Skypeing Tobias: Human Translation and the Asia Development Bank

A couple of nights ago I was able to Skype Tobias in Cambodia. I had been starting to worry about him because I'd heard nothing for quite a while. Was he okay? I wondered. A father worries, not because of the people -- whom he seems to genuinely cherish -- but because Cambodia has a reputation as a land ravaged by war, genocide, and laden with land mines hidden in deadly places.

When we connected he said he was in Phenom Phen.

"What are you doing in Phenom Phen?" I asked. "I thought you were in Siem Reip!"

"Well, I'm trying to coordinate our dam project with the Asia Development Bank."

????

Long story short, it appears that the engineers that they were waiting for did, in fact arrive and began the process of spec'ing out the dam project -- something that had begun the previous year with an engineer from "Engineers Without Borders." But when these new engineers were working they heard some sort of story that the Asia Development Bank had already begun this same water infrastructure project. So, their initial reaction was "Let the ADB do it! They've got lots of money!"

So that's why Tobias was in the Cambodian capital -- trying to track down the rumors and, if they were accurate -- to discover the actual status of a parallel water project.

Now let's be clear about what I know about this whole Sien Riep dam project.

Almost three years ago Tobias left the U.S. as a tourist visiting S.E. Asia. He'd just graduated from Allegheny College where he'd majored in Art and minored in Psychology. He'd determined he wanted to travel for a while, and set his course for Thailand. According to Tobias, Thailand was wonderful, but he was becoming disenchanted with the tourist attractions in the south, and began wandering northward. He ended up at an orphanage that housed kids with HIV.

He befriended lots of people -- especially the kids -- but became involved in trying to help out. Why weren't these kids getting more assistance? Their needs were pretty basic -- though some had needs that went significantly further. Evidently, it got him thinking. "Maybe I can draw these wonderful people and then sell the drawings and send them the money." That was his first thought, and it was clearly a good thought indeed. So he got to work. All he had to draw upon was the materials at hand, and you can see some of these drawings at his Web site at www.humantranslation.org.

He spent quite a bit of time in Northern Thailand but his time in S.E. Asia was coming to a close. I said to him "You have to go to see the temples at Ankgor Wat before you leave. You may never have a chance to do that again, so do it now!" And so he did. His journal about that experience is at xxxxxxxxxx. Read it! You'll see how a mind begins to blossom with realization and ideas about how life can be so difficult. That one trip was enough to change his life, formulate a direction, and perhaps actually accomplish something worthwhile.

While he was at Siem Riep, where the temples lie in ruins, he was -- essentially -- kidnapped by some Buddhist monks. They spoke little English, and Tobias knew nothing of their language. They asked him to help them restore an agricultural dam to help feed the 5000 or more villagers who lived in utter destitution there.

For some reason, Tobias said he would.

As I say, that was almost three years ago. As his father, I had my doubts about his tenacity to follow through on his commitment. Tobias was known, as a child, to be organizationally challenged. But now I stand somewhat in awe.

Over the last couple of years Tobias has held fund-raisers, started a non-profit organization, connected with hundreds of well-meaning individuals, and managed to raise about $25000 for the project. He's attracted volunteers who have accompanied him back to Cambodia on two occassions, to try to orchestrate the project. He's lived off the separate money that he earned doing Web coding locally in the U.S., while squirreling away every penny for the project itself. And in the process, he founded HumanTranslation.org -- a humanitarian organization that is dedicated to translating good intentions into worthwhile acts of charity and conscience.

If you haven't checked out his organization, I suggest you take a look. It's quite astounding.