Having lost her first husband to conflict, mother of six Lay Rim's second husband ran away with his girlfriend, leaving her in extreme poverty and driving her to a painful decision that many people would find unthinkable.
Then, after one of her sons was badly injured by a mine in Au Chhurkram, along the Cambodian/Thai border in Krong Pailin, she went to the village head and begged him to ask MAG to clear the land. Read her story below...
Au Chhurkram is a small village which lies along the Cambodian/Thai border in Krong Pailin. A former stronghold of the Khmer Rouge, the village was subject to fierce fighting and was heavily mined by all sides during the conflict – the soldiers of the Cambodian Government, the Vietnamese army, and the Khmer Rouge.
Many died during those years of conflict, and those who survived still live in fear of the mines and UXO that contaminate their land. One of those is 48 year-old Lay Rim, who lives in Au Chhurkram 5 minefield. She talked to us about her life, her feelings about MAG’s mine clearance and her future hopes thanks to CARE’s development project.
“In 1979 I married Leiv Rith. He was a chief of Khmer Rouge division number 18. We married in my hometown, Trapang Tumloib village, which is in Svay Chuak commune of Kampong Chhnang province. When my first child was born we moved to live in a region controlled by the Khmer Rouge in Koh Kong province, however we were forced to move to Pailin in 1986.
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Lay Rim and her six children at home in Au Chhurkram 5 minefield. She hopes that their future will be better thanks to CARE and MAG. |
“We lived there in Bayakha district with other families until 1994. We had three children by then. That same year, my husband went back to fight in Koh Kong. He never came back; he died there on the battlefield. Two years later, I remarried. He was called Chhay Touch, also a Khmer Rouge soldier and a former bodyguard of my first husband. We had another three children.
“We settled in Au Chhurkram village in 1998. We had a very small piece of land which we couldn’t cultivate because of landmines, so we depended on my husband’s salary. This was 100,000Riel (about US$25), but payment was never regular and my husband used to spend most of it on himself, not thinking about his family. So my oldest children had to work to keep us in food and could not go to school. My marriage ended when I was two months pregnant with my last child. My husband ran away with his girlfriend to live in Pursat.”
Extreme poverty, the inability to feed and clothe her children, and the sadness and hopelessness that Rim felt in the months following her abandonment meant that she was driven to a painful decision that many people would find unthinkable.
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Rim's son Pirum (centre) helps to raise chickens in addition to doing labouring work. |
“One month after I gave birth to my last daughter, I took the baby to the border crossing to sell her to a Thai couple. They offered me 10,000Baht (US$250) and I accepted, but then I just couldn’t do it. My son, Leiv Pirum, who was about 10 years old at that time, was with me and he cried so much and wouldn’t let go of his tiny sister. The pain of his cries broke my heart, and I cried also and decided then that I could not sell my child.
“I gave the money back to the couple and told them I couldn’t sell my baby. Seeing how distressed I was, they accepted this and also gave me 400Baht (about US$10) to take back home with us.
“Now my three sons take the responsibility of looking after the family by working as casual labourers. Pirum has worked as a manual labourer in Thailand and Cambodia since he was 10 years old. He has never been to school.
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Rim’s younger children helping with the house work – the family economic situation means that regular attendance at school is difficult for her children. |
“Two of his older brothers also work in Thailand and come home every ten days to have their permits reviewed. In 2005, Pirum was injured by a type 72A mine when he was working on a farm here in the village. He was taken to hospital in the city with injuries to his arms and legs, but luckily he didn’t lose any limbs. Since then he is even more afraid of mines but in order for us to survive he knows that he has to continue to work in dangerous places.
“When I first arrived here, this was all forest. I worry so much that we are living on a former battlefield. I could not plant any crops because I was afraid of losing my limbs in a mine explosion and I was always looking out for my children, telling them not to play with any dangerous items and not to go to any risky places.
“As I told you, one of my sons was badly injured by a mine. Thankfully he survived, but it cost us so much money to have him treated, money that we could not afford.
“I went to the village head and begged him to please make a request to MAG to clear my land to rescue my family and other people in the village from danger and sadness. I hate war and conflict so much - it results only in pain. Because of war I lost my first beloved husband, and it has been difficult to live ever since as I cannot cultivate to support my family.
“Every breath we take, we live in fear… I don’t want to see any of my children becoming amputees or dying because of landmines.”
Au Chhurkram 5 minefield is currently being cleared by a locality demining team (MAT25) made up of local people trained and supervised by senior MAG staff and funded by CARE. The village requested that clearance of 39,500sq/m be undertaken to provide safe land for agricultural purposes.
The team started work (after recruitment and training) in early September 2007 and by November 2nd MAT25 has cleared 2,382 sq/m of suspect land in this minefield, finding and destroying one anti-personnel mine and four of UXO. This work has directly benefited 29 people from four families (three men, six women, 10 boys and 10 girls).
Rim concluded her story with her thanks to MAG and CARE and her hopes for the future.
“I believe that in the future, my family and all who live in this village will live in safety because MAG has cleared the mines away. I hope that after clearance CARE will help to develop this poor community and help poor people just like me by providing crop seeds for agriculture such as rice, corn, bean, and sesame… also seeds for fruit.
“With help from CARE I can support my family, and maybe my younger children can go to school and have the education that my older children couldn’t have. What I want to say is thank you, thank you so much to MAG and CARE for the hope that you bring for a better future.”
Report and photos by Sar Sovanny, MAG Community Liaison Worker, Battambang, Cambodia
Translation by Yean Maly, MAG Project Officer, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
15 November 07
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