FOUNDER BIOGRAPHY

I am the last son of the former soldier family of the US-backed Lon Nol government (1970-1975).

- Father, Chan Nhil, born in 1934, former US-backed Lon Nol government; today the security guard at Kuntheak Bopha hospital in Siem Reap.

- Mother, Ouk Sameth, 1927, the nun, lives in Keankleang pagoda, Phnom Penh.

1. Chan Sokmean, the first brother is living with his family in Phnom Phnom Penh, the Phnom Penh governor's advisor.
2. Chan Samoeun, security guard at Kuntheak Bopha II hospital in Phnom Penh,
3. Chan Vandy, farmer, living in Battambang province,
4. Chan Somaly, the security guard at Kuntheak Bopha III hospital in Siem Reap run by Swiss Foundations.
5. Chan Sophy, fisherman, living in Koh Kong province. All my brothers and sisters now are married including me, except my third brother, Chan Samorn, the soldier of the US-backed Lon Nol government, in 1970s, killed by the Khmer Rouge movement shortly after he was caught on the battlefield when he and his friends lost their control.

From 1941 to 1970, Cambodia, under the reign of the King Norodom Sihanouk, was so prosperous, very self-sufficient. The people had good standard of living, Cambodia was so much better than its neighboring countries, even Singapore could not compare to Cambodia then. Unfortunately, in 1968, the Vietnam War against the US in the south not existed only in Vietnam but also spilt over into Cambodia that brought hundred of thousands Cambodian villagers to death because of the US bombardments along the Cambodia and Vietnam border. In 1970, the General Lon Nol strongly supported by the US President Kissinger and Nexon, decided to overthrow the King Norodom Sihanouk from his status as head of state. Since then the civil war flame between the government and the Khmer Rouge struggling movement began to burn most parts of Cambodia.

I still remember, when I was 7 years old, that I always hear the sounds of the US-backed Lon Nol government's soldier aircrafts dropped the bombs on the Khmer Rouge soldiers in Kompot province, southern part of Cambodia in 1973. The place where the bombs were dropped was so close to the place I lived, so every time they dropped the bombs my mother always stretched my hand quickly run into the tunnel, my little house iron roof near the sea tributary was loudly vibrated because of the bombing sound. My father, the senior officer of the US-backed Lon Nol government soldiers, had about 50 soldiers under him. He did not have much time to look after me, most of the time stayed at the front line in the jungles, once in a while when he came to visit me his uniforms gave a smell of ammunitions, burn, and so dirty all the times, he fought the Khmer Rouge. In 1974, one night I heard my Mom and Dad discussing. I did not know what they talk about but few minutes after my Mom wept, I guess she got the news about the death of my 3rd brother killed by the Khmer Rouge. My Mom asked my Dad, who is the winner of this war. Dad said from time to time more territories are occupied by the struggling movement, now you guess who will be the winner, my Mom said if so we have to find out the way to leave here, because we might be killed after the movement comes to victory if they know you were the soldier, she added we have to go somewhere that people do not know you are the soldier. So finally, they decided to go to the homeland of my father's mother in Battambang province, western part of Cambodia by moving through Kompongsom (Sihanoukville) by water and Phnom Penh by land. But because the situation became so bad, so all the soldiers were not allowed to leave the province. My Mom, even she is illiterate but she is so smart; she found a trick, at first she left with me to Kompongsom (currently Sihanoukville), after we arrived we faked the letter was supposed to be sent from his step father in Battambang, and sent back to my Dad, in the letter said "Dear son, your mother now is in a very bad condition of her illness, so please come to see her before she disappears from flaming world or maybe your present can make her a bit longer stay on this fragile world,……….from your step father". My Dad took this letter to show his boss (three stars general) for permission, then luckily he was allowed to visit his mother, in fact, it was not a true letter. Fortunately, we all together peacefully left that province. Not very much longer in Phnom Penh, my parents planned to move again together to Battambang but unfortunately my eldest brother got his nose surgery and required to stay in the hospital; my Dad decided to let my Mom, 4th brother, 5th sister and me go early to Battambang, while he was looking after my eldest brother in Phnom Penh with another 2nd brother.

In Battambang, I stayed at the back of grandma's house, mother of my father, in Dangkorteab village, outskirt of the provincial town. Mom, Somaly, Sophy, and I, we had to live on our own. Mom sold vegetables, sometimes fishes in the market, I had to get up early around 4 o'clock everyday to help her taking all stuffs to the market about 3km from home by foot, then I came back home early before her to cook for the whole family. Sometimes, I had another job as a little worker at the brick kiln. I got a little money at every end of the weeks to help family added to Mom's income from sales vegetables and fishes. Sometimes, Sophy, 11 and I, 8 years old, sold the banana or pumpkin cakes walking from village to village.

1975 April 17 shortly after the Khmer New Year on April 13-15, the Khmer Rouge Struggling Movement got a victory over the US-backed Lon Nol government. My family had been separated since then. The Khmer Rouge started its policy to evacuate the people from all cities and towns to the countryside for the agriculture followed Mao Tse Tong's theory "to develop the country to socialist starting from the agriculture". My family was also one of them evacuated from Dangkorteab to another commune called Andoungpring, 15km away. My mom, she used to be the clothe maker, for the first couple of weeks, I saw many Khmer Rouge soldiers brought their torn clothes to her for fixing. A few weeks after, we got an order from Angkar (Organization) to move again to another commune more to the remote area, today we all prepared clothes, and loaded again all stuffs in the card pulled by hands and moved. After we left about one kilometer, we saw a soldier with a gun walked quickly after us, we felt so frightened, and he called us to stop, he said our Angkar does not allow you to go anywhere; you have to stay here to fix our torn clothes. Therefore, my family was the only one stayed in this place after all the people moved to the far remote areas. We stayed here for more couple months, one day the Angkar told us to leave again to Phnom Sampov, a large district with many people living and working, most of them worked in the rice fields and few in a small factory as a vehicle repairman, nail and clothe makers, and my mom worked with this people. To me, I did not do anything, perhaps I was so small at that time, and I always played around my mom. Somaly and Sophy were in the dancing group; they were trained to dance and to sing the Khmer Rouge songs described about how they got a victory, and how people working. Soon after, I was sent to work in the hospital; my job was to collect the spittoons of all patients in the hospital. That was my first and hard job in the Khmer Rouge regime.

I was working at the hospital for about 6 months; afterward they sent me out of the hospital to the children group but still in the Sampov mountain district. In this group, I was ordered to clean the grasses at the mulberry trees farm, near the foot of Sampov Mountain. During this time, I still can meet my mom for sometime after work.

In the end of 1976, Somaly and Sophy were ordered by the Angkar to move from Sampov Mountain as a dancer to Sre Thmei collective (New Rice Field) as a farmer in the mobile unit, about 30 km away. Mom was so concerned of these two children doing something silly because they were so young to the society; she decided to follow these kids by moving together from Sampov Mountain to Sre Thmei collective to work in the rice field, which was so hard for her. Shortly after arriving there, all the people were divided into groups. I still remember that one evening after dinner, the Angkar called all the people to sit on one place near the house of the collective leader to have a meeting and be divided into groups and units. I could not remember well for all what the Angkar said at the meeting, but just know that the children that can carry the hoes were moved to the youth mobile unit, this group was called the "Special Children Group"; they work like man. For the ones can not carry the hoes were allowed to stay with their parents; their work was to chase the birds out of the rice fields sometimes. Below is the place drawing I experienced the most terrible life under the four years terror regime of the Khmer Rouge led by Salot Sar known as Pol Pot the killer.




From day to day my life had been trained to work so hard to remove the weeds from the rice fields, to collect kind of plants to make a natural fertilizers for rice fields, to cut the bushes and trees to cultivate new lands, to make dikes and canals for the agriculture. We must get up early around 5 am, queue in front of the barrack before leaving for working site which was about 3 to 4 km away, if one sick can not go to work, he or she had to sit near the queue, and then the group leader would ask for the reason why you could not go to work. If your answer was reasonable you would be allowed to rest half a day or a whole day. If not, you must be forced to go to work and even criticized as a hypocrite, sometimes, might be killed.

All the people were not allowed to have anything beside black shirts and trousers, red scarf, sandals made of car tyre, and one spoon, one hammock, one blanket for the single, or one mosquito net and one straw mat for the married couple and the old age people provided by the organization as the only personal property. If the Angkar found something with you like jewelry, watch, colorful clothes, radio, or cosmetics etc. you would be killed. Under this regime, no money, no schools, no personal visit, no religion, and no make-up. If Angkar knew someone worship the gods; they must kill. Under this genocide regime, the Buddhist monks were considered as the blood suckers to the society. They forced the monks to leave pagodas to work in the rice fields as other people do. Most of the Buddhist monasteries were destroyed, while others used as the warehouses of the ammunitions, salts and rice.

As you see the drawing of the place I lived. People must sleep together, work together, and eat together. People can grow some plantations such as papaya, sweet potato, cassava, pepper (chili), and egg-plant etc. around the place they lived; they can raise chickens, dogs but they were not allowed to eat privately, if they do, they must be accused as selfish and killed. If they want to eat, they have to bring to the collective to cook and eat altogether in a whole collective. Many people were killed because of eating their own plantation. The Angkar had announced since they came to power at the first time "everything is belong to the Angkar and collective not to any individual; and everyone must work for the Angkar".

In 1977, I was eleven years old, there was one day in the morning when I was walking to the working site along the way I saw the frog in the canal; I used my slingshot to shoot it, I though that the frog was shot and died, and then I jumped into the water, and looking for it, but after half an hour finding I could not get it, finally I gave up and walked straight to the site, when I arrived, my group leader asked me with his angry face "why are you late?" I answered, I shot the frog and could not find it for about half an hour, and the group leader said "you are very selfish, you must be punished, now do your work". The 8m dike supposed to be built was already measured for me, without replying to him I began to make it. Tonight about ten minutes after dinner when I arrived the barrack I saw the group leader walked toward me with a long rope. He stared at me and said you must get what you did. He tied me against the pole on which I usually tie my hammock, with my two arms to the back. A whole night I was crowded with the mosquito and could not sleep at all, in this situation nobody dared to help me, and they just looked at me with pettiness. I was so exhausted, in the morning, when they start working again. I felt sick, and I asked the leader a permission not to go to work for a half day when he came to untie me, fortunately I was allowed, but he warned me "no mistake at the second time, otherwise you will properly be killed", since then I had been so scared.

From time to time the situation became worse and worse. Once in a while, when I walked to work passing my mom's house, I wanted to talk to her but the group leader did not allow until I had something to give him. One day, I had diaries, and taken to hospital; I don't know after I got better, the boy, the son of another Khmer Rouge's family who stayed with me at the hospital, convinced me to go to another collective where his parents were; I went with him and stayed a night there. After having a dinner, the dark came, the boy went to sleep inside the house with his parents, while I was so hesitate, and had to sleep outside the house in the truck with lots of corns in it. It was a dry season, too warm. In the truck I did not see anything beside the corns and some straw bags in which the corns are packed. In that night I did not sleep well, I slept in the straw bag because too many mosquito outside. In the morning, the boy got me back to the collective. The group leader was so angry; he said he would report to the collective leader. My mom was informed, and then she went to meet the collective leader early and told him that I was convinced to do that, not myself. He forgave me because my mom used to look after his wife after her delivery when he was away.

Sooner after, I did not know what happened to Somaly, he did so too. He left his work without permission to another collective for couple of days. Because he was older than I was, the group leader reported to the collective leader about him. My mother was so worried; she went to the collective leader and begged for his mercy not to kill my brother. She told him that Somaly is kind of mad boy since he was born, in fact not. If she did not tell that, Somaly would properly be killed.

So often, the Angkar always arrested the strangers and killed. Those people were accused of American CIA or officials of the US-Backed Lon Nol Government. My mother, because she too worried about my father and children sooner after she fell into illness, the heart attacks, especially after Somaly and Sophy were ordered to move to the far collective. One afternoon in early 1978, after I came back from work a woman told me that my mother was just taken to collective hospital. I felt so sad to hear that. On the next day I tried to finish my work early in order to visit her. She was so happy when she saw me visiting her; before I left she told me not to worry much about her because she gets better day after day, her words made me so glad. Less than a week after, she was taken to the district hospital which is about six kilometers away from the place I lived. I had finished making the 8m dike before time on that day, and went to visit her. She always shown her pleasure when she saw me; she said to me "tomorrow if you can, please get me one spoon and one kettle so I can boil the herbs to drink". The next day, I tried to finish my work earlier than usual because I need to walk for about 6km to the hospital and to meet her for a bit longer. On the way to the hospital, my feeling was so anxious to meet her. When I entered the hospital I did not see her, I thought she went to the bathroom or somewhere else, I asked the patients near her bed "Do you know where my mother is?" One of the patients said your mother's condition was so serious last night, and she had been taken to the big hospital midnight which is 30km away - it is the hospital that I used to work collecting the excrement and urine spittoon of the patients before. I was almost into shock when I just heard that. Suddenly I felt speechless and could not stop my tears falling down. I left the hospital immediately and walked back with no soul in my body with a spoon and a kettle. On the way back, I was weeping until almost got to the barrack. In that situation lots of complicated things came to my head, and I was so hopeless with a chance to meet her again. No longer, I became usual, perhaps because I was so young.

About six months after, one day I was told that my mom died of her heart attack. I was stunned on a little dike of the rice field near the village. My tears came down again; I kept walking to the barrack with so hopeless and an extreme sorrow. Several days after, I always heard people talking about my mother's death when they saw me. All my mother's properties such as mosquito net, blanket, mat, and clothes had been redistributed to other new couples. Since that time I never think I have mother; I have no relatives near me beside other skinny children in the group. I went to work as usual as other children did.

Two months after in the same year, when I finished my work early, some other children and I decided to walk to one place which we believed there were some cucumbers and water melon plants grown by themselves near the big dam which it has been called Tum Nup Kampingpouy, now becomes the tourist resort in the west of Battambang provincial town. This dam was built by thousands of thousand workers, and also not less than thousand people died because of this dam building. When I got near the dam I saw some people and the ox cart under the tree; I could not recognize who they are, suddenly when I got close to the tree a woman voice called me "DA, DA" (in the family my name is DA), I answered YES but I did not stop, I did not pay much attention to the source of the voice, I thought they are just the cows keeper, I just kept walking to the dam with other children, because my main purpose is to pick up the cucumbers and water melons. The strong voice of a man came to me again shouting DA? Where are you going? Didn't you hear your mother calling you? My feeling became so puzzle; I said in a soft voice to that man "mother?" No, I do not have mother, my mother died about two months ago they told me, I said. The man talked to me again with his strong voice "DA, are you crazy? Look! who is she on the cart? She is your mother. I looked at her and then I called her with astonishment Mom!? Then my mother began conversation to me with her tears. She asked 'Da, don't you recognize me, son? Yes, I do, I said, after that I turned and walked to other children waiting for me about ten meters away. Mother asked me again, where are you going, Da? I said I am going to pick the cucumbers and water melons for eat. She said, son I have something for you here, look! The sugar canes, and some potato, let your friend go and you stay here, she added. The other children left me with my mother and another man under the shade of the tree, and then we started the conversation again.

Since they told me my mother died, I always think I have no mother, but when the man told me the woman sitting in the ox cart is my mother, it was like a dream to me in the day. I really didn't believe myself that my mother is still alive as most of the people in the collective believed her death, not only that they even took all her properties distributed by the Angkar. I do not know why I have no surprise when I meet her again. Perhaps because of my thoughts, sometimes I used to think I have to be strong, I can live even no mother. ( TO BE CONTINUED ).