36h Road Trip to another reality
Since Feb 2026 when I last took part in the humanitarian cash distribution of Oxfam as volunteer in Siem Reap, the trip last weekend was my reconnect with ground reality. So I decided to cancel my other planned trip to Areng and join six other friends to Banteay Meanchey O' Bei Chorn communes. We left Pnom Penh at 6am - which meant I left home at 5.30, which meant that I got up at 5am to get ready. My parents who haven't been visiting me the entire of 2026 decided to visit me on Friday and with heavy heart, I left home and them behind to join this trip. After having lunch at mid-day in Battam Bang provincial city, we arrived at the first stop in Rorng Cham Communities at around 1.30pm. The name of the communities gives you a chillling feeling, the people who are in this temporary shelter are in waiting, waiting for the chance to return home safely, waiting for the hope to return to normal life, waiting to get just treatment after the border tension that causesd not only their...