VOKATV2010: Members

Our volunteers are:

Rithy Uong:

Founder and Executive Producer

Rithy Uong has extensive work experience in education and social services. When he first arrived in the U.S., 11/81, as a refugee in Fort Worth, Texas, he worked as an Assembler at Tandy Cable & Wire, a Radio Shack Division. Looking for educational opportunities, he left that job and his family to relocate to Massachusetts. He worked while attending school until he earned his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Boston University in 1987 and went on to get his Master of Education in Math Education from U Mass at Amherst in 1989. He dropped out of his doctoral at the College of Education of U Mass Lowell in 2002 when he was busy serving the community as Lowell City Councilor.

Rithy worked as Math teacher at Lowell High School for two years and also as Guidance Counselor for two years. He has also worked as Math Instructor for Middlesex Community College in Lowell and as Interpreter/Trainer for the Community Disorders Unit of the Boston Police Department, and Southeast Asian Community Liaison attached to the Mayor’s Office of the City of Chelsea, MA. In 1992, he resigned from his positions and returned to work in a rural Province in Cambodia in a Community Development Project with his wife and 18-month-old son. He then joined the United Nations Electoral Team as Electoral Training Officer to train national and international staff in how to conduct a free and fair election. After the election finished, Rithy accepted a three year Field Director position with a Swiss based organization in Pursat Province called SKIP – (Stifftung Kinderdorf Pestalozzi). SKIP is a non-governmental organization which focuses on village level community development and academic and vocational training skills for rural poor children ages 12-18. He oversaw 4 training schools, managed and recruited 70 staff, and registered 320 students –boys and girls- plus setting up curriculum, training and procurements. His work was challenging. He is now back in the U.S. again work as a Guidance Counselor at Lowell High School. He is recently being honored by the US government among 6 other Cambodian-Americans during the Asian American Heritage celebration in May. Besides his professional work, he is also involved with his community. He has been elected President of the board of directors of the Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association of Greater of Lowell for five terms during which time he and his colleagues advocated to appoint the first two Cambodian police officers in the city in 1991, other funding and programs were expanded, activities for youth were initiated, the Task Force on Gang Violence was formed, the first Annual Southeast Asian Water Festival was established, and CMAA received a 90K ft2 building donated by Courier Corporation in Lowell. He is also served as a board of directors and advisory board with other community based organizations and institutions in Lowell. He is now working to promote local leadership and empowerment for youth and families among the Asian and Latino communities in Lowell. He was elected for three-2 year terms as City Councilor of Lowell. He is the first Cambodian-American elected official in the US and the first and only minority to get elected into political office in Lowell. In June of 2003, he led a delegation from Lowell which included city officials, State of Massachusetts officials, Lowell Public Schools staff, National Park Service, and community leaders and activists to visit Cambodia to build relationship between Khmers of Lowell and Khmers in Cambodia. After many years of his leadership and persuasion, in 2007, the Lowell High School has added two history courses into the curriculum learning the early Khmer history during the French colony to the Genocide Khmer Rouge period. He was also one of key players organizing Khmer students and parents to propose the Lowell High School to add Khmer language class as World Language into the high school curriculum.

Aside from numerous awards and activities, he has received throughout the years of serving community, he has been honored with thirteen other Asian –Americans in Massachusetts to serve as the Governor’s Asian American Commissioners for fiscal year 2008-present. He was also honored by the US government during Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month in May 2008 as one of the most outstanding Asian-Americans in the United States.

He has two sons – Ravy (Rah-Vy) and Edward.

Vathana Ven:

Co-Founder /TV Host

Vathana came to the US in 1985 from Khao I Dang refugee camp with a mother and brother and the three of them have settled in Lowell, Masschusetts; Vathana and his family have been living there ever since. He went to Lowell High School and graduated from there in 1988; he then continued on to UMass Lowell. He graduated with his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering (BSEE) in 1993.

After graduating in 1993, Vathana landed a job at Intertek as a Project Engineer. In 2001, Vathana returned to school at UMASS Lowell on a part time basis for his graduated study while still worked at Intertek. He graduated with his Master of Science in Electrical Engineeing (MSEE) in 2006. Vathana is currently working as a Senior Project Engineer at Intertek.

Vathana strongly believes in giving back to the community and society where he , as a community member, benefits from; as a pay back, he decided to volunteer his time to host the Voice of Khmer-Americans TV program.

VOKA Team