Cambodia Blog - HOPE

Meet Yeay—“grandma” in the local Khmer language spoken in this remote village about 40 km from Pursat Province, Cambodia. As the matriarch of her family, she has witnessed the evolution of her people and the lives of the family she has birthed and protected through a long, difficult life. She has endured famine, poverty, genocide, and decades of struggle. Every one of her 82 years is etched into her face and her eyes. If you were to ask her, she would tell you her body feels as tired and worn as she looks. This is what life in the rural backcountry of Cambodia, with no resources or opportunities, leaves behind.

And yet, on this hot and humid Saturday afternoon, she smiles with joy as we, barong (white) visitors, tour her village and stop by her home to check in on her and her family. Once the alpha, she now steps back, watching as her children and grandchildren prepare rice paddies and desserts to sell at the market—their primary source of income.

Despite the circumstances that have shaped her life, her eyes seem to sparkle today. Optometrists might say it is the result of sun damage, untreated cataracts, and a host of other ocular disruptions. But to me, as I pull her aside for her first (and likely only) portrait photograph, I can’t help but see a bluish-grey, accentuated by the glimmer of sun—and maybe by hope. A hope that the next generation, and the ones to come, will know a better life than the one she has had to persevere through.

kzb