This round exploration I am in the”indigenous exploration and this exploration we are learning about the indigenous people in Cambodia. There are so many indigenous groups in Cambodia, but most of them are not really known well so we want to promote their groups, their culture, and who they are. We are focusing on two groups which are Kui and Stieng. We’ve been going on trips to learn about them and our main goals are to make promote them so we came up with ideas that we should make books about them and also Videos to share to other people who interesting and want to know about them.
For Kui, we went Preah Vihear to learn about them. In Preah Vihear a province that is not so far away from Phnom Penh which is Cambodia capital city, however, Kui is not only lived in Preah Vihear, but they also lived in some other parts in Cambodia, but we only went to Rovieng District, Preah Vihear. When I first heard of Kui In my head I saw the picture of people in the town wearing their traditional clothes and live in the traditional houses etc, but When we arrived there everything is so different from what I thought it is. The town seems to be just like Khmer town, I wouldn’t know it is Kui town if I didn’t hear people there speak another language which I don’t even understand. People there wearing the same cloth as we did, normal clothes, normal houses, and everything seems like nothing different between Kui and Khmer, but as we met and got to interview them we started to know more about them how they lived and more. First, the land they lived in is a shared land which mean all the people in the town is part of the land, they are all the owner of the land. They shared the land together as one, however, they divided and put the fence around their own houses because of protecting the plants and things from the animals, but the land is still everyone land. Kui is amazing everyone knows how to speak two languages including kids and old people. They speak Kui at home and with their family, but they go to school to learn Khmer at school which is a really amazing thing. Not to mention their foods which is the most amazing food I ever had if you ever go there don’t forget to try out their foods. The traditional dances, instruments they used are also what make them who they are. Not only they still have all of those things, but they still have their traditional ceremonies, habits, language and more. The more that you get to know them the more you feel close that is when you know that Kui is really friendly. We as students really want the world to know what they got and who are they, so after we gather all the information we make it into books about Kui called”Kui indigenous community Cambodia” After that, we went back to Preah Vihear to verify the information again before. Kui is one of my favorite indigenous group in Cambodia and I believe that if you get to know them as I did you will also like them as I did.
Kui people( Credit: Cindy Liu)
The second indigenous group that we have learned about is Stieng. Stieng is a group that mostly lived in Kroches(Kratie) and Mondulkiri, but we only went to Kroches province.
Stieng is one of the indigenous group that I never heard before. I am really interested in this indigenous group since I first heard their name. When we went to Snuol district, Kroches(Kratie), we finally got to know them, but there are so different from what we thought. When we step off our bus there is nothing different between Khmer and Stieng, everything also the language people there speak Khmer just like we did, their houses, clothes there are so hard to find out they are not Khmer. When we interviewed they said that only the old people who can speak Stieng while others don’t even understand especially their new generation, but some of them do understand, and some even can speak, but they are shy to speak. They also said that most of Stieng wants to be Khmer and some even said they are Khmer now. They went to school the same as Khmer and also learn Khmer. After we collected information about Stieng we created Videos about them by themes such as Education, Food, Economy, etc. This is also the reasons why we want to promote as who they are because some of them doesn’t like themselves as who they are. Times to times changes always happen to protect, and keep what they have is the best. I am as a person have knows these indigenous people I feel like I am really lucky, and I want other people to know about them too. By these trips I am learning something new, something different, and also precious memory that I will keep it with me forever and I will always remember them.
Stieng people( Credit: Cindy Liu)