Jesuit Refugee Service, he volunteered to help the thousands of Cambodians entering Thailand, fleeing the Khmer Rouge. He taught at the Khao-I-Dang and Site Two refugee camps, where he learned the Khmer language. He ended his work there in 1992, and returned to India. After his return to Chennai, he created the Ambukarangal Centres near Tindivanam, Tamil Nadu. Taking their name from a word meaning "open hands," these are places where orphans and children from very poor families can receive shelter, food, health care and education, as well as love and emotional support. Father Ceyrac continued his work well into his nineties, coming to the aid of fishing villages affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. He spent the last years of his life teaching at Loyola College in Chennai. Throughout his life, he campaigned for the rights and dignity of the Dalits and was an advocate for human rights. He died 30 May 2012, at the age of 98 in Chennai. See also References 1914 births 2012 deaths French humanitarians 20th-century French Jesuits 21st-century French Jesuits