Justice and History Outreach Project
Ms. Man Theany is 15 years old. She lives with her grandmother, who is 70 - a survivor of the Khmer Rouge era. Before participating in the Justice and History Outreach project, their conversations rarely touched on what her grandmother had lived through.
Through structured dialogue sessions at her school in Svay Rieng province, that changed. Ms. Man Theany learned not only about the history of the Khmer Rouge regime, but about how to listen - how to ask questions with care, how to create a safe space, and how to support someone processing painful memories. She went home and used what she had learned. "We have to deeply learn our own history. If your family members experienced the past regime, we have to support and take care of them to reduce their suffering."
Her grandmother is no longer carrying her story alone. "I want to learn how to collect oral history to share with the next generation."
In a country where so much was deliberately erased, that impulse - to listen, to record, to remember - is itself an act of peace.
Through structured dialogue sessions at her school in Svay Rieng province, that changed. Ms. Man Theany learned not only about the history of the Khmer Rouge regime, but about how to listen - how to ask questions with care, how to create a safe space, and how to support someone processing painful memories. She went home and used what she had learned. "We have to deeply learn our own history. If your family members experienced the past regime, we have to support and take care of them to reduce their suffering."
Her grandmother is no longer carrying her story alone. "I want to learn how to collect oral history to share with the next generation."
In a country where so much was deliberately erased, that impulse - to listen, to record, to remember - is itself an act of peace.
