Temple photo by flickr member: Everything Everywhere
The Preah Vihear temple is piece of world heritage dating back to the 9th century. But the war being fought over who controls it between Combodia and Thailand is going on right now in 2011.
This past month saw more fighting between both nation’s military, with a number of casualties, all despite the fact that there has been an international court of justice ruling on who rightfully controls the temple. Some forces in Thailand see it as a matter of national pride and heritage to hold on to this ancient site, while the Combodian government answers with their own bravado. In the line of fire lay poor people, historical heritage, and a legacy of violence.
My guest is a blogger, author and concerned Khmer-American Sambath Meas who has appealed to the UN and ASEAN to stop the war and mediate a settlement. You can read her letter and more posts related to this conflict on her site, you can also read her book “The Immortal Seeds: Life Goes on for a Khmer Family”
Update: Sambath just posted a followup video to our interview on her site! In my 6+ years of podcasting, she is perhaps the only guest to ever do so!
Gerald Mendes was born in Canada and raised with the story of his grandfather Aristides de Sousa Mendes. As he grew up he came to learn not only about the history of his family, but also about those that the actions of his grandfather during WWII helped to save. At a restaurant in Paris we sat down recently to talk about his family, his life experiences, and his activities related to the legacy of his grandfather.
He died disgraced and impoverished, asking his children to one day clear his name. Decades later, the story of how that man, Aristides de Sousa Mendes, helped save thousands upon thousands of lives during World War II, is finally spreading around the world.
Today his family and descendants of those that were saved by his actions are working to restore not only his name, legacy, and to ensure that his story lives on.
My guest on this podcast is one of the founders of the Sousa Mendes Foundation, herself the daughter and grand daughter of Sousa Mendes visa recipients: Olivia Mattis. In this conversation she tells the story of Sousa Mendes, what became of her family after making it to Portugal, and eventually how this foundation came to exist.
For more information on Sousa Mendes as well as theSousa Mendes Foundation, follow the links above. You can also find them on facebook.
In Sept. 1996 the Taliban had just taken over Kabul and Jeremy Wagstaff was working as a journalist for Reuters in Hong Kong when the unexpected happened. He was told they needed him in Kabul, without much preperation or explanation he eventually found his way there and found his way to the front lines of the war in Afghanistan.
In this podcast, recorded one calm sunny afternoon in Kabul, Jeremy recalls what the city was like in those days, what you could and couldn’t do, and what dealing with the Taliban was like for a foreign journalist.
On one summer night in Kabul, 6 friends of various backgrounds sit on a roof under the stars when the city is at its quietest, to discuss their thoughts on this place thats means something different for each person. During the course of this extended podcast, we get into how to explain the ways of this place, as well as the answer to these statements you often hear about how “They don’t want us here” and “Afghanistan must solve its own problems.”
