An Kum

My team and I walked through the narrow, winding streets of the small village, and I couldn’t help but notice a grandma sitting outside her humble wooden home. She looked up and with a warm smile she greeted the team. I approached her, and introduced ourselves as CamboCorps volunteers who wanted to interview her about her life. As we sat there, surrounded by the sounds of chickens clucking and children playing, the grandma’s warmth and hospitality shone through her voice. Her name is An Kum, and she is 75 years old. She told us about the one thing she will never forget about the Khmer Rouge period—the day when she thought she was going to be murdered. A man ordered her to work in the fields and she was assigned to work with an older people’s unit. She talked back to them unconsciously by saying, “why can’t you do this work?” She noticed, amidst her thoughts that the man who ordered her to work continued to watch her and he even took time to intensely stare at her work.  She recalls feeling he was judging whether to have her killed. She never forgot this day. It remains a vivid memory to this day.