It’s with great sadness that I inform you that Naren Chhut, our office manager for the last two years, passed away on Monday.
As many of you know he has been very sick for the last few months and was unable to find sufficient treatment in Phnom Penh or Vietnam, where he was with his family seeking treatment when he passed. We believe that he died of liver and or kidney failure caused by chronic Hepatitis C and complicated by Typhoid. Both of these diseases are relatively common in Cambodia and it’s a sad reflection of the state of the country that he was not able to find treatment.
Naren worked extremely hard for CfC, putting in huge amounts of overtime and even sleeping in the office to keep it safe before any staff lived there. It was only a few months ago that while riding on the back of his motorbike coming back from a field visit that he told me his amazing life story.
It is typical of so many of the Khmer people, being displaced by the Khmer Rouge and fleeing to Vietnam as a youngster; but Naren’s story also shows his courage and character. After reaching Vietnam he was imprisoned under suspicion of being Khmer Rouge and later conscripted to fight against them in a Vietnamese unit. He later deserted after being forced to shoot a Vietnamese officer from his unit in order to protect a Khmer girl from being assulted.
After that he worked in a stone quarry and moved around before meeting his wife and settling in Poipet, where he worked for Cambodian Women’s Crisis Centre before joining CfC.
He leaves behind a wife and two children. His wife is a chronic diabetic and having lost a leg is unable to work in most jobs. He was dedicated to looking after her, spending nearly all of his salary on her treatment each month.
His was a life largely defined by the protection and support of women.
In the Buddhist tradition he has been cremated in Vietnam and his family will return with his ashes for a 7th day ceremony in Poipet on Sunday which we will be attending.
The saddest part of his passing is that he leaves his wife behind with the debts from his illness. Heng let me know that he was very happy to receive the $750 that we raised for him while he was sick and I’m sure that he passed knowing we would do everything we could to support his wife.
If you would like to make a contribution please do so here: http://pledgie.com/campaigns/15133
David Bacon.
