Letter from D. Gordon Longmuir, Former Canadian Ambassador to Cambodia (1995-1999)   

 - received June 12 2007

I came to know the Cambodia Support Group through its (then) President, Arne Sahlén, who visited Phnom Penh several times in the late 90s, the period during which I served there as Canadian Ambassador, and have followed its progress since.

CSG is an unusual organization: it has grown significantly

from a facilitator for a few hundred Cambodian refugees from the conflict and horror of the 70s and 80s to a diversified development-oriented organization. 

Since I left Cambodia in 1999, CSG has continued to concentrate its efforts in intercultural ties and assistance to the revival of Khmer traditional music, but has delved also into the key issues of urban poverty, job creation and education.  CSG's support for students of the Royal University of Fine Arts (RUFA) has been unique, and it has brought  talented young people to study in Canada.  On a shoestring budget, CSG has generated something over two million dollars in direct assistance to Cambodians at the grassroots level, with minimal overhead.  ...

CSG should be proud of its achievements in helping Cambodians toward self-sufficiency and the confidence to face their future in an atmosphere of hope and increasing prosperity.  I wish CSG continued success in its 25th year of selfless and culturally-sensitive work in Cambodia.                                                                          - D. Gordon Longmuir.

From LICADHO Cambodia (Human Rights agency) Director, following a CSG-organized, Canadian Embassy-sponsored Cambodia-International Friendship Concert on Canada Day, July 1 2006

Dear Donica, (copy to CSG)

I hope you are enjoying a well deserved holiday with your family. I am writing to you before your return to Cambodia to let you know how much some of my friends and I enjoyed the music show at the Russian Cultural center on July 1. The show was fun and very well organized but most of all, the audience greatly appreciated the mixing of classical music, rag time/jazz music, Cambodian traditional music, Cambodian/Italian opera and Canadian folk music together. I only regret not having brought along all of my Cambodian colleagues to the show.

                                                 - Warm regards, Naly

From Ambassador Pottie on her departure from Cambodia – received July 22 2007

It's Sunday and I'm officially in my last week as Canada's Ambassador to Cambodia. I didn't want to leave here without thanking you for all of your support -- and that of your CSG partners.

You've been wonderful to work with. I've appreciated your advice and thoughtful analysis, as well as CSG's willingness to work genuinely at the most basic level of helping people, even if that means helping them one at a time. And, of course, you helped make Canada Day 2006 the best Canadian event in Cambodian history! People still talk about it.  ...

I hope that you will stay in touch and that, if there is ever anything that I can do to assist CSG, you will let me know.

Donica