Mickey always picked up the volunteers himself, or if impossible, he would find someone else to do the same. This often meant one or two airport trips a day... for Resource Development International – Cambodia (RDIC) is a hive of activity as volunteers and researchers from Australia, the USA, Canada, the UK, the Netherlands, Israel, Brazil, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, just that I can think of, arrive to contribute labour, time, skills and knowledge, to the organisation, village and country and to learn, have an adventure, and an incredible experience. The 2 hour return trip to pick up volunteers was important to Mickey, a strong sign of welcome, and these and all car trips became highly valued by us as we had largely uninterrupted Mickey time to talk about our work and the world.
I had the good fortune of living for 10 months in the village of Prek Thom where RDIC is located. I ate three meals a day most days with Mickey, his wife Wendi and his kids Date, Michal, Mama, Zach, and Zay, and I reported directly to Mickey in my Engineers Without Borders Australia/RDIC partner project. So I got to know a Mickey Sampson with many sides and angles and aspects. I feel honoured to have gotten to know this Mickey, and devastated and bewildered at his recent death. A thousand tributes to Mickey are possible, and are written all over the web already. The RDIC website (www.rdic.org/mickeysampson.htm) is a good place to start. But this is my attempt to tell you about who Mickey was for me.
Mickey was not afraid to tell you what he thought. He wasn’t afraid to tell other organisations what he thought, or governments. And thank goodness for that. Mickey had a major impact on the identification and the development of management of naturally occurring groundwater arsenic in Cambodia. When 3 wells across a general sweep of 100 identified elevated levels of arsenic and from there more and more in depth examination of wells, particularly deep wells brought this catastrophe to light. The many Cambodians now suffering health problems after years of consuming groundwater contaminated with high levels of arsenic should not be suffering from this illness. Dogged determination to highlight and develop management approaches for this issue by Mickey and others, however meant many more have not suffered the same fate. For Mickey, addressing the issue of arsenic exposure was always personal, it was about protecting the people and families in the Cambodian communities where he lived and worked. Efforts continue to ensure continued exposure to high levels of arsenic is not impacting communities in Cambodia.
Mickey and the RDI team also tirelessly developed and implemented water and sanitation projects, school and community education, literacy, health, information, and agriculture projects. Mickey was never content with how things were, but saw room for improvement everywhere. The ceramic filter factory was constantly reviewed to improve production efficiency, fuel sourcing, filter effectiveness etc.
One thought that comes back to me time and again, and that brings me the most sadness, is that Mickey was not done with learning and discovering. When at 43, or 33, or even 23, so many people have established their idea of the world, what it’s values were, how it should be run, Mickey with his strong faith, and strong scientific knowledge would spend hours discussing, debating and arguing issues most relevant to the well being of people. Affirmative action, taxation systems, global warming - in his car or in the dining hall at RDIC, the discussions and debates continued on for hours never reaching a conclusion, but leaving us with new thoughts and challenged ideals. These times were the most precious to me.
Some of Mickey’s greatest strengths were those that are hardest to find in others: fearlessness and determinedness in the face of opposition and being prepared to tackle challenges that were most difficult. Mickey stood by his principles, while open to challenge, when he knew he was right he did not buckle.
Mickey was not afraid to expose himself by trying a new idea or concept. He was happy to try it, test it, and if it failed, to make changes and adjustments, and try again. Some of his ideas seemed extreme and unlikely, but many of these were his greatest triumphs.... the shipping container film
studio is a prime example.
Development is hard work. It can take many years with a community to work through a problem, develop a new approach and to implement, monitor and review it to make sure it is not just doing what you set out to achieve, but is doing it the best way possible and improving it where it can be improved upon. This is the approach Mickey took. Mickey was in it for the long haul, his family was in it for the long haul, and for his kids call Cambodia home.
Living at RDI made the Sampson’s – Mickey, Wendi, Date, Michal, Mama, Zach and Zay - and their very close friends, Ming Sarom, Ming Sophean and their families and friends, and many of the RDI staff my family in this country. The loss of Mickey has hit everyone so very hard and I truly wish the very best for all that knew and loved Mickey.
Judy
