Part two of a five part series
Sophal was 11 years old when, in 1990, her family bought a plot of land in Dey Krahorm, built a house and moved in. In the years that followed, the village and Phnom Penh changed dramatically around her. The Paris Agreements, aimed at ending decades of internal conflict, were signed in 1991 and soon afterwards the city saw an influx of foreigners working for the UN and a myriad of development organizations. The city centre experienced rapid urbanization, as Cambodians sought to be a part of the new era of economic development.
Sophal grew up feeling optimistic about life and had dreams of becoming a professional seamstress. When she was old enough she began to run a small business as a manicurist and tailor from her home, which meant that people living around the village often dropped by. She married a young man from the village, Sokha.
By the mid-2000's, Dey Krahorm was under threat. The Municipality of Phnom Penh, in conjunction with companies, was systematically razing old housing communities around the Tonle Bassac area to make way for luxurious buildings. The families who had settled or bought land in Dey Krahorm and the surrounding villages were sitting on some of the most valuable real estate in Phnom Penh. As land prices rose exponentially, businesspeople and government officials set their sights on these "untoward" villages.
No formal land titles had been issued to the approximately 800 households in Dey Krahorm, although many had been recognized through documentation issued by local authorities over the years. Sophal and her husband eventually learned that a company called 7NG had been granted title to their house in December 2006. In 2005, 7NG had already begun its overtures to community leaders in Dey Krahorm to swap the land for houses build on cheap property at Damnak Trayoung, on the outskirts of the city. Residents were pressured to either move to a flat in Damnak Trayoung or agree to an alternative offer of US $8,000 in compensation.
Though hundreds of the 800 original families dismantled their houses and left, Sophal's family did not agree. She knew that she would have lost all the employment connected to her house, and that there would be no income. For those families like Sophal's that made the decision to reject the offer, the company threats turned into violence.
"Sometimes the company came at night," recalls Sophal. "They came at night to pull down the houses...they handcuffed people, and broke their heads...people wearing military boots kicked people. I saw this directly."
