SMALL VOICES
The Khmer Rouge caught him and forced him to work.
He cut the grass to feed the cows.
At that Time he was just a small boy, he didn't know what to do.
After the regime was over he was recaptured again and was forced again
This time to be a soldier
and second grade was the last he ever attended school in his life.
I lived in the countryside. I didn't have... uh...
I left because I didn't have rice to eat.
Because rice field is death if it doesn't rain.
Every day I don't have enough food to eat.
The hardest thing is I'm poor and have no house to live in.
Not enough food to eat.
My mom had 10 kids, 6 died, only 4 left.
My mother passed away, my father has another wife.
This kid's my niece.
My family all died.
Her mom left her since she was small.
Yes, I take care of her until she grows up.
I'm worried that I can't make money for my mom.
That my family has no money for hospital if they get sick.
I'm worried each time I go out, people might catch me and sell me.
They catch us and take us to work in a prostitute place.
Afraid that they take us to sleep with them.
Sometimes I'm afraid to beg. Foreigners scream at me.
They feel sorry and they give us money.
Sometimes if they don't give money they would give something to eat.
Everyday, I fan tourists to make money to buy rice to eat.
So I beg for money.
I beg people for money to go to school.
I never steal, I'm a beggar.
Sometimes I can't make money, sometimes I can.
About $0.50, enough for school.
Teacher asks for money at school. I don't have any.
Teacher asks for money for extra class, I don't have any.
I fan people to get money to buy rice to eat.
If I go to school I wouldn't have money to buy rice.
I say, "Sir, I beg you for money."
Sometimes if I am lucky I get $2.50, sometimes nothing.
But sometimes when people give us money, police hit our hands.
If I see police I hide somewhere until he's gone then I can reappear.
I don't know where to hide.
When I get sick, I still beg as usual.
When I get sick I don't tell anyone.
Even if I tell, they're not going to care.
I hope and hope, but never get what I hope for.
Because, I'm destined to be poor, they're destined to be rich.
It's my destiny to be born poor.
If I can study, in the future I can do anything, I won't have to beg.
I want someone to help me go to school.
My name is Charam. I am 12.
I was born in Kampong Cham Province.
Nowadays I live right at the pagoda's fence.
My mom's name is Yorn.
When I was born, a foreigner tried to buy me.
She offered my mom $500 and a house to live in.
But my mom didn't sell me.
When I was begging in front of people's houses
and at the museum, my mom got pregnant
and a few months later my sister Linna was born.
I helped wash bloody cloth from labor.
When I was young, my mom took good care of me,
but as I grew older, she would blame me for doing wrong.
If I was really bad she would chase me and hit me.
If she caught me, she hit me with a tree branch.
She hit me till I bled.
If I didn't make money, she would blame me and hit me.
Everyday, she does nothing but stay at home.
My family was doing so bad, we didn't have food to eat.
So I decided to beg people.
The first time I started to beg I felt afraid.
It's hard to describe the feeling but I knew I was scared.
After a while I felt good and then it started to be alright.
We buy food and pay the debts with the money.
What is your name?
My name is Charam.
How old are you?
Twelve.
What do you do everyday?
At present, I'm a beggar.
Where do you live?
Behind the pagoda.
Which pagoda?
Prolom Pagoda
What is your mother's name?
My mother's name is Yorn.
What is her job?
She doesn't work.
How about your little sister?
I carry my little sister to beg money.
Who makes money in your family?
Me and my sister.
Your little sister?
Yes.
So do you make enough money to support the family?
Good enough.
Only for food, not for spending.
Are you happy at home or is there a lot of fighting?
If I eat too slow, my mother kicks my plate.
I swear at my mother and she hits me.
Do you like to live with a lot of people or by yourself?
I like living in a group.
Why do you like to live with a lot of people?
Because I have a lot of kids to play with.
If I live alone I don't have anybody to play with. That's boring.
What do you want to become when you grow up?
Me, if I can read I can be whatever I want except robbing or stealing.
I don't like those things.
Do you have a goal? What do you want to be when you grow up?
Whatever, I don't decide yet.
What are you going to do if you get to live here?
I'm happy, I want to live here. I can live at any school.
As long as I get to learn.
Will you study hard?
Yes, if the adults don't hurt me I want to study hard.
I've gone to school three times before
but I quit because the teachers beat me too much.
Okay, you can wait outside.
Yes.
My name is Chet Leakhena. I'm 13 years old.
My home town is Battambang Province.
It was hard living there, So poor.
Without money for food and study.
My mom is a farmer, my father is a taxi driver.
After my father left, my mother would hit us whenever we did wrong.
When my father left, I knew he wasn't coming back.
So my mother could no longer raise us and she left us
at the pagoda to live with my grandmother.
Then she went away, somewhere else, to get a new husband.
Long ago, when I still lived with my family, I had 10 children.
Farmers like us, we don't have our own rice fields,
so our lives depended on people's help.
I realized I didn't have enlightenment
from my previous life. That's why I was born so poor.
Then I had the bright idea of leaving my family for religion, let them
support themselves. So I left to live in the pagoda
when I was 46 years old.
One day my children left me with my five grandchildren.
Their families were falling apart.
I asked the monks to let them stay since they were already here.
I didn't ask them to come.
They came because they had nothing to eat.
The monk said, "Yes if they're drowning and we don't rescue them,"
"how can they survive, so let it be."
So they live with me since then, needing everything.
But we had to keep going.
And that is the end, I may conclude.
Sometimes, my brothers fought and cut each other with broken glass.
They would try to drown and choke each other.
They used to hit me too.
I thought if my family keeps fighting like that,
what will our future become.
I worried about my future and how I would be able to study.
Even if they hit me, I wasn't mad because I thought -
we have one family and we depend on each other.
If we don't love each other, who will?
When I lived here I helped grandmother
prepare meals for the monks.
The people there respect the monks like gods.
They bring food to the monks for good karma because
they were born poor. They try to do good to
be born rich in the next life.
Dish up the rice for your brother.
The kids in the pagoda, if they don't learn to read and write
in the future they will wind up on the streets sniffing glue.
I have a lot of close friends at the pagoda.
I never had friends who had parents.
When I first started school I thought that it could give me good future
and I will be able to make money to support myself.
In the future... I want to become a teacher.
Preparing to go.
Why don't you say goodbye first?
Leakhena, you have to say goodbye, pay your respect to me.
Hear me Leakhena?
Yes.
Never forget people that do favors for you.
Whatever their advice is, obey them.
Make it easy for them to train you.
And don't ever steal anything, that's bad karma, if the thing is not given
to you by the person, don't take it.
Understand, Leakhena?
If you obey religious rules, you can live long,
and in peace until the future comes.
See, you weren't born rich, you were born a poor orphan
with no parents to support you.
Yes.
Because you didn't do good in previous life, that's why
you were born with bad karma.
Understand? Remember my words.
Play with me.
Stop playing, I'm leaving right now.
Go, go.
Where is all her stuff?
I'm going too.
Don't forget.
Leakhena is gone.
My name is Mengly. I'm 15 years old, and I'm from Kandal Province.
My parents live at the farm. They grow corn.
When I was growing up, I thought my life would be difficult.
Because I didn't study and I couldn't read and write.
I'm the first son; it's my job to take care of my brothers
and advise them to be good and study hard.
I help with farm work, planting corn, beans and other vegetables
I have to help my mother take care around the house.
I help her cook and clean.
When my father's not around I help care for my brothers.
I'm not good with words.
Well, farming is hard because for crops to grow
we need fertilizers for good results. It requires money all the time.
With the money I earn from farming I spend some on fertilizers
and some for eating. If there isn't enough we have to borrow
and then work to pay it off.
It's hard. Sometimes we can't harvest the fields
because we don't have the equipment.
We need cattle to plow, but we don't have those.
This year we could only harvest a few corn plants.
We never get a lot. We can't plow our fields
like everybody else with better corn
because we don't have cattle. We plant on plain fields.
I also work for people harvesting beans and corn when they are in season.
There is only that kind of work. No stable job.
We have nothing, no hope of buying anything.
So it's hard, because we need money to buy cattle or land,
that's why we stay poor.
If my children are educated, they will have skills to work.
I want them to get higher education so they can
help their poor father.
We're pathetic, we're so poor.
Fishing is important to my family
because it gives us food and we can sell it.
When I can't catch fish I feel angry and sorry
for my parents because they have nothing to cook with.
No fish to bring back home.
I don't know.
Let's fish somewhere else.
Over there.
When I see people in my village are very poor I feel sorry for them,
because they're not educated. So they should let their kids go to
school, to find jobs.
My parents have told me that I should study hard so that I can find a good job.
After I attend school, I think in the future I will become a teacher
I worry about my brothers because they can't read or write.
When I become a teacher, I will return to my village to teach others to read.
It's very important because the educated people can teach
the uneducated people, to help the whole society.
My name is Layseng. I'm 13 years old. I was born in Kandal.
I lived with my parents and my sisters and brothers.
We were so poor in the countryside. My family made very little money.
My sister and I went to live at Steung Mean Chey with my aunt.
When I got there, we had no money for school,
so I started picking garbage. While I was picking garbage,
Scott found me and took me here.
When I live in Steung Mean Chey, my sister and I pick garbage all day.
From 5:00 AM to 11:00 AM, have lunch and pick again until 5:00 PM.
We go home to eat and sleep next morning we pick again.
Everyday is like that.
I was scared of the dump in nighttime.
Scared that my uncle might beat me,
scared of the dangers of picking garbage at night.
Scared trucks might dump garbage on me.
When I picked garbage I felt terrified that it might harm me,
But what can I do? If I don't go I don't make money.
I lived with my aunt a long time. I had an uncle who picked garbage
at night. We were scared because he was killed.
He got ran over by a truck. It crushed his skull, his brains leaked out.
Ever since then we didn't pick garbage at night again.
When I lived at the village, people can't really make money.
There are lots of poor people, even my parents.
When I was young and wasn't able to help them
we didn't have enough to eat, we were so poor.
My mom washes the bags everyday with rain water mixed with garbage.
It produces very dirty water for washing the bags.
When my parents are unhappy, I am unhappy too.
My name is Seuon, my wife is Eng.
During Pol Pot time I was a small child. I studied but couldn't keep up.
After the regime I lost my father. There were 3 of us left.
I lived with my mother and big sister.
I never finished studying. I grew up and helped make money.
Later I was caught and forced to serve in the military.
After I left the force, I married my wife.
At the countryside, we tried to make a living like everyone else.
It's hard over there.
Sometimes I can make money, sometimes not.
It's so hard! And since I fell sick, my wife couldn't make money there.
So we come here. My wife picks garbage to support me.
No money to treat my disease, just for foods only, no money for it.
It's more than 2 months since I was diagnosed
but I haven't gotten treatment yet.
Scott took me to get diagnosed. It's liver disease.
A tumor is growing on my liver.
I have nothing. I go to the dump to get dishes to clean and use here.
Neighbors lend us stuff to carry drinking water.
I lost everything. I came here with nothing.
Everyday I don't make enough, I can't buy him medicines
because I only make $0.50 to $0.75, not even enough to eat.
It's not even enough for me to eat.
Sometimes I'm sick and every night he screams with pain.
The neighbors told me to sell everything I have to help him.
I don't have anything to sell.
I came from the countryside with empty hands.
Now I'm trying to borrow more money, I don't know if I will get it.
I will never make enough.
I saw human's leg, babies and dead bodies with slit throats.
If I see babies, I bury them. Someone's baby is like ours.
I bury them so the trucks can't run them over.
It will be smashed up if the truck runs it over, so I bury it.
The most difficult thing is when I pick up garbage.
I used the searching metal stick.
To search for plastic, sack or bag or aluminum.
I made it myself.
There's needles, glass pieces, knives, metal sticks.
This is from a glass piece.
Two or three weeks, and it hasn't healed yet.
Over here I make money, at the countryside I couldn't make money.
Because my parents are poor, it's hard, they don't have money or food,
So I make money for them to buy rice. Only a little, I don't have a lot.
When I pick up garbage, what I am afraid of the most are
the trucks because they are very large and when
we pick up garbage it could hit us if we don't pay attention.
If it hits me, it could injure or even kill me.
It could scoop me up together with trash
and dump me down on the trash.
I start to pick up garbage from 6:00AM in the morning.
I pick garbage at noon too, and in the evening I pick more garbage.
I think it's destiny. I was destined to be poor.
I want to go to school and meet friends.
I read a little, but I can't write.
I want to be a teacher.
I eat one meal a day.
They sent me here to pick up garbage, I made $0.15 or $0.25 a day.
I just newly learn to pick up. So after...
When I'm well trained, I can make $0.50 to $0.75.
I've lived here 2 or 3 years already, it was a long time until I knew
what kind of plastic to pick up.
I've lived here for so long.
I was 8 years old when I started to pick up garbage.
My name is Hov Nhagn. I'm 13 years old.
I live at Prek Chor Village in Steung Mean Chey.
From my house to the dump site is close.
The garbage trucks are so noisy that I can't sleep at night.
My mom's name is Pol Sokhoeun, her job is sewing sacks.
My dad's name is Earm Korn, his job is picking up garbage.
Me, I pick up garbage everyday until evening, leaving this kid home alone.
If I stay home I wash dishes, clean up the house and sew those sacks.
Never have free time. If I had free time I would wash the clothes.
We make about $2.50 a day, me and my husband.
A little more than $2.50.
Not enough for rent, electricity, water. A jug of water is $0.60,
to rent this plot is $5.00 a month,
and food for twice a day.
Not enough, but we try hard for our kids.
I want to prevent him from picking garbage forever and
living a hard life like me.
And in the future he'll find happiness.
I don't want him to live like I do.
It was hard for me when I was young so I don't want him to be like me.
That's why I try hard for them. For their future.
I rather do hard work myself. I don't want them to have futures like mine.
When my sister got to go to school and I didn't and I couldn't read,
I let her read for me. I feel sad that I don't get to study
and know how good studying can be.
My sister has been in school for 2 years. I hope my time is now.
I do miss my family but staying there was so poor.
At CCF I study Khmer, English, computer, drawing, dancing and acting.
Of all my classes, I like computer and English the most.
Knees and toes, head shoulders knees and toes knees and toes
Ears and eyes and mouth and nose
Head and shoulders knees and toes knees and toes.
I'm very worried that I'm the only one who gets to study
and my other siblings stay at home and work everyday.
All finished.
If he only studies here and then comes home, the police will catch us.
They come during the day or night.
So where does he sleep now?
Right now, he sleeps with me, but the police are trying to catch us.
At night I hardly sleep. I watch the road and tell my kids to run
if I see them coming. One time they caught us and locked us up
for a day and night. They watch us go to the bathroom,
and they even beat him with a wooden baton this long.
Beat him.
Okay, thank you for bringing Charam.
I want to study. I'm happy that I can study here.
I see people typing on computers, I see toys, I want to play.
In my mind I want to study... and...
And have fun with friends.
Charam.
This morning my sister woke me up. I'm so happy I am accepted here.
As soon as I woke up, I got dressed and waited for the Taxi to bring me.
I see kids studying - I'm happy I get to study here.
The first time I attend class, I'm not so good. I just follow along.
But after three days I know ABC's and I can read a little bit.
From now on I will study hard. I won't fight or steal or swear.
I will study hard and be kind to everyone. I'll get educated.
And when I grow up I can get a job and make money for my mom.
I wouldn't say that our living has improved much, but
we're not starving either. Our children go to school.
That's why I try hard myself to make a little more money,
as long as my children get to study.
I want to see him happy, I want him to be educated like others and
not so ignorant like I am. I want my kids to be educated.
While I was picking up garbage I used to think that
if I could get to study I would make my parents happy.
I want to study and do well in class. I will find a job, and my parents
will have some money and the poverty will be ended.
I feel excited when I go to school. I have never felt that before,
now I get to have it.
When I leave CCF to visit my parents, I'm happy to see them.
But I'm also very happy to get back to CCF and study more.
It's difficult to study when I go back home.
I could make money, but it was dangerous.
At school there's no danger and we can have a future here.
When I grow up I want to become a teacher.
I want to become a good teacher, for kids who don't do well in class.
I would explain to them and help them understand.
I would help them to read like me.
But I'm afraid. I'm afraid that if I go back to pick garbage.
I will live in misery again.
Those kids at the dump, they don't have anyone to take them to school.
Some don't want to study,
but others want to and have no one to help them.
Everyday I'm sick most of the time.
Sometimes I feel well for an hour or two and then I get sick again.
I'm on IV but I take it off to go to work and when
I come back, I put it back on. That's because we're poor.
I'm not that well either, but it's nothing specific.
I don't have a disease - we just don't get enough to eat.
You can see our house - we're poor and have a lot of children.
What little we make we feed our children with.
If the country had a good leader then our living would be better.
In my generation we didn't get to study at all.
Now there are better schools for kids, but it's not enough yet because
there are too many poor people.
I feel so happy, so excited when I see my kids get their good education.
I feel happy every time I see them and they know a lot.
The other day she told me she is No.1 in class
I was so happy I was jumping up and down.
We can help them to get their education and then
later on they can support themselves.
Of course it's hard but we have to struggle on, since our children
are in school. If we keep them here with us, they won't be able to study.
I don't think it's destiny.
When I grow up I want to help poor people to go to school.
Let them study hard.
Kids are poor because their parents didn't get to study,
and they didn't let their children go to school.
When I grow up I want to be a very good mother.
I want to teach my children to study hard, to love each other
between brother and sister to not fight with each other.
I don't feel like I'm scared at all anymore.
I don't feel like I'm scared because I have already learned a lot,
I have a good education and for that I can have a good job.
When I grow up, if I have a chance to work in the government,
I want to do that kind of work.
Because governmental work is good work.
The reason why Cambodia is poor is because
there are not enough educated people.
When I grow up I want to become a translator because that job
is good for us, I can get good salary and I can get to know a lot of people
in the society and help them.
My name is Layseng, I am 13 years old.
I want to be an English translator when I grow up.
I have four brothers and one sister
I think it is hard to live when everyone is either rich or poor.
We're poor because of bad karma from previous lives.
We can change that bad karma by doing good things - don't steal,
don't drink alcohol or kill, and study hard.
When I am educated and grown up I will help teach kids who don't
get to study, I will help everyone read and write.
When I went home to visit and saw the kids in the pagoda,
I want them to study like me so they can have jobs in the future.
They get to live in the pagoda but they don't get to study.
Since I moved from home to CCF, I have changed a lot.
The most important thing is my future and the future of my family.
In the future I want to become a very good father to my children.
I will teach my children and let them go to school
so they will learn and have knowledge about traditions,
and know about morality.
But I'm worried about when I grow up and have to find a job of my own.
It's been so many months! Since Charam left for school,
I don't have money to spend at all.
When Charam was here, he would make money.
Foreigners liked and pitied him, and gave him money.
Now that he left, I don't have enough.
Wherever I go, I have to take Linna with me.
Sometimes she gets hurt while I work. I can't look after her.
Back then I still had my son to help me make money.
Now I don't have him. I live off other people.
I eat with tears all the time.
Someone will steal my daughter if I leave her alone.
That's why I have to always take her with me.
I think about what my children's future will be like
because I have no money to help them.
So I let him go to school, no matter how hard it is for me.
I still have this little girl left.
That's why I have no ability to raise this new baby.
If I had money, I would have had an abortion already.
It's too late now. I don't know what to do.
What I was afraid of the most was I would grow up and still be poor.
Then I got to come to school here. I'd rather my mom struggles now.
And when I grow up, I can get a job and support her.
When I used to beg I thought, I have to study.
If I don't, I will stay poor and won't have a future.
Without education, I might turn out to be a gangster.
Now I get to study as I always wanted.
I take photography class for 30 minutes each day.
I want to become a professional photographer.
Go to the riverfront or not?
Yes.
Are you happy when I come visit like this?
Yes I am.
I want my sister to come live here too, but she's still too small.
If she's 6 years old I can ask Scott to let her come live here,
But she's too small so she can't.
Who adopted you?
No, I live in an organization
Cambodian Children's Fund organization.
I haven't seen you in a while.
Yes, because I haven't come for a while.
Let's go to the front of the palace.
Your legs are tired yet?
Is that why you just fart?
Your fart stinks.
I want to study and have education
so that I can work like others when I grow up.
I'm worried that in the future, I'll still be poor.
I just want to work regular job to support my life.
I want to work to feed my mother, my siblings, myself, the whole family.
I want to have enough - enough to wear, enough to eat, nothing else.
When I first arrived at CCF, I felt like I was born again.
Before I was like a flower that nobody cared to water,
never saw the sun and nobody cared or paid any attention.
But now this same flower is taken to a place where it is cared for and watered.
It can feel the breeze and see the sun.