Category: Letters to Sombath

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Dear Sombath….from Amelia Merrick

Dear Sombath,

This is the second or third letter I’ve written to you. I was too afraid to send you the other ones, but now that I’m in Canada I am less fearful. Sombath, there is so much I would like to tell you about how you impacted my work.

Do you remember back in December 2012 when we had that dinner party at my house? It was a warm, starry evening. We had a lot of food and a few bottles of good wine. I was still new in my role and I shared with you that I felt discouraged because of the heavy reliance on an infrastructure-driven approach to development in Laos. To me, it felt like there was very little space for community members, let alone children to be part of their own development journey and I didn’t see that change could be possible.

But by the time that the food was eaten, the clattering of forks stilled and the last drops of wine were drunk, you changed my opinion and gave me hope. You told me that change was possible and you encouraged me that children and youth must be part of the story. Honestly, I was skeptical… but you were right!

There are no words to describe the trauma and loss we felt when just ten days after our dinner party you were disappeared.   I remain thankful to God that I had that beautiful dinner with you. At the time I didn’t realize it, but that dinner changed my life and changed the way I would approach my work in Laos. Continue reading “Dear Sombath….from Amelia Merrick”

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Dear Sombath…from Shui Meng (8)

My dearest Sombath,

books-for-children-2006bToday is Father’s Day. I keep thinking of you on this day. You always say that even though we do not have any children of our own, it really does not matter, because you are always surrounded by children and young people through the Young Volunteers’ program that you started in PADETC. You keep reminding me that the young volunteers are like your children, and since we do not have children of our own, you can spend more time working with other people’s children and help guide them and challenge them to think, and direct their energy and creativity in a productive way.

Sombath, you truly love and relate very well with children. You believe that children and young people are special and that the growing-up years are the most important years of their lives. Those are the years you say are critical for developing their values and their world-view for the future. You also believe that learning in schools and from books alone is not enough; children and young people need to learn also from real life and real experiences outside of the classroom. Continue reading “Dear Sombath…from Shui Meng (8)”

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Dear Sombath…from Pablo Solón

Logo-Speak OutDear Sombath,

Today, I left Asia. Among all my memories, yours is for sure the most brief but the deepest. We met very shortly in Vientiane during the Asia Europe Peoples Forum in 2012 and we shook hands saying that we would continue chatting. But that never happened. A few months later, you were last seen at a police outpost and since then the authorities of Laos have never given an explanation of what had happened to you.

When I came to Asia, more than three years ago, I had just finished writing the book about my brother José Carlos Trujillo Oroza who was enforced disappeared in 1972 during the dictatorship of Banzer. I was able to finish his book before my mother passed away after searching for him for 40 years.  I must confess that when we presented that book I had the thought that the nightmare of enforced disappearances was something of old dictatorships. I didn’t think that I would face again a situation like that and even less in Asia. Continue reading “Dear Sombath…from Pablo Solón”

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Dear Sombath…from Hans van Willenswaard

Dear Sombath,

SB-prayerGreetings from the Netherlands. I was asked to write you a letter. That is not easy, I don’t know where you are, how you are; are you still in this world? It is very difficult to imagine that your presence is no longer under your own control. The first time we shared an event was the Gross National Happiness conference in Canada in 2005. We all got absorbed in the joyful style of this conference and the place that was given to spirituality, good food, the First Nation people of Canada, art, the initiators from Bhutan and to young people. You wholeheartedly joined the preparations for the next GNH conference, first in Thailand for partners from the Mekong region, and in 2007 the international event in Nongkhai and Bangkok, Thailand. You had hosted the visit of a delegation from Bhutan to PADETC and several places in Laos in order to familiarize our Bhutanese friends with the way of life in the Mekong region. We discovered a lot of the same intentions across countries: in particular to support young people in their discovery of genuine happiness; and how to integrate this happiness perspective in education.

You presided over the interreligious opening ceremony at Wat Hin Mak Peng, just the opposite bank of the Mae Kong River from Vientiane. You spoke at the provincial hall in Nongkhai and at the main auditorium of Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. The memories come back now as we prepare for the next GNH conference in Thimphu, Bhutan. We all miss you dearly, Sombath.

What I most remember, now, is that we meditated and prayed for the wellbeing of all people at many occasions. You often led us in these meditations. When I go back to these moments of silence I feel united with you, with all the people you prayed and worked so hard for. With effort I feel even united with the people who are responsible for your disappearance. May we all be well and happy and realize the sometimes awful mistakes we made. Let us try to bring back your sincere intentions and your inner strength.

Hans van Willenswaard, School for Wellbeing Studies and Research

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Dear Sombath…from Somchit (2)

Dear Uncle Sombath,

Today we made merits for you as well to blessed us all for the fresh Lao new year. Wherever you are i wish you received our pray and the food we offer in spirits. We did the ceremony at the wooden house that you bought just couple months before someone disappeared you. I remember very well this house and the rice hut, you said you were very very proud you found it, they are old that the owner wanted to tear it down and you want to preserve it. I never thought before that I will have to work on this house for you, moving them in pieces all the way from Savannakhet province and rebuild in Vientiane capital. It was my very first time in my life to build a house, and I always wish that you could come back and tell me what I should do with these old pieces of woods.

I sometimes thought whether it’s worth to work on them, but I manage to finished them at last, with some adaptation. For nearly 2 years that it’s done, we never use it, and not many people see the house attractive because it’s typical Lao house. But to me, I always say to myself that this house is lovely. I love looking at it and it make me smile inside. For me it’s symbol of you, your taste and happiness. Hope you will get to come back to see it by yourself soon. Jit

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Dear Sombath…from Anne-Sophie Gindroz (3)

 

Dear Sombath,

“Right now, people have been trained to be so narrow in their specialty, so specialized, so compartmentalized […] we are all trained to be narrow-minded, and that narrow-mindedness makes us not able to connect to other issues.” 

Dear Sombath, your words resonate so deeply in the face of what development proponents are and do. Listen to communities, interacting humanely (outside of formal time-bound and agenda-based meetings) and take the time for critical reflection are not activities that are really valued and rewarded in development cooperation. Because we need to be productive, we need to deliver, we need to perform.

We are deaf to voices of civil society actors not fitting our criteria, we are blind to the non-monetized economy (which is not only highly relevant for the majority of ‘disadvantaged’ people, but also constitutes the basis of the formal economy), and we are mute to environmental, cultural and spiritual values which do not generate any income.

I can only agree with you when you say: “We become very self-centered […] unable to listen to others. We are what the development model trains us to do and behave and work”.

May your thoughtful words be heard by all.

Anne-Sophie

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Dear Sombath…from Shui Meng (7)

My dearest Sombath,

Today, 17 February, is your birthday. This is the third year that you have not celebrated your birthday with me. Not having you with me is already very difficult; but not having you with me on this special day is even harder to bear.

S17 February 2015o, to mark the day, members of your family and I went to offer food for the monks in the forest temple, Wat Na Khoune Noi, the temple that you have been so closely associated with. This is the temple where you first started the Buddhist Development Program (BDP), under the protective endorsement from Phra Arjan Sali, the Vice Partriarch of the Buddhist Sangha. Through the BDP you were able to introduce to some monks the concepts of Engaged Buddhism, a system of Buddhist teachings and practice that encourage the monastics to step outside the confines of their temples and be more engaged in issues that affected the wider community and society. Continue reading “Dear Sombath…from Shui Meng (7)”

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Dear Sombath…from S.Y. Chin

Dear Sombath,

I write to you on Christmas Eve 2014 after reminding myself and colleagues that you are now missing for more than two years.

Your disappearance has muted for many of your friends the joy of the season.

The past year has brought to the front many of the concerns about sustainable development that you had devoted much of your work towards addressing.

The continuing efforts of many people around the World to address your concerns, which have become universal, has sorely missed your gentle wisdom and leadership.

We all look forward to your safe return.

Our warm wishes for Peace to you, Shui Meng and all our Friends at PADETC.

S.Y. Chin
Publisher

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Dear Sombath…from Hannah

Dear Sombath,

This month marks two years of you missing. By now almost everyone in my life has have heard your story and how my parents, Shui-Meng, and I have been personally affected by your forced disappearance. There are many things that I could tell people about you and how much you have impacted my life and helped me to become the person I am today. But these things pale in comparison to what you have done for your country; the very country that is responsible for you not being home with your family for the past two years.

Selfishly, I want you to come home. My heart aches knowing that you may not be at my wedding this September, that you have spent two years away from your wife, and that my parents have a void that only the loss of a best friend can leave. I also want you to come home for the people of Laos, and for the hope and future of the country.

Sombath, we miss you. Whereever you are I hope that you know how much we miss and love you. I think about you every day.

love,

Hannah Foehringer Merchant

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Dear Sombath…from Shui Meng (6)

My dearest Sombath,

It is already two years since you were so rudely taken away from me on that fateful night of 15 December 2012. I can tell you that over the past two years, I don’t know how many times my mind went back to that moment when you walked into Saoban Shop where I was and said, “Let’s go home”. I remembered answering “OK”, picked up my things, and we got into our respective cars and headed for home, except you never arrived home.

Sombath, over the last two years, I kept wondering, could things have been different, if I had not taken our family car that day to go out first, leaving you to drive your beaten-old jeep to go for your usual evening ping-pong game with your ping-pong teacher? Then we would have been riding in the same car, and even if we were to be captured that night, we would at least be together. Or, what would have happened, if we had gone out for a beer together before going home, as we so often did on weekend nights. Then, maybe, just maybe, the people who laid in wait for you would tire of waiting and leave the police post before you drove by. After all it was a Saturday evening and most police on duty would leave for home early. Then you would have escaped your cruel fate.

Sombath, I know these are futile thoughts, but I cannot help it that they keep coming back again and again. Maybe, these senseless thoughts will continue to haunt me for the rest of my life.

Frankly, Sombath, I sometimes wonder how I manage to hold myself together through the 730 days that you have been disappeared. When people complement me for being strong, I could only smile a mirthless smile – for what else could I do but to go on? I cannot possibly accept that you have been taken from me without doing anything. I need to find out what happened to you, where you are now, and how to get you returned safely to our family. So I keep urging the Lao leaders to give me answers, and to mobilize all the help I can to persuade the Lao Government to expedite the investigation and resolve your case. I used to think that with the evidence of your capture recorded in the police’s own surveillance camera, it would not be so difficult to trace you and bring you home. But, to my utter disappointment and despair, you are still missing after two years.

Sombath dearest, I often worry that as time passes even your most faithful friends and supporters will tire of pleading your case. Well, at least for now the momentum of support for your return has not diminished. In fact, two years on, more and more people from across the globe are petitioning for you, and more and more concerned governments and human rights groups are calling upon the Lao Government to investigate your disappearance quickly, honestly and openly and bring the perpetrators to justice. Continue reading “Dear Sombath…from Shui Meng (6)”