John Bingham wrote: ↑Sat Dec 19, 2020 2:18 am

newkidontheblock wrote: ↑Fri Dec 18, 2020 7:05 pm The NGO sponsor is an heiress (I think was mentioned in a previous article).

Was. As far as I can follow she's dead now.

Elisabeth (Libet) Johnson, the founder of the Cambodian NGO 'Sovann Komar' or 'Golden Children', died in 2017, aged 66. She was the heiress to the family enterprise, the global business, Johnson and Johnson.
Obituary:

Libet believed in the importance of being of service. She lived by the credo that when you were given much, you had a duty to give a great deal in return.
This was never more apparent than in her work in Cambodia. She first took a trip to the country in the early 2000s and was so affected by the plight of the orphaned children there that she set about creating the organization Sovann Komar, or "Golden Children."
In Libet's own words, the mission of this nonprofit was "to create an environment that provides a safe, nurturing home where orphaned and abandoned children can develop - physically, intellectually, emotionally and spiritually - to their fullest potential."

A new village on the Mekong River was established to house a group of children and the Cambodian foster couples who took them in as part of the program. This model has become a case study for many other similar projects around the world. Libet was realistic about the challenges of working on a nonprofit so far from home and cognizant that she did not come from an aid work background, but her grit coupled with an amazing team on the ground helped Sovann Komar flourish.
The original children taken in are now healthy, thriving teenagers, and the village's school currently educates hundreds of local youngsters.
As her illness robbed her of the ability to travel, one of Libet's regrets was not being able to visit Sovann Komar one last time to say goodbye. Recently, her five children made the trip in her honor.

From: https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytim ... =185769475

Strange, i know a fair bit about the NGO world and aside from these news reports I have never come across this organisation, their staff or any of the children they have helped over the years.
I have staff who grew up in chbar ampov area and they also don't know of it.

khmerhamster wrote: ↑Sat Dec 19, 2020 7:13 pm Strange, i know a fair bit about the NGO world and aside from these news reports I have never come across this organisation, their staff or any of the children they have helped over the years.
I have staff who grew up in chbar ampov area and they also don't know of it.

That's interesting.
Link to their website:
post363199.html#p363199

The Former Director of the NGO Sovann Komar to Go on Trial for Child Abuse in Phnom Penh
Phoung Vantha 10/01/2021 3:54 PM
Sothea Arun is also accused by the NGO of embezzling as much as $1.4 million

PHNOM PENH--The NGO Sovann Komar’s first case against its former director Sothea Arun is to be heard in Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Jan. 13.

The court hearing will focus on child abuse charges filed by the NGO, Sovann Komar said in an email interview. The other charges against Arun for child rape, fraud and breach of trust for allegedly stealing as much as $1.4 million while he was running the organization will be heard in separate actions, Sovann Komar said.

This first trial was to start in December 2020 but was postponed to January 2021 due to a possible conflict of interest regarding one of Arun’s attorneys.
https://cambodianess.com/article/the-fo ... phnom-penh

What a Name for an NGO: Golden Children Inc.

Well, Cambodian children have proven to be a gold mine for many NGO in the past 2 decades. The most prominent case was that of former anti-pedophile NGO APLE (action pour les enfants) Director Hang Vibol that later created his own "Child Protection Business" under "Our Home" Label and lots of financial support by french donors which faced the same claims:

AFP
Cambodia orphanage director jailed for abusing children
A Cambodian orphan steps out of his orphanage in Phnom Penh to go out to play with his ball (AFP Photo/)
February 10, 2016

A court on Wednesday jailed a Cambodian orphanage director who once crusaded against child abuse for three years for committing "indecent acts" against children in his care.

Hang Vibol, 46, the director of Our Home orphanage in Phnom Penh, has been in custody since his arrest last year on charges of abusing 11 children.

He was formerly a director of a prominent NGO called Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE), which hunts down suspected paedophiles active in Cambodia -- an impoverished country with a reputation for attracting foreign child sex offenders.

Vibol left the organisation in 2004 to run the Our Home orphanage, where the alleged abuses took place. His former colleagues at APLE helped the police probe into him.

The Phnom Penh municipal court on Wednesday afternoon sentenced him to three years in prison for "indecent acts against 11 minors aged under 15 years old".

He was also fined about $2,000 and ordered to pay compensation of a total of $7,500 to five of his victims.

Seila Samleang, the current director of APLE, said the organisation was happy at the conviction but dismayed at the "lenient" sentence.

"It is shocking that such case happened... because he worked actively to protect children's rights for many years," he added.

Vibol denied the allegations and said he would appeal the conviction.

"It is very unjust. I did not commit the allegations," he told reporters at the court before being returned to jail.

During his trial last year, Vibol claimed the accusations against him had been made maliciously.

The Our Home orphanage was shut down after Vibol's arrest last March and some 60 children were moved to other care centres.

Cambodia launched a drive in 2003 to shed its reputation as a haven for foreign paedophiles.

Dozens of foreigners have since been jailed for child sex crimes or deported to face trial in their home countries.

But campaigners say sentences are still too short and many foreign paedophiles operate with relative impunity.

unquote

The plot thickens.

PM Bodyguard Chief Denies Grabbing Orphanage Land
4 min read
Mech Dara and Michael Dickison
| Fri Jan 29, 2021 7:09 pm
[Excerpt]

General Hing Bun Hieng, the head of the Prime Minister Bodyguard Unit sanctioned by the U.S. for alleged human rights abuses, has been accused by a Johnson & Johnson-linked orphanage of attempting to take over its prime waterfront land.

The general, however, said on Friday that he was simply in charge of handling and resolving public complaints for the government, and he could not even remember the case among the hundreds he deals with every year.

Sovann Komar, an orphanage in Phnom Penh’s Chbar Ampov district set up in 2003 by the late Johnson & Johnson heiress Elizabeth Johnson, has become embroiled in controversy over the past couple of years, with new management accusing its former director of child abuse and fraud.

The ex-director, Sothea Arun, is currently on trial for alleged child torture at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, with a verdict due on February 10.

Bradley Gordon, Sovann Komar’s lawyer, said that in August 2019, just after new management replaced Arun, “there was an attempt to take over the NGO and the land” by “one general.” Gordon later named the general as Bun Hieng.

He said the Social Affairs Ministry set up a committee to resolve the issues around Sovann Komar, and at a committee meeting in October, attended by about 30 people, the ministry’s social affairs department director Mom Chandany had said Bun Hieng was also trying to resolve the issues.

Full article: https://vodenglish.news/pm-bodyguard-ch ... nage-land/

Johnson family “committed to get justice” in Sovann Komar legal battle, lawyer says (video)
By The Cambodia Daily -
January 30, 2021

Bradley James Gordon, a lawyer representing the family of Elizabeth Ross Johnson, the American heiress who in 2003 founded the Sovann Komar orphanage, spoke at length to The Cambodia Daily about the organization’s ongoing legal battles.

In a 2018 audit of Sovan Komar, Gordon’s team said they discovered “horrendous child abuse and fraud.” The organization has since been embroiled in legal battles over control of the orphanage and its assets.

The home’s former director, Sothea Arun, has denied the allegations.
- Cambodia Daily

Another Reason why Foreigners should not be allowed to run/open Orphanages or Institutional Child Care Homes in Cambodia. Now they're fighting about Control/Money etc.

emm wrote: ↑Mon Feb 01, 2021 1:59 am Another Reason why Foreigners should not be allowed to run/open Orphanages or Institutional Child Care Homes in Cambodia. Now they're fighting about Control/Money etc.

Did you read the backstory ? The former director of Sovann Komar, Sothea Arun, who is facing charges of child abuse and breach of trust is a Cambodian man. The "foreigners" provided the money to assist poor Cambodian children, and they gave the directorship of the NGO to this Cambodian man in good faith, and now they are suing him for abusing their trust. Sothea Arun is being charged with abusing children as well as fraud.

The Former Director of the NGO Sovann Komar to Go on Trial for Child Abuse in Phnom Penh
Phoung Vantha 10/01/2021 3:54 PM
Sothea Arun is also accused by the NGO of embezzling as much as $1.4 million

PHNOM PENH--The NGO Sovann Komar’s first case against its former director Sothea Arun is to be heard in Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Jan. 13.

The court hearing will focus on child abuse charges filed by the NGO, Sovann Komar said in an email interview. The other charges against Arun for child rape, fraud and breach of trust for allegedly stealing as much as $1.4 million while he was running the organization will be heard in separate actions, Sovann Komar said.

This first trial was to start in December 2020 but was postponed to January 2021 due to a possible conflict of interest regarding one of Arun’s attorneys.
https://cambodianess.com/article/the-fo ... phnom-penh

Emm, 'got anything constructive to add?
Ever? About anything?

Pointing fingers is the easiest job in the world. Believe me i have tried it.
But boring as fuck, for everybody - including myself.
And hypocritical - because i am not actually lifting a finger myself to make the world a less shitty place. The opposite in fact.

Not really a question - more of a tip. Bro.
I actually think you might have something useful to say one day - you have a wide ranging, interested mind. But you seem to be a bit "stuck" on all the negs.
You have to get over that if you want to make a difference - or get anybody to take you and your concerns seriously.

(imo, and my experience)