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Workshop with PTEA in Svay Rieng

The Social History and Justice Outreach Project revolves around the direct work with villagers, village associations and local non-profit organizations in rural areas of Cambodia. There are five villages in which ICfC conducts assessments, intensive dialogues followed-up with various activities, all of which enable the villagers to share their experiences from the past in a safe environment, learn about the transitional justice process, and see some of the places closely associated with the Khmer Rouge regime for the first time. A few of them will find out the destiny of their missing relatives for the first time. Young people learn about this part of their past for the first time as well - and get closer to their parents' and grandparents' generation in understanding what they have been through. The village dialogues have already marked many people's lives, providing them with an avenue to address the suppressed memories, while focusing on resolving the problems that this past inflicted on their community and relationships.

On March 11th, ICfC staff traveled to Kampong Speu province and selected our fifth and final village.  At this time we formalized our partnership with our local partner NGO in Kampong Speu province, CEDAC (Centre for Study and Development of Agriculture in Cambodia).  In late February, staff traveled to Kampong Chhnang to meet with our partner NGO, Phnom Neang Rei Association.  At this time PNKA and ICfC staff selected the fourth village, Tuk Chegn, which means "water sprouting".   

Earlier in March ICfC staff traveled to Takeo province to hold a village dialogue.  Twenty villagers participated in the dialogue that lasted for three hours.  All of the participants shared their stories about life during the Khmer Rouge regime and struggles that they face currently.  It was a successful dialogue and many other villagers asked to participate in a similar activity again.   

On March 31st and April 7th, villagers from our work sites in Takeo (March 31) and Battambang (April 7) provinces will come to Phnom Penh to tour the Tuol Sleng genocide museum (former political prison from the Pol Pot's regime time) and the Choeung Ek Killing Fields and meet with psychosocial experts from the Transcultural Psychosocial Organization (TPO) that operates in Cambodia.  The previous trip with villagers from Svay Rieng province in September 2007 proved to be very successful in helping rural Cambodians who lived through the Khmer Rouge to face their history with courage and strength and make peace with the past (read a report from Svay Rieng here).  During several follow-up visits to the village in Svay Rieng the program participants have continued to express their gratitude for being invited to Phnom Penh and their reflections on how the weight of their past has been greatly reduced.  ICfC staff looks forward to the upcoming trips with groups from Takeo and Battambang!

Support from AFSC

ICfC’s office in Cambodia was recently awarded two separate grants of $2,000 from American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) to organizing two workshops for the Cambodia-Vietnam Dialogue program, under ICfC-Cambodia’s Ethnicity and Nationalism Project. The first workshop was held in December 2007 Phnom Penh with over a dozen participants from Cambodia and Vietnam who are the organizers of the fourth Cambodia-Vietnam Dialogue that will be held March 7-16, 2008 in Cambodia. The group learned about non-violent communication from well-known facilitator, Dennis McMahon.

The second workshop was held in February 2008 outside of Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. AFSC’s Southeast Asia Quaker International Affairs Representative, Jacqui Chagnon, came to engage the Cambodian and Vietnamese participants in a rich discussion about the histories of the two countries and the issues that plaque the relationship between the Cambodians and Vietnamese today. It was an incredibly powerful and inspiring four days of dialogue that was enjoyed by all of the participants and facilitators.

This long-term dialogue brings together young people from Cambodia and Vietnam who meet periodically since 2004 to work through issues of mutual stereotypes and resentment stemming from the tumultuous history of the region. The dialogue has produced a group of highly motivated and skilled young people who are now moving to implement the gained skills and expand the dialogue to other areas and groups in Cambodia and Vietnam. ICfC will continue to support this remarkable and unique initiative.

Workshop for KAWP in Battambang

Cambodia-Vietnam Dialogue participants shared the most important aspects from their national history