Rare Cambodian Library Destroyed by Fire
Taylor Jensen writes about ADT home security for http://yourlocalsecurity.com, is considered an expert in the field of home security, and has published hundreds of articles informing consumers about what to look for when considering a home security system.
After a fire caused a couple to lose their home and a rare Asian library containing many books and 20,000 research photos of Angkor Wat, a 12th century Cambodian religious temple recently rediscovered, they were devastated.
Not only had they lost all their personal possessions, but Sophaphan and Kent Davis had lost important cultural research that Kent Davis had been working on for decades.
The fire was apparently caused by a linseed oil rag left in the trash after Davis had been treating some furniture.
Home security tip: linseed oil, when left in a confined space, can become highly combustible. Always make sure you dispose of linseed oil rags properly.
Their house was already engulfed in flames when they were awakened by their interconnected fire alarm system. If it wasn’t for this home alarm system, they might not have lived.
Unfortunately the fire department was slow to arrive and had to put down 1,300 feet of hose because the nearest fire hydrant was almost twice as far away as it was supposed to be.
But despite this tragic loss, the Davis’s worked hard to regain their lives, and recently Kent Davis experienced interest in his work from an unexpected place. Some of his books on Cambodia became official state gifts given on behalf of the United States to the King of Cambodia.
After US Cambodian ambassador Carol Rodley presented the gifts, she contacted Davis, providing great inspiration and incentive for him to begin reconstructing his work on Angkor Wat, which is unique among Asian temples, containing 1,780 carvings of women, of which no two are alike.
Davis remains fascinated with discovering why this enormous temple is completely full of intricate carvings of woman, as opposed to warriors or a population sampling, and as an expert historian on Cambodia and Cambodian women’s history, it remains his quest to answer this question.
Thanks in part to interest in his work from heads of state, in the last year since his home was destroyed, Davis has returned to Cambodia and has so far retaken 7,000 pictures at Angkor Wat, restarting his research photo collection of the sacred temple.
When tragedy strikes, it can be hard to move on with one’s life, but this hopeful story reminds us of a number of things. A) A good fire alarm security system can save your life. B) When it seems that everything is lost, sometimes hope materializes in unexpected ways. C) When you’re passionate about what you do, the only solution is to resume your life after facing a major setback.
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