Kong Meardey, Banker

My mother died when I was too young to remember and my father died when I was ten. Thus, I grew up to be a very independent person. After the death of my father, my godfather, who was a district chief in Kampong Thom Province, asked if he could adopt me. He died when I […]

Buoy Sreng, Newspaper Publisher

Before I was born, my father was a teacher in Pursat Province, where he fell in love with my mother Kang Sophat; she was the daughter of merchants. She studied until Baccalaureate I and then quit school to help her parents sell goods in the market. My grandmother arranged for my father to take another […]

Ai Va, Food Services Manager

My husband and I were cousins; we grew up together in Kampong Cham Province. Our parents arranged our marriage when he was 25 and I was 18. Va was a good, gentle, and hard working person. In 1970, Va was promoted to chief of the food services department at the Sokha Hotel in Kampong Som […]

Sot Neou, Doctor

Of my parents and thirteen siblings, only two of us survived the Khmer Rouge regime. Nearly all of them died in 1977 from starvation and illness. My father was a serious, responsible man who did not talk a lot. He was born to a very poor family with many children, and lived in the pagoda […]

Prum Thuch, Doctor

Thuch disappeared during the 1975 evacuation of Phnom Penh. He was born in Prey Veng Province, and after he finished high school, studied medicine in Phnom Penh. His met his wife Hao Vanna when he was visiting Battambang Province. After they were married, they rented a flat along Kampuchea Krom Street in the capital. He […]

Tun Chhum, Doctor

I came from a poor farming family in Takeo Province, and was educated with my older brother who was a monk. There were no schools in my area, so I studied at the temple. In 1959, I began studying at a regular school, but it was far from my home, so I rented a place […]

Hong Kimtry, Nurse

Loved studying when I was young, but my parents wanted me to get married. Even when I was pregnant, I kept studying until my belly became huge. My parents then made me the manager of a business they had renting cyclos [pedicabs]. My husband Hong Kimtry was a nurse at a hospital in Phnom Penh. We […]

Mong Muon, Nurse

Five of my ten children died during the Khmer Rouge regime. My two oldest boys, Muon and Mut, were executed. My third son, Ty, starved to death, as did his sister Chrip and my youngest son Aun, who died when he was only a year old. I didn’t know how to get food for my […]

Lam Som, School Inspector

When we were small, my father liked to play with us, pretending he was an elephant. He would take a big mattress, fold it in half, and put it over his head. Then he would extend his arms, sway, and come after us. He would chase anyone in the house. He inspected schools for a […]

Uk Sivutha, Teacher

When I was young, I wanted to study so that I could become a teacher. I had seen that teachers were well educated, dressed smartly, and did not have to work very hard. But Cambodian tradition was very strict in those days. My parents were afraid that no man would want to marry me if […]