Community Corner
Nobel Peace Prize Winner to Visit MI Presbyterian Church on Sunday
Tun Channareth will speak June 12 at the church about his work for the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.
Tun "Reth" Channareth, a 1997 Nobel Peace Prize Winner and Cambodian advocate for a ban on landmines, will be teaching and telling A Story From the Heart at the this Sunday, June 12 at 9:15 a.m. The general public is invited to attend.
Channareth was born in Cambodia and was forced to leave Phnom Penh with his family in 1975. Much of his family was killed by Pol Pot's soldiers and Reth had to flee Cambodia during the invasion of the Vietnamese in 1979. As a member of the resistance army, Reth was maimed by an anti-personnel landmine in 1982 and lost both legs. After eleven years in refugee camps, Reth returned to Cambodia.
Reth is an ambassador for the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) and has travelled the world urging governments to ban landmines. He also works with the Jesuit Service of Cambodia to make affordable wheelchairs for landmine survivors.
Read more in The Seattle Times about Tun Channareth's visit to Seattle here.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.