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Ms Woon Lai Har
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A Chartered Accountant by profession, my early/mid career was in finance with KPMG/DBS and then Shell, where I was for 25+ yrs, with the last 10 years in Human Capital management covering Diversity /Inclusion & Leadership/Talent development.
It was always my Intention to want to DO charity/good works to help those less fortunate, but there seems never to be enough time for that. I did make the annual donations to a whole spread of cause and there were many needy from orphans to street kids, diseases to disabilities, the elderly etc. but concerns of leakages and abuse (NKF) meant sub-optimisation when only a portion of funds raised lands up to help those who need it.
Some 2 yrs before my retirement in 2010, as I was thinking of what meaningful activity I should pursue, I chanced upon a book titled – The Road to Loss Innocence. A personal story of Somaly Mam, a Cambodian who @ the age of 12 was sexually abused by a so called “grandfather” and sold into prostitution thereafter enduring trauma, assault and dehumanizing treatment
This struck a chord with me in 3 dimensions:
The CAUSE – I realized that what invoked my passion was in contributing towards alleviation (like world hunger it is impossible to eliminate but every little bit helps) of sexual slavery. Holding someone captive, exploiting their body for profit and the mental and physical torture to the victim, for me must be one of the gravest crimes that can be committed.
The COUNTRY – there are needy people everywhere and whilst not my intention to compare degrees of sufferings/exploitations, there are indeed relative scales /environments and context. In this regard, Cambodia must be near the bottom of the pile given its historical legacy from the landmines to the murderous destructions of the Pol Pot regime, poor infrastructure, corruption. So I am clear in my mind, in relative scale of need and help, Cambodia certainly NEEDs all the help it can get, much more. That said let me add that any charitable works wherever is always worthwhile, just wanted to share a little bit of my thinking on why I chose Cambodia.
The CHAMPION – Somaly Mam. A survivor of unspeakable horrors - with the courage of conviction to return and do her bit to make a difference. Imagine having to relive her own nightmare constantly as she does this work of providing refuge for those rescued from sex slavery, personally threatened by the pimps & underworld – yet she soldiers on, how little it is that we do in comparison, so deservedly I believe she should be helped in whatever ways. She has established (1996) an NGO called AFESIP – Agir Pour les Femmes en Situation Precaire (French for providing refuge for women in distress). Its works include the rescue, refuge, rehabilitation and re-integration of sex slavery victims back into mainstream society.
So now in my semi-retirement, I have decided to dedicate time to contribute towards the 3”C’s” described above and hence this entity Lotus Culture was founded, with 2 ex-collegues who shared the same vision and passion to want to help.
I look forward to the journey of “Small Effort Big Impact” in Helping Build Sustainable Livelihoods in Cambodia for victims of human trafficking through the efforts of Lotus Culture.
24th Feb 2011
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