Saturday’s beautiful and sizzling hot weather gave this year’s annual Southeast Asian Water Festival an excellent turnout. Among the many booths and events, there were boat races, lots of asian foods and drinks, fresh coconut juices, tropical fruits, Cambodian books, CD’s, and DVD’s (bootleg and legitimate), crafts, toys, paintings from Cambodian artists, tropical plants like Kaffir Tree and Rice Paddy herbs, etc. Some were sold for personal profits, but most raised funds on behalf of their temples, churches or other non-profit organizations.

I was still a tad bit sick and could not last too long in the hot weather, but I did show up at the peak hours of the festival to enjoy the day and to help the Vanderbilt Republic Foundation spread the word about their “Masters” project with Cambodian Living Arts.

Below are the of the postcard that we handed out.

The Vanderbilt Republic just launched their fundraising site. Their goal is to raise $50,000 so that they can send a team of photographers to Cambodia to document the Cambodian masters and the efforts of Cambodian Living Arts.

“We only have $50,000 left to raise, if we accomplish this we will be going to Cambodia in October!

How it works, anyone can pledge any amount they want. Their pledge is tied to a unique reward, in our case we are giving people who contribute $60 or more a signed one of a kind “fujiroid” from the shoot, which is precious. Kickstarter is goal oriented meaning people are only charged if and when we reach our goal. If we do not meet our goal, no one pays a penny.”
~ Matthew Bogosian, Co-Founder of The Vanderbilt Republic Foundation

Please see their video at Kickstarter.com, donate, and help them to spread the word.

I want to pass on links to two videos that are worth seeing. The topic struck a very personal cord. It brought back a flood of memories from my childhood and from stories that my family have told me about their struggles during the Pol Pot era.

Cambodian Living Arts is primarily about the vision of one Pol Pot survivor, Arn Chorn-Pond who is trying to save one of the most beautiful aspect of the Cambodian culture, it’s traditional dance and music.

“The old masters of Cambodia are like the king and the queen of their skills, because we don’t write music. We don’t write music notes. The masters teach young people one to one, so if these master die, the whole culture, the whole music would go with these masters. They are a national treasure of Cambodia, they are an international treasure of the world…”

The few masters that have survived Pol Pot are scattered all over the world. Most are old, feeble, and impoverished. Arn Chorn-Pond founded Cambodian Living Arts to find these masters and give them the means to pass the skills on to another generation.

Recently, The Vanderbilt Republic Foundation have partnered with Cambodian Living Arts to document their efforts. You should definitely watch the video at the The Vanderbilt Republic Foundation website. (via John Gruber’s Daring Fireball)

Below is another touching video about the story of an impoverished Cambodian orphan girl whose life is changed because of Cambodian Living Arts. Read more about it here.