Cambodia4Kids.Org

Wat Botum

Blogger mythicaldude posts some pictures and brief comments about Wat Botum and a more extended post here.  I'd like to know more because Sara's Cambodian name was Botum.  Both Sara and Botum mean princess.

Khmericans

Inspired by a post by ThaRum, the Rod, the blogger who writes My Khmerican Corner blog shares a beautiful personal reflection about what is means to be a Cambodian-American or "Khmerican" and the  "identify conflict" that Khmer immigrant children face when they come to the US.

He left his country at age 14, so many aspects of Khmer culture are still deeply rooted within him.  It makes me smile when he says he won't give it up or reject it.  He talks about how the Internet has helped maintain his Khmer roots:

" . . .maintaining my Khmer identity is just as easy as a click of a mouse away.  I still
listen and sing to Khmer Karaoke (love it!!), read Khmer newspaper,participate in Khmer Forum Board, and lately, write in Khmer blog."

I think about my own "Khmerican" children who only lived in their homeland for a brief time during their early years.  Harry lived in Cambodia for less than six months of his life and Sara lived there for 2.5 years.    I struggle with making sure that they know about and appreciate their birth country and rich culture. But that's a hard task an American parent.   

But, I have been lucky to connect with other Khmericans here who are very helpful and also feel it is important for children like my children to stay connected with their culture.  And, the Internet and blogs have also been a tremendous tool to support this goal.

Best Wishes for A Happy and Safe New Year

  reflection 
  Originally uploaded by ssjl.

I found this beautiful photo in flickr today while searching for other photos related to last night's arrest.  It made a few us wonder why with camera phones in country there isn't more moblogging to flickr?   Here's some how-to resources on getting the most out of flickr.

Khmer American Princess

Sara's Cambodian name, Botum, means princess.  That's why she was named Sara, a name that also means princess.   And boy, does she loves princess stuff.   

Well, looks like Sara isn't the only Cambodian American gorgeous girl wearing a crown!

Soben Huon, a Cambodian-American, is now Miss Utah as reported by Phatry Derek Pan in the Phnom Penh Post.   (Story and Links via Jinja)

Jinja goes to say that most Cambodian families would probably be horrified to have their daughter compete in a swimsuit contest.   In the USA, those beauty pagents offer fairly decent college scholarships and I think the fact that there is a Cambodian-American young woman competing might be very inspiring to little girls who don't have blue eyes and blonde hair, but are gorgeous and smart!

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Midget-Lions Saga

A former intern at the Phnom Penh Post, Sam Davies, got into an argument with friend over this question:  Who would win in a fight between 1 Lion vs. 40 Midgets? So to prove his point, he created a fake news article that looked like a story on the BBC Web site.

According to Sam: " A friend of mine claimed that 40 weaponless midgets could  defeat 1 lion in a hypothetical fight. Many of my other friends and I  tried to convince him that the lion would definitely win, but he would  not back down from his argument. After seeing another fake article posing as BBC about 'zombism' in Cambodia, I got the idea to make this fake news article to try and convince him for the final time."  (Hmm .. from a journalism intern?!)

What happened next?    While Sam says the article was only intended as a private joke between friends, it was posted on collegehumor.com, fark.com, and several other web forums.  It spread far beyond that .... It even spread into the Blogosphere.  I first got wind of it from Strange Things are Afoot at the Circle K, written by a chinese lesbian in Cairo and so far 41 people have bookmarked it in delicious.  Snopes has a reference too. You can read more about Sam's prank directly from Sam here.

According to Jungle Blog, the exciting news is that Mr. Davies is offering a line of CMFL t-shirts and other goodies at his online store.

Technorati Tags: cambodia