Vichuta Ly (53)
Cambodia

Vichuta Ly was nine years old when she first experienced the terror inflicted
by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Her father was arrested. She never saw him again. Her family was driven out of their home town of Phnom Penh to the countryside. All of them, Vichuta included, were forced to work as labourers in the paddy fields. At the age of twelve, Vichuta was trained as a child soldier. Over
1.7 million Cambodians lost their lives under the Khmer Rouge’s brutal reign. Only five of the thirty­five members of the Ly family survived. After living for decades in Canada, Vichuty Ly now divides her time between there and Cambodia.

Vichuta was only nine years old when she and her family were forced to leave their hometown of Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975. On this day, Pol Pot, leader of the Khmer Rouge, violently took power to introduce a communist workers-and-peasants state. At least 1.7 million people fell victim to his nearly four-year reign of terror. They starved to death or died of diseases, were shot on so-called “killing fields” or tortured to death.

Restless

The Khmer Rouge considers the city's middle-class and educated residents “enemies of the revolution.” Vichuta's father, Minister of Justice of the ousted government, disappears at the very beginning of the regime. Within a few days, the population of the capital is forced into the countryside for re-education. Vichuta's family wanders from place to place for over three years, forced to work in rice fields or build dams. In addition to the forced field work, Vichuta is trained as a child soldier, training daily with wooden weapon dummies. Of the original 35 members of the Ly family, only five survive hunger and forced labor. They manage to escape to Thailand in 1979. In the Sa Keao refugee camp, Vichuta meets Anne Watts, a nurse from Save the Children. She takes Vichuta under her wing. A lifelong friendship develops.

In the camp in Thailand, it is the encounter with the Canadian ambassador that opens a way out of the desolate situation for Vichuta and her family. Encouraged by her mother, Vichuta slips through the barrier and speaks to the ambassador in French, which she knows as an educated girl. The ambassador is touched by the family's ordeal. A few weeks later, the family leaves the country for Canada as part of a UN resettlement program. Vichuta finishes school there and studies law. Today, Vichuta Ly is a human rights lawyer. 20 years after leaving her homeland, she regularly returns to Cambodia to help women and children in emergency situations.

Nurse Anne Watts spent decades working internationally for Save the Children, including in Thailand. When she sees Vichuta Ly's childhood picture, memories of their first meeting many years ago come back to her.