Berkley Center

Background: This discussion took place over telephone between Father Gabriel Je and Michael Bodakowski as part of preparation for a consultation on "Global Development and Faith-Inspired Organizations in Southeast Asia" held December 14-15, 2009 in Phnom Penh. In this interview, Father Je speaks about his development work in Cambodia, his focus on the disabled, the importance of education, and the inspiration that faith provides to work for the poor. Father Je discusses the recent influx of Korean Protestant missionaries in Cambodia, and the challenges he faces as a result of their presence. Development work, he says, can only be done while respecting the culture, life, and religion of the country you are in. The ultimate goal of development, Father Je notes, is to create independence and empowerment for those for whom you are working.

Can you describe the Korea Provincial, and what your role is as Delegate for Cambodia?

The Cambodia mission falls under the territory of the Korea Province [of the Jesuit Order] since 2006. The Korean provincial assigned me as the Cambodia delegate in charge of the entire country mission. The Jesuit Mission in Cambodia has the responsibility to support Battambang Prefecture and is currently under the authority of Mgr. Figaredo.

As far as development work, the Jesuit Service does a lot of development work throughout Cambodia. We have a technical school for the disabled, supporting disabled people in villages, and a rural development program to help the poor, constructing roads and shelter, among other programs.

Can you tell me about your experience and inspiration throughout your career and how you arrived at your present position in Cambodia?

During my Scholastic, between 1998 and 1990, I did my residency on the Thai and Cambodia borders in refugee camps. That was my first experience with Cambodia, and an experience that has given me positive inspiration moving forward in my life. Since that time, I have worked in several capacities on Jesuit projects in Korea and the U.S., gaining a diverse range of experience.

In 1990, I finished my residency on the Thai border and moved to England where I studied theology for three years. I then moved to Berkeley where I earned my Licentiate in Sacred Theology, and was ordained in 1994. After that I returned to Korea, where I was in charge of the development office for the Korean region for three and a half years.

Following my position in Korea I moved back to the United States (Atlanta, Georgia) where I was the pastor for the Korean community for four years. I then again returned to Korea where I was the director of planning for the Korean province, and also executive director of the Board of Trustees of Sogang University, a Jesuit University, for one and a half years. My experiences provided me with inspiration to return to Cambodia and work for the poor, an essential component of both the religion and of the church. I arrived back in Cambodia in 2007.

Throughout my career I have been guided by my spirituality, of which working for the poor is an integral component.

How has faith inspired the work you are doing?

There are two primary aspects of faith that have inspired the work I am doing: 1) I am motivated to prevent faith from facing a crisis in Cambodia. As a priest or a religious figure in Cambodia, there is not much opportunity to practice our faith and sacraments. In Cambodia there are very few Catholics, and we are registered as an NGO, not as a religious institution. We thus cannot publically practice faith in our organization. I work to keep our faith alive in Cambodia. 2) Through my work, I can see the work of Jesus, and his work inspires me to work for the poor.

How do the Jesuits work to tackle issues of social development, and what are the Order’s main activities in Cambodia?

Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) was the first Jesuit organization to arrive in the country in 1990. At that time, we were working to help people settle down after repatriating back to Cambodia from the refugee camps. At about the same time, we started a technical school for the disabled (which is still in operation today). Even though some people have disabilities, they are human beings, and we recognize them as that (not as “disabled”). In our center they are living together with students working to positively develop their lives.

In 1995, we changed our name to Jesuit Service, or JS, marking a commitment to long term development in Cambodia. Areas of work include education, helping the poor and the disabled, road construction, and shelter, among others.

We also have a rice bank and a cow bank. At the rice bank, we buy rice and stock pile it, especially for the rainy season starting from May. At this time of the year, agriculture is limited and many people do not have enough rice to feed their families. The rice is not a grant however; recipients return the rice with some interest once they harvest their crop. The program is self sufficient. The cow bank is a similar program. Once a recipient has additional cows, they return one to us, and we can then distribute that cow to another person.

In addition, we have widespread education programs. We both build school buildings to give them to the local government to manage and we provide materials and train teachers. We have one publication for students that now has printed 58 story books and is used in libraries. We do not have a board of trustees that allows us to run schools ourselves.

We are especially focused on the disabled and victims of landmines. We run rice and income generation programs specifically for them, including providing grants so that they can open small businesses and become self sufficient.

Can you speak in more detail to your focus on the disabled in Cambodia?

From 1990 until about 2000, the majority of disabled people in Cambodia were landmine victims. In response, the NGO CMAC was formed and is active in clearing landmines. As a result of their work, victims have decreased, though there are still victims every year. Polio, however, is on the increase and has become a major cause of disabilities in Cambodia.

We have a program for the production of wheelchairs in schools to distribute to disabled people in the communities. Every year we produce over 1,000 wheelchairs to distribute across the country.

Car accidents are also a growing problem creating permanent disabilities among the victims. As development continues and roads improve, there are more and more vehicles on the road, so the problem is likely to get worse.

How do the Jesuits view interfaith work, especially working in a Buddhist majority country such as Cambodia?

At the beginning of our work here, from 1993 to 1997, we did a significant amount of interfaith work. At this time Cambodia was experiencing peace marches across the country, ahead of the national elections. We marched with our church alongside Buddhist monks, covering more than 300 km. In 1997, we again marched, though with less success.

Another way we cooperate with temples is on education. When we build schools, we have to work within the local community, which means cooperating with local Buddhist temples. In many cases the temple may offer land to build the school on as well.

Nowadays during our liturgy, we try to teach people our lessons in the Cambodian way, coming from the Buddhist tradition. But in terms of development work, we do not have much interaction.

Do you think greater interfaith cooperation would be helpful in achieving your development goals and increasing effectiveness?

We have ideas, for greater cooperation, but how to implement them is a dilemma. Different faiths’ scriptures view society very differently. Buddhist monks approach poverty differently than we do. For example, suffering is an essence of life in our faith, very different from their perspective. They also are not very active on development work in the villages and in poor areas. They are rather focused on spiritual development. Most parts of life in Cambodia are linked with Buddhist tradition, and Buddhists solve problems in those areas. We are, however trying to develop a joint perspective.

Historically, Buddhists did have social services in their temples, including elderly centers and orphanages. During the Khmer Rouge however, they were all destroyed. As far as I understand today, temples and monks are not very interested those areas.

What are the greatest challenges to your work?

I have only been here for two years and ten months; however, in this short period of time we have been doing a good job. Over the next ten years, I see the greatest challenge being how to build social capital. We cannot be here forever; Cambodians have to gain independence and self sufficiency to work for and develop themselves. Secondly, also connected to empowerment, we must develop leadership, which is tied to education.

Who do you collaborate with on your development work? Have you worked with the government or secular development agencies? What was the outcome?

We have a mixed team. It is not only Jesuits, but we work together with Sisters and lay volunteer workers, as well as Cambodians. That is our character here. We also collaborate with the local government on our projects. If we build schools for example, the government will prepare land for us.

We work with other NGOs as well, but we are not very well connected. We do have strong connections with UNHCR on international human rights, stemming out of our initial work with refugees in the country.

The Jesuits have done great advocacy work for landmine victims with other groups, and in 1997 JS won the Noble Peace Prize for its work to ban landmines. We have a strong advocacy campaign to ban cluster bombs as well, under the leadership of Sister Denise Coghlan of Jesuit Refugee Service.

What are the major development challenges in Cambodia today?

I think education is number one, as well as urban poverty. Many youth who have not had the opportunity to obtain an education come to Phnom Penh to work in factories. It is crucial that we work with that population. Also, we must fight for justice in society and against corruption.

After the United States, Korea sends more Christian missionaries abroad than any other country in the world. Can you speak about Korea’s involvement in Asia and the development Christian organizations are doing abroad?

There is a lot of focus on missionaries in Cambodia. As you know, there are many Korean Protestant fundamentalist groups coming here. It causes some problems with the government; they are very sensitive to this issue as well. If you know the culture of Cambodia, it is strongly Buddhist, and the missionaries do not accept Buddhism here. Missionary groups link charity and development work to one’s belief in Jesus Christ. I would say that the missionaries in Cambodia are a negative force overall.

Have Korean missionaries had a negative impact on your work, or the impression people have of your work?

Yes, I think it has. People cannot distinguish between Protestant and Catholics. Even though we explain the differences and they see our work, we are treated the same as all Christians. It has caused us some difficulties. The government as well is not sure of the differences between us. The government regards all Christians as NGOs, not as churches. We are sensitive to that issue.

What, from your view, is missing on the development agenda with regards to faith, and what should be added?

The first thing we have to understand about development work is that it cannot solve everything, contrary to what some people may think. Development does not provide all the answers.

In terms of faith, as I said earlier, we have to be very humble to accept the cultures and religions of other countries. We cannot try to baptize the Cambodia culture. In that way we can do good work while respecting their culture, life, and religion. We must grow this movement, but it is a slow process. It is a long-term investment.

Lastly, we have to help, but our thinking must always be about the independence of the people we are trying to help; how we can help them to recover their humanity taking into account their culture and religion? The question of conversion is an issue, with many organizations measuring success on how many people they can convert. But that is not the right way to work here. Even through poverty people can find their own humanity. Most of our church and NGO workers have to face the reality that “we” can destroy the ability of people to develop themselves if we are not sensitive in our work, and if this happens they will be dependent on outside assistance forever. As faith can play a role in causing dependence, it can also play a role in countering it. Faith can play a role in helping people find their humanity, and finding their independence. Different faiths must learn to work and interact together in order to find a common humanity.