Project Sekong 2012: Meet our team, starting with Chomrong Koy our Team Leader

Report 19

Chomrong Koy, an ethnic Khmer, is a proud Cambodian nationalist.  He’s forty years old and has been working with clearance organizations for nearly half his life.  He got his early training with the Cambodian army but then left the military for better paying work on the civilian side.  He’s logged years of experience with both with humanitarian organizations and commercial clearance companies.

Through his many years of work in post-Khmer Rouge Cambodia, Chomrong became adept at landmine clearance and has worked as both a deminer and a supervisor of deminers.  One claim to fame that few clearance workers will ever equal is that during his employment with the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia he often personally cleared over 500 landmines a day.

Chomrong was born in a small Cambodian village just before the Khmer Rouge came to power. He has few childhood memories of the terror that destroyed millions of lives, but friends and relatives have told him horrific tales.  Many in his village perished, victims of Khmer Rouge instigated atrocities.  While his parents survived, he has tallied the names of 72 other relatives who died during the years of Khmer Rouge madness.

As Team Leader, Chomrong is a demanding taskmaster; he starts work on time, limits breaks and is quick to assign tasks to idle hands.  Someone who makes the same mistake twice is likely to get a good sandpapering.  I know the Lao deminers bristle a bit under his leadership.  He’s brusque in a manner that the Lao expect from a falang, but don’t much appreciate from a fellow Southeast Asian.

But, Chomrong’s not all business.  He laughs easily and loves a racy joke.  His growing command of Lao is enabling him, increasingly, to show the staff his interest in them as individuals.

The team should recognize and appreciate Chomrong’s advocacy for their wellbeing.  Team safety ranks all else, and he won’t tolerate a situation where his staff lacks adequate food, water, or comfortable quarters.  He’s probably the best cook on the team and is generous in sharing whatever meal he’s created.  Over the past weeks I’ve eaten more Khmer food than American or Lao.

Chomrong’s wife lives in Cambodia with their three children aged 13, 10 and 1.  He talks frequently with great pride about his children and their abilities.  His eldest son has, year after year, ranked number one in his class.  Chomrong would like to help the boy achieve his dream of someday being a pilot, but he’s not sure he can provide much help given his current wages.

We’ve all had to listen endlessly to Chomrong’s plans to double his income by establishing a farm that his family can manage in his absence while he is out of country doing UXO removal.  One day the dream is a rice farm, the next day its chickens and eggs.  Clearly, more daydreaming than actual planning.  But…I credit Chomrong for having lofty aspirations and for thinking about his children’s future more than his own.