Buu-Van Rasih addressed the City Council on 2005 SD Police Public Safety Budget Gearing

On Monday you are making a decision on whether or not to cut 28 Community Service Officers from the San Diego Police Department. We ask you not to cut those positions for the present and to re-evaluate their role in sustaining public safety. We are very concerned about the consequences for the Multi-Cultural Community Relations Office in East San Diego, California.
The office fills the gap between the police department and the various communities served. In effect, East San Diego is the first point of entry for many refugees and immigrants( including among others, Cambodian, Ethiopian, Hmong, Lao, Somalis, Ugandan, and Vietnamese). The storefront Community Service Officers connect, through their language and cultural skills, these newcomers to the police department and other agencies including the District Attorney. Given the nature of East San Diego as a first point of entry to the wider community, it makes sense to leave in place a storefront that has proven a cost effective way of keeping these new residents as well as longer term resident safe and out of harm's way. Just last month the storefront handled 620 phone service calls and 640 office visits. In addition, they conducted 36 meetings with 500 community members. Beyond residents of East San Diego, they service the wider San Diego community including residents from Mira mesa, Linda Vista, Clairemont and Southeast San Diego. Thus their language and cultural skills serve the whole city. These observations only cover a portion of their importance for the police department and city.
In conclusion, we believe Community Services Officers are vital to the public safety and that the Multi-Cultural Community relations Office in East San Diego fill the gap between the police department and our various newcomer communities.

IN LOVING MEMORY OF MOTHER

IN LOVING MEMORY OF MOTHER

KHAMVAY VONGSOUTHI.

We have come here today to honor the life

of Mrs. Khamvay Vongsouthi.

Today, we lost a devoted mother,

a caring grand-mother,

a joyful aunt,

a generous cousin

and a cheerful friend.

Khamvay Vongsouthi, age 83, passed away peacefully surrounded by her children and grand-children on September 15, 2008 from Complications of a stroke and slipped away as she did everything in life, with grace and dignity.

She was a devoted mother and a loving “Mom”

and she will be deeply missed by us, all who are here today to celebrate her life.

She came to San Diego with her 9 children

in 1980 in search of a new life and prosperity for her children. She survived by 9 wonderful children,

and her 24 grand-sons and grand-daughters. They all shaved their heads(sons and grandsons) and are going to be nuns(daughters and grand-daughters) for one day to pay respect and honor for their beloved one’s and their devotion to God and Buddha. They have become nuns and monks for her devotion and to commemorate her departure and this is significant in life as Laotian sons and daughters, as well as grand-sons and grand-daughters. She wanted her children and her grandchildren to love each other, and to be caring and to support one another. She taught them the best way of living, by doing good deeds to others and to look to the future by being equipped with education and knowledge. Her children and grand-children mean the world to her.

She feels love and concern for her children and grand-children. It is a good thing to learn caution by the misfortunes of others.

I’d like to leave her with a poem straight from my heart and it says,

“In Memory of My Devoted Mother.

In life you bring happiness and joy

to those you love.

In death you leave us with

lasting memories of joy you brought

into our lives.

Many things brought joy to you,

more greater than being with us

and our children.

Your love radiated through your eyes

and your joy through your laughs-

wonderful traits leaving a permanent imprint in all our hearts.

You were loved by all of us,

and surely you will be missed by

all of us here today,

your sons, daughters,

grandsons, grand-daughters

and your family and friends.

Peace be with us,

as it is with you.

All our love.

Goodbye Mother,

Rest In Peace.”

I, Buu-Van Rasih, on behalf of Vongsouthi’s Family, would like to thank all of you here today for your prayers, support, and kindness during this difficult time. We also would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to all of you here today.

Thank you for your kindness and for your compassion and your generosity…

and let peace be with all of you.

and Thank you.

Welcome to the Multi-Cultural Community Relations Office

We are pleased to welcome you Police Chief Meijboom from Rotterdam to the finest City of San Diego and we are happy that you have selected our Multi-cultural community relations office as your new sister Police Community Relations Office storefront. We believe that you will find that this storefront is an exciting community relations office that prides itself on reducing crime, providing public safety, and improving the quality of life in our city.

My name is Buu-Van Rasih,

Multi-cultural community relations office co-founder and I am from Laos, in a South-East Asian country called Indochina (Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam). I have been in San Diego for over 32 years. I am a language and culture expert and I am an approved court interpreter for the San Diego Superior Court and I speak 5 languages.

As a former city commissioner for the San Diego Human Relations Commission, former Chairman of City of San Diego Indochinese Council, former Chairman and CEO of International Mutual Assistance Association, former Associate Director of Catholic Charities, founding member of Indochinese Chamber of Commerce and Co-founder of the Multi-cultural Community Relations Office storefront,

I fought for full city money to implement real community policing in Mid-City and East San Diego to reduce crime and provide public safety against crime, youth and domestic violence and drug and improve quality of life in our city.

The Multi-Cultural and Multi-Lingual Community Relations Office Storefront represents our pride, our hope and our dream by “Working together for a better and safer community”. To provide community policing services in partnership with the San Diego Police Department, the City of San Diego and the International community of 44 different languages comprised of 40,000 Vietnamese, 20,000 East Africans (12,000 of those are Somalis-2^nd largest Somalis in the country after Minnesota) 18,000 Laotians and Hmongs, and 7,000 Cambodians, and other Middle East and Eastern European refugees arrived in the United States to free a brutal civil war and for their community, it boiled down to a cultural issue, that of people fleeing their country because of persecution, much of it involve in police state. The police were simply not trusted and moving to a new land was not going to change that perception-at least not right away.

Through our work with the San Diego City Council (and with the police department to recruit Indochinese, Somalis and International officers) we have formed a partnership with the International community to support law enforcement (slowly but surely, that cultural barrier came down). We are working together to solve problems, improve public safety, and enhance quality of life in their community.

The MCCRO Advisory Board members and I look forward to the continuing development and advancement of the Multi-Cultural Community Relations Office Storefront. Together We Can Make Difference but development and advancement can happen only with effective leaders who are honest, upright and incorruptible, ethical, accountable, sincere and selfless.

As Co-founder of the MCCRO storefront, I wish to express my thanks and appreciation to the staff and volunteer Advisory Board Members for their work and dedication in maintaining our community as a safe environment to live, work, and play.

Marquis Who's Who in America, 2009

NEWS RELEASE

Release Date: August 20, 2008
Contact: GLOBAL CHILDE, P.O. Box 178503, San Diego, CA 92177
Phone: (858) 232-5874; Fax: (858) 312-5319; E-Mail: BuuVanRasih@yahoo.com

Buu-Van A.J. Rasih, Son of Immigrants

Profiled in Marquis Who’s Who in America

Buu-Van A.J. Rasih, Language and Culture Expert and Human Relations Specialist, of Global Childe, will be profiled in the forthcoming 2009 Special 63^rd Edition of Marquis Who’s Who in America, the leading biographical reference publisher of the highest achievers and contributors from across the country and around the world.

Buu-Van was the youngest son of three children born in Laos, to his Vietnamese immigrant parents. He met his other half Vilaykhone Connie Simuong, in the United States where they married in 1978. They went on to have three children: Bobby, George and Valentina. He then started Global Childe, a community legal services and publishing company in 1990 and has been the owner for the past 18 years. In 1994 he felt the presence of the Holy Spirit and became an ordained Christian minister, in Las Vegas, Nevada. After this incident he submerged himself with literature, and began writing new American poetry. He is a communicator and the enchantment that comes from his writings comes from his blessed heart and his deep feelings on the American culture of life and society to transform humanity from within and to make it new. He is the winner of the 2006 Asian Heritage Awards for Art, Philosophy and Literature, along with the International Society of Poets for the Editor’s Choice Award in 2005 and 2006.

He has touched many lives through work with the Agapi/Tolstoy Foundation, the Art and Freedom Festival, the Indochinese Cultural Fair, the International Mutual Assistance Association, the Lao, Thai and Vietnamese New Year Celebration organizations, the San Diego City Human Relations Commission, the San Diego Coalition for the homeless, and the United States Catholic Conference Migration Refugee services and Catholic Charities. He continues to work on establishing platforms for people to appreciate and learn about other cultures and to create a better global world. To learn more about Buu-Van A.J. Rasih and his accomplishments simply input his name in Google or any search engine of your choice.

Marquis Who’s Who was first published in 1899; this edition marks the 110^th anniversary of its publishing. This 63^rd edition also features more profiles of other prominent individuals representing virtually every field of endeavor and honors a group of people who make a difference and the builders of today’s America. Men and women who have made profound contributions to America and the world such as George Walker Bush, President of the United States; William Henry Gates III, Co-Founder of Microsoft; Walter Cronkite, T.V. anchor; Meryl Streep, Hollywood actress; Kanye West, Hip-Hop Artist; Joel Osteen, Televangelist; Eva Longoria, Actress from “Desperate Housewives” and Paris Hilton, Fashion Designer and Actress.

ALL ABOUT HIM: A HERO, A COMMUNITY ADVOCATE AND AN AMERICA'S NEW TRIUMPH MONUMENT BUILDER

Buu-Van A.J. Rasih was born on March 1, 1950 in Luangprabang, Laos; he’s the youngest son of three children to his Vietnamese immigrant parents. He attended a Laotian school where French was the primary language, this childhood multi-lingual experience laid the ground work for more to come.

Observing that there was no dam construction or irrigation system available in Laos, Buu-Van majored in hydraulic engineering in Nonthabury, Thailand; where he also learned to speak Thai. While initiating his career in irrigation engineering in Laos, Buu-Van also worked for the United States Agency for the International Development (USAID); thus English became a part of his language repertoire. Since he speaks five languages, Buu-Van jokes,”I’m Polyglot!”

When he arrived in San Diego, California, U.S.A. on April 9, 1976, he coordinated the resettlement activities for Indochinese refugees and began his work as an Approved Court Interpreter in Lao, Vietnamese and Thai for the San Diego Superior Court the following year. He was an Interpreter Examiner for the Washington State Superior Court in 1993 and became a "Language and Culture Expert” by accident when a defense attorney subpoenaed him. He also sharpened his financial skills as a Life and Health Underwriter with New York Life Financial Services where he was recognized for outstanding sales and management performance and qualified for New York Life Executive council two years in a row and also qualified applicant for Million Dollar Round Table. He is currently the President and Chief Executive Officer of Global Childe, a community legal services and publishing company, for the last 18 years.
On January 29, 1977, he married his other half Vilaykhone Connie Simuong. They went on to have three children; Bobby Amata, born on November 20, 1978, George Amarit, born on August 11, 1984, and Valentina Cupid, born on February 01, 1994. Bobby and his wife, Lisa had a daughter (Buu-Van’s only Grandchild) Hayelee Angel on March 11, 2005.
In 1994 he feels the presence of the Holy Spirit and gets ordained as a Christian minister, in Las Vegas, Nevada. After this incident Buu-Van submerges himself into literature, and begins writing new American poetry. He is a communicator and the enchantment that comes from his writings comes from his blessed heart and his deep feelings on the American culture of life and society to transform humanity from within and to make it new. His simplest and shortest of new American poems can snap open, enlightening people's lives, while enhancing people's pleasure of language. Family, marriage, romantic relations and trust all form the basis for much of the work by New American poet. Buu-Van A.J. Rasih, who is the author of "My Other Half" a piece of work revealing his concern for marriage ending up in divorce due to the lack of understanding of dependence, romantic relations, and trust. A remarkably ambitious undertaking, it is the fruit of working for the juvenile dependency and delinquency in family, adult, deportation hearing, immigration, criminal and juvenile courts for the past 23 years. Many of his new American poems are rooted in American life, culture, society, family values, faith, justice, civilization and Christianity. All of his new American poems come from the heart of an American Spirit, the America's new Triumph. He is the winner of the 2006 Asian heritage Awards for Art, Philosophy and Literature and the International Society of Poets for the Editor's Choice Award in 2005 and 2006.

Buu-Van has continued promoted employment, business and cultural opportunities for Southeast Asian and South African communities. His many community leadership positions include: City Commissioner of the San Diego Human relations Commission, Chairman of the Board of the California Court Interpreters Association, Indochinese Council of the City Council Third District, International Mutual Assistance Association, Indochinese/Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce, San Diego Coalition for the Homeless and Indochinese Community Service Officers Store Front Mid-City San Diego. He has been an advocate and integral link between the Southeast Asian and South African communities of San Diego and government services for more than 20 years, first as San Diego's first Human Relations Commissioner, helping resolve discrimination, crime, gang and employment issues, working as a Court Interpreter in the federal, state and municipal court systems. He co-founded the first Indochinese Community Service Officers Storefront with the Police Department to promote public safety and reduce crime in Mid-City and East San Diego, earning him a city council commendation and a San Diego County Board of Supervisors Proclamation, and as a co-founder of the Indochinese/Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce, was instrumental in promoting the growth of more than 400 Vietnamese businesses.

To many Asian Americans, Buu-Van is as much a hero as he is a community advocate. He has balanced a litany of volunteer duties with business career that includes heading the upcoming international Cultural Global Village of the New Millennium and an America's New triumph Monument. He has touched so many lives through work with the United States Catholic Conference Migration Refugee Services and Catholic Charities, Agapi/Tolstoy Foundation, International Mutual Assistance Association, Indochinese Cultural Fair, Art and Freedom Festival, and Diego City Human relations Commission and San Diego Coalition for the Homeless.

Buu-Van is a 32-year resident of San Diego. He enjoys reading, traveling, collecting American memorabilia, antiques and collectibles, art, music and poetry. He continues to work on establishing platforms for people to appreciate and learn about each other's cultures and to create a better global world.

SAN DIEGO'S OCTOBER FIRESTORM

On the morning of Monday October 23rd, 2007, at around 5 O'clock we were notified to be evacuated out of 4S Ranch Rancho Bernardo are immediately. At the time it was a massive mandatory evacuation. We (the Rasihs) were ordered to evacuate and we joined another 513,000 people( about 17% of the region population 3.1 million to fled our home due to the dangerous fire conditions and hazardous air quality that was to be worse throughout the San Diego region in the next of couple days, and hopefully they will allow us to move back in sometime tomorrow the 24th of October. More than 1,775 homes and businesses were destroyed, 7 people died and 79 others were injured and also more than 488,099 acres burned but were still counting. Gusty winds reached about 60 miles per hour, high temperatures and low humility blowing from the East, cause more damage to the coastal areas: Del mar, Rancho Santa Fe, and Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Regional Headquarters. At first we felt the heavy winds, and it smelled heavily of smoke and left our home in Rancho Bernardo. Just after 6:00 a.m., my family and I (Buu-Van A.J. and my family included my son George, my daughter Valentina and my wife Connie) gathered, and packed up our belongings(address books(electronic organizers), batteries, cash, CD-Roms,cellular phones,clothings, collectible items, compact discs, electronic games, eye glasses, family photos, First-Aid Kits, flashlights, food, GPS, important documents of car, home equity, mortgage and tuition loans, home, health & life insurance papers, jewelry, laptop computers, living wills, medication, passports, portable radio, toothbrush & toothpaste, towels, USB/SIM cards, vitamins & minerals, and watches.) and my family headed to my oldest son's house in National City. It took 1 1/2 hour to get out our way to my son's house(which usually took 25 minutes). But we still are very fortunate to have a place to stay but others didn't and they did not know where to go. They ended up in Qualcomm stadium it could house over 10,000 people, cars, trucks, RV mobile homes, pets and good air quality, services and facilities, and other generous donations from the blessed San Diegans. Some donated goods and many others donate blood, as did I at the Qualcomm Stadium Evacuation Center.
Traffic were completely jammed and barely moved in inch. But we are all safe, and that's all matters. I stayed in touch with my son Bobby by cellular phone and found the way out on the small road, to avoid the hectic traffic on the freeways and road closures. By 3:00PM on Monday morning of October 23rd , 10,000 people rushed to the Qualcomm Stadium Evacuation Center to take refuge in the parking lot, while waiting for an update to go home. We were evacuated four years ago on October 25, 2003, it was known as the "Cedar Fire" and it burned 422 square miles versus 488, 099 square miles burned this year. And also destroyed 2,400 homes this year rather than the the1,775 homes. Fifteen(15) people died in 2003 but this year we have improved and only 7 persons were killed in this travesty and we are still haunted by memories of returning the burned homes. The Witch Fire renewed our fears. Connie, my wife was curious and in a bit of fear. We never thought we'd see a day like this again. But this time of year is the worst of the worst in the history of the State of California. All schools are to be closed throughout the week. More Spirit, more money, more food, more donations pour in San Diego County and endless support from all over the world just like You, Me and other American Spirit.