Meng Srean is an alumni of local partner Women Peace Maker‘s MCC supported interethnic peacebuilding project, “An Encounter with the Other Side”. In June 2023, she had dinner with MCC US Board of Directors during a Learning Tour to Cambodia and shared about her personal peacebuilding journey.

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Recorded by Sabrina Gilmore, SALT participant.

When MENG Srean was 11 or 12 years old, she heard an inspirational quote from a YouTube video. She thought the quote was very powerful and wanted to learn more about the person who could give such powerful words. Without knowing how to spell her name, Srean started trying to research Malala Yousafzai. Malala is now a very well-known Nobel Peace Prize laureate and education activist who empowers many in the world, and maybe for Srean, Malala serves as the beginning to the story of an inspired youth, passionate about education and peace.

Now 18 years old, Srean decided to apply for and join Women Peace Maker’s project “An Encounter with the Other Side.” Within the first few weeks of this program, they studied topics she had heard of, like ‘racism’ ‘gender’, ‘conflict’ and ‘violence’ but on a deeper level than she had considered before. At first, she thought that conflict and violence were basically the same word, now she knows there are differences between violence and conflict. From this very first study trip they went on in Kampot province after learning about how to solve the conflict she said: “I am going to use this with my brother, because this would be a great start right? Before trying solving the conflict outside or maybe in the society, it is always starting with the family or the sibling first.”

She also began to recognize the internal racism she felt toward others and some of the racism others experienced towards her. She feels like as Khmer Chinese Cambodian, she has not encountered much racism personally. She notes that some people believe that the Khmer Chinese is a growing and wealthy population in Cambodia, so people judge her to be from a wealthy family and assume she can speak Chinese. But more importantly, she also realized the internal bias she held against the Vietnamese people.

She heard that they were different from the Khmer people and were “not good.” This bias was challenged from the very start of the program as she got to know the participants who were half Khmer and half Vietnamese, Srean realized the unfair bias that she held towards the Vietnamese people and realized that “We are all the same. We are just human.” In addition, the activities gave Srean the chance to make friends with Islamic girls in her group. She learned a lot from them.

However, the most powerful life-changing experience occurred when the AEOS participants took part in the homestay activity, which included a visit to the floating Vietnamese communities. When they first arrived at the riverside, she saw a floating house on the river. “I thought ‘oh that house was very small’ and then sister Kimchhy said ‘it is actually biggest.’” This comment made by WPM staff sister Kimchhy was quickly proved to be true. Srean felt so shocked to see the size and state of the housing that the Vietnamese communities were living in. She learned about how difficult and unfair their situation is. They live on a boat, they sleep there, the government chasing them; they have been hiding. Srean thought about how lucky she is to live freely, have the ability to leave Cambodia when she wants, and not need to worry about harassment by the police. She now feels empathy for the Vietnamese people, whom she formerly had a bias against, and hopes that in the future there is a solution for these people.

Even though the program has finished, Srean has continued to use it’s lessons in her life. The most significant lesson for her was learning to solve conflict. She has started to use the strategies taught by this project with her siblings, which to her is very important as she recognizes that when she faced conflicts with her siblings, they did not really listen to each other, and instead, they would say things that they want to say, without considering how it will make others feel. Now Srean says “I try not to shout back or try not to get back very fast. Instead, I go for listening first and then talking and communicate in a good way other than shouting or saying things very loudly.”

She hopes that things here in Cambodia get better for those suffering from judgement and different treatment she notes “I think starting from my generation or the next generation things are going to be different.” The last thing she wants to share with everyone is that although Cham, Vietnamese, and Cambodian people have their own beliefs, which can be very different from each other; “everybody have their own belief and all of those beliefs are all different so it would be great to treat everybody fairly and not based on the belief they have because we are all human and sometimes, we believe in different things.”