Pech Hen

Pech Hen

F

Alive

[Present age 56 years old]

1971????

Pech Hen, female, 56 years old, former worker of T-5 textile factory. Pech Hen, farmer, lives in Sen Sok village, Tumnub Dach commune, Trapeang Prasat district, Oddar Meanchey province. She was born in Svay Porng village, Chrey Bak commune, Rolea Bier district, Kampong Chhnang province. She married in 1981. Her husband៌s name is Sok Kimsan, former KR soldier of Division 801. She has five children, one son and four daughters. She has one brother and four sisters and she is the oldest child among her siblings. Her father៌s name is Mean and her mother៌s name is Loeung Pring. They were farmers. In 1967, her parents decided to live in Krouch Chhmar district, Kampong Cham province, because her father was offered a job to build houses here. By doing so, they thought that their living condition would be better if they moved. For her childhood life, she wished to be a doctor because wanted to take an example of her uncle. In addition she thought if she became a doctor, she could help people in the village. However, she did not reach her goal due to poverty and war. Hen complained that she could not have chance to go to school and could not live happily with her family members due to arm conflict between KR forces and Lon Nol soldiers. Therefore it was harmful to villagers៌ living condition because they lived under insecurity and had nothing to feed their family members. In 1971, she decided to join the revolution with KR movements in the jungle by following other younger people in the village, in order to bring King Sihanouk coming back to rule the country. She also heard that KR had a good morality so that she really wanted to learn to be a respective person. She was assigned to be a messenger to bring letter from village to village for a few months. And then she told her controller that she could not do it anymore because she wanted to come back to help her parents៌ work at home. In 1972, she was forced to serve army with other young women to fighting Lon Nol soldiers. When KR came to take control in 1979, she was moved to work in T-5 textile factory in Phnom Penh. Before the KR៌s victory, she had never been to Phnom Penh. When she heard she was assigned to work there, she was really excited. She expected that there would be fun for her. However, it was not like what she thought. The capital was quiet and had nothing. She rarely heard the voice of vehicle on the road. She usually heard the voice of truck that drove in and out the factory to transport materials. After the collapse of KR in 1979, she escaped from the Vietnamese soldiers into the jungle with other garment workers. She caught up a car to Kampong Speu along the national road 4. When the car was out of petrol, she walked on foot into the forest until she arrived in Malai through Battambang province. And then she was transferred to Dangrek Mountain. When KR fought to control in Anong Veng from the Cambodian soldiers in 1990, she came down from the mountain to live in Tumnup Dack. Afterward, she fled to O-Svay to avoid attack of the government soldiers. Before the integration in late 1998, she came back home here.

© DC-Cam