The
Clarion
coLLBae
Volume 73, Issue 2
SERVING THE BREVARD COLLEGE
COMMUNITY SINCE 1935
September 14, 2007
Cambodian missionary speaks at Porter Center
by Zack Harding
Arts & Life Editor
On Monday Sept. 10, Brevard
College hosted missionary
Clara Midcult Biswas in the
Porter Center as she gave a
presentation detaihng her work
near Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
The presentation began with
a free Cambodian-themed meal
provided by Aramark, and also
one dish was provided by a
local Cambodian. After the
meal, host Shelly Webb
introduced the presenter
Biswas, who is from
Bangladesh, has worked
around the world promoting
education and humanitarian
efforts. Early in her career she
worked with various programs
in Bangladesh and Japan and
later became involved with the
Cambodian capitol city.
Her work in Cambodia mainly
Photo by Marc Newton
centers around the
communities of Bording,
Balsac, and a landfill area
known as the dump site.
Her primary work involves
creating education programs
for poverty stricken children,
including a heavy focus in arts,
language, and biblical studies.
In other courses, the children
learned skills such as sewing,
cutting hair, and computer
skills.
During her presentations she
displayed a large collection of
slides taken during her
missionary work that pictured
the destitute conditions that
many of the Cambodian
children live in.
Biswas said that much of the
poverty is the result of war,
which left many families poor
who were once well off.
Beyond this, HIV is also taking
a very heavy toll on the poorer
Cambodian communities.
Some of her photos showed
orphanages where HIV-
infected children are taken care
of until they die.
Especially dramatic were the
pictures of the 100-acre dump
site where many children live
as scavengers in order to earn
money for their family. One boy
that she met had the task of
collecting soft drink cans, and
for every 100 that he collected,
he could receive the equivalent
of two American cents. She
said that the locals call the
trash heap “Smoky Mountain”
due to the caustic gas which
emanates from the garbage and
clouds the sky.
She shared a triumphant
story about one group of kids
from the dump site taking music
classes. The children went on
to win first place in a regional
music competition and later
came in second place out of the
whole country.
“Education is the foundation
of a nation,” Biswas said as she
was closing her presentation,
“and each of us has a
responsibility.” She finished
with a direct address to the
audience: “You have a talent,
please use that talent for this
world.”
My Introduction to Israel
» . . four times After
by Sarah Carlson
Columnist
1 thought 1 knew what 1 was
getting into while 1 was on the
12 hour flight to Israel. 1 had
studied the Israeli/Palestinian
conflict. 1 had studied house
demolitions and even wrote
speeches about the Israeli
policy for a class. 1 knew the
statistics; 12,000 Palestinian
homes demolished since 1967,
the tens of thousands left
homeless and the thousands of
others who have pending
demolition orders on their
homes. 1 had been hearing
about the conflict from my
uncle Jeff foryears. He moved
to Jemsalem in the mid-70’s and
is the coordinator for the Israeh
Committee Against House
Demolitions (ICAHD). Whenl
sat down to meet the 30 other
internationals who traveled to
Israel for the same purpose as
me—to rebuild a home for a
Palestinian family—1 thought 1
was prepared for the journey. 1
couldn’t have been more
wrong.
The first day of ICAHD’s
summer work camp was a day
of introductions. We met our
host, Salim Shawamreh and his
wife Arabyia. Their home has
been demolished and rebuilt
four times. After the last
demolition it was rebuilt as a
peace center, Beit Arabyia (The
Arabyia House), and has been
homebase for the summer
camp participants ever since.
Beit Arabyia has a demolition
order on it right now. We took
a toured the village of Anata,
our home for the next two
weeks. We ate falafel, humus
and pita, and got to know each
other We went to bed early
because the next day would be
our first day of work. 1 lay on
my mattress that night all 1
could think of was the sharp
contrast between West and
see Israel, page 2
What's
Inside?
Arts & Life
.10
Classifieds
.12
Letters
. 6
Opinion
...5
News
...2
SGA Report
....4
Cooking Witli Tex
...5
Sports
....8