Marmalade Sunsets: A Cambodian sun rises at a Refugee Camp

My socialite wingman/happy-hour advocate shoots me an email a few weeks ago and let’s me know there’s this amazing, charismatic, “internationalite” he wants me to meet. His explicit detail into the depth and magnitude of the global projects Sinoun has brought into fruition, had left me wondering how he had managed to keep this woman incognito from me for so long? Sinoun Kim is one of those fortunate women on this planet who is both exceptionally intelligent as well as dominates every man’s uninterrupted gaze as she treads slowly through a crowded room, as opposed to me, who says the most relentless inappropriate things every time I stumble across the quintessential Tall, Dark and Handsome stranger, because in my head, I think it’s the funniest thing I have concocted since Cosmos were being drunk in the 90’s..

Sinoun has a compelling story. Her mother, straight after giving birth, set out and walked from Cambodia for five days to the closest refugee camp in Thailand, as this was the only means of escape at a time when the civil war was at its height. I am drawn towards Sinoun’s thoughts as she re-iterates the reality of refugee life, of living off rice and bananas for the first five years of her life, of a father who learnt English by peeking through holes in a tent where English was being taught as he could not afford his own lessons. He then continued to learn English and work as a translator at the refugee camp he learnt to know as home, in order to alleviate his family from an almost assured poverty-stricken existence. This experience has galvanized her to go back to Cambodia and work with hundreds of indigenous, rural Cambodian young women, in developing a literacy project which empowers and exposes these young women to possibilities they would not necessarily have. This program is supported by various international libraries through the donation of books, with the objective of advancing their English skills and by providing breakthrough opportunities for these women living in rural Cambodia. Currently, Sinoun is seeking volunteers to teach English to this community in Phnom Penh within the next few months as the initiative expands. If you are interested in finding out more about the project, she can be reached at sinounkim@yahoo.com
To see our video interview, please go into http://www.travelvolunteersearch.blogspot.com/

On this International Women’s Day, I would like to highlight many phenomenal women who are pioneering revolutionary initiatives: Leah Baxter, Rama Tiru, Vanessa Noel, Maria Noack, Chikki Venkat, Jodi Lane, Carolina De La Rosa, Emma Colombo, Carol Hayman, Carmen Canann, Meg Goodman, Michele Kim Carter, Romina Oliverio, Debra Sands, so many more…

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