The intertwining of Tradition and Responsibility
The sun beamed through the window, creating colorful shadows on the living room walls. The once large room told two stories, a colorful busy production room with a lingering smell of powdery laundry detergent as various pieces of cotton, silk and satin were scattered across the floor and behind the shelving the remains of mattresses and used bed linen neatly folded in the corner. Pictures were pasted across the walls, the intertwining of two worlds, inspiration, motivation and reasoning.
The gentle hum of the sewing machine consumes the room, yet she is the one who stands out, the invisible mastermind behind the project. She tucks her hazelnut hair gently behind her ears aligning everything precisely under the needle. Her fingers tense, eyes piercing the fabric as she finishes the final touches, cutting the loose ends of the thread. She finally turns her head towards the picture on the table her eyes smiling despite the camo barriers, “They are my family,” she said.
The brands name is Khamo reflecting the conflicted but balanced life between Cambodia and early adulthood. Combining the traditional language of Khmer and Camo the trendy fashion clothing that disguises you and makes you blend in with others, it embodies the nature of who and what she has accomplished. Her name is Kyra, one of many hidden givers, who gives to others despite facing struggles of her own. She does not complain or question, but considers herself lucky to be blessed with opportunities many never get.
Kyra is a 21-year-old Bio Med student from a small town in the northwestern suburbs of Victoria. For someone who has just entered adulthood she has taken on a responsibility not many would face. Along with her family, she is the creator of The Khamo Project, a Non- Government organisation looking to implement a free health care clinic in a Cambodian village, a place she calls her second home.
It all began back in 2017, when a family with very little money of their own, decided to save up and bring over a struggling Cambodian family to Australia, who they met in 2016 when travelling. “They were living off rice and the bare minimum of resources, the youngest children were malnourished and their health was depleting, so we had to help them,” she says. They came from a small village two and half hours from Phnom Penh.
Like most villages it centred around village, temple, field. Consumed by a smoke haze it was a community battling between opulence and poverty. From first glance it had this element of beauty, their homes clustered among the rice fields, the Mekong River running through the land, but the facade thins once you look deeper. It begins with the heavy tropical smell of sweet humidity, burning fuel and rotting rubbish filling your nose, as waste devours the side of the roads. The river is pitch black, dying from the pollution, which consumes it, yet that is where they find fish for food.
They were the long lost heartland amongst the minefields, content within the secluded bubble. Simple and carefree, they run around barefoot, feeling the soil between their toes as they run through the rice fields to the river. They’re laughter echoes in the wind as they begin to fish in the river. They take turns in holding the rod, similar to the angry scratching of their scalps. Their decaying black and brown teeth didn't deter their smiles, finding joy over the simplistic things, a life free from the control of technology.
“Most of them seem happy they don't know any different they don't have mobile phones or … they don't see how privileged we are here in Australia there’s no roads just dirt and they are not used to Caucasian people's presence treated like a celebrity.”
She called her Moi (the Khmer word for mum or your number one) but her name was Lin. She had four children but the two youngest children Gah and Mackara (6 and 4 at the time) took the journey to Australia. It was only meant to be for three months where they entered a World so far removed from what they had known.
During their stay education became the focus, understanding the importance of hygiene, nutrition basic healthcare as well as learning English. “In those types of third world countries once you know English it's a way to get a better job because over there good paying jobs centre around tourism. We thought if we do this we could potentially do something really good and beneficial for this family,” she said.
But between 2017 and 2018 Cambodia went through political turmoil as the corrupt Government under Prime Minister Hun Sen and his party, Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), intensified its onslaught on the political opposition, civil society groups and independent media. Forcing their main opposition ‘The Cambodian National Rescue Party’ (CNRP) to dissolve and their leader into exile, the CPP effectively created a one party estate taking control over the entire political and judiciary stream.
Cambodia’s politicised and corrupted judiciary system targeted individuals for peacefully criticising the Government, including online. During 2018, large numbers of opposition party members and activists fled the country to avoid arbitrary arrest. The timing of Lin and her children coming to Australia coincided with this unrest in Cambodia and it could appear suspicious in the eyes of the Cambodian Government. The reality of returning to Cambodia after three months faded away and the pressure amounted on Kyra to not only keep this family, but also the survival of her own.
“Sometimes it feels like people don’t care, like our parents don't care but because of this my siblings and I are really strong we help each other through everything I take my sister to her dentist appointment … I think we do pretty good without parents.”
"But Lin became and felt like a second mum to me, she cooked for me or she'd explain things to me and help me when I was sick and stuff like that. We had an incomplete family and with them we felt complete."
Lin then applied to be a refugee and after a month the Australian Government accepted. But because she was living with an Australian family she wasn't allowed to get a job, therefore Kyra became the sole provider for her family.But she had unexpected support from the community to help her along the way.
Unable to work, the days dragged for Lin she wasn’t used to this type of life. Pulling down an old sewing machine tucked up in the back of the cupboard, this would be the beginning of everything.
After 18 months of living in Australia, it was finally safe for the family to go home and that is when the true work of the Khamo Project took place.
Lin and her children return to Cambodia reading, writing and speaking fluent English, the beginning of a better future in a third world country where knowing English can get you a job in tourism, the way the economy of the country functions.
Kyra continued the Khamo clothing business balancing work, full time Uni and taking care of her family. After buying materials all the proceeds go towards the project setting things up on a broader spectrum for the village rather then the family.
"I want people to know even though i'm a stressed normal teenager who has her own problems with health and trying to get through year twelve and trying to get through uni I have done it all, I have done so much who would of though I could do and anyone could do it. If your going through something serious always remember there is always a third world country who is going through something worse."
"I have so many hopes for Khamo, I want it to grow and I want more people to know about it. My goal is next time i go over there to teach all the women how to sew and possibly provide them with things to sew, so I can pay them to make clothes for Khamo clothing and help them earn a decent income. But I need to set up so many things to do this and it all depends on how the business does."
(Photo Credit: Kyra Porteous)