BABSEA is Proud to Announce the Second Annual Kep Trio
What: Half Marathon, 10K Run & 10K Bike Ride
When: February 28th & March 1st, 2009
Where: Phnom Voar area of Kep, Cambodia

Registration Opening Soon!

Bridges Across Borders Southeast Asia is excited to announce that the Second Annual Kep Trio – Half Marathon, 10K Run & 10K Bike Ride will be held over the weekend of Saturday February 28th and Sunday March 1st. The Kep Trio is a unique fundraising event, created by running enthusiast and former BABSEA volunteer Nikki Wise, designed specifically to support the 5-year integrated community development project called Hand in Hand Cambodia. Held in January 2008, the First Annual Kep Trip Event was an amazing success with over 80 participants generating $54,000 in cash donations and delivering 50 new locally sourced bicycles to the community.

Event Outline

10K Bike Ride - Saturday February 28th, 2009 at 3:30pm
Half Marathon – Sunday March 1st, 2009 at 6:00am
10K Run / Fast Walk – Sunday March 1st, 2009 at 6:45am

Registration is US$5 for local Cambodians and US$50 for foreigners. The registration fee covers participation in the event, a 2nd Annual Kep Trio t-shirt or singlet, and the Pasta Dinner at The Sailing Club on Saturday night. For the 10K Bike Ride participants, the registration fee also covers the bicycle that will be donated to the community after the race.

As this is a fundraising event, we would like to encourage all participants to raise as many charitable donations as possible and suggest a minimum donation of US$200.

Online Registration at www.babsea.org will open soon.

November 20

Read More

Land & Life Song and Video Inspiring Threatened Communities Across Cambodia

As part of our campaign to end forced evictions and land-grabbing in Cambodia, Bridges Across Borders Southeast Asia (BABSEA) recently teamed up with an all-female a capella group called the Messenger Band, award-winning director David Eberhardt, and the legendary Kong Nai to produce a soul-stirring music video called Land and Life.

The Land and Life song was inspired by the resistance struggle of the Dey Krahorm community in Phnom Penh’s Tonle Bassac district, which has been fighting since 2005 to protect their land from being grabbed by the 7NG company. In November and December 2007, when the Dey Krahorm community was under attack by 7NG workers who were attempting to forcibly evict the residents, Bridges helped provide the community with advice and training on active non-violence resistance strategies. Following a collective action to form a human chain around Dey Krahorm on International Human Rights Day (Dec 10), which included more than 1000 residents of more than 15 threatened Phnom Penh communities, Dey Krahorm adopted the same strategy of locking hands and standing together non-violently in front of their homes when they were later confronted with intimidation from company workers. It was a courageous act of non-violent resistance, yet there was something missing – a song that could unify the community and give them strength in their determination to counter violence with non-violence.

September 2008

Read More

Bridges Across Borders Southeast Asia and Housing Rights Task Force
Condemn Illegal Filling of Boeung Kak Lake

On Tuesday August 26th contractors for Shukaku Inc., a private company chaired by powerful CPP Senator Lao Meng Khin, began construction on a controversial development project by pumping sand into Phnom Penh’s largest natural lake – Boeung Kak. Local residents reported being told by Shukaku contractors, that the pumping would continue eighteen hours a day until all but 10% of the lake is filled.

The filling of the lake is a direct result of a $79 million contract, approved by the Phnom Penh Municipality in February 2007, which enables Shukaku Inc. to develop a 133-hectare commercial property on the lake and its surrounding land. As a result of this development, over 4,000 families are facing eviction from their homes and the loss of the land that has provided the residents a sustainable livelihood in the city for the past 30 years. If this development goes forward without the agreement of the Boeung Kak residents it will be the largest forced eviction in Cambodia since the Khmer Rouge evacuated Phnom Penh in 1975.

August 2008

Read More