Bob Maat is a good friend, a good man.
I met him on the Thai Cambodian border thirty-six years ago. He was a faithful mentor to me in my shell shock, as I struggled to work in this place. In those early days I learned that the sound of shells thudding on the frontline of battle were a reminder that the front line was coming close to the village where we lived. It was even closer to the displaced persons camp, where I worked each day, where displaced women, children and men were held behind barbed wire, unable to go forward to Thailand or back to their homeland.
Bob knew their terror, he shared it. In this conflict USA supported and armed one side while Russia supported and armed the other. As I now listen to world news each day, I am reminded that those who supply the arms are not the ones who do the fighting. Arms dealers grow rich.
There were various Cambodian factions with differing loyalties at that border. They too were provided with arms. They too conscripted young men and boys to do the fighting, the bleeding, the dying. They fought each other as well as fighting against the Vietnamese troops advancing from the south and the Khmer Rouge from the jungle. A youngster with a gun could be confronted in a jungle battlefield by his brother with a gun.
Bob encouraged me to walk among the Cambodians fleeing from war who were held behind barbed wire in a compound called Site 2. He had been at this border for a decade before I met him. Most of the people held here were still suffering and grieving after the ordeal of the Pol Pot time. Now they were prisoners again.
The United Nations Border Relief Operation could do little to keep this displaced population alive. Bob knew that there was truth that must be told. He had, while working to ensure the safety of the displaced, found the body of a middle-aged Cambodian woman hacked to death while nobody heard her screams. Relatives told Bob she was deaf and dumb; they could not hear her or rescue her. Bob saw this as a metaphor for the suffering of all these displaced people. He called the suffering here a ‘Silent Scream’. He started a movement called the Coalition for Peace and Reconciliation. He wanted the world to hear.
The whole situation has echoes in our world of 2024. This planet has now more battles across the world than at any time since World War 2. Some of these battles are filmed and heard throughout the world each day. For those whose suffering will never be reported there is, to this day, a silent scream. Some, albeit few, will make their way to our country carrying a past that needs to be heard, and a future that could be dreamed.
Another friend, a bishop, Vincent Long writes; ‘Each of us can do our part to nurture relationships that are based on mutual trust and respect on which a healthy society and a peaceful world can be built’.
I had dinner with a friend last night. The waiter brought us to the table, I sat and looked at the menu. She stood and thanked him, asked his name, found that he is an international student at a nearby university, and that he is choosing a course that will be beneficial for his home country, and that this venue that employs him each weekend is fair to its workers. By the end of the evening she found that he relaxes by creating works of art. Meanwhile she was creating mutual trust and respect as he served us our meal and attended to our needs. As we said farewell she asked about his art, he showed her some on his phone. She noted his contact number in case she might find someone interested in displaying one of his works. She will follow through on that.
Bob’s letter newly arrived in my post box includes a flyer. ‘I Choose Love’.
Can I believe that love can make a difference?
Buddha’s followers protect and care for every sentient being. Bob has lived close to that. The teaching of Jesus is ‘Love one another as I have loved you’, and ‘Blessed are the peace makers’. Bob has lived close to that as well.
Pope Francis, in Indonesia as I write, said. ‘Harmony is achieved when we are committed not only to our own interests and vision, but to the good of all, to building bridges, fostering agreements and synergies, joining forces in order to defeat all forms of moral, economic and social distress, and promoting peace and concord’. He is about to attend a Buddhist ceremony.
My letter from Bob has a message of hope among its pages. Bob works at the Preah Sihanouk Raja Buddhist University, Battambang Branch, SBUBB. Ten years ago, a quarter of students were young women. Now the student group is 71% women, the majority from the villages. Bob writes of a day of dedication and commitment at SBUBB. ‘It is a day of hope and joy. It is a day of thanksgiving and gratitude. It is a day that says people can change, albeit slowly, step by step, for the betterment of all’.
Stories and Musings 