Stories

Woman with Disability in CMAC – Ms. Kuon Sophal Story

Kuon Sopha was born on December 8, 1986, and grew up in a poor farming family in Sraecheng Village, Sraecheng Commune, Chumkiri District, Kampot Porvince. Tragically, her mother passed away, leaving her 74-year-old father, elderly grandmother, and her other seven siblings for Kuon Sophal to take care of. Facing severe hardship, her family relocated to O Anluok Village, Tasen Commune, Kamrieng District, Battambang Province in 2004. After the completion of 9th Grade in 2006, she decided to find work and support her family. In 2006, CMAC announced the recruitment of Community Based Demining (CBD) teams. The concept of CBD stemmed from the idea that communities could address the landmine issue themselves. To foster ownership and support in target villages, team members were selected from (1) mine victims in poor families, (2) wideows or widowers from poor families, and (3) members of landless households. Kuon Sophal applied and successfully passed the exams. Since then, she has been a CMAC CBD member working in Tasen Commune, Kamrieng District of Battambang Province. Shortly after securing her job, Kuon Sophal married in 2007 and gave birth to a baby girl in 2008. As demining operations relocated from one place to another, she was transferred from DU (Demining Unit) 2 to DU1 and DU4, which made her married life troublesome. Subsequently, she got divorced and became a widow with one daughter. Despite facing such difficult circumstances, Kuon Sophal remained highly committed to her demining job and made significant efforts for CMAC. With her excellent performance in demining, she received two certificates of commendation in two different years: 2010 and 2013. On March 2, 2016, her platoon #102 was on a mission to Preah Vihear Province to conduct demining operations for the Royal Government Demining Project in Kanout Commune, Choamksan District. While driving on the road toward the target location, her CMAC truck was involved in a severe traffic accident at Preah Prolay Commune, resulting in the loss of her left arm, while other colleagues in the same truck sustained serious injuries. After the accident, she was changed her role as a deminer. Moreover, CMAC has continued to employ her as an administrative assistant at CMAC Phnom Penh Headquarter, where she has been.