Cambodians who are aged 50 years or older today would have been at least children between eight to 10-years-old when the Khmer Rouge collapsed in 1979. This generation of people (as well as people born in earlier years) are most likely to remember what happened during this time period and they are the generation that would have the most memories to share with the youth of today.

From August to December, the Documentation Center of Cambodia’s Volunteer Group called “CamboCorps” – a total of 656 volunteers – enthusiastically worked in their village to assist the elder survivors of the Khmer Rouge regime.

They focused on listening to the stories of the Khmer Rouge survivors, learning about their health and living conditions and distributing the gift boxes funded by USAID.

During this period, DC-Cam’s volunteers met over 16,000 Khmer Rouge survivors and collected 15,538 stories (audio), 16,818 surveys and 76,022 photos – including photos of survivors and village landscapes – and distributed 15,000 gift boxes from USAID to survivors.

Some survivors were still unwilling to let volunteers record audio or take pictures. Despite this challenge, most of the volunteers were still able to continue their work smoothly. In some villages, volunteers reported cases of local authorities demanding an administrative letter from the provincial level.

Volunteers continue to show their commitment and enthusiasm in participating in the work of this project.

Hourt Mouryleng said: “I gained so much knowledge and experience from this project. I also noticed that my communication skills improved a lot and I am more responsive.”

“This project is teaching me about work ethic. It has also taught me about Khmer Rouge history and helped me to learn about the health and living conditions of elderly people in my village,” said Mouryleng.

Another CamboCorps volunteer, Ny Sreynet mentioned: “I received a lot of new knowledge and experience. I also learned how to use technology tools and various online platforms to build a good connection with people in the village.”

“More importantly, I learned about the struggle that people faced during the Khmer Rouge regime,” said Sreynet.

Ly Malis said: “This project makes me understand about health and living conditions of elderly people in my village. I also learned about the daily life of people during the Khmer Rouge regime. This project also helps me to build self-confidence, courage, network and communication.”

“Your work was critical to advancing the rights and improving the health conditions of survivors in your community,” said USAID mission director Nancy J Eslick. “During your period of service, you interviewed local survivors, which involved collecting critical information about the health conditions and challenges of survivors, as well as their experience under the Khmer Rouge.”

“You also facilitated survivors’ access to care, and you helped increase survivor awareness of best practices in self-care,” she added.

“Your tireless effort as a volunteer to this project contributed to the improvement in the health and wellbeing of the Khmer Rouge survivors during challenging circumstances, including the Covid-19 pandemic. Your volunteer service reflects great credit upon yourself, your community and the Cambodian people,” said Eslick.

DC-Cam Outreach and Research assistant Phat Sela said: “In the first quarter of 2022, we aim to serve at least 2,000 Khmer Rouge survivors including civil parties, criminal complainants, disabled people and people who live in most remote communities and near crime sites to receive health check-up services,” said Sela.

DC-Cam director Youk Chhang said: “Although two millions were killed, five millions more survived to tell their story.”

“Genocide and mass atrocities destroy people’s humanity. DC-Cam wants to restore the humanity of all people: not only victims, but also the people who perpetrated horrible acts,” he said.

“DC-Cam will offer support and services to as many people as it can reach based on a belief that the entire Cambodian people that lived during this time period suffered,” said Chhang. “From a numbers perspective, there are 5,143,386 genocide survivors (aged 50 and above), which reflects 33.16% of the total population in 196 districts in Cambodia in 2017.”

“Even though we focus on survivors who are 50 and above, we also realise there are many survivors who are 40-years-old and older,” he said. “Because they would have been just infants in 1979, one would not expect them to have any direct memories that they could recall and share with the youth today.”

“Notwithstanding this circumstance, DC-Cam will also assist them in terms of health care check-ups if they are clearly suffering from poor health conditions,” said Chhang.

“Cambodia will never escape her history, but she does not need to be enslaved by it,” said Sela.