By Tang Chhin Sothy
The mysterious woman sits for hours at a time, silently staring at the floor or at the villagers thronging to see her, fear occasionally flashing across her unsmiling face.She emerged from the thick jungles of northeastern Cambodia more than a week ago, her past an enigma. The family caring for her say she is their daughter, who disappeared 19 years ago, but there are growing doubts over her identity.Yet the family are adamant she is Rochom P'ngieng, whom they say vanished as a child while guarding water buffalo."I dare anyone to wager $10 000 if they think she is not my daughter," said Sal Lou, a policeman in isolated Oyadao village.
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He said he recognised his child immediately by an old scar when she was brought from the jungle, naked and dirty, 10 days ago.The woman had been caught nearby as she tried to steal food from a farmer. She was hunched over like a monkey, scavenging the ground for pieces of dried rice in the forests of Ratanakkiri province, some 600km northeast of the capital Phnom Penh.The woman has tried three times to escape back into the jungle since being taken to Oyadao, tearing at the dirty white blouse and patterned skirt in which her would-be parents have dressed her."Over the weekend she acted crazy - she was scared of the crowds and the journalists trying to take pictures of her," said Rochom Ly, 27-year-old Rochom P'ngieng's younger brother.Sal Lou said he wanted the woman to be taken to Phnom Penh for medical treatment and asked for the necessary funds.But rights advocates say the woman has obviously suffered some sort of trauma, and possibly sexual abuse, and should not be taken away from those claiming to be her family.A psychologist was to travel to the village today to examine the woman."After that (the father) will decide what to do," said Kek Galabru of the Cambodian rights group Licadho. "We were advised not to take her away from her family because it would cause new stress."We believe she is the victim of some kind of violence," she added.Pen Bunna of the rights group Adhoc, who visited the woman on Saturday, said she may have experienced a traumatic event around the time she went missing."She may have faced a hard incident that caused her to wander from the house," he said, adding that Adhoc would help pay for medical treatment.Since the weekend, though, the woman appears to have become more settled under the glare of curious villagers and journalists, who have made her an international story.Scores of people have come to watch her, milling around Sal Lou's ramshackle house, staring silently at the woman as she sleeps, squats against the wall or is spoon-fed by Sal Lou's wife, Rochom Soy.Many have begun to question Sal Lou's story. How, they ask, could a woman from the jungle have such smooth hands or soft feet? If she had been truly wild, why are her fingernails neatly trimmed and her hair not a matted tangle, they say.Mysterious scars around her wrist appear to be the result of being bound for long periods of time, further adding to the questions many have over the woman's past."I am doubtful that she went missing 19 years ago. I came here to see what she looked like, and she looks normal like us," said Dub Thol, who travelled from a neighbouring district to see the woman.The woman has offered up no clues as to how she spent the past nearly two decades - uttering unintelligible grunts or gurgles and communicating only her most basic needs with simple gestures.Sal Lou said that despite her not speaking, she has begun to understand his hill tribe language of Phnong."When we talk to her she understands, but she cannot reply to us. This is because she has forgotten the language, she has not spoken it for a long time," he said."She follows what we tell her to do. When we tell her to sit, she sits. When we tell her to sleep, she sleeps and when we tell her to stand up, she stands up."So, sooner or later, she will know how to speak. From day to day, she has begun to understand."The jungles of Ratanakkiri - some of the most isolated and wild in Cambodia - are known to have held hidden groups of hill tribes in the recent past.In November 2004, 34 people from four hill tribe families emerged from the dense forest where they had fled in 1979 after the fall of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime, which they supported.They had lived in the jungle in total isolation for a quarter of a century, limiting speech for fear of detection and moving at any sight of an unfamiliar footprint or a freshly-cut tree. - Sapa-AFP
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He said he recognised his child immediately by an old scar when she was brought from the jungle, naked and dirty, 10 days ago.The woman had been caught nearby as she tried to steal food from a farmer. She was hunched over like a monkey, scavenging the ground for pieces of dried rice in the forests of Ratanakkiri province, some 600km northeast of the capital Phnom Penh.The woman has tried three times to escape back into the jungle since being taken to Oyadao, tearing at the dirty white blouse and patterned skirt in which her would-be parents have dressed her."Over the weekend she acted crazy - she was scared of the crowds and the journalists trying to take pictures of her," said Rochom Ly, 27-year-old Rochom P'ngieng's younger brother.Sal Lou said he wanted the woman to be taken to Phnom Penh for medical treatment and asked for the necessary funds.But rights advocates say the woman has obviously suffered some sort of trauma, and possibly sexual abuse, and should not be taken away from those claiming to be her family.A psychologist was to travel to the village today to examine the woman."After that (the father) will decide what to do," said Kek Galabru of the Cambodian rights group Licadho. "We were advised not to take her away from her family because it would cause new stress."We believe she is the victim of some kind of violence," she added.Pen Bunna of the rights group Adhoc, who visited the woman on Saturday, said she may have experienced a traumatic event around the time she went missing."She may have faced a hard incident that caused her to wander from the house," he said, adding that Adhoc would help pay for medical treatment.Since the weekend, though, the woman appears to have become more settled under the glare of curious villagers and journalists, who have made her an international story.Scores of people have come to watch her, milling around Sal Lou's ramshackle house, staring silently at the woman as she sleeps, squats against the wall or is spoon-fed by Sal Lou's wife, Rochom Soy.Many have begun to question Sal Lou's story. How, they ask, could a woman from the jungle have such smooth hands or soft feet? If she had been truly wild, why are her fingernails neatly trimmed and her hair not a matted tangle, they say.Mysterious scars around her wrist appear to be the result of being bound for long periods of time, further adding to the questions many have over the woman's past."I am doubtful that she went missing 19 years ago. I came here to see what she looked like, and she looks normal like us," said Dub Thol, who travelled from a neighbouring district to see the woman.The woman has offered up no clues as to how she spent the past nearly two decades - uttering unintelligible grunts or gurgles and communicating only her most basic needs with simple gestures.Sal Lou said that despite her not speaking, she has begun to understand his hill tribe language of Phnong."When we talk to her she understands, but she cannot reply to us. This is because she has forgotten the language, she has not spoken it for a long time," he said."She follows what we tell her to do. When we tell her to sit, she sits. When we tell her to sleep, she sleeps and when we tell her to stand up, she stands up."So, sooner or later, she will know how to speak. From day to day, she has begun to understand."The jungles of Ratanakkiri - some of the most isolated and wild in Cambodia - are known to have held hidden groups of hill tribes in the recent past.In November 2004, 34 people from four hill tribe families emerged from the dense forest where they had fled in 1979 after the fall of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime, which they supported.They had lived in the jungle in total isolation for a quarter of a century, limiting speech for fear of detection and moving at any sight of an unfamiliar footprint or a freshly-cut tree. - Sapa-AFP
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