when the son “Baby Doc” was thrown out of power by a popular uprising. The violent dictatorship, broadly supported by Western countries, ravaged the country for almost 30 years. It was marked by an exponential growth in its debt. Between 1957 and 1986, foreign debt had multiplied by 17.5. At the time Duvalier fled, it amounted to 750 million dollars. It then rose, through interest and penalties, to over 1,884 million dollars[5]. This debt, far from serving the interests of the impoverished population, was actually aimed at enriching the ruling regime: it is therefore an odious debt. A recent inquiry reveals that the Duvalier family’s personal wealth (well protected by their western bank accounts) amounted to 900 million dollars, or in other words, a greater sum than the total debt of the country at the time “Baby Doc” fled. A trial is currently taking place before the Swiss courts for the restitution of goods and assets to the state of Haiti, embezzled during the Duvalier dictatorship. For the moment, these assets remain frozen by the Swiss bank UBS, which has put forward unacceptable conditions for the restitution of these funds.[6]. Jean-Baptiste Aristide, by contrast, was enthusiastically elected, however he was soon accused of corruption, before being put back in office as a United States puppet and finally ousted by the US army. So Aristide, unfortunately, is not innocent in relation to debt and embezzlement of funds. Furthermore, according to the World Bank, between 1995 and 2001, the debt service, that is to say capital and the reimbursed interests, had reached the considerable sum of 321 million dollars.

All current financial aid announced following the earthquake is already lost to the debt repayment!

According to the latest estimates, over 80% of Haiti’s foreign debt is with the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank (IBD) with up to 40% each. Under their leadership, the government applied “structural adjustment plans”, now disguised as “Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers” (PRSP). In exchange for contracting more loans, Haiti has been given some insignificant amount of debt relief or cancellations, which cast the creditors in a positive light. The Highly Indebted Poor Countries initiative (HIPC), for which Haiti was accepted, is a typical odious-debt laundering manoeuvre, as was the case with the Democratic Republic of Congo[7].  Odious debt is replaced by new so-called legitimate loans. CADTM views these new loans as a key part of odious debt as they are used to pay off the old debt. The offence continues to be committed.

In 2006, when the IMF, the World Bank and the Paris Club accepted that the HIPC initiative include Haiti, the whole stock of public foreign debt totalled 1,337 million dollars. At the time of completion of the initiative (in June 2009), the debt totalled 1,884 million. The cancellation of a debt totalling 1,200 million dollars was decided so as to “make the debt bearable”. Meanwhile, the structural adjustment plans wreaked havoc, especially in the agricultural sector, the effects of which reached its peak at the time of the 2008 food crisis. Haitian peasant farming suffered from US agricultural goods dumping. “The macro-economic policies supported by Washington, the UN, the IMF and the World Bank do not concern themselves at all with the need to develop and protect domestic markets. The only concern of their policies is to produce at the lowest price for exportation on the global markets.[8]” It is therefore a scandal to hear the IMF say that they are, “ready to play their role with the appropriate support in these areas of competence.[9]”

As stated in the recent international appeal, “Haiti calls for solidarity and the respect for the sovereignty of the people”: “ Together with many Haitian organizations, over recent years we have denounced the military occupation of the country by United Nations (UN) troops and the impacts of the domination imposed via the mechanisms of debt, free trade, the looting of its natural habitat and the invasion of transnational interests. The vulnerability of the country to natural tragedies – provoked to a large extent by the environmental devastation, the non-existence of basic infrastructure, and the systematic weakening of the state’s capacity to act – should not be seen as something disconnected from these policies, which have historically undermined the sovereignty of the people.

Now is the time for the governments that form part of the MINUSTAH, the UN and in particular France and the United States, the governments of Latin America, to revise this action that is contrary to the basic needs of the Haitian people. We demand of those governments and international organizations that they substitute the military occupation with a true mission of solidarity, and that they take action to ensure the urgent cancellation of the debt that is still being collected of Haiti.”[10]

Irrespective of the debt issue, it is feared that the aid will take the same form as that provided after the tsunami hit several Asian countries at the end of December 2004 (Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh) or after cyclone Jeanne hit Haiti in 2004. Promises were not kept and a large part of the funds were used to line the pockets of foreign or local elites. The majority of these “generous donations” came from the creditor countries. Rather than giving donations, it would be preferable that they cancel Haiti’s debt: totally, unconditionally and immediately. Can we really speak of donations when we know that this most of this money will either be used to repay foreign debt or to implement “national development projects” decided on the basis of the interests of these creditors or local elites? It is clear that without these immediate donations, it will not be possible to secure repayment of this debt, at least half of which corresponds to odious debt. The major international conferences, whether G8 or G20 expanded to include IFIs, will not produce any progress whatsoever in terms of Haiti’s development rather, they will rebuild instruments to help them secure neo-colonial control of the country. The purpose is ensuring that debt repayments continue, the basis for submission, as has been the case since the recent debt relief initiatives.

On the contrary, in order for Haiti to rebuild itself in dignity, national sovereignty is the fundamental issue. A total and unconditional debt cancellation for Haiti must be the first step towards a more general course of action. A new alternative development model to the IFIs and the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA signed in December 2009, the Hope II Accord…), is necessary and urgent. The most industrialized countries, which have systematically exploited Haiti, beginning with France and the United States, must pay compensation towards a fund aimed at financing the reconstruction of the country, controlled by the Haitian people’s organizations.

Translated by Francesca Denley in collaboration with Marie Lagatta.

[2] http://www.cadtm.org/Haiti-la-malediction-blanche

[3] http://www.haitijustice.com/jsite/images/stories/files/pdfs/Ordonnance_de_Charles_X_de_1825.pdf

[4] http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/IMG/pdf/rapport_haiti.pdf

[5] http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/scr/2009/cr09288.pdf (page 43)

[6] http://www.cadtm.org/Le-CADTM-exige-que-la-restitution

[7] See the CADTM magazine, In favour of an audit of Congolese debt, Liège, 2007 online: http://www.cadtm.org/spip.php?page=imprimer&id_article=2599

[8] See http://www.cadtm.org/Haiti-Le-gouvernement-mene-une

[9] http://www.liberation.fr/monde/0101613508-haiti-l-aide-internationale-se-mobilise-apres-le-seisme

[10] http://www.cadtm.org/Solidarity-and-respect-for-Popular

Cher bounces out of bed and is already chirping her breakfast song at me before my eyes have actually opened.  She is in good humor despite the fact the damn rooster outside our window had been crowing since 3 am.  Tonight at Shinta Mani they are having a special “Wild Life” BBQ and we are both half hoping rooster will be on the menu along side the Young Bees, Sweet and Sour Ant Soup, Frogs on the Grill and Crocodile Filets.  We amble down to our breakfast table pleased to find it empty.  Yesterday, another couple had the audacity to sit at our table and we discovered in the morning we don’t like change to our routine.   Cher orders tea and actually gets it.  The last couple of mornings I’ve order a mocha latte because the young hospitality staff at Shinta Mani, former street kids learning the hotel trade, simply LOVE to use the espresso machine.  They get so excited when you order a coffee drink and they are able to show off their newly acquired barista skills.  In fact, they’ve gotten so enthusiastic that every time I order one, they bring a 2^nd for Cher, despite the fact she keeps ordering tea.  We don’t have the heart to correct them.

Sated from my yummy breakfast of Cambodian pancakes with raisins and honey (I wonder if the poor bees that produced the honey are the same ones being featured on the “wild bbq menu later”) we saunter out the door and hop into a Tuk Tuk to head to Krousar Thmey –the school for deaf and blind kids.  The school is beautiful and we are both very impressed with our tour.  It turns out that the new Khmer sign language is basically French sign with a couple of random cultural Khmer signs thrown in for good measure.  This discovery has a plus in that my sister can sign in French.  Within moments of starting our tour, she is attracting attention.  She signs through the windows of some classrooms with various kids and silently, the word is spreading: There is a pale, white woman wandering around who knows Khmer sign!  Class ends and Cher is engulfed by a sea of deaf kids all frantically conversing with her in sign while they touch her white skin and marvel.  All except one boy who thinks white skin is pretty ugly.  He gets whapped on the side of his head for that comment (by another boy, not Cher).  We learn that the teachers all go through a 6-week crash training course in Khmer Sign to become instructors.  I had been hoping we could send our deaf disabled students for classes at Krousar when Safe Haven opened, since they were already the leading facility/school for the deaf.  However, they do not take kids with other handicaps and they only allow teachers who are going to teach for them to go through the training course.  The woman giving us the tour thinks I should be able to persuade the organization to allow my teachers to take the course.  I agree and resolve to get this accomplished.

We leave Krousar in high spirits and head back to Shinta Mani to meet up with Pierre and go out to look at a plot of land for sale a short distance from the center of Siem Reap.  My friend Chitra, the manager of Shinta Mani, had put the word out that we were looking for land to build the school and we got word of a plot that seemed to good too be true.

The land is beautiful.  Because Safe Haven must be built from the ground up because there are no handicap buildings here, we need an unusually large plot of land.  Situated in an excellent part of Siem Reap off of two actual PAVED roads, the plot is not only big enough for the school, it is semi private with a private road, actually has power lines that can be tapped into and well access to potable water. A perfect combination almost unheard of.  We can’t help but grin and feel a sense of excitement – the piece is exactly what we need.  The owner is letting is go for $40 per square meter, when normally the land in this area is going for $90 per square meter, which would save us a huge amount of money in the long run.  Chitra is sure he will hold it with a deposit, which I pledge to put down and allow us time to fund raise the rest.  We leave feeling very euphoric and Pierre pin marks it on his Iphone map and saves it as “Safe Haven Site”.

Unfortunately, the owner of the land is in a bit of a jam and needs money right away, hence the half price deal.  He will hold the land for me, but only for 4 weeks.  While I can put the 10% deposit down, he wants the $79,000 balance within a month.  It is a crushing blow.  But I am determined not to let the land go so easy.  Hasan, Pierre and I agree to meet for breakfast to come up with a plan to aggressively try to raise the money for the land within the month deadline.  It is a risk to put down the deposit, knowing there is a chance I will not make the deadline and likely lose the money, but with the hardships and risks these kids face everyday – it is the omen to press on.  $79,000 in 30 days?  I believe we can make it happen.

With our minds whirling with crazy fundraising ideas, we head back and meet up with my friend Matt Bernstein, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon from Los Angeles who trains surgeons in developing countries through his non profit Mobile Pediatric Orthopedic Education.  He is also in Cambodia due to his own non-profit work and we agreed to meet up in Siem Reap to talk about how we might work together.  I’ve also asked him for a personal favor:

One of Chitra’s street kids, a graduate of her hospitality program, fell ill a few weeks ago.  His family was having the local healer treat him but she insisted on taking him to the hospital.  His older sister had died the year before after swelling up with a high fever.  The family thought it was an evil spirit and tried local remedies.  They didn’t work.  This young man is part of the Shinta Mani family and all of the employees were worried.  Chitra got him to a hospital where they ran some blood work.  The doctor then walked into the room, said, “You are going to die” and handed him some pills.  Cancer.  There are no cancer treatments in Cambodia or specialists to deal with this disease.  The bluntness of his death pronouncement caused him to fall into a deep depression.  Newly married to another graduate of the street kid hospitality program, he tried to kill himself twice this week.  In tremendous pain and despairing of any hope.  His family moved him back to the pagoda and he has been there for 2 weeks while Chitra has struggled to find something, anything, to give him a chance.

Matt agrees to come with Chitra and I out to the pagoda.  Even though cancer is not his specialty, he plans to examine him and review his records and meds in case there is a chance something can be done.  I had sent out info to every possible connection (matt was one) I have and Chitra has started the process to get him an emergency passport in the hopes we can move him to a cancer treatment facility in Thailand or elsewhere abroad.

We arrive at the pagoda and are welcomed into the family’s hut.  The young man is sitting upright in a chair because his lungs are so filled with fluids, he cannot lie down without choking.  Sweat pours off him and he shakes with pain.  His young wife gently rubs his face and neck with a cold cloth every few minutes.  He is moaning his despair.  Matt looks at the meds he was given: Tylenol, a vitamin, augmentin and amoxicillin (2 antibiotics) and a mild pain medication.  He examines him and reviews his test results.

It is Acute lymphoblastic leukemia, which left untreated is fatal within a few weeks.  The young man is already on the verge of death.  We quietly step outside and converse.  Nothing can be done at this point; he is end stage and will likely not survive the next few weeks. Even if we could get him to a cancer center, it is too late to start treatment.  Matt feels the best course of action is to try and make him as comfortable as possible.  He consults with some fellow doctors via phone both here in Cambodia and the States and we head to a pharmacy.  Matt prescribes morphine and steroids to ease his pain and some of his symptoms.  Nothing else can be done.  We are mostly silent in the van on the way back and contemplating the last remaining son – who has now seen his sister and brother in the grips of this cancer.  I can’t imagine what thoughts are running through his head.  Matt and I exchange weary sighs.  The hard truth is, you can’t win every battle you fight – sometimes instead you must surrender as gracefully as possible.  Hopefully, this new medication will ease his transition.  It is a hard afternoon.

We head to the orphanage and spend a little time with Sum Namg.  Only this afternoon and tomorrow morning left to spend with my precious guy, who is fighting a fairly bad cold.  Cher finishes his therapies and I take him in my arms and walk around the yard singing to him.  It has become our routine right before I put him to bed and kiss him goodnight prior to our leaving.  Today is the last day until March.  I put him in his crib and kiss his forehead, loving when he gives me his toothless grin.  We are a long way from Safe Haven opening and the battle to not lose the land has just begun.  Sum Namg has a long fight ahead of him to reach his full potential.  Both are shaping up to be challenging fights.

You can’t win every battle.

But some you can.

- Heather E. Connell

Visit the Small Voices website for photos from Heather’s travels.