My team I sat down on a wooden chair mat in front of the old man. He welcomed me with a faint smile. He had lived through the horrors of the Khmer Rouge regime, which killed nearly a quarter of Cambodia’s population in the 1970s. His wooden home was modest and simple, but he seemed content with what he had. He agreed to share his story with me, hoping that it would help prevent such atrocities from happening again. I turned on my recorder and asked him to start from the beginning. He took a deep breath and began to speak. The following is his story.
I am Chan Thav, and I’m 58 years old. I am disabled. During the Khmer Rouge regime, I was 15 years old. In 1979, I had nothing but my mother and sibling with me. I remember wandering the mountain searching for food. I don’t remember much because I was still so young, and I had been running since the Lon Nol regime. When the bombs were dropping, I think it was around the 1960s, I ran from Angkor Chey district all the way to Mlech. I was part of a cooperative where we had to eat and work together. I was maybe 12 years old then, and I did not receive an education because school was closed. Then, when I was 13 years old, I was assigned to a children’s unit. It was 1976 and I was assigned to carry loads and dig canals. In 1979, I started running again and I went into hiding. When the city was liberated, I came home.
As he ended his story, I stood up and shook his hand, feeling a mix of admiration and sadness. I thanked him for sharing his story with me and my team as we took our leave.
