Today at Sunway hotel in Phnom Penh, TPO shown a documentary, ‘Former Khmer Rouge and Victim-Survivor Dialogues for Healing and Reconciliation, Part Two”, as part of program Truth, Reconciliation and Healing in partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). This is the second in a series of videos featuring former members of the Khmer Rouge and victim-survivors. The new film follows two families, once friends but now on separate sides of the issue, as they attempt to reconcile the events of the past. Filming conversations with the families took place over the course of a year in Kampong Chhnang province. The victim-survivors family, who had suffered the loss of family members during the regime and have held feelings of anger against the former Khmer Rouge, describe their struggle to move forward.
At the event, posters with brief narratives from other former Khmer Rouge members and victim-survivors who have received therapy through TPO reveal their personal journey from trauma to peace and hope for the future. A panel consisting of representatives from the Victim Support Session of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, TPO staff and representatives from the Youth for Peace organization discussed the process of healing from trauma. This program funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).