HANNAH TYSON

3 Years, 8 Months, 20 Days. This is how long Mr Phi Lay  was forced to endure the living nightmare of the Khmer Rouge in his 20’s. Like thousands of others he lost nearly all his family. From relentlessly working on the fields all day and night, to family members being forced to kill each other, to escaping on foot to Thailand with land mines exploding around him; he describes his unfathomable memories and paints a haunting picture of his painfully skinny and weak body. 

 

Walking around the bloody meat and fish market in Battambang, Cambodia, Phi Lay,  with his warm smile, kind eyes and attentiveness, tells me stories of how he never used to eat meat like this; rats, mouse, snake, cockroach. But in the Khmer Rouge days, he would fill his stomach with anything.

 

We later enjoy food and drinks at his friends wedding and as I spend time meeting countless smiling people and watching the beautiful traditions of Khmer weddings take place, it is hard to believe that just 40 years ago these people experienced such inhumane acts. Maybe some the victim, maybe some the perpetrator. His children and grandchildren wash and play in the garden of their wooden home which is along the side of the road. We see wedding photos, his wife's eyes and the joy his grandchildren bring him.   

 

He now spends his days as a tuk-tuk tour guide, telling his personal stories, and showing people the light and dark side of his beautiful country. One day with him leaves you with a deeper understanding of the strength of the human soul. This is a small look into one mans story of unthinkable physical and mental survival.