Mr Kim
While I was in Battambang I hired Mr Kim, a tuktuk driver with excellent English and a wide knowledge of the area to show me around. He is 30 and was born in a refugee camp on the Thai border. It continued to be his home until he was 14. His family came from Battambang originally; his father was gemstone dealer. During the KR regime they were moved into the countryside with everyone else.
He told me that life in the camp was difficult. There wasn't enough to eat and one of his jobs, when he was old enough, was to sneak through the guards and the searchlights at night to search for a little extra sustenance in the forest, bamboo shoots and the like. It was a dangerous task. Thailand was determined that noone from the camps should get into their country and security was great. He went to school in the camp and medical care was provided but they were awful places. Many former KR soldiers were there and there was an air of fear the whole time. A mafia, of sorts, operated and there were many violent disputes.
When he was 14 the family were repatriated to Battambang. Their house had gone and someone else was on their land although they had no way to prove this and so they lost it. They were given a tent by the UN but no food and times were very hard. By this time he had many siblings and everyone neededfeeding. He went to work, illegally, in Thailand. You paid someone with a truck to sneak you over the border;often piled high on top of each other under rice sacks. He said it was awful,, of course it was. The work was hard and the pay poor and he said often, when he had worked hard, the boss would not pay he just said 'you are illegal, what are you going to do about it?'
Things slowly improved in Cambodia and he managed to get a job driving a tuk tuk and learned his English from tourists. He now supports his whole family. His parent's are both raging alcoholics, as are many survivors, and he is supporting his younger brothers through school. He believes strongly in education and wants them to have opportunities that were denied to him. He told me that mental illness is a very big problem here and that there is no medical provision to deal with it at all. There are many, many screwed up people, with the recent history of this country how could there not be? You see evidence of it all the time.
Mr Kim told me that only one year ago his father told him that he had had three older brothers that had died during the regime. It was the first time that they had been mentioned. Apparently, they were in a different camp to his Mother and Father, a common tactic of the KR. His Dad was allowed to visit his children once a year. The last time he saw them they were pleading.with him to help them to get some food. He could do nothing. A short time later he heard that they were all dead. Understandably, Mr Kim was very upset by this and shocked that he grew up not knowing about his brothers.
His life is very tough, his income small and yet he has no trace of bitterness. He says that he cannot marry as he cannot support anyone else. He feels that, as a Buddhist, if he is good in this life he will come back next time and life will be easier for him. He is one of the loveliest people I have ever met.
He told me that life in the camp was difficult. There wasn't enough to eat and one of his jobs, when he was old enough, was to sneak through the guards and the searchlights at night to search for a little extra sustenance in the forest, bamboo shoots and the like. It was a dangerous task. Thailand was determined that noone from the camps should get into their country and security was great. He went to school in the camp and medical care was provided but they were awful places. Many former KR soldiers were there and there was an air of fear the whole time. A mafia, of sorts, operated and there were many violent disputes.
When he was 14 the family were repatriated to Battambang. Their house had gone and someone else was on their land although they had no way to prove this and so they lost it. They were given a tent by the UN but no food and times were very hard. By this time he had many siblings and everyone neededfeeding. He went to work, illegally, in Thailand. You paid someone with a truck to sneak you over the border;often piled high on top of each other under rice sacks. He said it was awful,, of course it was. The work was hard and the pay poor and he said often, when he had worked hard, the boss would not pay he just said 'you are illegal, what are you going to do about it?'
Things slowly improved in Cambodia and he managed to get a job driving a tuk tuk and learned his English from tourists. He now supports his whole family. His parent's are both raging alcoholics, as are many survivors, and he is supporting his younger brothers through school. He believes strongly in education and wants them to have opportunities that were denied to him. He told me that mental illness is a very big problem here and that there is no medical provision to deal with it at all. There are many, many screwed up people, with the recent history of this country how could there not be? You see evidence of it all the time.
Mr Kim told me that only one year ago his father told him that he had had three older brothers that had died during the regime. It was the first time that they had been mentioned. Apparently, they were in a different camp to his Mother and Father, a common tactic of the KR. His Dad was allowed to visit his children once a year. The last time he saw them they were pleading.with him to help them to get some food. He could do nothing. A short time later he heard that they were all dead. Understandably, Mr Kim was very upset by this and shocked that he grew up not knowing about his brothers.
His life is very tough, his income small and yet he has no trace of bitterness. He says that he cannot marry as he cannot support anyone else. He feels that, as a Buddhist, if he is good in this life he will come back next time and life will be easier for him. He is one of the loveliest people I have ever met.
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