Chumreap Sour, Is this Sister Van's house, I asked that gentleman.
Yes, it is, he replied and continued asking, who are you looking for?
I am looking for Sister Van, I replied. The gentleman accompanied my brother and me into the house where there were several people. I did not know anybody, and nor did any of them know me. They all looked at us with doubt of who we were and why we were there looking for Sister Van. Both of us paid respect to everyone, and we said to them that we would like to meet Sister Van. Sister Van who was also there replied, "I am Sister Van, who are you and why are you looking for me?" We both quickly introduced ourselves... I knew very well that no one would know us if we did not tell them who our parents were. The sudden I told them my parents' names, they were all surprised, especially, Sister Van. She said "I thought you all have gone to the third country, either the US or France. No one thought that you all were in the border camp!" Sister Van's mother and my father were cousins. And those many people who we met at the house that day were all her daughters and sons in-law. We chatted for a little while, and then one of Sister Van's daughters took me to see my aunties (my father's cousin). There, my brother and I had to introduce ourselves, especially our parents until she recognized us.
Sister Van helped to locate a house for us to stay nearby her. We had never rented a house before. One thing that I felt so funny was that the landlady agreed to rent her small apartment to us, but asked that her son stay there too as he need a space for his study at night. We thought that it was strange that the landlady had such a request, however, we had no choice but agreed with that request.
Well, as we were at the stage of starting our new jobs with UNTAC (United Nations Transitional Authority), we did not spend time at the rented house so much, we only came back home to sleep at night, but my mother had to be there as she did not have to go to work. While we were at work, Sister Van came from time to time to visit my mother to make sure that she was fine, and to give my mother company. That was very kind of her!
I can hardly put in words how much I feel grateful to Sister Van for her care and kindness to us. Even though we already stayed in the rented house, she felt that it was not a good idea to let us rent the house where the landlady's son also stayed in there. Within a week, she went to invite us to stay with her daughter whose house was nearby hers. Her daughter's name is Phavy. With profound appreciation, we accepted her invitation and moved into Phavy's house. Sister Van told my landlady that she decided to take us to Phavy's house because from time to time my international colleagues would come to look for me, but it was difficult to let them come to find me at the rented house because the road condition was bad -- muddy and bumpy.
We stayed at Phavy's house for 13 months before we were able to buy a plot of land in the suburb and built a small wooden house of our own.
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