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 livelihoods but also losing home, jobs and the very social fabric of lives and safety net.

We were informed of the planned high level visit of the UN Special Rapporteur to Cambodia the following Monday - which means that what we are interacting wiht the communities woudl have been closely observed. As we drove our vehicle through row and row of temporary housing, made from white smart board, green zinc roof, the identical of each of the 4,000 plus houses - or shall we call it shelter cannot be mistaken. The communities are quiet - quieter than it shoudl be. Some houses are freshly completed without any sign of its owner, while other have one or two persons making the land and fixing bit and piece under and in surrounding area of the houses. Evidently, some houses which seeme to be inhabited for a couple of weeks or months is a bit more lively with small home gardening, corn growing, flowery pot and attempts to make a few vegetable crop growing. I must say it is not the first time I have seen similar setting. The first time must be in 2015 when I was on the business trip to see the resettlement villages of the Indigenous Communities, relocated from teh old villages that were/supposed to be inundated by the Lower Sesan 2 Hydropower dam reserviour. Also earlier this month, while on the train ride to Oudomxay, me and my fellow friend observe similar arrangement in northern Loas where villagers are resettled from villages affected by hydropower dam constrcution.

I could never imagine myself being among the resettle family. What does one feel like to have to restart, almost everything at mid-life or in their 50s, 60s, 70s year of age? How thin would Hope be felt like for the people who have to live under the roof of these temporary shelter, which one coudl arguarbly is better than under the plastic roof esp when it is raining. But I am not convinced that this coudl be repalced their own home that havee provide the most comforting feeling for them, where they know which direction the wind and rain will blow, how many hole their roof might leak, yet the comforting feeling remains. When and how will Justice be served for the people who are paying the high price for the cost of the Cambodia-Thai border conflict? They are paying with every hope and dream they have for themselves, their children, grand children and every little piece of valuable thing they own. As we continue on our journey to observe the area occupied by the Thai Militry since the ceased fire on 27th December, we bore heavy heart to witness the quiet town of PoiPet and its surrounding vicinity. Once a very vibrant city, the border conflict and the scam operation crack down leaving this provincial town lifeless. Many scars of bullets cut across and making hole to houses, roof, school adn public offices, bridge and road side signal to the heaviness this area been under attacked from teh shelling and bomb. As we arrived Siem Reap town after the sun is setting down, we turn to one anohter to try and find the ansewr to the many questions we have: what will normalcy looks like for our country? for these people and for the nation that place the peace sign everywhere. Now the absence of firing sound does not at all give us the peace of mind because justice is not being served for those who bear the brunt of this war.