'My daughter, I'm still alive': Displaced by war, a Cambodian family reunites after 43 years

[geovalin]

PHNOM PENH: In a village clearing in the remote northwest of Cambodia, a daughter and a mother perform an ancient ritual beneath a cluster of trees. The daughter, 59-year-old Boon Auan, prostrates herself in front of her mother who sits on a chair. Her mother Kul Art, now 77, is presented with a symbolic offering of incense and money.

 

There are tears. A sister joins them. Then a brother. Within minutes there are a handful of relatives, young and old, all pouring water over the elderly woman. The ceremony is called Srong Peah. It is a cleansing ceremony to wish the elders good health. It is also a ritual of forgiveness.

 

This was the first time Boon Auan had done this for her mother in more than 40 years. Like thousands of others, they were separated during the Cambodian war in the 1970s. It was not until April of this year that they were finally reunited. Both believed the other had long since died.

 

read more http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/my-daughter-i-m-still-alive-displaced-by-war-a-cambodian-family-9415154

[lvr181]

What a wonderful uplifting  moment in the lives of that family.