Nara
Main In
Spring of 1998, Nara embarked on a mission to help the people of Cambodia,
spending almost four years traveling throughout the country overseeing
the distrubution of food, construction of wells and reservoirs, building
of schools for children, and various other humanitarian activities.
He is driven by a deep empathy for the poor of Cambodia, arising from
still vivid memories of extreme hunger under the Khmer Rouge. Through
these charitable services, he is able to help heal the wounds of the
past for both himself and the people he serves. Nara was a monk
from May of 1992 until February of 2006 when obligations to his elderly
mother lead him to return to the life of a layperson.
Fany
Ros Khiev Seing
As a devout Buddhist and student of the Dhamma, Fany derived great
satisfaction from her position as a
social worker for Los Angeles County.
From 1980 until her retirement in 2009, she provided counseling
and other assistance to Cambodians in Long Beach with special needs,
such as the elderly, sick and disabled. Fany also help found
the L.A. County Cambodian Employees Association and sits
on its advisory board. Before the Khmer Rouge takeover of Cambodia,
Fany taught English at Lycée Neary in Phnom Penh. Since then,
she has earned a bachelor's degree in sociology and a master's in human behavior.
She has compiled various books to help preserve Khmer culture, including
Directory of Cambodian Sanskrit Names for your Newborns the content
of which is available here.
Christopher
Sokha Hy Even
while living as a Cambodian refugee on the Thai boarder in the early 1980's,
Christopher found a way to help others by working as a health care assistant
for Christian organizations operating in the refugee camps. He arrived
in America June of 1982 and almost exactly three years later graduated with
his high school diploma. Christopher went on to attend Oregon State University, where
he was an active member and president of the the Cambodian Students Organization.
In 1990 he received a Bachelor's degree from OSU in civil engineering and has
been working as a transportation engineer ever since. He currently works for
the L.A. City Department of Transportation, where he has been employed for over 10 years.
Sody
Lay A
former monk, Sody helped found United Cambodian Students at UCLA as
well as the Khmer
Institute. He has also served as a board member of Cambodian Family
community service center for a number of years. Before graduation
from Columbia Law School in 1997, Sody was awarded a human rights
grant which he used to fund an internship with an NGO in Cambodia.
Since then, he has written legal commentary for Radio Free Asia and
taught a course on Cambodian refugees at UCLA, UCI, Cal State Fullerton
and UMass Boston. Read his article Remembering
the Cambodian Tragedy.
