San Huong

VPA-KT0089

San Huong

Female

Khmer

Khmer

Krasaing Ka Village, San Kor Commune, Kampong Svay District, Kampong Thom Province

19370801

Farmer

Krasaing Ka Village, San Kor Commune, Kampong Svay District, Kampong Thom Province,

1976

Krasaing Ka Village, San Kor Commune, Kampong Svay District, Kampong Thom Province

Forced labor:

In 1975, I was forced to carry cow dung in order to make fertilizer for use in the paddy fields. The assignment came from a combatant chief named Pring, who ordered people to work according to his will. I do not know why I was ordered to make fertilizer, nevertheless I had to accomplish the assigned task. I walked everywhere and collected cow dung and then mixed it with earth from termite mounds..

After that I searched for Kom Phlok [a kind of water plant] flowers to mix with the cow dung, and Antreangkhet, [a kind of tree], to make fertilizer for use in the paddy fields. Later on, trees were uprooted to enlarge the paddy fields so the fields would yield three tons per hectare. Next, I carried earth at Chong Sdo Village and then north of Krasaing Kha Village. From Pisak [the 6th month of lunar calendar] to Ches [the 7th month of lunar calendar], I made fertilizer because there was no water and the land had not been plowed. Rice seedlings were transplanted during Ches-Asad [the 7th and 8th month of lunar calendar]. Then the paddy fields needed to be tended by pulling out the grass. (Rubbish was removed from the fields when there was a flood.) For the early rice crop, I needed to transplant rice seedlings and thresh rice. When the rain came, I needed to carry the earth to build the dike.

In the dry season, I husked and pounded rice. I worked in a group comprised of twelve people. I do not know who the group chief was. An elderly woman named Kann was the head unit chief; an elderly woman named Khim was her deputy; and Khan was a member of the working group.

In 1976, seven months after giving birth to my child, I had to do farming, build rice dikes, and prevent water from damaging the rice dikes. A friend (unknown name), seeing me carrying my child, asked me, “Where are you going?� I do not know where that friend came from but she stopped me from going the far distance to the farm fields. Thom, who worked in the dining hall, asked me not to transplant rice seedlings far away from the dining hall, but to do it somewhere near the dining hall. I do not know why I was given these orders. If I did this assigned task, they said that I acted against them. But if I did not do it, I would have nothing to eat. I think that upper level Khmer Rouge ordered me to work extremely hard even though I didn’t receive adequate food from the people who worked in the dining hall.

Starvation:

Following the assignment given by people who worked in the dining hall, my fifteen-year-old child and I went to work in Krasaing Kha Village. When the bell was rung, we went to receive two rations – gruel mixed with banana bark, manioc, corn, or a combination of vegetables. My four children who were unable to work received nothing to eat. My oldest child and I shared our rations with the other four children. As a result, I did not have enough food to eat. I think that this food deprivation was the same as starvation. In addition, nothing was traded, and we did not have many clothes to wear.

Under the Khmer Rouge regime, my five children and I were starved because of orders given by upper level cadres. During the meetings which we were required to attend, upper level Angkar encouraged us to work hard and build ourselves up in preparation for visits by high officials. I think that there was plenty of rice, but I do not know where it was taken.

In late 1976, Sangvat, my second child, aged 15, died from diarrhea. A member of the medical staff (unknown name) gave my child a black pill. From that moment on, that medical staff person never showed up to treat my child again. Ten days after taking the black pill, my child died. When my child got sick, there was no ration for him/her because Angkar did not provide a ration for him/her to eat. I used to secretly steal potatoes for Sangvat to eat before he/she died.

Execution:

In 1976, Brok, a fellow villager, was called for re-education. I do not know where Brok was taken for re-education, because I dared not ask. I do not know who killed him or why.

Many people in the village kept gradually disappearing. I thought that they were being killed. I feared that I would be the next victim. When they called for Brok, I was transplanting rice seedlings, and Brok was plowing the paddy field. Elderly women named Uon, Po, and Daem, and I saw Brok being taken to be executed by being called for re-education. When called,

Complainant

No;

School

No;

20080324

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