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Khao I Dang was opened on 21st November 1979 by UNHCR at very short notice, based on predictions of a rush of 300,000 refugees crossing the border. In fact, only 28,000 arrived in the first week. In the second and third weeks, 16,500 and 29,800 respectively entered the Holding Centre, then for the following 3 weeks the influx stabilized at 4,000 per week. The camp population steadily rose until 24th January 1980 when Thai authorities ordered it closed to further entry. The population then stood at 111,000. Despite the prohibition, by July 1980 there were 136,000 in KID. These photographs were taken from May to August of that year when the population was at its peak. In August, 70,000 refugees were moved to Sakaeo II, Mairut and a new centre at Kap Choeng. Many of those who came to KID were ‘New People’, the urban populations who had suffered most discrimination under the Khmer Rouge, in stark contrast to those at Sakaeo, who were largely ‘Old People’ from the countryside. One of the first things they did was change their clothes from KR black to colourful Thai sarongs. This helped to set the mood of the camp to one of cautious optimism. Many of them hoped for a chance to move to a third country rather than to be repatriated to Cambodia.

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Both at the border and in the refugee camps, I was always looking out for a familiar face, someone I had known before the Khmer Rouge. They were more likely to spot me, but either way it didn’t happen often. I got word that my ex-girlfriend from Phnom Penh, Sok Savy (aka Sydeth) had arrived in Khao I Dang, so I went looking for her. When I found her, I didn’t recognize her. I was standing right in front of her, looking over her head. She had changed so much. It was not just the ageing, she had also become quite chubby. Before, she had always been slim, despite her very healthy appetite. Given the circumstances, I would not have been surprised to see a skeletal figure, but a plump Sydeth was unexpected. How had this come about?

When the Vietnamese arrived in January 1979, Sydeth went to Phnom Penh. She managed to get herself a job in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a secretary and translator. She spoke English and French equally badly, but there were no examinations. There was no currency, and they were paid in rice. She got lots of rice. And so she ate and ate and ate. After a while she decided that life under the new government and the Vietnamese might not be much better than the KR. One of her jobs was typing out permits for various purposes. So one morning she typed out a permit for herself and about thirty others to travel to Battambang. It took a long time because she had to type all the names. At eleven she left the office and by afternoon she was on a Vietnamese truck heading north towards the border. Eventually, after many adventures, she arrived in Khao I Dang.

Sydeth contacted her sister, who was a teacher in Paris, and after some time in KID she, her mother and daughter and ‘adopted’ son were able to go to France.