“My Parents Are Women” | Heinrich Böll Stiftung

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Kamsort Khoeun, a poet, visited children and families living around the Stung Meanchey dump site in Phnom Penh. Interacting with the community gave him a better understanding of the challenges faced by families who relied on picking waste from the dump site.

Phina So, who is a popular artist, is photographed reading the anthology of poems she helped edit.

But it also raised questions about other Cambodian families — families that are not considered traditional. Families that don’t have one mother and one father; or set masculine and feminine roles. Who was talking about families where the power structures at home are reversed or cases where these roles do not exist?

Khoeun knew there was a diversity of experiences in Cambodian households and wanted to showcase them beyond the regular narratives of family life. These questions moved the poet to write a Khmer-language poem called “My Parents are Women” that was later included in the Cambodian Women Poetry project, an anthology of works from 38 people, including women and members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

“The poems touch on the experiences faced by women, such as the pressure to get married, their human rights, the marginalization of voices, LGBTQIA+ issues, and ideas of self-love, education, injustice and issues like breastfeeding in public,” says So Phina, an artist, poet and the editor of the anthology.

ពុកម៉ែខ្ញុំស្រី

My parents are women booklet — A photograph of the “My Parents Are Women” poem in the book.

(បទពាក្យប្រាំពីរ)

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This article is an excerpt from "Profiles of Courage." Click here for the full reading.