JANUARY 8, 2018 CAHK The official newsletter of the Cambodian Association of Hong Kong President message Firstly, I would like to wish you and our loved ones a happy New Year 2018 filled with good health and peace of mind. During 12th Century, the Khmer Empire was renowned all over South East Asia, Angkor being the epicenter of influence. This shall remain. With Honor, Memory and Common Hope, we have the duty to rise for the future generations. Our common heritage, our legacy, our culture to nurture. For the next decade, Cambodia will continue to strengthen its position within the ASEAN as a strategic partner ; rich in travel and hospitality, cultural significance and precious commodities AGENDA P.2 Social impact with Elephant branded P.4 Member Focus: Denis Do & Funan such as rice. P.7 As the first non-profit and apolitical Cambodian Association in Member benefits & Partners Hong Kong, our mission is connect communities and people, to share our common interest, and to contribute to Cambodia through three pillars : Culture, Business and Social Causes. Ravindra NGO
ELEPHANT BRANDED B Y J A M E S M U N R O B O O N 1. Tell me about your personal life journey I suppose the journey really began at university. I studied Architecture, which is not typically the route to getting into business. However in my second year, we were given the chance to spend 6 months designing a school, and then 4 months in South Africa actually build it! Blood, sweat, and tears went into making the school. However after all the efforts that went into the building, I was shocked to see students without pens or pencils, they were writing on old pieces of paper.at the end of my undergraduate studies I was offered a job with a British company in their China office. Having never been to Asia, let alone China I had no idea what to expect. But I loved it. During my holidays, I travelled a lot and again would go to schools where the kids just didn t have anything. It was on one such trips that I met Pry and Mey, my business partners in Cambodia. Pry is the creative genius behind EB. When i met him, he had just started making simple bags out of recycled cement bags.because recycled materials were cheaper than silk from Thailand. I thought it was great idea. And if we alter the design slightly, then we could sell these bags to my friends in Hong Kong. And help to raise money for these poor school children for their stationaries. This is how EB started. Now we are selling EB bags all over the world. We have also diversified into other EB products with communities in Colombia,South Africa,as well as Cambodia. S O C I A L I M P A C T P A G E 2
2. Why Elephant Branded? I wish it was some crazy great story, basically it came from the Elephant logo on the original cement bags which were our first range of recycled products. Now we also make bags from recycled rice sacks and motor bike inner tube tyres. However we have kept to the same core values and try to keep the brand colours in each range while targeting slightly different audiences. 3. What event/ happening/ moment of life did trigger the project? I suppose it was my meeting with Pry and Mey in Cambodia in my early 20's. Before that, I thought business was just for men in dark suits. But after meeting them, I realised that business is about family and loyalty, something which brings people together and transcends, race religion and politics. I do truly believe that business can and should be used as a force for good in the world. 4. What would you like for Cambodia? Cambodia has changed a lot in the last 7/8 years. However the key for me are the people. Everyone is entrepreneurial and trying to make their own businesses. While I used to live on opposite sides of the world, through business Pry and Mey have become very close friends, we are united by the same values and ideas.it has been a joy to see the birth of their children and how they grow up. That has truly been the highlight for myself. 5.What would you say to people who join the Cambodian Association of Hong Kong? I imagine many people who join will have a connection to Cambodia - whether they do business there or have visited on holiday. We are very privileged living in Hong Kong. With Cambodia being so close yet so different in many ways. I think the opportunity we can bring by being able to expand local businesses beyond Cambodia can have a huge benefit to the local people running their own business in Cambodia. For myself spending the evening growing Elephant Branded is much better and enjoyable use of time rather than playing on a playstation (smile ). www.elephantbranded.com S O C I A L I M P A C T P A G E 3
FUNAN B Y D E N I S D O T R A N S L A T I O N F R O M F R E N C H T O E N G L I S H B Y K A N D Y L I E U To discover soon on the second half of 2018 on screen: "Funan". An animated film which story takes place in Cambodia, at the time of the Khmer Rouge. Inspired by the testimony of his mother, Denis Do shares the pathway he led for his creation, revealing the milestones of his journey Between quest, creation and catharsis, there is only one step, that of the will. Who am I / My pathway My name is Denis Do, I was born in France from Cambodian immigrant parents. In order to explain the reasons that lead me to realize Funan, I must go far back into my pathway. There is something linked to a search for identity, or rather origins I believe that these questions, the ones that build us, are very prominent among the children of immigrants in contrast to the immigrants themselves, who started from a conscious process, from a choice. Being born in France from immigrant parents sometimes brings us to live certain things. And during childhood, with classmates, friends, we do not lack of remarks or hesitation to point out our differences. Whether nicely or not, anyways... No trauma, no pain for me in all of this. On the contrary, I always had the feeling of having been able to live my cultural specificities and to be built from them. My parents speak Khmer between themselves but use Teochew with me hence, I quickly realized that I had Chinese origins. It is through this idea that I grew up. At that same period, China was becoming more and more prominent in the media. The more I became interested in Chinese culture, the more my environment served me with it. So we can say that the stars were lining up. Yet, a story was disturbing what I had learnt and built in my mind My mother s journey. I knew of course that she was born in Cambodia. But I wanted to believe that it was "only" a place of birth. My father took me there when I was a little child. For a kid born in France, I was particularly shocked if not somehow traumatized by the sight of disabled people we came cross, along with the extreme misery. It was in 1995. I think my father wanted to show me his country. I had spent very little time with my family there really. It was the first time I met them and I was not comfortable. I felt as if we did not have much in common and I did not really recognize them as characters in my mother's stories. These stories yes, the ones I grew up with. As far as I remember, she used to tell me these stories, and doing so she was reliving them. And I used to ask for more. I loved those moments when she told me about my uncles and aunts, especially my grandparents. My grandmother was weaving and my grandfather was selling condiments at the Mekong docks. The stories were not that precise. No date, only approximation. The less things are revealed the more the imagination works. Everything was fine in my imagination. I loved what my mother told me, but I renounced on what I saw, what I lived there. I did not like this trip M E M B E R F O C U S P A G E 4
Among these stories was the Khmer Rouge period Many people of my generation have told me that their parents have trouble talking about it. This was not the case with my mother. Obviously, it was good for her to talk about it. And in a certain way, it was a bit of Godwin's point. After long discussions, we always came back to the Khmer Rouge. I was small, and I was not even sure at that time if I believed these stories. But oddly, they were very pictorial. I pictured in my head these men dressed in black doing harm around them. All these stories, these people, these situations, were out of the ordinary in my mind. All this seemed unreal in the ears and in the head of a little Parisian. It's stupid, but remarks resonate and will remain perpetually in my mind: "Finish your rice, during Pol Pot, we had nothing! ". So much so that it would be no surprise if I use these words for my children... Later on, during my research, I came across photos of the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot. I believe that the historical reality really took shape in my eyes during that time. All these people I imagined, from my family or not. All these extreme situations. I thought to myself that someday I'd have to look into it, work on it. Clarify some things. Compile testimonies, bring back memories, engrave in the marble. I need to act without really knowing why nor to which direction. M E M B E R F O C U S P A G E 5
JANUARY 2018 ISSUE NO.1 "Funan" is produced by Les Films d'ici (FR), Juliette Films (LUX), Lunanime (BEL), Ithinkasia (CAMB). Bac Films distributes and sells the film internationally. In 2009, I graduate from Gobelins, the School of Image. I left studies with a strong idea, to make an animated film about what my mother lived. Cambodia was not my main focus at this time. It's really my mother's story that guided me. This is the reason why I went back to Cambodia with her. We saw people, we walked some roads. It was not easy to redraw everything perfectly, but it was not the goal either. This trip was the one to make me realize that I was no stranger to Khmer culture, its language, its smells, its melodies. This is where I saw my mother lived in her home country. I believe that since that trip, I have given myself the right to feel a bit Cambodian. The film project took several years to feature and to develop. Meanwhile all this time, I have come closer to this part in my origins. The cathartic part of this film could be in a form of attempt, through staging and in image, to live partly what my mother lived herself. To be able to say "I know". And I feel, knowing that I got closer to those people she was talking to me about. And tell me now, that I am from here and also from there. That I have the right not to be exclusive, or of a single origin. I am now somehow in the future, because of all these steps have taken place since 2009. Today, at the end of 2017, the film is soon over. I have several projects in development, one of which story will take place in Cambodia. It will allow me to turn the page on the Khmer Rouge and to live the Cambodia of here and now. M E M BFEU RNFAONC U P S A GPEA G 6E 6
MEMBER BENEFITS A brief history of the Cambodian Association of Hong Kong Founded in November 2014, we are now a solid group of 90 Members across the region including Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Cambodia. Registered and incorporated in August 2017 in Hong Kong, we are the first Cambodian association and the perfect gateway for the Asia Pacific region and Mainland China. Our committee members are dedicated to supporting the Cambodian community across positive actions and ethical values. Why become a CAHK Member? Benefits include: - One CAHK T-shirt and membership card - Preferential rates on our services and with our partners across Asia/Europe - Free Newsletter distribution to all the members - Access to our private events Annual membership fee: HKD 888 per person As a Non-Profit, your participation will help sustain the Cambodian Association of Hong Kong and for each individual membership 15% will be donated to NGO's in Cambodia such as : Example of Partners : We are looking for volunteers, sponsors, partners and donors. Please contact us at info@cahk.asia for further information.
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