September 2003

Dear Friends,

Firstly a greeting to all new members and a thank you to those who have renewed their membership. It is terrific to have this interest and support. It is amazing what can be achieved if people share common aims and ideals. Through our united efforts Friends of interPART will continue to “work with and on behalf of the most vulnerable people in countries of the developing world and in Australia”.

There has been much bustling and going hither and yon in relation to the CyCleCambodia activities. Apart from doing up to fifty kilometre practice bike rides Ray and Tania are hot on the sponsorship trail. Other interPART members are planning some specific fund-raising events. We hope that all interPART members will support this venture through sponsorship, organising ‘fund-raisers’ or asking local schools or organisations for a donation. We will be very pleased to have any ‘creative’ fund-raising initiatives from you. Put on your thinking cap please.

In Cambodia we are getting excellent support for the venture. The Government of Cambodia has given official approval to hold the event with the Disability Action Council (DAC) being our partners in implementing the activities. International volunteers such as AVI (Australia) and VSO (UK) are interested in participating in different ways. We have approached the Australian Embassy for funds to make a video of the activities in Phnom Penh and along the route. AND a member of the National Volleyball team (Disabled) who are the current world champions, will be a member of the cycling team. Man Veasna, is quite a famous figure in Cambodia and overseas. Although having lost part his lower arm during the conflicts he is regarded as the No 1 “spicker’ in the volleyball world. He is being sponsored by the National Volleyball League (Disabled). So lots of good things happening. More about the progress of CycleCambodia in the next Friends of interPART Newsletter.

We recently received an update on Chan and his studies. For new members Chan is a young Cambodian disabled person, whom we are supporting through assistance with the payment of university fees. He has successfully completed his second year in Computer Science. Great stuff. He is an extremely dedicated and committed young man. He is an orphan, has no family whatsoever and was not employed until we came in contact with him about three years ago. Now he is employed, is studying and has a future.

We will soon see ourselves on the web. A small group of interPART people are working with a web-site designer to work out details etc. More later.

Some of us recently attended a very thought provoking and stimulating address by Julian Burnside QC on the topic of “Human Rights: Squandering the Legacy”. For those who are concerned about human rights, the treatment of refugees and Australian Government policies relating to these issues then I suggest that you access this website: http://www.julianburnside.com There are some excellent papers available.

The update page, provided by Ray, gives more information about CycleCambodia.
Hopefully the next update will be ‘on the web’. Until then – ‘keep smiling’.

HelenP