O’Smach: Shattered glass, torched motorcycles and a burned bust of Buddha awaited 63-year-old Soth Sim as he returned to his home in Phrong village near the Cambodia-Thailand border where fighting raged just a few days ago.
As thousands of displaced people in both Cambodia and Thailand begin to venture home, some are discovering the personal cost of the nearly week-long clash which has resulted in the deaths of at least 41 people and displaced more than 260,000 others.
Soth Sim decided to return to his home in Cambodia’s Oddar Meanchey province, which is 15 km from the border with Thailand’s Surin province, as a ceasefire between the two Southeast Asian nations seemed to take hold. “How I feel is beyond sad. I don’t know how else to say it,” said Soth Sim. “But I have something to ask the United Nations, as well as any other leaders and organisations that have power: please help
end the fight.”