Sombath Somphone | ສົມບັດ ສົມພອນ

Greetings Sombath,

My authors, colleagues and friends from across the developed and developing countries have been emailing me their Seasons Greetings over the past two weeks. Many of them, who are our mutual friends, have mentioned you in their emails.

They remember last Christmas, as 2012 was drawing to a close, how concerned we were when we heard the news that you had been missing for two weeks.

This Christmas, we all remember with even deeper concern that you are now missing for more than a year.

During the past year we all missed our dialogues with you, and your gentle, modest wisdom that came with our conversations.

At the same time time we were inspired by Shui-Meng’s efforts at making sure you are not forgotten.

All of us hope that Shui-Meng will be assured by the long-memory that has always been kept by the international community in development.

We all also hope that 2014 will see us picking up with you our various conversations that were paused at the end of 2012.

S.Y. Chin

Publisher, Southbound

Dear Sombath,

I am as one of the Buddhist practitioners. I believe in Karma. May your good Karma help you be strong both physically and mentally and bring you back home safely. Although we do not know your whereabouts, I would like to collect all my energy to do a prayer to convince the persons (who have been involved in your disappearance) to change their mind and understand about you and about what you have been doing for Laos, the country we all love. May all collective energy protect and bring you home.

I have learned about your philosophy on “development” very inspiring to me, for example Education for Sustainable Development and Happiness Indicator, and your continued effort to implement it and encourage colleagues, friends and younger generations from INGOs, NPAs, government partners and development partner organizations to do so. I myself feel very convinced if we adopt your approach to the development of our country, I believe our country will grow in a sustainable way that is not exploiting too much natural resources. In Buddhist Dharma “when we destroy the mother earth, we kill ourselves”—For example, pollution and disaster events are most human-made. Continue reading “Dear Sombath…from Kham Keopanya”

Dear Sombath,

Greetings to you, Shui Meng, and all of your family.

Thank you for the work you’ve done for people in Laos and the positive example you’ve been for people in many parts of the world, including the Philippines.

I’m currently in the Philippines, spending Christmas with Melinda’s family. Your work and example is known here and has been recognized, such as the Magsaysay award you received a few years ago.

So many of us hope you’ll soon be able to continue your work and continue to be an inspiration to others.

Best wishes

Ben

Ben Kerkvliet
Emeritus Professor
Australian National University
Canberra

Affiliate Graduate Faculty
University of Hawai’i
Honolulu

Dear Sombath,

You inspired me in my work and life in Laos when I first met you and Shui Meng decades ago, and each year my admiration for both of you has grown. She demonstrates all the qualities we have admired over the years in both of you of courage, strength, wisdom and so much more as she has sought information and support for you. We send our own prayers that you will return soon to all of us who admire and miss you deeply.

Carroll Long

Dear Friend Sombath,

We remember with pleasure the 1970’s when you were an East-West grantee and one of the only Lao students from a peasant family. During many conversations in our home you were steadfast in the desire to return to your country and do whatever you could to help build a better existence for all of its people. In that desire you were alone: the other Lao students were hesitant or dead-set against returning to a communist country.

We cannot forget that when the war ended you asked Josette to sew a new Lao People Democratic Republic flag to fly alongside the other national banners at the East West Center. Then you organized the flag raising, which didn’t please the Center’s administration that much. But you pulled it off. Continue reading “Dear Sombath…from Josette & Louis Rosof”

Dear Sombath,

I still cannot comprehend that there are people who are so threatened by you and your work that they kidnap and ‘disappear’ you for more than a year. I first met you in Hawaii in the 1970s, and  have yet to meet a gentler, kinder person with a twinkle in the eyes and a warm sense of humour. You cared passionately about what was happening in your country, we were all concerned about the war in Vietnam and the bombings in Laos, but there was never a doubt in your mind about going back to Laos after completing your studies. You wanted to work with the farmers and the rural poor for sustainable development, long before that phrase became fashionable.

I caught up with you again in 1995 when I had the pleasure of working with you and your group on a study of how rural families coped with flooding of the Mekong River. By then Shui Meng and you were well settled in Vientiane. I experienced how egalitarian you were in your dealings with people, how you really listened to what they said, how open-minded you were in your discussions with them and what a great atmosphere of trust there was around you. Nobody doubted that you cared about them.

Dear Sombath, I truly hope you will come back soon to Shui Meng and all of us who love and admire you, both for the person you are and for the work you have been doing which is now being carried on by those around you. Stay strong and take care.

Love, Chitra