The anger has slowly faded – it is almost gone now.

Interim Reparative Measures Project

Three years, eight months, and twenty days. Ms. Phol Nang, 69, still counts the time she lived under the Khmer Rouge regime. The suffering, she says, was beyond anything imaginable.

In all my life, I had never experienced hardship like that.

- Ms. Phol Nang

For Mr. Vong Hean, 73, the memories are equally unshakeable. He remembers people dying every day - with no courts, no laws, no justice. He remembers hard labor, people tied up with ropes and killed, and the years when he should have been happy filled instead with death and hunger.

During the years when I should have been happy, I suffered terribly. All I knew was hard labor. I saw only death, never happiness, and there was nothing to eat. I still remember. It stays heavy in my heart

- Mr. Vong Hean

For Ms. Yeay Soth, 82, the losses were deeply personal. Several of her siblings died during that time. She still does not know where they were taken.

Decades later, all three survivors live in Treuy Koh Commune, Kampot. Through the Interim Reparative Measures project, they have found something they had not expected - not just practical support, but a space to be heard, and a slow, quiet release from the weight they had carried alone for so long.

I still carry anger but Kdei Karuna has helped me work through some of these issues and ease my mind. The anger has slowly faded over time - it is almost gone now.

- Mr. Vong Hean

Ms. Yeay Soth's message for the future is simple:

We should not hate or hold resentment toward one another. We need to learn to love each other, whether near or far.

Kdei Karuna

Follow Us:

Contact Us: