Wirral Grammar School

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Cross Lane, Bebington,
Wirral. CH63 3AQ
Tel: 0151 6440908

School News & Features

Killing Fields to Forgiveness

Posted on: 04.11.2011

This term the Sixth Form of Wirral Grammar Boys were treated to a truly enriching experience of hearing a Cambodian national, Sokreaksa S. Himm, speak of his truly remarkable journey from witnessing the slaughter of his family at the hands of the Khmer Rouge (the communist party in control of Cambodia at the time), to finding Christianity, and travelling back to Cambodia to forgive those who murdered his family.

Sokreaksa opened his talk with a joke to relax the boys before moving onto the somewhat darker subject matter. Sokreaksa lived in Siemreap City in Cambodia which had fallen to the Khmer Rouge in 1975. He was just a boy of nine when he was forced to work in the fields to prevent persecution from the oppressive Khmer Rouge regime. The Khmer Rouge held an iron fist on the country with anyone who was previously educated or spoke against the regime killed, he knew even at the age of nine that when the soldiers ‘took people to study’ they were being executed. He painted a vivid picture of the day that the soldiers took his family, including himself, to be executed.

Sokreaksa was struck across the head and he fell into a mass grave site only to have his Father and Brother fall dead onto him. Even after escaping the mass grave, he witnessed the brutal murders of his Mother and Sister. He swore from this day on he would avenge his family in order to regain their honour as is the traditions of his culture.

Sokreaksa managed to travel to eventual safety in Canada where he found Christianity and this changed his entire outlook upon the events that occurred in Cambodia. He came to the realisation that only forgiveness, not revenge, would allow him to let go of the pain he held from the deaths of his family. This belief gave him the strength to travel back to Cambodia and forgive the individual Khmer Rouge soldiers who had murdered his family. The most vivid recollection for me personally was the fact that when one of the soldiers apologised profoundly and stated he was made to carry out the acts, Sokreaksa broke down into tears as these were the words he had been waiting to hear for so long to let go of his pain.

I’m sure many of the boys in the sixth form were, as I was, unsure of what to expect coming into the talk. However, I am positive that not one of the boys left unmoved by his words. The truly awful events he experienced at such a young age places events in our lives into context and leaves a large amount of room for thought. I was truly grateful for being able to hear Sokreaksa’s story as it allows me to view events from an alternate perspective and think if he could do something as painful as forgive his family’s killers, then surely I can do this, whatever this may be. Sokreaksa’s story is told in his book ‘Tears of My Soul’, and the school wishes him all the best for the future.

Aaron Smith : Upper Sixth