Interview: READA


FOR IPF

November 7, 2011

Consider sending notecard out in advance - provide info on orgs, and ask people to submit questions in advance.  Also have people submit questions in chat during the event.

 

 

FROM THE LAST INTERVIEW

Announcement:

Please come and join us in music (thanks, Zachh Cale!) and a live interview with Sandra Bérard in Siem Reap Cambodia!  Wednesday, April 27th, 5pm SLT - LM attached!  Yes, you'll hear and see something about chickens, too!

 

Brought to you by Peace Train.  Hop on board!

 

Second Life Event:  https://secondlife.com/my/community/events/event.php?id=4588188

Facebook Event:  http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=146865205380078

SLURL:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Garden%20for%20Change/69/209/26 

 

 

INTERVIEW:  READA Cambodia

http://readacambodia.org/

Wednesday / Thursday April 27 /28  2011

 

Hi Sandra –

Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me yesterday – As I said, I’ve included the details of our interview connection and a suggested flow for the conversation below.   I think this will be a lot of fun!  It certainly will be interesting for the people joining in to hear the stories.

 

Logistics / details

Date:  Thursday morning, April 28th,  (Wednesday evening, April 27th for me)

Time:  8:00 – 9:00am   (9:00 – 10:00 pm for me)

Connection:  Phone – I will call your phone just as I did during our first conversation

Duration:  1 hour

Materials:  This interview guide and any photos you would like me to share

Location in Second  Life:  The Garden For Change

 

Interview guide:

Preparation:  I will call you 10 minutes prior to start time, just to make sure everything is fine.  This will just be a quick check between the two of us.  I’ll then hang up and call you right at the start time.  At that point, you will be ‘live’ for the audience to hear.

 

Start:  I’ll say a few words of thanks for the people involved in setting this up, and will introduce myself and say a few words about Peace Train and what we do.   I’ll cover some logistics for the attendees – tell them how to ask questions so I can pass them on to you… I’ll then introduce you by name, and welcome you to the program.

 

Starter question:  How in the world did a French woman working in London wind up in Cambodia??  (intent is to personalize you – for you to tell a bit about why you left London for Cambodia)

 

Question 1:  Sandra, you’re with a group that is doing some amazing and important work with villagers in Cambodia – tell us about the organization you work for and what their mission is?  (I expect you would talk about READA, explain who that is, and what the mission is.  I’ll show the photo of you at this point).

 

Question 2:  Tell us where you are in the photo of you ?  (just to give people a sense of your surroundings, etc.)

 

Question 3:  What happened  in Cambodia?  I know some of the history from growing up during the era of the Vietnam War – tell us about why people are in the situation they are in now?  (30 years of civil war, the influence of the Khmer Rouge during the 1970’s, etc)

 

Question 4:  So what’s the day-to-day life like for the families in these villages?  (tell about the struggles for clean water, the lack of nutrition, etc.)

 

Question 5:  Why don’t they just move somewhere else?   (tell about the landmines, and the fact that many of them don’t own their land, and can’t buy land.  That’s the story of borrowing rice and then getting into debt, as well.  And if you have any info about the percentage of land that is unusable….)

 

Question 6:  It sounds dangerous there – are you safe?  ( interesting comment you made about London being more dangerous!)

 

Question 7:  So you have sent some photos to help us understand what your organization does. Talk us through a few of them.  (I will tell you what we are seeing online, and you can tell the story of what those images represent and how the NGOs help these villagers)

 

 

Question 8:  So what about you, Sandra?  How long will you stay there?  (you can share what you like about your plans)

 

Question 9:  Sandra, what is the one thing you want people to know about Cambodia?  (you can say something about people understanding the context of Cambodia, why things are the way they are, etc. – or whatever you want!)

 

That’s it!  We will have of course questions from the audience coming in text, and I will ask those of you as well.  If there is anything that comes up, please just let me know.

 

 

Contact:

Steve Mahaley,
 Peace Train Charitable Trust

+1 (919) 451-8320

(aka: Cotton Thorne within Second Life)
acarson1@gmail.com
skype:  mahaleys

 

Land address:

Peace Train
P.O. Box 1022
Mebane, NC, 27302

 

 

ROUGH NOTES from organizing call:

 

Interview with Sandra Berard; READA - Cambodia

April, 2011

 

Interview with Sandra Berard

- Name of the organization she is working for:  Reada - Rural Econ Agriculture Dev. Agency / a local organization; 15 staff members.  One of the biggest partners is Concern in Ireland NGO.  

- Size of the org?

- Where they operate

- Mission

- Daily work:  what is she doing?

- Why did she want to go there?

- About the people she is helping - stories (photos)

- What could 1000 US dollars do to help? - help with water projects

 

Transition:  Hasn't felt that different.  Siem Reap; compared to villages it is very developed.  15 minutes away  - villages little wooden houses (rich people) - poor people will have very small thatched houses; one family in one room.  No electricity, no water, no sanitation.  People are very friendly, reserved.

Work:  NGO provide field services.  

 

Root causes / problems:  

30 years of civil war - ended in 1998; kept the villages from developing.  Khmer Rouge from 1975 - 79, devastating impact on the society and tried to socially engineer the country.  Forced labor camps, killed a lot of intellectuals.  1.5 and 2.5 million estimated killed, or died of starvation.  Political groups were set against each other.

There is a lot of corruption, small bits of land, no education, no water in the dry season.  A lot of landmines remain.  Therefore land is restricted.  Could be half the land in Cambodia.

 

Do you feel safe? - yes, very.

 

Local authorities are not trusted, given the history.  

 

Select villages based on poverty levels.  They'll get a wealth ranking, within the villages, and through that process the poorest of the poor are identified.  Then there is help provided in terms of helping them grow different crops, raise animals, and do so in environmentally friendly ways.  The other part is getting people together as communities; create these self-help groups and they facilitate them to work together to solve problems.  They are given a small amount of money.  Seed money to begin new activity.  They will pay back the investment to the group when they make it.  They are encouraged to save.   

 

How long are you going to stay?  Sponsored until August.  

 

Nature of the work:  Representing the NGOs work, communication, fundraising, presentations, etc.

 

Photos:  

IMG 2263:  Nutrition education.  Women don't know how to field their children - just rice.  The women are village volunteers.  

IMG 2262 - same event

IMG 2214 - reada beneficiary; to show results; he is growing corn and is raising pigs.  People have to borrow rice, and interest rates are high and people very into debt. She asked him what has changed in his life.  He said he was able to buy the land.

IMG 2204 - Reada beneficiary; how to build the cage, raise chickens to sell.

IMG 2141 - Went to have a village meeting, brainstorming session.  

IMG 2210 - Family and 2 neighbors.  

 

What's the one message you want people to get:  Understanding the context of Cambodia.  

 

Timing:  Week of April 25, or later in week of May 2