When Srei started working with Tabitha Cambodia in 1996 she would tremble – her whole body would quiver – and she was frightened of everything. Over the years she has learned to become a very confident and competent woman; she is now the Community Development Supervisor on all Tabitha’s projects.

Recently on a trip out to the communities with Janne she asked her if she would like to see where she had suffered during the Khmer Rouge years. Over the years Srei had shared bits and pieces about her experiences but now she was ready to tell her story.

They drove to the village of Slakor in Staung District. As they were driving, Srei said, “This is the village where 1,000 families from Phnom Penh were sent by the Khmer Rouge. Out of all those families, only nine broken families survived. Mine was one of them.”

They stopped outside the house where Srei’s family had been billeted – it was with a rural family, who were considered good by the Khmer Rouge. Urbanites from the cities were billeted with the old people to ensure that they were being watched. “This is the house where 25 members of my family stayed,” she said. “Only three of us survived: my mum, my sister and myself.”

As Srei and Janne talked, an old woman came out of the house. “This is the woman who saved my life,” Srei said. “This woman watched the Khmer Rouge come and take away my father, then one-by-one, my six brothers, my uncles, my auntie and my cousins. They killed them all, one-by-one.”

The old woman heard that I was to die next and she felt great pity for me. She said, “I will beg for your life. I will cry and I will beg, but you, you must not cry. If you cry, they will kill you. ”For two days the old woman begged and cried for Srei’s life. Srie never cried – she wanted to live. The Khmer Rouge finally relented and didn’t take her.

Janne thanked the old woman for her compassion and bravery; she had put her own life at stake by begging the Khmer Rouge to save Srei. She grasped Janne’s hand in both of hers: “They were bad times,” the old woman said.

Srei’s eyes were burning red, as she listened, but she did not cry; instead, she was animated. “Come,” Srie said, “I will show you where they killed my father.” Fifty metres away was a Wat. As Janne and Srei walked into the grounds, Srei pointed at three trees: “These are the trees where they killed the babies,” she said. “The Khmer Rouge would hold them with one leg and then bash them against the tree.”

Janne was dumbfounded – such behaviour was beyond her comprehension. Then Srei grabbed her hand and they walked to the Wat. “This building is where the people stayed for the last days of their lives. If the Khmer Rouge put you in this building, then you knew you would die.”

Srei turned and ran down the stairs to an open pit, fenced with bamboo: “This is where the bodies were thrown. The Government came and cleaned out all the bodies – some are in Phnom Penh and some are in a Wat in a nearby village.” She went on and described her father’s death and those of her brothers and of her cousins and her uncles, and then her final relative – an aunt. “They came for my auntie,” she said. “My mother told my auntie, ‘Do whatever they tell you, don’t cry, and you might live.’” Two days later a dog came by their home with her auntie’s skirt hanging from his jaw.

Srei turned and pointed to the building where they were all forced to eat together. “They killed people every day,” she said, “but one day of the week, they would kill very many. On that night we were not allowed to come and eat and we would be stay awake all night long. I could not cry because then I would die.” Then she pointed to another tree with an excavation beside it. “This is where I saw my father’s body – or part of it. When I came back for the first time in 2001, I could not sleep. I could feel all the people who had died around me. Then in 2003 I came back and made a ceremony for my father and for my brothers. Now I can sleep here. I come to this spot a lot.”

Tears were streaming from Janne’s eyes – tears for Srei’s pain and the pain of so many others. “Over 12,000 people died in this spot,” Srei said to Janne; and then she cried.

When her tears were finished, she continued with her story. “We heard that the Vietnamese were in Phnom Penh and that they were chasing the Khmer Rouge away. So the old lady came to my mother and said, ‘You must go now. The Khmer Rouge are angry and they want to kill you and your daughters.’ The villagers gave us a lot of food and then brought us out to the main highway. ‘Go,’ they said, ‘or you will die.’ We went, and what was left of eight other families joined us. Later when the Vietnamese came to bring freedom, the old people killed all the bad Khmer Rouge – all the ones that had killed so many.”

“I lived, but I didn’t know why. Now I do.” Srei said. “I live so that I can give life to others. I want to put a well in this village in honour of my father and one in honour of my brothers. The water will give life to so many others.”

(Footnote: A volunteer building team visiting Cambodia in July presented Srei with the money to sink the well in honour of her father.)

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