Cambodian Siblings Finally Reunited at 101, 96 and 92 Years of Age

[CEOCambodiaNews]

A feelgood story with happy ending about a granny from the CCF(Cambodia Children's fund) program for the elderly, who was finally united with siblings lost during the war.

SISTERS REUNITED
21/02/2020
Cambodian Children’s Fund helps granny aged 98 meet her 101-year-old sister for the first time in 47 years

This is the emotional moment CCF brings together two sisters, aged 98 and 101, for the first time in 47 years after both believed the other had died during the Khmer Rouge regime.
There were tears of joy as the sisters held each other tight and the decades slipped away to the time they last saw each other.

That was 1973 – two years before the brutal Khmer Rouge would sweep into Cambodia and rule for four years. In the turmoil that followed, millions of people were killed.

The sisters thought both were among those who didn’t make it.

Now, 47 years later, the sisters have been brought back together. It was thanks to CCF staff, who tracked down Granny Bun Sen’s family and discovered that not only was her 101-year-old sister still alive but, incredibly, her brother, aged 92, was too.

Granny Bun Sen (centre) sitting between her brother, 92, and sister Bun Chea, 98, in Kampong Cham.

They were also still living in the same village.

As Granny Bun Sen embraced her sister, Granny Bun Chea, after travelling from her home in Steung Meanchey, Phnom Penh, to Kampong Cham, there was hardly a dry eye in the village.

The remarkable end to the story was one no-one expected.

Granny Bun Sen (left) and her 101-year-old sister Bun Chea.

“I left my village a long time ago and never went back. I always thought my sisters and brothers had died,” said Granny Bun Sen.

“To be able to hold my older sister means so much. And the first time my younger brother touched my hand, I started crying.”

Granny Bun Sen, who is supported by CCF in its Granny Program, never returned to her village after being displaced by the Khmer Rouge.

Both sisters survived the regime but believed the other had died.

Granny Bun Sen lost her husband to the Khmer Rouge and eventually settled in Steung Meanchey in the communities around the former garbage dump.

She was one of the first grannies to join CCF in 2004. At the time, she was still earning a living scavenging through trash on the streets of Phnom Penh.

She was caring for many children who had been left on the dump and introduced Scott Neeson, CCF Founder and Executive Director, to vulnerable children and families. This included the very first CCF student, Sreynich, who has now graduated from university.

She became Scott Neeson’s trusted ears and eyes on the ground of who needed help.

Granny Bun Sen always believed her siblings had died during the Khmer Rouge. She would often talk about her home village in Kampong Cham and her wish to return there one day. As she is unable to walk and uses a wheelchair, it was difficult for her to make the journey.

CCF’s Community Outreach Manager, Hoy Leanghoin, recently offered to arrange a visit and discovered that some of Granny Bun Sen’s family were in fact alive and still living in the same village.

Last week, CCF took Granny Bun Sen to Kampong Cham where she was reunited with her sister, Bun Chea, and brother, reconnecting with old family and meeting new ones that she didn’t know about.
https://www.cambodianchildrensfund.org/ ... -reunited/

[Yerg]

What a fabulous story!!

[timmydownawell]

That's so wonderful and also heart breaking that they didn't reunite so much sooner.

[Duncan]

It's great to be able to start the day with a good news story in Cambodia.

[WildA]

Beautiful Made my day.

[Sweet Lemon]

That's so wonderful and also heart breaking that they didn't reunite so much sooner.

It's a testament to the laziness of Khmers that she never went back to village to see if they were there.

[Anchor Moy]

That's so wonderful and also heart breaking that they didn't reunite so much sooner.

It's a testament to the laziness of Khmers that she never went back to village to see if they were there.

She's not lazy, she's old and handicapped, and so poor that she was living as a scavenger when she was taken in by CCF.

As she is unable to walk and uses a wheelchair, it was difficult for her to make the journey.

Eventually, someone from the CCF took pity on her and tracked down her surviving relatives.

[SternAAlbifrons]

.... wow

(speechless)

[Freightdog]

That's so wonderful and also heart breaking that they didn't reunite so much sooner.

It's a testament to the laziness of Khmers that she never went back to village to see if they were there.

Please tell me that you are just trolling the forum, and not physically in the country trolling the locals, or us expats who have a genuine interest in being here

[Sweet Lemon]

That's so wonderful and also heart breaking that they didn't reunite so much sooner.

It's a testament to the laziness of Khmers that she never went back to village to see if they were there.

Please tell me that you are just trolling the forum, and not physically in the country trolling the locals, or us expats who have a genuine interest in being here

It's shitty journalism to report this story and not ask her why she didn't go back to her village in the last 47 years to see if they were there.