Peter L. Pond
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Reverend Peter Lawrence Pond (1933–2000) was a
New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...
clergyman Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...
, activist and philanthropist who worked with Cambodian orphans on the Thai-
Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...
n border. He was executive director of the Providence-based Cambodian Crisis Committee and was a co-founder of the Thai Friends Relief Foundation as well as the Inter-Religious Mission for Peace in Cambodia.


Early career

Born to a prominent family in
Milford Milford may refer to: Place names Canada * Milford (Annapolis), Nova Scotia * Milford (Halifax), Nova Scotia * Milford, Ontario England * Milford, Derbyshire * Milford, Devon, a place in Devon * Milford on Sea, Hampshire * Milford, Shro ...
,
Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...
on February 13, 1933, Pond was named after his ancestor, the explorer
Peter Pond Peter Pond (January 18, 1739 – 1807) was an American explorer, cartographer, merchant and soldier who was a founding member of the North West Company and the Beaver Club. Though he was born and died in Milford, Connecticut, most of his life ...
. He would later describe his childhood with his divorced father as "deprived of love" and said that this deprivation shaped his desire to help others. He attended the
Rectory School The Rectory School is an independent, coeducational, junior boarding (5–9) and day school (K–9) in Pomfret, Connecticut. The school was founded by the Rev. Frank H. Bigelow in 1920. It has expanded to , 26 buildings, 250 students, and 65 facu ...
and the
Pomfret School Pomfret School is an independent, coeducational, college preparatory boarding and day school in Pomfret, Connecticut, United States, serving 350 students in grades 9 through 12 and post-graduates. Located in the Pomfret Street Historic District, ...
and graduated from
Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
in 1954 with a degree in American Studies. He entered
Yale Divinity School Yale Divinity School (YDS) is one of the twelve graduate and professional schools of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Congregationalist theological education was the motivation at the founding of Yale, and the professional school has ...
in 1955 against his father's wishes.Mooney, Tom, "Peter Pond's War", ''Providence Journal'', Oct 15, 1989 p. M-06 He flew to
Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...
as a divinity student in 1956 to establish a camp for children displaced by the violence of the Hungarian Revolution. After graduating in 1960 he worked with impoverished children in
Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...
and
New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...
, in a program on gang violence run by the Indo-Chinese Advocacy Project.Whitehouse, Sheldon, "R.I.'s Schindler of the Killing Fields", ''Providence Journal'', July 31, 2000, p. B-05
In order to raise additional funds for his programs, Pond worked as the Director for Resettlement at the
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service is a non-profit organization that welcomes and supports refugees and migrants entering the United States. It is one of nine refugee resettlement agencies working with the Office of Refugee Resettlement and ...
, as a consultant fo
Lutheran Social Services of New England
as a consultant for the
Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to provide international development assistance. It was established in March 1961 by an executive order of President John F ...
in Colombia and
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
and for
VISTA Vista usually refers to a distant view. Vista may also refer to: Software *Windows Vista, the line of Microsoft Windows client operating systems released in 2006 and 2007 * VistA, (Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture) ...
on Navajo reservations in the US.


Foundation of the Puerto Rican Peace Corps (later VESPRA)

In 1963 Pond founded a
YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams (philanthropist), Georg ...
chapter in Aguirre, Puerto Rico that served the children of sugarcane cutters. At the request of Don
Luis Muñoz Marín José Luis Alberto Muñoz Marín (February 18, 1898April 30, 1980) was a Puerto Rican journalist, politician, statesman and was the first elected governor of Puerto Rico, regarded as the "Architect of the Puerto Rico Commonwealth." In 1948 he ...
, the first elected Governor of Puerto Rico and his wife, Pond initiated in
Cayey Cayey (), officially Cayey de Muesas, is a mountain town and municipality in central Puerto Rico located on the Sierra de Cayey within the Central Mountain range, north of Salinas and Guayama; south of Cidra and Caguas; east of Aibonito and Sal ...
, Puerto Rico a chapter of the YMCA with the specific focus of finding ways to keep youth and young adults "civically occupied".Rojas Daporta, M., "Organzian en Cayey Cuerpo de Paz de Puerto Rico." ''El Mundo'', January 18, 1965, p. 9. This program was called YMCA-''Cuerpo de Paz de Puerto Rico'' with an operational base in Henry Barracks, an old army post. The initial group of volunteers was composed of 200
community leader Community leader is a designation, often by secondary sources (particularly in the media), for a person widely perceived to represent a community. A simple way to understand community leadership is to see it as leadership in, for and by the communit ...
s, 40 university students, 25 teachers and 85 high school students. The group committed to work voluntarily in
community development The United Nations defines community development as "a process where community members come together to take collective action and generate solutions to common problems." It is a broad concept, applied to the practices of civic leaders, activists ...
projects for 80 hours per month for a minimum of one year. In the spring of 1965 ''Cuerpo de Paz de Puerto Rico'' was renamed ''Voluntarios en Servicio a Puerto Rico Asociados'' (VESPRA), after Pond sought and obtained funding from the
Office of Economic Opportunity The Office of Economic Opportunity was the agency responsible for administering most of the War on Poverty programs created as part of United States President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society legislative agenda. It was established in 1964 as an ...
in Washington, D.C. As a result of Pond's efforts, a joint training session called
VISTA Vista usually refers to a distant view. Vista may also refer to: Software *Windows Vista, the line of Microsoft Windows client operating systems released in 2006 and 2007 * VistA, (Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture) ...
/VESPRA I was conducted in Cayey where sixty community leaders and university students were trained and assigned to communities in Puerto Rico and the eastern United States. In the summer of 1966, Pond and his associates, together with the New York
Society for Ethical Culture A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Socie ...
, co-sponsored the
Encampment for Citizenship The Encampment for Citizenship (EFC) is a non-profit, non-partisan, non-sectarian organization currently based in California that conducts a residential summer programs with year-round follow-up for young people of widely diverse backgrounds and na ...
in Henry Barracks with participants from over 50 countries, where they learned the fundamentals of community development,
self-government __NOTOC__ Self-governance, self-government, or self-rule is the ability of a person or group to exercise all necessary functions of regulation without intervention from an external authority. It may refer to personal conduct or to any form of ...
, and civic responsibilities. By 1967 Pond's efforts in fostering community development had moved into the slums of San Juan utilizing local leadership and volunteers from the universities. Systematization of the training program gave VESPRA national visibility.


Work with Cambodian refugees

After his second divorce in 1976, Pond felt a desire to start over and decided in 1979 to move to
Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...
, where his mother, Josephine Stanton, wife of Edwin F. Stanton, the first
United States Ambassador to Thailand This is a list of ambassadors of the United States to Thailand. Thailand has had continuous bilateral relations with the United States since 1882. Relations were interrupted during World War II when Bangkok was occupied by Japanese forces. Normal ...
after World War II, was living at the time. Pond wanted to establish an "indigenous Peace Corps" in Thailand and met with members of the
Thai Royal Family The Chakri dynasty ( th, ราชวงศ์ จักรี, , , ) is the current reigning dynasty of the Kingdom of Thailand, the head of the house is the king, who is head of state. The family has ruled Thailand since the founding of the ...
. But the plight of refugees fleeing
Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...
after the end of the Pol Pot regime caught his attention, and he went immediately to volunteer at
Sa Kaeo Refugee Camp Sa Kaeo Refugee Camp (also referred to as Sa Kaeo I or Ban Kaeng) was the first organized refugee relief camp established on the Thai-Cambodian border. It was built by the Royal Thai Government with support from international relief agencies includ ...
on the Thai-Cambodian border. "It was a suffering I had not known," Pond later recalled, "and I felt compelled to be a part of it. I had just never seen such a broken people as the Cambodian people. There was so much devastation, so much incredible sadness that I was crying and very shaken." In June 1980 the Thai Government decided to forcibly repatriate thousands of refugees. Pond and the
Preah Maha Ghosananda Maha Ghosananda (full title Samdech Preah Maha Ghosananda - km, សម្តេចព្រះមហាឃោសានន្ទ; pi, Mahāghosānanda; May 23, 1913 – March 12, 2007) was a highly revered Cambodian Buddhist monkSirikit Queen Sirikit ( th, สิริกิติ์; ; ); born ''Mom Rajawongse'' Sirikit Kitiyakara ( th, สิริกิติ์ กิติยากร; ; 12 August 1932) is the queen mother of Thailand. She was Queen of Thailand as the wif ...
heard about how Pond had been mistreated by Thai soldiers, she ordered his release and made amends by offering him three wishes. Pond selected three Cambodian orphans, including the musician Arn Chorn-Pond, to take back to the US. After his release Peter asked the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
for permission to begin a
foster care Foster care is a system in which a minor has been placed into a ward, group home ( residential child care community, treatment center, etc.), or private home of a state-certified caregiver, referred to as a "foster parent" or with a family ...
program in the US for Khmer orphans, but was refused because it was felt that it was more appropriate for the children to return to Cambodia. In all, he adopted 16 Cambodian children, mostly orphans, including the musician Arn Chorn-Pond and Rhode Island's first Cambodian physician, Dr. Soneath Pond. He also worked with Thai street children in the Patpong section of
Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...
and provided food for detainees at th
Suan Phlu Immigration Detention Center
In 1983 he was invited by
Rosalynn Carter Eleanor Rosalynn Carter ( ; née Smith; born August 18, 1927) is an American writer and activist who served as First Lady of the United States from 1977 to 1981 as the wife of President Jimmy Carter. For decades, she has been a leading advocate ...
to join the
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
's National Cambodian Crisis Committee, created in 1980 as a clearing house for donations and relief efforts. That same year Pond and the Maha Ghosananda visited
Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
to discuss ways of achieving peace in Cambodia. In April 1984, he was asked to testify before the
United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs The United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, also known as the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is a standing committee of the U.S. House of Representatives with jurisdiction over bills and investigations concerning the foreign affairs ...
on the refugee situation in Thailand, along with
Kitty Dukakis Katharine "Kitty" Dukakis (née Dickson; born December 26, 1936) is an American author. She is the wife of former Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis. Life and career Dukakis was born Katharine Virginia Dickson in Cambridge, Massachusetts, th ...
. In 1989 Pond and the Maha Ghosananda founded the Inter-Religious Mission for Peace in Cambodia, a Bangkok-based project designed to bring
monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...
s and refugees together from all th
refugee camps on the Thai-Cambodian border
including those run by the Khmer Rouge, to teach peace and nonviolence through
Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...
. As a result of his work, Pond received an
honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...
from Providence College in 1992. Devoutly religious, Pond was at different times in his life a
Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...
, a Congregationalist, a Unitarian-Universalist, and a
Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
.


Attempted murder

Pond also assisted refugees in Khmer Rouge camps along the Thai-Cambodian border, and on June 23, 1989, as he was leaving the Khmer Rouge refugee cam
Site 8
where he had been trying to establish a
literacy Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, hum ...
program, two soldiers stopped Pond's car and demanded that Pond help recruit soldiers for the Khmer Rouge. When Pond refused they threatened him with a
sawed-off shotgun A sawed-off shotgun (also called a sawn-off shotgun, short-barreled shotgun, shorty or a boom stick) is a type of shotgun with a shorter gun barrel—typically under —and often a shortened or absent stock. Despite the colloquial term, ...
and shot him twice, nearly killing him. In spite of this, he returned to work a few months later and continued until his death in 2000.


The controversial man

Those who knew Peter Pond often had mixed feelings about him. Described as "
Quixotic Quixotic may refer to: * Quixotism, deriving from the novel ''Don Quixote'' * ''Quixotic'' (album), an album by Martina Topley-Bird * Quix*o*tic Quix*o*tic was a rock band active from 1997 to 2002 in the area of Washington, D.C., United States. T ...
, obsessive, even fanatic in his quest" to save Cambodian orphans, he was said to be
one of those individuals who is single-minded of purpose that I think a lot of people find either intimidating or aggravating or downright bizarre. He has put himself on the firing line consistently, not just in front of bullets, but on the political firing line, with the US, the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
, volunteers, the Thai Government ... Peter's philosophy has basically been, 'To hell with the system.' If it is not serving these children, go around it, subvert it, do anything you need to, even if it means breaking the law, if it serves the cause. His means are not always politic or even polite, but he is so totally devoted to serving the Cambodian people, particularly the Cambodian children, I think he must be forgiven ...W. Courtland Robinson, quoted in Mooney, 1989.
His adopted son Arn Chorn-Pond said of Pond, "Peter svery lonely himself ... People do not understand what he do. They think he wants something, but Peter don't want anything. What he does is from his heart. It is pure help. This guy is so simple we don't understand. It is so simple we make it complicated. Maybe we are so modern we can no understand pure love."


Note


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pond, Peter L. Adoption workers 1980s in Cambodia American expatriates in Thailand 1933 births 2000 deaths Yale Divinity School alumni Providence College alumni People from Milford, Connecticut American humanitarians American clergy Pomfret School alumni 20th-century American philanthropists 20th-century American clergy