On May 22, 2011, the
Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam)'s Genocide Education in Cambodia
project conducted a public education forum in Sre Cheng Commune, Chum Kiri
District, Kampot Province. The forum was conducted at a compound of Damnak
Thlork pagoda. The participants attending the forum were approximately 150.
Among these numbers, there were 30 villagers, 90 students 10 teachers, five
monks. Chum Kiri district is one of seven districts of Kampot. It was in
Southwest Zone during the Khmer Rouge period and under the control of Ta Mok,
the zone secretary. During this period the Rumlich dam was expanded from its
original size of about 10 meters in width to the biggest dam in Chum Kiri.
Presently, the dam is still used as a place to store water from the
surrounding mountains. People use the water from the dam to increase their
income. However, hundreds of people died at the site due to forced labor,
starvation, and disease during the Khmer Rouge.
The public education forum discussed the experiences of the people's lives
under the KR and encouraged the younger and the older generations to discuss
the importance of genocide education and survivors to share their real life
experiences under the Khmer Rouge. The project's team members distributed
copies of the textbook "A History of Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979)" and
discussed Chapter 6 from it. Other materials for distribution included the
magazine Searching for the Truth and booklets on Khmer Rouge tribunal Cases
001 and 002. During the forum, one of the team members taught a chapter from
DK history book.
The forum was held in cooperation with the Ministry of
Interior and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport and funded by The
Asia Foundation (TAF), Phnom Penh, Cambodia with the core supports from the
Swedish International Agency for Development (Sida) and the United States
Agency for International Development (USAID).