14-year-old Sem Chan Set showers her mentally ill mother. During school holidays, she helps her grandparents to earn some money by hiring herself as laborer to villagers. (Photo: Save the Children Norway-Cambodia)By Hou Phansy
Save the Children Norway-Cambodia
Published in Tumpeang Snang Russey magazine
January 1, 2006
Translated from Khmer by KI-Media
Sem Chan Set has no other siblings. She lives in a family of five consisting of her mother, an aunt who is sick and cannot work much, and her old grandparents who are rice farmers and they also weave palm leaves to sell. This year, Chan Set is 14-year-old, her life is much harder than other kids of her age living in her village.
Chan Set does not have a father, her mother is mentally ill. She had never seen her father at all.
Chan Set’s grandmother said that around 1985, Chan Set’s mother was one of the brightest student in the village. She excelled both at school and at drawing. However, after passing the middle school exam, she successfully applied for a scholarship to go to the German Democratic Republic to continue her study. Somehow, she was sent to Vietnam to study instead. Chan Set’s mother was very upset of this change. Several month later, Chan Set’s mother attitude changed and she stopped talking to people. Finally, her mental illness took over. Chan Set’s grandmother sold her cattle and rice field to take the money to try to find some cure for her daughter, but to no avail. Later on, another misfortune befell on Chan Set’s mother, one day, a man came calling and asked to take Chan Set’s mother to go get some medicine to cure her illness. However, Chan Set’s mother disappeared for a long time, she was finally found at a forest near the village. Her parents then took her back home to find out that their daughter was taken to be raped.
Chan Set recently moved from her poor home covered with palm leaves, and left her family, the villagers in the Khnoung village (Kampong Chhnang district), her teachers, her friends at the Khsam Msa Chan Leap junior high school who had helped her by providing rice, clothes, school materials, and money, to go live at a provincial orphan children center.
Her move was sponsored by the Save the Children Norway-Cambodia organization chapter in Kampong Chhnang which is providing help in communities and also provides encouragement to children who are facing difficulties such as Chan Set. Currently Chan Set is in fifth grade at the middle school of the provincial city.
Nut Trasom, president of the provincial orphanage, said that he accepted to take Sem Chan Set in following a meeting organized by the Save the Children Norway-Cambodia last year.
Chan Set is a courageous and friendly young girl, she endures a lot, and she does not play much. She values her friendships with other children, and she is very respectful of older people, she pays a lot of attention to her study.
The sad thing about her is the fact that she never knew maternal love. “I saw other children who live near us, even though they are as poor as us, they have their father, their mother, their siblings who share their life with happiness. It is different from me, not only I do not have a father, my mother is mentally ill, she doesn’t even recognize me as her child,” Chan Set sadly said. She also added that sometimes, she becomes very angry and ashamed when she plays with other kids and they insulted her when they are not happy with her, telling her: “You are crazy like your mother. We don’t want to play with you.” Sometimes, these children would also beat her up. She is always sad when they hear this type of insults hurled at her, however, she changed after hearing soothing words from her grandparents who are caring her.
After a long pause for a deep thigh, Chan Set said: “Since I grew up, I always saw my mother legs chained.” She added that her grandparents had to chain her mother because they had no other choice as her mother could become very violent when she sees people approaching her. She would beat up other people and cursing them, she would destroy the vegetables grown near the house, and she would throw away anything that does not please her. Chan Set said that she feels very sorry for her grandparents, and even though they are getting quite old already, they are still working in the rice field, weaving palm leaves to sell. They are working all yearlong, they never rest, but they still don’t have enough food to eat. Nevertheless, her grandparents are tenderly encouraging her to study and not to worry about other family problems.
Even though Chan Set is now living at the orphanage, she still always worries about her mother and her grandparents. During school breaks, she usually asks for the permission to leave the orphanage to visit her mother and grandparents at least twice a month. When she returns home, she has to bathe her mother, and feed her. She also helps her grandparents to earn a living by looking for fire woods to sell, catching crabs, fishes, wild vegetables grown in the rice field, or she works as a laborer bringing water to people’s house, or laborer working at rice fields for other villagers. The money she earned through her work, she gives it to her grandparents and keeps a small amount for her school needs. She can earn between 500 to 2,000 riels ($0.13 to $0.50) [per day].
Seeing the illness of her mother, Sem Chan Set is determined to become a medical doctor in the future.
Chan Set does not have a father, her mother is mentally ill. She had never seen her father at all.
Chan Set’s grandmother said that around 1985, Chan Set’s mother was one of the brightest student in the village. She excelled both at school and at drawing. However, after passing the middle school exam, she successfully applied for a scholarship to go to the German Democratic Republic to continue her study. Somehow, she was sent to Vietnam to study instead. Chan Set’s mother was very upset of this change. Several month later, Chan Set’s mother attitude changed and she stopped talking to people. Finally, her mental illness took over. Chan Set’s grandmother sold her cattle and rice field to take the money to try to find some cure for her daughter, but to no avail. Later on, another misfortune befell on Chan Set’s mother, one day, a man came calling and asked to take Chan Set’s mother to go get some medicine to cure her illness. However, Chan Set’s mother disappeared for a long time, she was finally found at a forest near the village. Her parents then took her back home to find out that their daughter was taken to be raped.
Chan Set recently moved from her poor home covered with palm leaves, and left her family, the villagers in the Khnoung village (Kampong Chhnang district), her teachers, her friends at the Khsam Msa Chan Leap junior high school who had helped her by providing rice, clothes, school materials, and money, to go live at a provincial orphan children center.
Her move was sponsored by the Save the Children Norway-Cambodia organization chapter in Kampong Chhnang which is providing help in communities and also provides encouragement to children who are facing difficulties such as Chan Set. Currently Chan Set is in fifth grade at the middle school of the provincial city.
Nut Trasom, president of the provincial orphanage, said that he accepted to take Sem Chan Set in following a meeting organized by the Save the Children Norway-Cambodia last year.
Chan Set is a courageous and friendly young girl, she endures a lot, and she does not play much. She values her friendships with other children, and she is very respectful of older people, she pays a lot of attention to her study.
The sad thing about her is the fact that she never knew maternal love. “I saw other children who live near us, even though they are as poor as us, they have their father, their mother, their siblings who share their life with happiness. It is different from me, not only I do not have a father, my mother is mentally ill, she doesn’t even recognize me as her child,” Chan Set sadly said. She also added that sometimes, she becomes very angry and ashamed when she plays with other kids and they insulted her when they are not happy with her, telling her: “You are crazy like your mother. We don’t want to play with you.” Sometimes, these children would also beat her up. She is always sad when they hear this type of insults hurled at her, however, she changed after hearing soothing words from her grandparents who are caring her.
After a long pause for a deep thigh, Chan Set said: “Since I grew up, I always saw my mother legs chained.” She added that her grandparents had to chain her mother because they had no other choice as her mother could become very violent when she sees people approaching her. She would beat up other people and cursing them, she would destroy the vegetables grown near the house, and she would throw away anything that does not please her. Chan Set said that she feels very sorry for her grandparents, and even though they are getting quite old already, they are still working in the rice field, weaving palm leaves to sell. They are working all yearlong, they never rest, but they still don’t have enough food to eat. Nevertheless, her grandparents are tenderly encouraging her to study and not to worry about other family problems.
Even though Chan Set is now living at the orphanage, she still always worries about her mother and her grandparents. During school breaks, she usually asks for the permission to leave the orphanage to visit her mother and grandparents at least twice a month. When she returns home, she has to bathe her mother, and feed her. She also helps her grandparents to earn a living by looking for fire woods to sell, catching crabs, fishes, wild vegetables grown in the rice field, or she works as a laborer bringing water to people’s house, or laborer working at rice fields for other villagers. The money she earned through her work, she gives it to her grandparents and keeps a small amount for her school needs. She can earn between 500 to 2,000 riels ($0.13 to $0.50) [per day].
Seeing the illness of her mother, Sem Chan Set is determined to become a medical doctor in the future.
1 comment:
This is one SAD stories, it touch my heart so much and at the same time I'm so mad at the people who had destroy Sem Chan'm mother and Sem Chan childhood. When they sent to to Vietnam, they had probably sent her to a whore house and drug her and when they ready to sent her back to cambodia, they might have injected something into her to make her become insane. They YOUN are animal.
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