Helping reunite Cambodian families through DNA testing.
ផ្តល់នូវសេចក្តីសង្ឃឹម និងការជួបជុំក្រុមគ្រួសារឡេីងវិញតាមរយៈការធ្វេីតេស្ត DNA ដ៏មានប្រសិទ្ធិភាព ដេីម្បីជួយជំរុញដល់ការគាំទ្រដំណេីរការរស់រានឡេីងវិញពីសោកនាដកម្មដែលបានបន្សល់ទុកពីអតីតកាលរបស់ប្រទេសកម្ពុជា។ According to my sketchy exit papers, I was born Ly Da MEN. 2025 will be the 50th anniversary of the Khmer Rouge coming to power - the genocidal
regime under Pol Pot that left nearly 2 million of its people (¼ of the population) dead and forced Cambodia back to the stone age. About a million refugees were resettled abroad during three decades of civil war - families like mine were torn apart and relatives simply went missing, with no surviving records to help reconnect or trace them. Today, the social impact on mental health, and poverty (with their associated issues), remains a challenge on a national scale. As an extension of my own search and inspired by a promise to help a 82 year old mother find her missing daughter of the same age, the RC Project was conceived to give new hope to countless people like me across three generations to be reunited with lost family members. The aim is not only to test every family that lost someone, but in doing so, restitch the social fabric of a country that the Khmer Rouge purposefully destroyed. INTERNATIONAL AND CAMBODIAN OPERATIONS - We started out in 2020 as the NGO DNACambodia (www.dnacambodia.com), after I joined forces with Meta Meulenbelt (adoptive mum) and Kari Lemons (adoptive mum and creator of Khmer Cousins Project). We helped set up our sister local charity Khmer Family Charity Organization (www.kfco-dna.org) to undertake Cambodian operations. In 2024 Reconnecting Cambodia UK was set up for the three organisations to operate under the 'Reconnecting Cambodia project'. SUCCESS: among our close matches, we've reunited two siblings and an aunt and nephew both across continents. ACTIVITIES MOVING FORWARD - To date, we are a small team of 3 internationally-based volunteers, with a salaried part-time Cambodian Director. We want to turbocharge development and expansion of the RC Project's core activities, founded on five pillars: Science, Test, Educate, Assist and Restore (STEAR). Please follow this link if you are interested in donating - https://www.reconnectingcambodia.org/donate
CONTACT - [email protected] / [email protected]
