Arn Chorn-Pond, internationally recognized human rights leader, speaker and performer, will be the Asian Cultural Week keynote speaker at the University of Mary Washington. The lecture will take place on Wednesday, November 14, at 7 p.m. in Woodard Campus Center, Great Hall. The event is free and open to the public.
Chorn-Pond is a native of Cambodia and a survivor of the Khmer Rouge killing fields. After escaping a children’s work camp in 1979, he reached a refugee camp in Thailand where Peter Pond, a Lutheran minister and aid worker, befriended and adopted him. He was educated in the United States where he began a number of community-rebuilding projects and founded several organizations including Children of War, Peacemakers and Cambodian Living Arts. He also is the subject of the Emmy-nominated film “The Flute Player.”
Chorn-Pond is the recipient of the Reebok Human Rights Award, the Anne Frank Memorial Award and the Kohl Foundation International Peace Prize. He is an accomplished musician, recording artist and performer who tours the country twice a year to speak at schools and institutions.
For more information about the lecture, which is a Cultural Awareness Series event, contact the James Farmer Multicultural Center at (540) 654-1044.