SURVIVORS' STORIES

My mother was a farmer from Tonle Bet, while my father was a goldsmith from Kampong Cham Province. They met at a pagoda. My father

Chaing Chaem was head of the Tet Mountain Buddhist monastery in Chamkar Leu District of Kampong Cham Province. He was very famous for his black

Bun Lorn worked near Rorka Kong market in Kandal Province. I used to go there to buy food for my family. He watched me for

I married two men; both were my relatives. My first marriage was arranged to a farmer from my village in Phnom Penh. After we were

I never went to school, but my husband Hai Sang was literate. He was half Chinese and came from Kampong Speu Province. He had relatives

My wife and I are Cambodian Chinese, but we cannot speak Chinese. We did not meet until our wedding day, even though we are great

When I was young, I lived with my older sister in Phnom Penh, and sold cakes in my spare time. One man often bought my

When I was in high school in Phnom Penh, I liked sports and played basketball. My father supported my love of sports, and at one

My sister was very beautiful and the tallest of the four daughters in our family. My mother loved her the most of her six children,

When I was young I did not a chance to get an education. Although my siblings went to school, I stayed at home and worked

I grew up in a middle class family; we had a car. My father Lao Chheng Sorn worked in a laboratory at a private hospital

I was born in Takeo Province, but during the Lon Nol regime, my family fled to Vietnam because it was not safe in my village.

All of the children in our family studied hard, and we all liked science. My oldest brother Som Sila had a PhD in economic engineering

I was the oldest son in a family of six children. My father Mei Sam Aol was a government nurse at a hospital in Phnom

My father was ordained a monk when he was young and taught in the monastery. Sending a son to the monastery was customary among older

My father died of old age before the Lon Nol regime took control of Cambodia, so my mother sold mats to support our family. But

When my father returned from studying at a military school in Indonesia, he was promoted to the rank of major in the military police. My

When I was young, I wanted to study so that I could become a teacher. I had seen that teachers were well educated, dressed smartly,

When we were small, my father liked to play with us, pretending he was an elephant. He would take a big mattress, fold it in

Five of my ten children died during the Khmer Rouge regime. My two oldest boys, Muon and Mut, were executed. My third son, Ty, starved

loved studying when I was young, but my parents wanted me to get married. Even when I was pregnant, I kept studying until my belly

I came from a poor farming family in Takeo Province, and was educated with my older brother who was a monk. There were no schools

Thuch disappeared during the 1975 evacuation of Phnom Penh. He was born in Prey Veng Province, and after he finished high school, studied medicine in

Of my parents and thirteen siblings, only two of us survived the Khmer Rouge regime. Nearly all of them died in 1977 from starvation and

My husband and I were cousins; we grew up together in Kampong Cham Province. Our parents arranged our marriage when he was 25 and I

Before I was born, my father was a teacher in Pursat Province, where he fell in love with my mother Kang Sophat; she was the

My mother died when I was too young to remember and my father died when I was ten. Thus, I grew up to be a

During the Lon Nol regime my husband Mai Phy was a policeman in Phnom Penh. He also worked for a humanitarian organization that distributed food.

My mother died when I was young and my father did not have enough money to support my education. So, I moved from Prey Vent

I was ordained as a monk when I was 12 years old. But after a year, I resigned because I had very little knowledge of

My husband worked for the civil aviation administration at Pochentong Airport when we met. He was responsible for security at the airport at a time

This picture was taken during the Lon Nol regime in Phnom Penh. I had moved there to live with my younger cousins because I didn’t

Kauv Choa married me when he was 22 and I was 18. Although we lived in the same village, we had never met before his

was not really ready for love when I was 18. Mann and I first met on the Khmer New Year, when he was on a

My husband Vorn had skin the color of a soybean. He was gentle, hardworking, and very likable. We were married when I was 16. About

I was very lucky to marry my husband. If I had married a selfish man, I probably would have died from starvation during the Khmer

Noeun studied in Kandal Province. He was a good student and earned a diploma. During the chaos following the 1970 coup d’état, he volunteered to

My father Uk Tat was a soldier. He was the only one in his family to be educated; he went to school at a pagoda

loved being in uniform. I wore the uniform in this picture only when I was being promoted or having my photograph taken; when I went

My father was a handsome man. After he fell in love with my mother Makk Ngoy, he had to work very hard to please her

My husband Yos Prim first saw me in 1952 and asked my parents for my hand in marriage. After he graduated from high school, he

Phoeun first saw me one evening when I was walking to the river to have a bath. He kept watching me and followed me whenever

I still remember my father’s words: “I am a soldier, and will not flee the country. If I die, I want to die in Cambodia.”

I moved to Phnom Penh from Kandal Province so I could attend high school, but after I completed the 5th grade [the equivalent of 7th grade

Thai was a smart man. Before 1970, he studied at the agricultural school in Kampong Cham Province. He rented a house there and fell in

Among our family’s seven children, Sboang was the luckiest; he had the highest position. He was a clever student and fluent in French. During the

My father was the chief of forest and wild animal preservation at the Ministry of Agriculture. In 1973, the Ministry assigned him to monitor along

I was very lucky to have survived the Khmer Rouge regime. My mother and five of the eight children in our family died, but I

When he was 18 years old, my husband was ordained a monk. He passed his baccalaureate examination in the Pali language. Chuon Nat, the head

Told by his daughter, Arun Cheat Ponnary My father Pon Arun fell in love with my mother at first sight. She was very beautiful and a

Told by his daughter, Buth Chan Mearadey My father, who was born in 1920, was a real patriot and very active in politics. He was