Who’s behind Khmer-language version of Harry Potter?
Lately a reader has commented on my previous entry about how Khmer-language version of Harry Potter hit the markets in a very affordable price in Cambodia.
…In early 2004, he wrote British author J.K. Rowling urging her to allow a cut-rate, Khmer-language version of Harry Potter. “Children in Cambodia simply haven’t read since the days of Pol Pot,” he says. “They needed such a book.” After lengthy negotiations, Rowling agreed. A Japanese businessman put up $15,000 for printing costs. Today, Cambodian families can buy their child Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone for 50¢—thanks to Bernie Krisher’s wizardry.
Photo Source: JUN TAKAGI FOR TIME
Krisher’s biggest project is the building of 275 schools in Cambodia, 100 of which are equipped with computers and have access to the Internet. “This closes the gap,” says Krisher, “and for Cambodia the gap is not only food and clothing. It’s information.”
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October 17th, 2005 17:16
bernard krisher is one of my heros.
thanks for everything he’s done for underprevileged people.
i read both his book and his newpapers.
October 17th, 2005 17:22
hey, tharum it will be great if u post his picture on this entry. i love the pic because he’s holding cambodia daily and there is the potter book near him.
October 18th, 2005 08:59
Another hero http://www.beat-richner.ch/
October 18th, 2005 14:44
Yes, Bernard Krisher is an amazing man.
October 19th, 2005 14:52
Of course, I find his Internet Village Motomen project interesting, connecting rural people to the outside world.
October 19th, 2005 20:48
I believe he’s also behind http://www.villageleap.com.
October 25th, 2005 23:54
applause to all the foreigners and people of the world a like helping to rebuild cambodia :0
July 21st, 2006 18:08
[...] The book is also available in Khmer in some bookstores in Phnom Penh. [...]