It was a really hot day in Baknim village. My team and I discovered a thatched covering and we let ourselves rest on a wooden bed under the covering. An old lady noticed us from her back door and came to welcome us. We introduced ourselves and asked if we could interview her. She was glad and began to tell her story. This is her story.
My name is So Met, and I am 67 years old. I hardly do anything today, but I do love to garden during my free time. As a child, I studied until the 11th grade before the 1970s. Later, I began farming and helping around the house with my family. During the Khmer Rouge, I used to see people getting caught and being tied up. They would be walked like slaves through the forest, not knowing where they were going. I kept running to many places, such as Nhe Nhong, Takeo province, and Kales Chhouk village; then, in 1997, I moved to Bak Nim village in Kampot province.
As a listener, I felt shivers down my spine hearing about how the villagers were tied up and pushed around. Sadness and concern filled the atmosphere as we listened to her experiences. However, she mentioned that despite what she saw then, she had come back alive, and almost all her family made it through the war. It was so great to meet her and know her story. My team and I then stood up and thanked her for letting us interview her, and we then bid her farewell and moved on to our next untold story.
