Freedom in flames

November 26, 2001 is a date that will remain forever etched into the mind of Kim Hou.

The day began just like any other, with the 39-year old mother-of-two kissing her children and husband goodbye before heading off to work at one of Phnom Penh’s many garment factories. When she returned for lunch just a few hours later, her life had dramatically changed.

“I was walking down the road and I immediately knew something was wrong," Kim Hou says, recalling how she saw smoke rising from the slum along the banks of the Tonle Bassac River where she lived. “When I got there, my house had been completely burnt down and some of the othere houses were still in flames.”


Kim Hou and the other residents of the Tonle Bassac slum had been victims of a horrendous arson attack that had destroyed every house in the populated shantytown. Although the perpetrators were never identified, the attack came as no surprise to the villagers, who had been under increasing pressure from the Government of Cambodia to vacate their homes and make way for wealthy property developers.

"I am in no doubt that this was the work of the Government," Kim Hou states, explaining how immediately after the arson attack the Government restated their offer to provide the residents with 'free' land on the outskirts Phnom Penh, an offer which local village chiefs had repeatedly rejected.

"That same piece of land was now being offered to us again, but this time we had no choice but to take it,” Kim Hou recalls. As Government representatives and village chiefs met to negotiate terms, Kim Hou and over 3,000 other families from the Tonle Bassac slum camped outside the luxurious Goldiana Hotel awaiting news of a decision.

After one week of sleeping at the door of the hotel with Police refusing to allow local charities to dispense food, medicine and blankets to the slum dwellers, the Government gave the village chiefs an ultimatum. "Either relocate to the land tonight or there'll be nowhere to go," Kim Hou states, recalling the words of the Government representative.

That very night, over 3,000 homeless people were placed on the back of trucks and transported like cargo to Anlong Kgnang, a relocation site approximately 20km outside of Phnom Penh.

When Kim Hou arrived at her new home, she was shocked at what she saw. “There was nothing there. No hospital, no school, no clean water – nothing. It was like living in an empty field.”

The lack of basic infrastructure at Anlong Kgnang was only compounded by the Government’s refusal to build new homes for the resettled villagers, who were forced to huddle together in makeshift tents and rely on handouts from the charities who had made the journey to the relocation site, which soon began resembling a dusty refugee camp.

Although Kim Huo’s husband continued to work in Phnom Penh, the added cost of travel combined with her inability to continue her work at the garment factory was beginning to take its toll on the family-of-four.

“It was only because of the help of a Christian charity that my family and I were able to eat during those first few weeks,” she explains. “We relied totally on the them. Our Government had abandoned us.”

Since arriving in Anlong Kgnang, Kim Hou's circumstances have improved dramatically. With the help of a local church, she was able to start a small micro-enterprise, producing and selling dried foods and sewing mattresses and cushions.

The changes in Kim Hou’s life have been mirrored by changes in Anlong Kgnang too. No longer a makeshift refugee town, Kim Hou describes how villagers and charities have worked together to build a better community – one with clean water, a hospital and a school.

“It is a much better environment to live and I now feel that there is a future for me because of the work I am doing,” she says.

Despite the improved conditions at Anlong Kgnang, Kim Hou is only too aware of the frail circumstances in which she and her fellow impoverished citizens of Cambodia live. Since that fateful day in November of 2001, there have been many other tales of forced evictions of slumdwellers along the Tonle Bassac and poor Cambodians living on land rich in natural minerals and resources.

Kim Hou knows that in today's Cambodia, your land, your home, your very livelihood could be taken away from you at any time in a place where freedoms are now in flames.

Click here to read more about the human rights situation in Cambodia