STORY OF LY HEANG
In 1976, the Khmer Rouge government forcibly moved the Heang family to a community northeast of Siem Reap for the family to participate in cooperative community farming. Ultimately, in 1979 the family was moved to a place known as Kchas Village.
This place remains an unforgettable, bitter memory in my life. My family had one “soil well” (hand dug well) which was approximately 4.50 meters deep and supplied approximately 30 people in the Village. Many times, I would hear people complain about not having enough water in our well. The well would dry up due to the hot summer. My brother would have to get water from another well in the Village. I was lucky because I was too small to carry water.
My Mum had purchased a pig for my eldest sister to take care of. My sister would clean up rubbish at the back of the house.
One day, my brothers and sisters went off to play as well as go to the market with their friends. My sister stayed behind to take care of me. I was very lonely with and had no one to play with. I got a silly idea to check the water level in our “soil well” as well as determining its depth. I used a coconut palm branch to dip into the well to measure the water depth. I reached deeper and deeper until the branch reached the surface of the water. I began to crawl on my belly to try to reach the bottom with the palm branch and finally made it. I was so happy to make it.However, suddenly I fell into the well and inhaled a lot of water.
The sound of my dropping into the well was like the sound of the pig in the back. My sister heard something fall into the well but thought it might have been the pig and did not give it much thought. However, a few minutes later she called for the pig and saw that it was still there. Not seeing me, she ran to the well and saw me with my hair floating. She shouted for help indicating her brother had fallen into the well. Not able to get a response, she jumped into the well without caring for herself. She grabbed me and continued to yell for help from the well. A man showed up and she asked him to take me up from the well. The man got me up from the well and began to try to shake the water from my lungs. Finally, I exhaled the water from my lungs. He put me in bed in front of my house and started a fire to warm up my body for 10 to 20 minutes. I now have my second life!
This is my story. Given this personal experience, I want to help other people have safe drinking water rather than having to rely on “soil wells” which are dangerous and contaminated with disease. I want to help poor people have a better life. My favorite part of my work is going into the local villages and meeting people that I can help.