RESLlIENCE, OVERCOMING ADVERSITY. Suon Rottana
I am a compassionate man, committed to making a positive difference to the youth of Cambodia, not least to people still baring the scars of our countrys civil war. I was born 24th May 1962 Phnom Penh City, Cambodia
Like so many stories from this dark period of Cambodias history, my story is too familiar.
14 years old , being forced to join the Khme
r Rouge army, my father was killed in front of me. The rest of my family to suffer the same fate if I did not comply. What choice did I have? My conscription saw me fight daily for 14 years as a combatant in the Cambodian civil war. Fighting finally ended for me in 1989 after loosing my leg to a land mine in, but the battle still continued; memory loss, flash backs, nightmares all associated with post traumatic stress syndrome, not least learning to cope with the loss of a limb. Receiving support from United Nations Handicapped International, I received the treatment that I needed to regain my memory, a process which took 3 years of rehabilitation in both Singapore & Thailand and begin to build a new life full of dreams to build a brighter future for my country ensuring nobody would ever again have to suffer the pain of war we suffered as a nation of one. Living with disabilities made it difficult for me to find employment. I made a living the best I could. Having a natural talent for drawing and woodcarving, I was able to sell what I created to try and make ends meet.
2005, the fitting of a prosthetic limb was a life changing experience. It gave me the freedom to explore new work opportunities and was offered a position as a gardener at the Cambodia War Museum Siem Reap. I had set my self a goal to learn English , one word per day. Being exposed to foreign tourists at the museum gave me the opportunity to practice and learn more words on a daily basis. In time, my English was competent enough to earn a position as a guide at the Siem Reap War museum. Now my new journey begins.
