Category: Sombath’s Work

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Sombath’s response on receiving the Magsaysay Award

Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation: Manila, 31 August 2005

Sombath-MagsaysayThe honorable Chief Justice Hilario Davide, trustees of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation, distinguished guests, fellow awardees, ladies and gentlemen, good evening.

It is a great honor for me today to be here receiving the 2005 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership, and I would like to sincerely thank the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation and its board of judges for conferring on me this important award.
This award is not just for me or for my staff in PADETC. This award is also for our young Lao volunteers and youth leaders, who have demonstrated to us, the adults, that they have the capacity, and indeed the right, to claim the space to determine their own and their community’s development pathway. I believe that it is their passion and their hopes and dreams for a better future which are recognized and celebrated through this prestigious award today.

Continue reading “Sombath’s response on receiving the Magsaysay Award”

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Dear Sombath…from Shui Meng (11)

My dearest Sombath,

Today is the last day of 2017.  For four years now I have been waiting desperately for news of your whereabouts and your safe return.  This time of the year should be a time for family gatherings to send off the old year and welcome the new.  But for you and I, there is only longing and waiting.

For you, wherever you are, I hope and pray that you are well and in good health physically, emotionally and spiritually.  I can only hope that your innate kindness, sincerity, and good humour can win you friends wherever you are and whoever you are with.  I hope they will treat you well and will be won over by your humility, your wisdom, and your deep spirituality.  I hope they will find your wide-ranging knowledge and skills useful to them and that they can benefit from your advice and service.  I hope and hope that they will somehow find it in their hearts to see the kind of person you are, and they will one day set you free to come back to us. Continue reading “Dear Sombath…from Shui Meng (11)”

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“By 1980, he was home again”

SB & Woman-005bSombath Somphone’s early life took place amidst uncertainty and turbulence as Laos was swept into the Indochina War. He eventually escaped this by winning a scholarship to the University of Hawaii, where he earned degrees in education and agriculture. By 1980, he was home again. That same year Sombath helped launch the Rice-Based Integrated Farm System Project, to help Laotian farmers achieve food security. The ensuing years exposed him intimately to the world of rural Laos and to the complex obstacles awaiting development workers in its remote scattered villages.

From citation for the 2005 Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership

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Workshop on Sombath at ACSC/APF

ACSC-APF-2016-Humanity & NatureLao civil society representatives made it clear that Sombath’s name, among other issues, would not be welcome at a ACSC/APF event held in Laos. For this and other reasons, the event was moved to Timor-Leste.

“Humanity and Nature” will be held from 16:15-18:15 PM on August 4th in room two of the Alola Foundation.

Speakers include:

  • Ng Shui Meng, Spouse of Sombath Somphone
  • Genito Santana, Kdadalak Sulimutuk Instititute
  • Cheek Sophea, Focus on the Global South
  • Myrna Dominguez, Integrated Rural Development Foundation
  • Sam Zarifi, International Commission of Jurists
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Dear Sombath…from a former Green Ant volunteer

Dear Uncle Sombath,

sombath_fishing_skillsI have not written to you in a long time, since you disappeared. That hit me inside, in my heart. It made me wonder what I should do about my work, because you were always my role model, ever since I was a PADETC volunteer while in secondary school.

The first time I saw you was when you explained your work to a group of youth volunteers from Vientiane. At that time, Pui Duangkhae was the team leader mobilising volunteers who were interested in learning about the environment in Phu Khao Khwai. We met at the bamboo garden, and you and Uncle Outhin briefed us before we went to the park. Your words at that time greatly impressed me. You said we needed the forest, but the forest did not need us. Those words made me think that we must preserve and care for the forest, and it was the beginning of my journey as an environmental volunteer. We started by removing garbage from the steams in the Phu Khao Khwai Protected area in 1996. Continue reading “Dear Sombath…from a former Green Ant volunteer”

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Shui-Meng’s remarks at AEPF11

Remarks by Ng Shui-Meng, read at the opening of the Asian-Europe People’s forum in Ulaanbataar:

AEPF-2016-02

Greetings to all participants gathered together at this 11th AEPF in Ulaan Baatar. Once more representatives from civil society groups across Asia and Europe are gathered together for another Asia-Europe People’s Forum. Two years ago I was in Milan at the 10th AEPF recalling Sombath Somphone’s role and engagement in the 9th AEPF in Vientiane and his optimism and vision of seeing civil society groups, working alongside governments and businesses to support the fostering of more inclusive and sustainable societies across Asia and Europe, and especially for Laos. Unfortunately, Sombath’s aspirations and expectations of a safe and inclusive space for civil society engagement and debate were misplaced.  Two months after the 9th AEPF Sombath was disappeared right in front of a police post in Vientiane, with his abduction clearly recorded by the Lao police surveillance camera.

AEPF11-LogoNow, nearly four years later, Sombath is still missing. His abduction has been acknowledged world-wide as an “Enforced Disappearance”, and his case remains open at the UN Working Group for Enforced Disappearances, as well as at the UN Universal Periodic Review. To all the questions and calls for accountability of Sombath’s abduction, the Lao Government has stubbornly maintained the position that the state is not involved, and the police are still investigating.  Continue reading “Shui-Meng’s remarks at AEPF11”

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Dear Sombath…from a respectful youth

Dear Respected Uncle,

SB-Xieng Khuang-2008

I hope you are well. Five years ago, I asked you for advice about a new job. You never refused to help. Even if you had a lot of work, you would always find time for me. The only exception was that it could not conflict with the time you played ping pong. I smile whenever I think about that. Even when I was not asking about work directly, you gave guidance and encouragement when I needed it.

It has been three years that I don’t know where you are, but I still remember what you told me the first time I met you: “Be a half-full, or nearly full glass, but never a full glass. To never be full leaves room for new lessons, it leaves us open to learn what is right, to absorb new thoughts, to move us forward and give us encouragement. For that which is not appropriate, pour it out so you won’t get misled, so you can move in a better direction.” I can remember your words well, and recall them often, especially when I encounter a problem.

It has been three years, and I am not the only one who remembers what you taught. I have met many others who have grown with the thoughts you shared. They remember your words as well. The passing time has not erased what you built. Your work has been taken up by a new generation strengthened through your efforts. You opened opportunities for us to develop ourselves, and we can move forward on our own.

With this letter, I want to thank you again for your valuable guidance. Thank you for your impressive achievements which benefit society. We have learned and adapt them for our use. Thank you for giving us youth a chance to grow, and thank you for the opportunity to know you. Finally, I hope that what you have built will continue to spread and foster the development of society and the next generation.

With love and respect,

A youth that admires your vision

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A clear condemnation is necessary

LMHR 2016-06-14Sombath continues to be an inspiration to many in Laos and beyond. Those who struggle for justice, for sustainable development, for respect of fundamental rights deserve better than silence.

…it is of utmost importance that international community present in Laos clearly condemns his enforced disappearance. It is not enough to ask for an investigation. A clear condemnation is necessary to defend Sombath’s legacy in the area of sustainable development. We cannot let propaganda damage Sombath’s reputation and contribution to his country, and have rumors being spread on reasons justifying what happened to him, to the point that Sombath has become a taboo in his own country.

From Is International Aid Complicit in the Repression in Laos? by Anne-Sophie Gindroz. Presented at a conference of the same title sponsored by the Lao Movement for Human Rights held in Paris on 14 June 2016. Click on the link for the full presentation.

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Humanity & Nature: Panyanivet

Logo-Humanity & NatureThis presentation was part of the Sombath Symposium on “Humanity and Nature: Traditional, Cultural and Alternative Perspectives”, the objective of which was to present and discuss knowledge and practice drawn from different cultures and traditions that can serve as an alternative foundation to the predominant growth-driven development model.