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In defense of Somaly Mam.

6/1/2014

37 Comments

 
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This week, startling allegations emerged that Cambodian anti-sex trafficking crusader Somaly Mam has been lying to us the whole time.  Her personal story – kidnapped as a ten-year old girl and sold into sexual slavery, forced to endure a decade of horrific abuse until she managed to escape – captured the hearts and attention of the international philanthropic community, funneling millions of dollars into Cambodia and her own Somaly Mam Foundation to help other victims.  She became the face of the anti-human trafficking cause, a media darling who appeared with Oprah, Anderson Cooper, on PBS, with NY Times columnist Nikolas Kristof of, Half the Sky fame, and rubbed shoulders with Hollywood celebs Susan Sarandon, Meg Ryan, Angelina Jolie, and many others as they toured Cambodian slums and brothels.  

The high-water mark of her accolades is well documented, but it all came crashing down so suddenly this week.  Allegations of falsehood in her narrative led her own foundation to hire an independent law firm to conduct an investigation.  The results weren’t pretty – an elephant so big it couldn’t be swept under the rug - including concrete evidence from multiple Khmer (Cambodian) sources that confirmed Somaly Mam has been flat-out lying to us the whole time.  She was not kidnapped and sold into sexual slavery at age 10, or at all, instead grew up as a normal village girl like so many others.  The tale of 10-years of rape, beatings and slavery she told us, which endeared us with their authenticity and brought a tear to more than one blue eye, didn’t happen at all.  Furthermore, Somaly lied about her own daughter being kidnapped by sex traffickers as retaliation for her work (she actually ran off with a boyfriend to escape the attention of her mother’s foundation,) and even worse, coached Cambodian girls into telling their own fabricated stories of sexual exploitation to elicit more donations. 

Basically, Somaly Mam told us the story we wanted to hear – no, that we needed to hear in order to justify writing big checks.  In response, her foundation announced her resignation and is hoping the media maelstrom blows over.  Somaly has remained mum on over these allegations but let’s be clear – she lied, and it is wrong.  But why?  And is there at least some shred of salvation we can locate in all this rubble, considering she’s spent most of her life doing more to combat sex trafficking than anyone on earth?  Does she warrant our forgiveness based on the purity of her actions, even if they were wrapped in a banana leaf of lies?  I think so, and I’ll tell you why.





First, a quick note about my perspective on this issue; I’ve lived in Southeast Asia over the last year and spent about 4 months of that time in Cambodia, an enchanting black rose of a country that I truly love.  I’ve traveled corner to corner, from Kampong Som to Siem Reap, befriending locals, immersing myself in the culture and writing about it.  I’ve volunteered at orphanages, visited the slums where people live in and on garbage, slept under the stars in the hot jungle provinces with no electricity, and even lived in a rat-infested abode next door to sisters who work in the sex industry, earning a living in Phnom Penh’s tourist bars.  I became like a big brother to them and also became friends with many others and heard their personal stories.  I have friends who run charitable foundations here, Khmer friends who work at the Phnom Penh Post, and sipped more than one beer with ex-CIA agents and former royal national guards who’d seen it all.  In the meantime, I also wrote a collaborative book, Cambodia’s School of Hope, to help educate and empower youth here.  None of that make me an expert on Cambodia but the reality is, I hear more about the true nature of these events on the streets every day than the international media has documented so far, combined.

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I see things on a routine basis that would be hard to even wrap your mind around for folks in the Western world.  I know that because I wouldn’t have believed the magnitude and majesty of Cambodia’s oddity myself, only a year ago.  So let me tell you 10 reasons why I think Somaly Mam, despite her obvious wrongdoing, is still worth defending.

1.Context.
To start, it’s important to understand that you are looking at this situation through a western or United States paradigm.  Of course you are – that’s where you’re from and where you live, so how could you not?  It’s a world of black and white, right and wrong, and moral absolutes.  But please realize, other people live in a world without the luxury of that same paradigm.  I don’t expect you to grasp that right away, but try to keep an open mind as you read what follows. 

2. Poverty.
It’s hard for you to even understand the level of poverty in Cambodia.  I could throw out plenty of statistics, like the average person makes about $2 a day at a decent job, or there are 90% illiteracy rates in its expansive rural areas, or that it’s so poor, children are frequently sold off for $20 because there’s just not enough food to go around.  But all the stats and figures won’t prepare you for the siege of poverty that barrages you when you here.  After you see the thousandth barefoot child begging in the street, or whole families picking through the trash, dirtier than the garbage they’re shuffling through, or people with no legs dragging themselves through the streets by their hands, the only reflection they’ll ever see in the shined hubcaps of a politician’s Range Rover, words fall short. 

The best way I can describe Cambodia’s poverty is, fittingly, with a quote by Mahatma Gandhi, “There are people in the world so hungry, that God can not appear to them except in the form of bread.”

2. The modern history of Cambodia.
Somaly was reportedly born in 1970 or 1971, her formidable years as a child during the hell-on-earth era of Pol Pot’s regime in Cambodia between 1975-1979, when the Khmer Rouge systematically murdered, starved, or worked to death at least 25% of the population.  At least 1.5 million people died in this genocide of “purification,” sometimes for no greater offense than they wore eyeglasses or spoke a little French.  The horror was absolute – cruelty unsurpassed in human history.  Millions of people spoke only in whispers, made soup from grass and tree bark to survive, ate roaches, rats or earthworms as their only protein source.  Mothers watched their babies swung by their legs against trees because soldiers didn’t want to waste the bullet to kill them.  High schools and hospitals were turned into carnivals of torture.  Mothers, sisters, brothers, and children were raped, mutilated, and killed right in front of you and there was nothing you could say or do about it.  After years of that, you didn’t even have tears left to shed.  This is the reality Somaly grew up in, and the subsequent decades of hunger, shock, and hopelessness that blanketed the country.  

Now, tell me Somaly hasn’t suffered enough - at least to earn our attempt at understanding - without your voice wavering.      

3. People act in proportion to their desperation.
It’s important to clarify Somaly’s indiscretion if we are going to pass judgment.  Her organization wasn’t a sham, she didn’t cheat people, and funds were not misappropriated.  Instead, Somaly’s heinous crime was that she lied – seemingly manufacturing a backstory that was consistent with the victims she was trying to save - to garner funds to help innocent children from being kidnapped, raped, and sexually exploited. 

People act in proportion to their desperation, and faced with insurmountable suffering all around her - that the world had forgotten - perhaps she did what was necessary to help quiet the screams.  Sit with that for a moment. 

4. Culture.
There are acute cultural differences between the United States or the western world and Cambodia that muddy the clear waters of our condemnation.  For instance, in Cambodia it’s very rude to directly say, “no” to someone.  This often leads to hilarious encounters for the traveller or expatriate as we navigate hundreds of gently deflected mistruths in the name of politeness, like taking 3 left turns instead of a right.  I’m not saying that’s the case in Somaly’s situation but I do know there are a lot of cultural differences at play as we translate her narrative into our western consciousness. 

5. Corruption.
The mechanics of Cambodia are corrupt to their core – there’s no other way of saying it - as is the case in most poor developing countries.  In the modern history of Khmer society, the only absolute most people have known is the daily scramble for survival while a tiny circle of ultra-rich fatten themselves on the sacred cow of their birthright.  The deck is stacked and the commoner will always lose.  As far as these people know, that’s the way it always has been and how it will always be.  You want truth?  Power is the only truth in Cambodia, a belly full of rice, the only honesty.  No one bothered showing up to work at the Ministry of Justice today, and the Department of Corruption is the nicest building in town.  I’ve heard of a general’s wife accepting an award for humanitarian work from the foreign community in the past, while at the same time she was one of the biggest human sex traffickers in Cambodia.  Now that we’ve recalibrated the moral spectrum, where does Somaly’s well-intentioned lie rank?



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6. Marketing is about telling stories.
A good story promotes your cause far better than all of the hard work and good intentions in the world.  As much as we despise this reality, we equally respond to it.  If Somaly were just another poor Cambodian woman crying for the world’s help, would we have listened?  Would the international community have picked her up and passed her to the front?  Probably not.  I know this because I meet people here in Cambodia all the time who do incredible, selfless work to help the disenfranchised but have to close their community centers and suspend operations because of a lack of international attention and funding.  A good story is the core, and then you circle your good deeds around that.

This situation reminds me intimately of Greg Mortensen’s dilemma last year, when he fell from grace amid allegations that he fabricated parts of his remarkable story.  Author of, Three Cups of Tea, about his near-death experiences in the mountains of Pakistan and Afghanistan that led him to build schools for poor and isolated kids there, he went from best-selling author, media darling, and humanitarian of the year to scorned pariah in the blink of an eye once 60 Minutes and others poked holes in his story. 

The world of spin and attention-grabbing headlines is not the same as the real world, yet we continue to canonize our heroes and drag our villains through the streets of public opinion, quickly forgetting why we loved them in the first place.  How quickly we abandon the pure causes they championed in order to join the rabid mob.

To put the ultra-competitive, cutthroat world of NGO’s (non-governmental organizations) in context, probably the biggest and most popular charitable org here is the Cambodian Children’s Fund, founded by Australian Hollywood movie mogul, Scott Neesun.  Here is his story: 

Scott was one of the most successful people Hollywood, President of 20th Century Fox International, and had the wealth and privilege to prove it.  But in 2003, on a trip to Cambodia, he came across the garbage dumps of Steung Meanchey.  There he witnessed a little 9-year old girl, barefoot and dressed in rags, picking through broken glass and syringes looking for food or something of value to sell.  Through an interpreter he found out that she lived there among the trash with her sister and mother, and that’s how they survived.

Despite all of Scott’s money and accomplishments, he just couldn’t turn his back on that little girl, and all the kids born into those same circumstances in Cambodia.  So he walked away from his star-lit Hollywood life and instead dedicated himself to helping those children.  Since 2004, Neeson's charity has helped house, educate and provide health care for more than 1,450 children in the country's most desperate slums.  

Great story, huh?  I’m sure Scott is a great man and does great work, but there’s no coincidence that his ultra-marketable riches-to-rags story helped propel his organization a lot faster than if he was just another caring tourist. 

There’s a corollary to this story that will conclude my point.  I do some charity work with a wonderful school here in Cambodia, the Spitler School in a poor village outside Siem Reap.  American businessman, Danny Spitler, and his wife founded it about 8 years ago after they visited Cambodia and had a similar epiphany as Scott Neeson.  They started funding a humble school in the village along with a caring local man, which has grown into two large school compounds that help educate and empower over 800 children a year, every year.  But Danny doesn’t have a slick PR campaign and a Rolodex filled with Hollywood insiders so the marketing has lagged behind the angel’s work they do.  We just released a collaborative book, Cambodia’s School of Hope, to remedy that problem, but you get my point – marketing is storytelling, and there’s no playing field where it’s more important than non-profits and fundraising.    

7. Great people have great flaws.
Some of the greatest people in history are megalomaniacs, passionate to a fault, hurtful to those around them, and have egos the size of beach balls.  Think of Steve Jobs, Pablo Picasso, and the archetype of just about any other eccentric genius throughout history.  The same personality traits that lead people to greatness manifest as great flaws.  I think it’s important to tolerate the flaws if we celebrate the greatness.  Perhaps, Somaly is one of those people.  

8. Who are we to criticize?
What have we done to help the little girls being raped and sold into sexual slavery in Cambodia, or anywhere?  What do we do for charity?  What have we sacrificed?  Are we quick to criticize but slow to act?  Let me put this as delicately as possible…if you’re licking your chops to criticize Somaly but not doing a whole lot to make this world a better place, then shut the hell up and go away.

9. Are we innocent?
If we want to start stacking stones of right and wrong on the scales, let’s make sure they’re all up there.  The United States has done plenty of terrible things in this part of the world and hurt countless innocent people for the sake of money, power, or ideology, many of which I never realized until I came here and saw with my own eyes.  We’ve also done a lot of good things that genuinely help people.  But Asia is a maddeningly complex theater of the world where everyone is guilty during some act.  So before we point fingers at Somaly, one poor Cambodian woman who’s guilty of being overzealous to rally the world’s attention around the pure cause of defending children - let’s make sure our own hands aren’t dirty, too.  

10. Would you do the same?  
If you were faced with these same conditions and circumstances, and you honestly thought that to make a real difference in these girl’s lives you had to exaggerate a backstory, would you lie to help them?  Would you perpetrate a small wrong to achieve a whole lot of right?  Would you do the same as Somaly? 

Based on that paradox, would it have been unlawful for her not to lie, if it meant she wouldn’t be empowered to help all of those women and girls?    

I don’t know what the right answer is.  Or, I guess the whole point is that there's not one right answer, but I do know this; Somaly, in all of her flaws and faults, indiscretions and imperfections, has done more to spread light than most of us, myself included, will do in 100 lifetimes.  Yet, we find ourselves in this unfortunate place because she did violate our trust, and trust is perhaps the one thing worth more than money - something so precious and fragile, it’s rarely recoverable.  

But if you could look into the eyes of the Cambodian girls she’s rescued, hear there joyful voices say, “arkoun, ohn,"– “thank you, sister,” to Somaly, you’d realize it’s not the only thing. 

-Norm   :-)

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Jenny and Jenna's Big Day Out!  

5/20/2014

215 Comments

 
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A few weeks back, I was introduced to Jenny and Jenna, two Cambodian sisters.  Like a lot of people in Cambodia, they are very poor, but Jenny and Jenna are also orphans - they're dad died when they were young and their mother abandoned them.  They had to raise themselves and had no one to care for them and not enough food most days.  But thanks to a wonderful American gentleman named Cowboy Bart, who does a lot of good work in Cambodia through his organization, Kids at Risk Cambodia.org, they were put into better circumstances, under the guardianship of a family with enough to eat and even the chance to go to school some days.  Life was still hard and they were still dirt poor but they were together, and things were a little better.

I met Cowboy Bart by chance one day and was invited to go out into the rural province to visit Jenny and Jenna.  We went along with Keep Calm and Keep Hope, two Cambodian medical students who work tirelessly to help the girls and be their advocates.  The trip was incredible and I instantly wanted to help - you can read about it here.  

Now, Cowboy, Keep Calm, and Keep Hope have arranged for Jenny and Jenna to attend a good government school and live in a better situation up in Siem Reap, four hours north of their current province and the home to the wonder of world, Angkor Wat.  But before they transitioned into their new life, we wanted to give them one last ridiculously fun going away party.  Instead of throwing the party out in the jungle province where they live, we decided to bring them to the big capital city, Phnom Penh, to celebrate.  It's the first time they've ever been in the big city, and a lot of other firsts for them, in what became, "Jenny and Jenna's Big Day Out!"  Watch the video here:
We sent a tuk tuk to the province to pick them up, driven by my trusty local driver, nicknamed Rambo.  He brought them back, along with the grandmother that looks after them, to my favorite restaurant in the capital city of Phnom Penh, Larry's 110.  We met the girls with big hugs, balloons, and brand new backpacks, filled with pencils, pens, dry erase boards, pink notebooks, stickers, and cool sunglasses for their Big Day Out.  

From there, our caravan galavanted around the city for a full day of fun.  It was also a day of firsts for Jenny and Jenna - the first time they'd been in the capital, or any city, the first time they'd seen fancy cars, eaten in a regular restaurant, and had their own backpack.  It was also the first time they ever had pizza, first time on an escalator and elevator, and believe it or not, we found the one and only ice rink in Cambodia so the girls could go ice skating!  

It was probably the most joy and appreciation I've ever experienced from another human being, and I had a blast just watching the smiles on their faces.  It was interesting, too, at their reactions to everything so new.  For instance, they first took their flip flops off at the front door of the restaurant before walking in, like you'd do at any home in Asia, and they needed a little help with a knife and form, so used to eating with their hands.  I loved watching them try to figure out the menu, and they were full after one piece but were more concerned with trying to feed everyone else, a sign of thanks and appreciation in their culture.  They also didn't want to do the touristy things of visiting temples or sites like that - they wanted to see the big, bright, modern shopping mall and even a modern grocery store!  They'd never seen a store mannequin before and laughed so hard at that, were amazed by the big, crystal-clear televisions, and stopped to ogle every thing shiny.  But they never ever asked for one thing all day - not one single thing.  It was beyond their comprehension that poor orphans like them could even own something.  They had fun pushing their ice cream into my face and we all kept each other from falling on the ice skating rink.  They absolutely went bonkers chasing the pigeons in front of the royal palace.

But it wasn't all fun and games - we made sure to drive by the local university's medical school and take photos.  Part of the goal of this Big Day Out was to expand their world view - to expose them to the modern world and lift their ceiling to what's possible.  Keep Calm and Keep Hope are such amazing, generous, and wonderful mentors to these girls, and Jenny and Jenna say they want to follow in their footsteps studying medicine.  It would be a good start if they could even get into school consistently, but now, they can say they were at a university and maybe won't be as intimidated.

We all ended the day happy but exhausted, with a round of hamburgers and big hugs goodbye at Larry's before Rambo put the girls and the grandmother on the tuk tuk for the long ride back to their province.

Here's the deal - Jenny and Jenna should be able to go to a better school very soon in Siem Reap, with Cowboy Bart, Keep Calm, Keep Hope, and myself as their advocates.  We've even raised some funds thanks to your generous donations to help with their living expenses, clothing, food, and cost of education.  But they need more support in order to have a shot at a better life, not just pizza and fun videos one day and then we all forget about them.  And there are millions of kids in Cambodia, and probably a billion around the world, who are desperately poor and suffering, and just need a little help.  

So please  share this blog and video, tell others, and read some of my other blogs about poverty in Cambodia and the world, including your back yard.  If you'd like to help Jenny and Jenna or any of the other projects we have going on, please drop me an email.  

And THANK YOU for being a part of Jenny and Jenna's Big Day Out!!!!!

Norm  :-)

215 Comments

New book, 'Cambodia's School of Hope,' explores a school that educates and empowers impoverished youth.

5/14/2014

2 Comments

 
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I'm proud to announce the release of the book, Cambodia's School of Hope, a collaboration effort between myself and the children and staff at the Spitler School in Siem Reap, Cambodia.  The story of how the school came to be, and what they're doing to educate and empower children in poor Cambodia, is truly remarkable.  Read about it below and grab the eBook on Amazon.com.  We'll have a print version available soon.  100% of profits from book sales are going directly to keep funding this kids' educations!  

Thank you in advance for your support and caring about these kids!

-Norm  :-)


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Cambodia's School of Hope.

A chance meeting in an exotic land on the other side of the globe.  A local guide trying to raise money to build a well in his poor village.  Hundreds of Cambodian school children who didn’t have a school to attend, or sometimes enough food, clean water, or medical care.  

What unfolded next is truly amazing.

The story begins in April of 2005, when Danny and Pam Spitler visited Siem Reap, Cambodia to see the famous temples of Angkor Wat.  During their four-day visit to the area their tour guide was a young Cambodian gentleman by the name of Chea Sarin. Over the course of their visit, it became clear that he cared deeply for the plight of the poor villagers in his country and especially for the children.  He told the Spitlers that the lack of clean drinking water was the cause of many health problems among the village children.

At the end of their tour the Spitlers decided to donate enough money to provide one of these wells to a poor village.  Sarin sent them photos of the well being built and then when it was finished.  A few weeks later, Sarin asked them if they would consider helping him start a school at a very poor village located about nine kilometers outside of Siem Reap.  The Spitlers agreed. 

The initial concept was to build one building, using lumber and thatch construction, with a dirt floor.  The building would be divided into two classrooms in anticipation of about 60 students.  With a construction budget of less than $1,000 Sarin was able to complete the building in just a few weeks and had money left over to build some rudimentary wooden tables, which the students could use for desks.

To the surprise of Sarin and the Spitlers, almost 100 children signed up to attend the school.  Classes began in July 2005, and additional students continued to arrive, and soon the school was serving 120 students by offering half the students classes in the morning and the other half in the afternoon.  Sarin was able to purchase supplies for the students and the classroom at an average cost of about $1 per student per month, and two well-qualified teachers were hired for salaries of $70 per month each.

Given the response from the village, the Spitlers decided to provide additional funds so that Sarin could build two more buildings and hire four additional teachers.   Sarin accomplished all of this within six weeks and when the school opened for the regular school year in September 2005 the school was able to accommodate 190 students in kindergarten through second grade.

Over the years, the Spitler School has continued to flourish and grow, and now a second school, the Kurata School, is open.  Thanks to Sarin, the Spitlers, the Spitler Foundation, and donors and volunteers from all over the world, over 800 children are now being educated and given a better chance to get out of poverty.  The school also undertakes many community projects like building roads, delivering food, trash pickup and recycling, and medical advocacy for the children.

The Spitlers and Sarin have been recognized as widely as the Cambodian government and the U.S. White House for their efforts but they do it all to give these children a brighter future, not for any accolades.  What started out as a chance meeting between strangers from different parts of the world turned into something so meaningful and special to so many people – Cambodia’s school of hope.

This book tells the story of the Spitler School and looks into the lives of the children who attend, their families, their village, and the beautiful, yet challenged, country of Cambodia. 

100% of the profits from this book are going directly to the Spitler School Foundation to help these children. 

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This is gonna be fun!

5/11/2014

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A couple weeks ago, I told you about how I got involved with Kids at Risk Cambodia, a small non-profit run by a colorful character from the U.S. named Cowboy Bart.  Bart and I rode out into the province here, together with the Cambodian medical students Keep Calm and Keep Hope, to visit two orphan sisters that Kids at Risk has been supporting.

Meeting Jenny and Jenna was a life-changing experience and I immediately jumped in to help any way I could - fund raising, building the organization a new website, and sharing their stories with you.  Thanks to your generous donations, we were able to buy them school supplies, art supplies, and some new clothing, which Keep Calm and Keep Hope delivered to the ecstatic and appreciative sisters.  

We also  got the good news that Jenny and Jenna have been accepted into a NGO's school program up in Siem Reap (a tourist city and home to Angkor Wat, about 5 hours to the north.)  The sisters are excited about the opportunity to go to school every day and have the stability of a roof over their heads in their new home, and Kids at Risk is still going to be a sponsor that helps pay for their education, food, clothing, and living expenses, and we'll always be advocates to make sure the girls are healthy and happy.    

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Now, we're planning something bigger that's going to be insanely fun.  While planning the next visit to the girls in the province, Keep Calm and Keep Hope and I came up with the idea to throw them a nice goodbye party, something they've never experienced before.  As we brainstormed about what we could do for them, the med students came up with the brilliant idea to bring the girls to the big city of Phnom Penh for the party, not bring the party to them!  They told me that the sisters had never been to Phnom Penh, even though it's only an hour away, never have eaten pizza, never have had a cake for themselves, and never been into a toy store, movie theater, amusement park, etc.  

So, around May 20 we're going to surprise Jenny and Jenna and give them the best day of their lives.  We're going to send a tuk tuk out to them, but they'll surely be puzzled when we're not in it.  Instead, there will be balloons on it and instructions to hop in and the driver will take them to the city, where we'll greet them.  From there, it will be an action-packed day of spoiling the girls rotten with all the things most kids take for granted; ice cream along the river walk, a pizza party, gifts at the Toys Land play center, and the Dream Land amusement park, just to name a few. This will all be paid for out of my own pocket, not with any money from the organization.

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How special will this be for them?  Remember that these are girls who, until Kids at Risk came into their lives, were used to sleeping outdoors on wooden benches in the jungle, scavenge for food, owned one pair of raggedy clothes, never had medical care, never went to school, and had no mother or father or relatives to show them love.  Now, they're going to get the superstar treatment they deserve!  

I can't wait to see the expressions on their faces, as these girls show the brightest smiles you've ever seen just when you buy them a Coca Cola!  I honestly think this could be the most fun day I've ever had in my life.  But of course it's not just about giving them toys and too much sugar - I want to take them on a quick tour of the university here in Phnom Penh, show them middle class and professional women at work, and also drive them by the U.S. embassy, just so they can get a taste of what's possible if they keep dreaming big.  The medical students and I will also help the girls transition up to Siem Reap and visit them at their new school in early June.  Our commitments to Jenny and Jenna are for life, but in the meantime, let's party!    

Yup, this is gonna be fun!  

- Norm   :-) 

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These are a few of the sites and activities Jenny and Jenna will enjoy on their big day in Phnom Penh!  I'll be sure to post plenty of photos and details of the party.  

Please contact me if you'd like to make a donation to help support the girls or other children in need in Cambodia .    
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When you travel, is it wrong to take photos of people living in poverty?

3/18/2014

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I recently met a new friend in Cambodia, a very kind and conscious American woman from Denver who is traveling in Southeast Asia.  She asked me a question so insightful I had to write a blog to answer it properly.  Here is her inquiry, paraphrased:

When I travel to poor countries I rarely take photos of people. I see so many art shows with photographs of the impoverished but it seems these people are no longer sentient beings - they become impersonalized backdrops at dinner parties, objectified as oppressed beings.  I struggle with this.  How do you feel when you photograph people who live in poverty?

Here is my answer:

First off, great observation!  I think about that all the time as I travel or live in Third World countries and photograph people, many of them living in desperate poverty.  I ask myself, “Am I just being a tourist in their suffering?  Am I one of those people taking photos who think, ‘Oh look at all the starving dirty people in hovels - these pictures of their suffering will look great on my Facebook!  My friends back home will think so highly of me.  I feel SO good about myself for taking an hour out of my day to go visit their slum/orphanage/village, and now that I’ve got the photos I can go back to my air conditioned luxury hotel.’"

My answer is always “Hell no!” but that’s the stark reality of too many tourists I see.  A while back I even read an article about a South African hotel that was replicating the impoverished shanty experience.  They weren’t bringing people into the shanty towns to let them experience a small part of the life of the poor, but were mocking it by building their own shanties complete with a few high-end amenities, right on the hotel grounds.  That’s just dead wrong.  But what about the casual traveler who can’t help pulling his camera that costs more than the local people in his finder make in two years? 

So much of photographing people as you travel comes down to your intentions, but you also have to communicate that intention, often within seconds and without words.  I travel into some of the most impoverished areas in the world and take photographs without conflict or any problems with the locals.  In fact, when I leave I’ve spread good will and hopefully helped them in some tangible way…AND still got authentic photos I’ll cherish.  How do I do that?

1. When possible, I ask people if I can shoot a photo of them.  Of course that loses spontaneity but if we've already made eye contact, said hello, or they see me, I'll smile and ask politely if I can take a photo, and then thank them profusely afterward.  It may not sound like much, but it shows respect when you ask permission.

2. Many times I compensate them - a dollar here or there for taking their photo and sticking my nose and camera into their business.  They’re always appreciative of that, no matter what the amount. 

3. I ask myself how I would feel if someone stuck a camera in my face at that given moment.  If I was eating dinner with my family or worshipping or in a compromising position then I might construe it as rude, but generally if someone is kind and interested in me as a human being, not just a an object for a photograph, then I’d be happy to have them document our connection. 

4. Sometimes I take photos with them, not just of them.  Once we’ve said hello, exchanged a smile or a laugh, and it feels appropriate, I’ll ask if I can take a photo with them, side by side as new friends.  I’ve always found people to be honored and excited to be seen as such. 

5. More than anything, I try to use the photo and my experience in their homeland to help them.  I do that by writing about their lives, telling their stories to the world.  Whether it's a blog, a fundraising campaign, or a whole book about their existence, that's my way of creating awareness for who they are and what help they may need on a bigger scale.

6. I educate myself about their country, the conditions of their lives, and the social ills affecting them, and then always make a donation before I leave.  Instead of giving money to beggars on the street (which is often counterproductive by encouraging more begging and exploitation of children) I make a donation directly to a credible charitable organization that’s serving them.   

7. Lastly, I smile and try to show love and respect to anyone I meet, regardless if I photograph them or not.  I think it's so important to do that - my way of showing that I acknowledge them as fellow human beings and equals.  Everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve found that respect and friendship are commodities just as powerful as money.

***

-Norm   :-)

0 Comments

This Cambodian elementary school is striving to make a big difference.

1/17/2014

2 Comments

 
Today I had the opportunity to check out the Spitler School, a fully donation-funded elementary school for the children of the very poor village of Ang Chagn Chass.  Before this school opened in 2005, the children of these subsistence farmers couldn’t go to school because the only free government school was too far away.  But that all changed when  an American couple, Danny and Pam Spitler, successful businesspeople from Arizona, came to Cambodia on vacation.  Their tour guide, Mr. Chea Sarin, was involved with trying to help this desolate village, and together they formulated a plan to open an elementary school.
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It started humbly – first, they built the latrine, as Sarin told me, and then they dug the well.  Water and sanitation are the most important things here, he explained.  What started out as a one-room bamboo structure and 50 students in 2005 has now grown leaps and bounds to a whole compound with half a dozen nice cement buildings, tin roofs, and a sandy courtyard with trees, flowers, a flagpole in the middle, and plenty of chickens running around.  Thanks to funding by the Spitlers, donations by other foreigners, and tireless work by Sarin, the school new serves about 500 local children grades K through 6. 

They now get a first class education, a huge advantage compared to most of their parents and villagers who have no schooling at all because of the civil war and the need to work in the fields.  The school provides them with one new uniform, school supplies, books, and a new backpack.  I saw plenty of photos of the children holding those gifts on their first day, the backpacks adorned by the Arizona Diamondbacks logo because it was the baseball team who donated them.   Brand new bicycles have also been donated by a corporation and each child who graduates 6th grade receives one of their own.  This is crucial because the only chance to continue their schooling is a middle school 9 km away.  Without a bike to ride there, almost all of the children would drop out and go to working the fields – or be recruited into the sex trade.

They teach the kids the usual subjects here but with a special emphasis on foreign history and English, topics that will help them get jobs in tourism – the only opportunity that gives them a chance of escaping poverty.  The school also instills in them lessons about being a responsible community leader in their village.  

Indeed, when the kids were released from class and filed out the front gate, they were ecstatic to say "hello" and "How are you" and "goodbye" to me in English, huge smiles on their faces.  A few peace signs were mixed in and one little boy even ran back just to slap me a high five.  These kids are friggin' Golden, I'm telling you, and to be able to do one very small thing to help them out and feel the glow of their appreciation was one of the best feelings I've ever had.    

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But my warm and fuzzes aside, these folks face some huge problems in their lives.  For instance, most of the people who live in their village are focused on just having enough food and shelter every day, so trash containment is a real problem.  Uneducated and without the luxury of making smart environmental choices, most of the villagers just dump their trash in fields or rivers or by the side of the road.  So the school teaches the children a better way and has each of them collect a quota of discarded water bottles and plastic bags.  They stuff the bags into the bottles and then affix them to a wire frame, forming the internal structure for a wall that can be cemented over.  

They also get involved with rebuilding local dirt roads because during the rainy season everything floods and the roads get washed away, prohibiting everyone’s access to town.  While I was there I made a humble donation to the school, which Sarin explained could be used to finish building the playground, which was just a bumpy dirt lot because they’d ran out of money to continue construction.The kids only attend school half days so there are no meal programs (and not enough money to fund them, anyway) but they do enlist the local children’s hospital from Siem Reap, the next big town, to come give checkups to the kids once a year.  It costs them $1 per child but for most of them it’s the only medical care they’ll ever get.  

Many of the kids need pills and medicine because they have parasites. He explained that most of the villagers had only simple one-room huts without even outhouses.  So people just went to the bathroom in the bush.  The problem is that during the rainy season everything floods and the sanitation of the rivers and creeks is compromised, which all mixes in with bathing water and even drinking water if they don’t have a well.  The children are barefoot so they end up walking in the water and get ringworm and other parasites often.  It costs only $300 to dig a new well, but most families will never see that much money on hand in a lifetime.  

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Sarin, raised in an orphanage and then a refugee camp when he was young after his father was murdered by the brutal Khmer Rouge regime’s genocide, was only able to learn English and become a tour guide because Buddhist monks took him in and gave him an education.  He is now married and has two beautiful children who will never know hunger or want for anything.  His life’s work, and that of the school, is to empower these children through education so their lives might be better, too. 

So the school isn’t just about giving these kids a basic education but the only lifeline most of them have to the outside world.  It gives them hope, laughter, joy, self esteem that they can have dreams and accomplish something in their lives.  It’s all at once the center of the village, a sanctuary for their youth, and a chance to heal the community who’s scars run deep, but who’s future will be better because of the warmth of the Cambodian people and the generosity of strangers. 

If you'd like to get involved or help out, visit their website at: http://www.spitlerschool.org/
Or drop my an email any time [email protected]

Thanks so much everyone - this means a lot to me.


Norm  :-)


2 Comments

14 New Year's resolutions for our world.

12/28/2013

4 Comments

 
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1.   Take better care of our women and children.
We need to do a much better job protecting those who cannot defend themselves.  Our mothers, daughters, and sons deserve our utmost care. 

2.   Be good to our environment.
Now, we know better, yet we keep on allowing out planet to be poisoned to a fatal degree because of greed and laziness.  Our Mother Earth is giving us life, so respecting her should be a priority.

3.   Stop hurting innocent people.
Terrorism, mass shootings, genocides, drone strikes, torture, false imprisonment, and the struggle of refugees should have no place in our world.

4.   Empower others.
The fastest way to change the world for the better is to help, encourage, and strengthen others, not ourselves.

5.   Talk less and listen more.
Everyone wants to be right, everyone rallies for their own agenda, and everyone says “but what about me?!”  Only by stopping that fast-moving train and instead wanting to listen to others can we foster understanding, and then compassion. 

6.   Eat real food.
Enough with the genetically modified, processed, radiated, and laboratory produced quasi-foods.  They’re sickening our society so let’s go back to the good, natural stuff. 

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7.   Celebrate our differences.
Diversity shouldn’t be something we shy away from - that only leads to more fear and isolation.  It’s time to embrace the vivid and rich differences among us so we can see them for what they really are: beautiful. 

8.   Strive for a global community.
We are 7 billion members of the same species on the same planet at the same time in a big, infinite, timeless universe.  If that isn’t enough in common to see ourselves as brothers and sisters in the same global family, I don’t know what is.

9.  Understand the real struggle.
Conflicts in this world are never about who did what to whom, political parties, nations, or even religious ideologies.  The true struggle throughout history has always been about those who bloodlust for money and power, and their efforts to distract and control the disenfranchised.

10.   Grow strong enough to be tolerant and compassionate.
Real strength is never about standing over someone; it’s about helping them up.  Our first instinct is often to judge, label, and defend our egos against others, but we should try to see ourselves as their kindly, warm-hearted benefactors, instead.

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11.   Invest in the next generation.
If only we could build schools, not bombs; provide opportunities, not force opinions, and nurture our youth to rise above the mistakes we’ve made - the world will be an amazing place within a very short time. 

12.   Don’t give up on the world.
To heal our planet, we need to demand positive changes from our leaders, our fellow citizens, and especially ourselves.  This is not negotiable – NOW is the time.

13.    Slow down.
Stop.  Breathe.  Look around you.  Breathe again!  Smile.  Laugh.  Absorb the things you love that make you happy and let go of everything else.  For this, you will never feel regret. 

14.    Spread only light.
My final New Year’s resolution for our world is that we try to spread only that which is good, true, and pure in our short time on earth, so we may help and serve the other life forms around us.  That is the only legacy that matters.  


Have a great 2014!

-Norm    :-)  


4 Comments

How much money do you spend per day?  World poverty by the numbers.

6/25/2013

6 Comments

 
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How much money do you spend each day?  Let’s guestimate and add it up:

-Your rent or mortgage might be $1,000 per month, or $33 per day
-Utilities $10 per day
-Food $20 per day
-Car, car insurance, maintenance, gas $25
-TV, Internet $10
-Gym membership, movies, soccer for the kids, etc.  $10

-Starbucks $3.00

That’s roughly $110 a day – or $3,300 every 30 days.

Some of you spend more, some less, but let’s narrow in on just one of those numbers, the smallest one:

Starbucks $3.00

Three bucks probably feels like nothing to you – an afterthought, a throw away for a well-deserved cup of coffee.  But for a lot of people in the world, their whole daily budget is under $3.00.

How many people?  This will blow your mind.

3 billion people – almost half the world’s population – live on less than $2.50 a day. 

They have to provide shelter, food, clothing, medical care, transportation, education, etc. for themselves and their whole families for $2.50 a day per person.

Half the world’s population is certainly the rule, not the exception, but maybe this poverty is just confined to a few impoverished, very populous countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia?

At least 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day.

Your first instinct may be to rationalize that number by saying “Yeah, but things are so much cheaper in other countries.”  I hear that a lot.  Things are cheaper in other countries because people have no money, and they can't buy even a fraction of the things we have.  They're eating $1 worth of food a day because that is all they have to spend, not that $1 buys the same meal that we eat.  The luxuries we enjoy every day are only dreams to these people, the basics we take for granted – like clean water – are luxuries to most of the world.

Who suffers?

Children.  It’s a sad reality, but children suffer the brunt of poverty, no matter what country, followed by women. 

-There are 2.2 billion children in the world, and at least 1 billion of them live in poverty.
-22,000 children a day die because of poverty, according to UNICEF.
-1 in 3 children don’t have adequate shelter.
-1 in 5 don’t have access to clean water.
-1 in 7 have no access to health services.

These kids aren’t in your daily consciousness so it’s easy to push them into the back of your mind.  You don’t know them, you can’t picture their faces, or hear their laughter, but they are no different than your children.  They are not lazy, they haven’t made bad choices, they did nothing to deserve the poverty they were born into, but that will be their fate to endure their entire lives.

The daily reality for many of these children is living in dangerous, filthy conditions, working on the streets from the moment they can walk, scrounging for food, or worse - being forced into sex slavery. 

Their growth is stunted by malnutrition, disease, and iodine deficiency.  Many die of diarrhea and other preventable maladies.  More than 20% never go to school, and the majority never make it past a primary school education.  

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But hasn’t it always been like this?

No.  There have always been rich and poor, but the scary thing is that the prevalence and degree of poverty are getting much worse.  This isn’t a natural state, like Nelson Mandela said:

“Poverty is not an accident.  Like slavery and apartheid, it is man-made and can be removed by the actions of human beings.”

In fact, 80% of the world’s population live in countries where income differentials are widening.  To give you just a few examples: 

-In 1960, 20% of the world’s richest countries had 30 times the income of the poorest 20%, versus:
-In 1997, the richest countries had 74 times the income of the poorest. 
-The wealthiest 20% of the world (us) accounted for 75.6% of its total consumption.
-12% of the people in the world use 80% of its water.

The poverty gap is widening in the world.  With all of our wealth, education, information sharing with our omnipotent media and the Internet, and the benefit of history to teach us lessons, we are not only failing, but getting worse. 

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What’s the solution?

The frustrating thing is that solutions are within reach.  The resources are there.  Simple initiatives like immunizations, clean drinking water, training healthcare workers, and education for women go a long way to alleviate these issues.  Certainly, throwing money at a problem is never a panacea, and there are issues of corruption, inefficiencies of distribution, government red tape, and cultural and social norms to combat, but the world could be a much better place for so many of those in desperate poverty, especially children and women, for surprisingly little money.  

How much would it cost per year, or per day, to help alleviate some of the effects of poverty?

-Basic education would cost us $6 billion dollars, or less than $1 a day for each of us.
-Water and sanitation $9 billion, or $1.50 a day.
-Reproductive health for all women in the world would only cost $12 billion, $2 a day.
-Basic health and nutrition, 13 billion, $2 a day.

That’s a sum total of 40 billion, or $5.71 spent per day for every person in the world.  

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Where could we find this money?

Could we each find a way to fund these initiatives for $5 a day?  Yes, very easily. 

Here is what we spend on other luxuries 

-We spend $8 billion dollars a year on cosmetics in the US.
-We spend $12 billion dollars a year on perfume in Europe and the US.
-$780 billion dollars is allocated each year in world military spending.
-Less than one 1% of what the world spends every year on weapons is needed to put every child into school.

The good news is that once these initiatives are prioritized in our global culture, many of these costs will be recouped in aid dollars spent, debt forgiveness, and future medical and humanitarian spending.

So what should we do?

I guess the first thing to do is to be conscious of all this.  Next time you buy a cup of coffee, or spend $3, think about what that means to someone else in the world, your brothers and sisters, children that very easily could have been yours under other circumstances.  Only by changing our culture can we refocus our priorities, and that will spark amazing change. 

If you want to contribute to a cause that directly helps an impoverished person in the world, maybe a child, then email me.  Certainly, I’m no expert, but I can suggest a few great organizations.

But first, be conscious, and care.  

-Norm  :-)

6 Comments

My next book project - life lessons for young men, and a tool for the single mothers raising them.  

6/4/2013

1 Comment

 
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I'm proud to announce my next writing project, a book of life advice and streetwise wisdom for young men, and a tool for the single mothers who are raising them. It will serve as a helpful resource for the 12 million single mothers in the U.S., so they can raise happy, healthy, and successful young gentlemen. This book should be read by both teenaged sons and their single mothers, and used as a tool to promote family discussion, enhanced relationships, and fatherly advice.  

I was raised by a single mother and she did a great job (I always say that she's the reason I'm not dead or in jail!), but still, I had to make a lot of mistakes and become a man on my own.  There are just some things that boys need from male role models who give them tough love, and this book will help.  The focus is on helping single mothers with teenaged sons, but the information will help teenage daughters, kids all the way from middle school to college (there will be different sections that are age-appropriate) and even mothers who are not single.   

Since this is a book FOR you, I'd love your feedback about the issues, challenges, and problems you have as a single mother raising sons, and also your hopes and goals for their lives.  

To participate, please email me so I can ask you a few questions,

join the Facebook group.

Or leave a comment below.  

Thank you for spreading the word about this important project!   

Norm :-)

    What do you think about this project for single mothers?

Submit
Did you know?
  • There are over 12 million single parents in the U.S., and more than 83% of them are headed by single mothers.  
  • 1 in 3 children, 15 million total, are being raised without fathers.
  • 4 out of 10 children are born to unwed mothers.
  • 63% of children raised by a single mother will have no funding to continue their secondary education.
  • Almost 80% of single mothers are working,
  • Yet the poverty rate is over 40%
  • Sons raised by single mothers are significantly more likely to end up living in poverty, or incarcerated.
1 Comment

Please don't buy my book.  I'm serious.

6/3/2013

2 Comments

 
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Please don’t buy my book.  I’m serious.  In fact, please don’t purchase either of the books I’ve written, or tell your friends to purchase them.  But I’m not telling you NOT to spend your money, just don’t spend it on me.  Instead, I have a humble recommendation for what you can do with that same $20, the amount you spend on Starbucks every week, which can completely change someone’s life for the better.

Rather than buy my book, I’m encouraging you to do something different with that $20 – fund a microloan to an impoverished person.  I know, I know, you gave at the office, you donate to charity at your church, or you’re overwhelmed with infomercials soliciting donations for people in far away places but this is NOT a donation.  

Listen closely, because what I’m about to share is considered one of the most effective ways to bring people out of desperate poverty all over the world, giving them and their children a fighting chance for a decent life.  

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A microloan is exactly that, a small loan, not a donation, that you grant to an individual.  The money is used to fund commercial ventures with the potential of propelling the recipient out of the cycle of poverty they're mired in.  Sometimes they buy a goat, which produces milk that they can sell, or chickens for eggs, or buy seeds and fertilizer to plant a harvest to prosper in the future.  Others use the loan to purchase wholesale goods that can be resold for profit, fund craftsmanship like hand-sewn baskets, or a sewing machine so they can take on work.  The ventures are self-conceived and self-monitored, but the recipient has to pay the money back in increments over a certain term, like 120 days. 

If they don’t pay it back they don’t get another loan, as simple as that.  However, most microloan programs, like Grameen Bank, report that repayment rates are between 95-98%.  Once the lender (you) is repaid, you can chose to work with the same recipient again, fund another person’s loan, or just pocket your original investment.

The problem with poverty in most countries is that there's no tangible lifeline to pull themselves out of it, like education, entrepreneurship, and old-fashioned hard work here in the U.S.  Instead, their desperate crawl upward is further slickened by racial, tribal, and especially gender taboos.  Basically, when women are born into poverty, they will always be poor, and their families will be poor, as will their children, and their children’s children.  The horrific gender-imbalance of poverty is well detailed in the book Half The Sky, which I highly recommend – if you can stomach it. 

But microloans, or microcredit, as it’s sometimes called, can give them a fighting chance to grasp otherwise-impossible financial momentum.  Originally traced to several organizations to help the poor in Bangladesh in the 1980’s, Muhammed Yunus is considered the father of the movement, as documented in his book Banker to the Poor, and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his work.  As of 2009, an estimated 74 million men and women held microloans that totaled US$38 billion, all over the world.  

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The majority of applicants are female, and it’s been proven that allotting money to women, who are better with savings, investing for the future, paying their debts, and more conscious of the needs of their family, is vastly more effective than giving money to their husbands, who tend to use it on short-term consumer goods or just drink it away.    

The potential loan applicants apply through organizations like Kiva or ProMujer, where you can see their picture, read about their lives, and find out their business plan once they receive the money.  They post a certain target goal for their loan, say $500, and micro-lenders pledge money toward that goal until the amount is reached, when the money is delivered.  The repayments are carefully tracked and posted on the applicant’s profile on the website, so their credibility with repayment is of utmost concern so they won't jeopardize future loans.  

Microloans endeavor to augment what international organizations like the United Nations and billions of dollars in foreign aid attempt – to empower people to work their way out of poverty with permanent changes that end the cycle of poverty.  By making a microloan you are, essentially, not giving them a fish, but teaching them how to fish and supplying them with a rod.  Of course, microloans are by no means a panacea to the world’s poverty, and critics cite high transaction costs and interest rates, problems with disseminating these programs out of urban centers to remote rural areas, and the educational foundation needed to grasp these concepts and apply, as holes in the fabric of microloans.  It’s been found that microloan programs work best alongside educational initiatives, women’s discussion groups, and support networks that hold each other accountable to timely repayments.  This community enforcement model goes a long way to patching those holes.  

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Whenever pledging money or donating to charity, it’s best to thoroughly research the organizations, and the rating system at CharityNavigator is a great place to start.  Different microlending organizations focus on different issues or areas of the world, like Vittana, which funds education, not commerce.  Feel free to email me for more information or recommendations.

So please don’t buy my book, or skip your daily Starbucks this this week, and instead pledge that money to funding a microloan.  That $20 can kick start a venture for one of your brothers or sisters in the world, allowing them to feed their families, keep a roof over their heads, access medical care, educate their daughters, and bring their children’s children out of poverty. 

From the bottom of my heart, thank you.  

Norm :-)

PS If you'd like to read a few more of my thoughts about the nature of philanthropy and giving, check out this past article.  

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    Norm Schriever

    Norm Schriever is a best-selling author, expat, cultural mad scientist, and enemy of the comfort zone. He travels the globe, telling the stories of the people he finds, and hopes to make the world a little bit better place with his words.   

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