Sao Sopha, 27, gave birth to her daughter on Dec 11, after she had fled to a relief displacement site. - ST/MAY WONG
BANTEAY MEANCHEY: Sao Sopha was heavily pregnant when she left home with her son and her cab-driver husband in search of safety on Dec 9, a day after military clashes flared up again between Cambodia and Thailand.
“I am worried and scared because bullets were flying over my roof and the roof was shaking,” said Sopha, 27, who is from O’Beichoan commune in north-western Banteay Meanchey province, near the border with Thailand.
She and her family arrived safely at a temporary relief site set up on the grounds of a pagoda in O’Chrov district, about an hour away from her home.
Two days later on Dec 11, she started experiencing labour pain while at the shelter and was taken by an ambulance to the nearest hospital, where she gave birth to her daughter.
“I felt worried before she was born but now I feel a bit better because she has arrived safely,“ said Sopha, who spoke to The Straits Times at the shelter as she held her baby.
Sopha and her family are among the 303,200 civilians displaced by the latest fighting, according to figures from the Cambodia authorities.
A total of 909 public and private schools have been forced to close, affecting more than 216,000 students, said the Cambodian Interior Ministry on Dec 12. - The Straits Times/ANN
