CHEA KALANE

The sun is shining bright in the sky, casting a warm glow over the park. The trees are adorned with leaves of different colors of red, orange, and yellow, and the gentleness of the breeze creates a soothing sound. You can hear birds chirping and children laughing in the distance. You can feel the warmth of the sun on your skin as you take in the beautiful scenery around you. It’s a perfect day to be outside and meet our interviewee. Mr. Chea Kalane is a survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime that was responsible for the death of millions of innocent Cambodians lives. During the regime, Chea Kalane remembers the most difficult time of his life where as a child he was tasked with taking care of the herds and gathering chromolaena odorata to make fertilizer while only able to eat a hand-full of rice as permitted. Due to this reason, he has severe illness that is related to him being malnourished. He stills dreams and remembers the Khmer Rouge period as he is still able to picture the pain and agony of mothers, fathers, children, relatives and friends who were wrongfully murdered. Speaking with anger and pain in his voice, he talks about the separation of families from relatives and especially mothers from their children, which was a tactic that the Khmer Rouge organization known as “Angkar” used to control people. Removing children from their families gave the Khmer Rouge the ability to brainwash youth and condition them into killing people, even their own parents. Nowadays Mr Chea Kalane is an ex-soldier. He is 59 years old and he lives in the small village of Bak Nim។