Do or Die - Kdei Karuna

Do Yang Aun, 50, Ethnic minority Vietnamese from Kampong Chhnang province

“ While I was carrying soil along the edge of the dam, I fell and blacked out. When I regained consciousness, I heard someone cursing at me. He said, “Ah Yuon, you used to eat well, sleep well, right? Do you not want to do this type of work? Do you want to die, Youn? Keeping you is useless, and getting rid of you would not be a loss.” As soon as he finished speaking, he began hitting my body with a stick. My body became swollen. I wept because of the pain, but I tried my best to conceal my tears. Crying would only give them a reason to kill me. They had already killed my brother.”

Sal Ismael, 66, ethnic-minority Cham from Kandal province

“We Cham people were not treated differently than others during the eviction from our villages. We only became targeted when we arrived at our respective cooperatives. There, we were not allowed to practice our religion. The Khmer Rouge did not give us a reason, but we were too afraid to ask for one. We were just told to stop, so we stopped. Our traditions dictate that we must have long hair, but we were forced to cut it short. After arriving in the village, we were assigned to live in different houses, but our community still worked together. The Khmer Rouge treated us poorly by putting pork in the rice porridge. If we did not eat it, we would have nothing else to eat. Some Cham people had to force themselves to eat, but I resisted because of my Muslim beliefs. We Cham people were forced to work like the other Khmer people. My parents died under the Khmer Rouge, and many of my relatives died from starvation or were killed. We were accused of having military ranks in the former government, but we were just ordinary people. It was very obvious that the Khmer Rouge just wanted to kill us.”

Mom Von, 65, Siem Reap province

“I was forced to marry a widower with eight children. I did not agree to the marriage, but they didn’t listen to my refusal. On that day, the Khmer Rouge leaders ordered 60 couples to get married. We were each given a pair of shoes. For decorations, there were only two vases of flowers on the table. We were forced to voice commitments to live with each other, and to contribute to raising our future children. When we left the mass ceremony, my new husband and I chose not to have intercourse, but then four Khmer Rouge cadres came into our cottage. They forced us to have sex in front of them. With shame, we followed their order for fear of being killed just like the others who did not obey.”

Yam Las, 76, Preah Sihanouk province

“At about 10 p.m., a Khmer Rouge cadre asked me to meet him. I asked him why he wanted to meet me at such a late hour. He accused me of wanting to escape to Vietnam, and because of that, I was afraid so followed him. About 30 metres from my home, he pushed me against a coconut tree, and then squeezed my neck until I could barely breathe. When he released his hands, he undressed my sarong and began to violently rape me. I fainted, so I did not know what happened next. At dawn, I woke up and crawled back home.”