Newsletters
With our regular newsletters, we aim to keep you posted on all the interesting and important news and updates of our programs and various activities. Enjoy reading!
July 7,2006
Dear friends and partners, This morning I want share a special day that I experienced yesterday. I went to see our newest project area, Kompong Thom with Srei and Apo who is our staff there. Srei has come a long way over the years that we have been together. When she first started with us, back in 1996, Srei was a trembler - her whole body quivered and she was frightened of everything. Over the years, she has learned to become a very confident and competent woman - she is now the Supervisor of all our development projects.
As we drove to our new communities, Srei asked if I would like to see where she had suffered during the Khmer Rouge years - I said, yes, I would like to see. Over the years Srei had shared bits and pieces of the horror - yesterday I learned so very much more.
We drove to the village of Slakor, in Staung District - as we were driving Srei said, this is the village where a 1000 families from Phnom Penh were sent by the Khmer Rouge - out of those families, only 9 broken families survived - mine was one of them.
We stopped at the house where her family was billeted with an 'old family"- a rural family who lived there and was considered good by the Khmer Rouge. Urbanites were billeted with the old people to insure that they were being watched. "This is the house where 25 members of my family stayed, she said - only 3 of us survived - my mum, my sister and myself."
As we were talking an old woman came out of the house - this woman, said Srei, she saved my life. This woman watched the Khmer Rouge come and take away my father, then one by one, my six brothers, my uncles, my auntie and my cousins - they killed them all, one by one. The old woman heard that I was to die next - she felt great pity for me and she said - I will beg for your life - I will cry and I will beg - but you - you must not cry - for if you cry they will kill you. For 2 days the old woman begged and cried for Srei's life - Srie never cried - she wanted to live. The Khmer Rouge relented and didn't take her. I thanked the old woman for her compassion and bravery - her own life was at stake for begging. She grasped my hand in both of hers - they were bad times, the old woman said.
Srei's eyes were burning red - but she did not cry as we spoke - instead she was animated. Come, Srei said, I will show you where they killed my father. 50 meters away was a Wat. As we walked into the grounds, Srie pointed at 3 trees, these are the trees where they killed the babies. The Khmer Rouge would hold them with one leg and then bash them against the tree. I could not speak - such behavior was beyond my comprehension. Then Srie grabbed my hand and we walked to the Wat - in this building is where the people stayed for the last days of their lives - if the Khmer Rouge put you in this building - then you knew you would die.
She turned and ran down the stairs to an open pit fenced by bamboo - this is where the bodies were thrown - the government came and cleaned out all the bodies - some are in Phnom Penh and some are in a Wat in a nearby village - she went on and described her father's death and those of her brothers and of her cousins and her uncles and then her final relative, an auntie - they came for my auntie, she said - my mother told my auntie - do whatever they tell you - don't cry - and you might live - 2 hours later a dog came by their home with her auntie's skirt hanging from his jaw.
She turned and pointed to the building where they all were forced to eat together - they killed people everyday, she said but one day of the week, they would kill very many - on that night - we were not allowed to come and eat - then we would be awake all night long - I could not cry because then I would die. Then she pointed to another tree with an excavation beside it - this is where I saw my father's body - or a part of it. When I came back for the first time in 2001, I could not sleep - I felt all the people who had died around me. Then in 2003, I came back and made a ceremony for my father and for my brothers - now I can sleep here. I come to this spot a lot. Tears were streaming from my eyes - her pain and the pain of so many others - over 12,000 people died in this spot, Janne - and then she cried.
When the tears were done - she continued with her story - she said, we heard that the Vietnamese were in Phnom Penh and chasing the Khmer Rouge away. The old lady came to my mother and said, you must go now - the Khmer Rouge are angry - they want to kill you and your daughters. The villagers gave us a lot of food and then brought us out to the main highway - go, they said, or you will die. We went and what was left of 8 other families left. Later, when the Vietnamese came to bring freedom, the old people killed all the bad Khmer Rouge - all the ones that had killed so many.
I lived, but I didn't know why. Now I do, Srei said - I live so that I can give life to others - I want to put a well in this village in honor of my father and one in honor of my brothers - the water will give life to so many others.
We left the Wat and Apo and Srei showed me several hundred families that we are now working with. The poverty is hard, - the spirit is good - we all want to live.
I thank my God that He has spared me from such great sorrow, I thank Him for allowing me the privilege of sharing my life with so many like Srie - I thank my God that He has made each of you a part of this.
Janne
