Tep Sothea says she learned how to survive during more than 10 years in refugee camps and she’s using those skills now to combat poverty and hopelessness in the capital.
“Living in Phnom Penh…it’s a camp of tears, a camp of sorrow,” the 40-year-old widow with six children said recently while making cotton mats at her home in Beoung Tumpun village.
Camps at the Thai border including Samlor Chnganh and Site II were her home until 1993. She was one of more than 362,000 refugees repatriated following a 1991 peace agreement. Her life improved little, however, and today she struggles to feed her family, while living in a wood shack on the southern outskirts of Phnom Penh.
Tep Sothea’s existence today is shared by at least 20 percent of those repatriated in 1992 and 1993, relief workers said recently. The challenges of poverty still facing many of those returnees are a harsh reminder today for the governments of Cambodia and Thailand and international aid agencies, which are again trying to resettle thousands of Cambodian refugees back to their homeland.
“About 20 to 30 percent of the returnees are still struggling to stablize their lives,” said Scott Leiper of UN Development Program’s Carere, which assisted the refugees in the early 1990s.
Said John Phay, executive director of the Cambodia Family Development Services, which has been assisting returnees since 1992, “People might start thinking that the returnees should be all right by now. But that didn’t happen.”
The most recent mass repatriations began Feb 12 from Thailand’s Trat province into Samlot district in Battambang province.
Of the more than 60,000 pushed across the Thai border following factional fighting in July 1997, roughly 15,000 still remain in camps on Thai soil, according to UN High Commissioner for Refugees staff.
‘Vulnerable’ Families
Returned to Hard Life
At the time of the 1992-93 repatriation, families categorized as “vulnerable,” like Tep Sothea’s, accounted for 23 percent of the returnee population, or 83,000 persons, according to the UN agencies. None of the UN agencies and aid organizations, however, have been able to keep track of their whereabouts.
An estimated 74 percent, or 268,000 returnees, headed to the northwest provinces of Battambang, Banteay Meanchey, Pursat and Siem Reap where some areas were still heavily mined, according to the UNHCR. The majority of returnees in those provinces had to live in resettlement camps, many of which were isolated from town and agricultural land and dependent on international aid.
The UNHCR, for example, spent $9.5 million to assist existing communities in absorbing the 1992-93 returnees. About 50 partner agencies conducted 80 different projects from building roads and wells to providing counseling services. The UN World Food Program provided food. However, the assistance was not enough. “Many returnees couldn’t find a job near the resettlement camps,” said Scott Lieper. “Assistance from agencies ran out. How could they survive in that situation?”
One of the primary problems plaguing the returnees was land. The soil of the resettlement sites was not fertile enough for reliable home gardening. And in many cases farm land was not allocated to returnees as promised. Additionally, there were few ways for the returnees to earn money, experts said.
John Phay of the Cambodia Family Development Services said that limited vocational skills and psychological pain from the experience of being uprooted prevented many returnees from reestablishing their lives. Security problems in the northwest provinces forced the returnees to uproot again to flee fighting. Drought and floods between 1991 and 1996 made returnees’ lives harder.
“Some people’s situations became worse than those in 1993, because only limited social support systems and economic opportunities were available for them,” said Phay.
Dr Nguon Sokhon, deputy director of the Cambodia Red Cross, noted that the refugees not only had to put up with droughts and floods, but also the man-made disaster of continued fighting in the country.
“I don’t know how long it takes for the returnees to recover from all those disasters,” Nguon Sokhon sighed. “It will take at least 10 to 15 years to stand on their own feet.”
The UN World Food Program announced late last year plans to extend its food aid program for two more years, in the amount of $41 million. A substantial portion of this aid will assist refugees, including the 1992-93 returnees.
When Home Is No Longer Home
After years in camps, Tep Sothea in 1993 decided to go back to her hometown, Phnom Penh, with her husband and children. But after an 18-year absence, she discovered she had few connections here anymore.
Her relatives had all died from starvation and disease. None of her old neighbors and friends remained. Two years after returning, her husband died from illness, leaving behind a pregnant Tep Sothea and five children.
“Living here is more difficult than in the border camps,” Tep Sothea said.
About 5,000 riel of daily earnings from selling hand-made mats is not enough to feed her children. She said her 14-year-old son alone needs 2,000 riel a day for school. Her little money disappears in a hand-to-mouth existence.
“How can I make money to let them go to school?” she asked.
Tep Sothea is left alone in Beoung Tumpun village on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, where monks, nuns and neighbors offer some food to maintain the lives of her six children. Neither the government nor aid agencies assist the family any more.
(Additional reporting by Phann Ana)
