Dear Editor,

I am not sure your article on the withdrawal of our

organization from Cambodia operations quite conveys the sadness of the

situation.

Cambodia has at least 100,000 people with serious eye

problems. Around 12,000 new cataract cases evolve per year. The combined

government, private and NGO sectors can't keep up with the need. The ROSE

Charities B.C. Kien Khleang Eye clinic was, this time last year, operating free

on around 1,600 cases per year.

Its standards had been attested to by at

least three international ophthalmic consultants from Nepal, the USA, and the UK

respectively. It had been established with donations from Australia, Canada, UK

and other countries, some through funds from their Embassies to help with

development of the country.

The clinic is now a gutted shell. Wall plug

sockets removed from walls, fans from ceilings, even plants and cement furniture

from the small garden where post-op recovery patients would sit in the

shade.

The sacking was carried out by Dr Jim Gollogly for motive(s) hard

to comprehend; the sufferers: the poor, blind of Cambodia.

What a

terrible waste.

- William Grut, Board director ROSE Charities B.C.

Canada