THIDA'S STORY

THIDA'S STORY

Sept. 30, 2025

Sereithida Soreach....called Thida....is a beautiful, refined, gracious woman who has had an extremely hard life.  I feel privileged to know her.  She joined the church just 2 months ago, after being encouraged to look into it by some friends in America who are members.  

Because Thida can speak English, we were able to hear her story firsthand.  She has been quite sick lately.  (She is the sister whom Jim was able to give a blessing to at the hospital clinic, a very meaningful experience in itself.  See Sept. 24th entry.)  We were able to go with Sister Kaltaler and Sister Gepasin (the missionaries) for a visit after she returned home.  The sisters brought her some food from a member for dinner and cleaned her home while we talked with her. Such a wonderful opportunity!

Thida lived through the Khmer Rouge terror.  Of nine family members, only she and her mother survived.  They had very little food to eat, and her mother would always give up half of her portions to her daughter to help her be stronger.  When Thida was just 17 years old, her mother became weaker and weaker and then died in her arms.  Now she was truly on her own.

Thida loved her mother dearly.  She talked about the many skills she taught her, such as cooking and crocheting and reading.  Her mother was also quite educated and went to a French University.  Her father, also, was very learned, and his career was as a professor of French.

Somehow, Thida survived the next few years.  She married and had two children, a boy and a girl.  However, when her young daughter was only a month old and her son 2 years old, her husband abandoned her, leaving her to care for her children all by herself.  She had no family to turn to for help.  She was not even healthy enough to produce milk for her baby.  She took her children with her and worked in the rice fields, helping her little family to barely survive.

Thida was very observant, and because she could read, she learned much.  Over time, she worked to higher positions, and because she was more educated in languages, she was promoted to management levels.  She continued to rise up, and eventually became a main leader in a non-government organization (ngo) called the Human Development Agency.  They promoted women's rights and health, as well as children's welfare, in all levels of society.  She was asked to help get it going in Japan as well. She was a major spokes-person for the organization and even presented with the United Nations. Twice she was sponsored to travel around the United States with her pleas of awareness.

The children are grown now.  Her daughter is married with two children and lives in Taiwan.  Her son lives with her and is very loyal and loving.  Thida's friends from her village growing up now live in America and have kept in touch with her.  They joined the church and encouraged her to seek it out in Cambodia.  Our prayers are that faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ will bring renewed hope and joy into her life.

I feel so grateful our lives intersected at this moment of time.  We are birthday friends, literally born within 2 weeks of each other.  It is a true blessing to know her.