AsiaLIFE

Returning to her native Cambodia from her adopted country, Holland, it took two visits to the Kingdom and an inspirational trip to Sri Lanka before Bowinneth Phem discovered her roots. Words by Johan Smits.


“A part of me has constantly felt very Khmer, that's why I've always been drawn to this country,” says Phnom Penh-born Bowinneth Phem, or “Bo” for short. “I wanted to discover my roots and it has been a long journey.” Bo was part of the first Cambodian family in Holland. When they came to live there in late 1975, she was less than two years old. A year before, her father, who had been studying in Belgium on a scholarship, was offered the opportunity to continue with his studies. He came back to Cambodia to fetch his daughter. That was at the end of 1974 and the situation in Cambodia had already turned very turbulent.

The young Bo and her parents continued to live in Belgium for one year. Then the family moved across the border where her father carried on with his studies and was offered a position as a lecturer at the university where he is still working today. “Both my sister and brother were born there,” explains the now thirty-five-year-old Bo. In Holland, she studied Health Science, specialising in Mental Health Science and Clinical Psychology. “Before moving to Cambodia, I worked as a psychologist in different settings – a psychiatric hospital for adults with psychosis, personality disorders and depression, a child mental care institute and a private psychological practice for children,” she says.

The Return

The nascent psychologist first returned to her country of birth in 1998 to carry out research for her Masters degree at the Transcultural Psychosocial Organisation. “It was a very special period for me as it was the first time I came back to my roots,” she explains. “I remember how I struggled at the beginning as I had such very intense and deep experiences but at the same time I had to collect data for my research.” Those four emotional months of research proved insufficient for Bo to process the deep personal experience she went through. When she returned to Holland she felt very homesick for Cambodia. Bo wanted to go back. “I've always felt a strong connection with the local people here and have some very precious friends,” she says. “I was determined to return for a longer period.”

Years later, in 2003, she was finally offered a job to work as a psychologist at the ‘Centre for Child Mental Health’ in Takhmau. She ended up working for two-and-a-half years at the centre.  “From my experience the traumatic history of Cambodia is an undeniable underlying factor among all generations in Cambodia,” she says. “This is affecting the psychological and emotional well-being of each individual, to some extent in one way or the other.” This observation extends to her parents and even herself though they were fortunate enough not to live through the Khmer Rouge regime. According to Bo, the experience of losing close relatives and of being severed from their roots has affected them all.

Mystery Paintings, Chance Encounters and a Special Monk

A few years later, in 2005, a fateful turn of events let to an unexpected change in her life. That year Bo travelled to Sri Lanka to visit the Butterfly Peace Garden, an after-school programme for children with opportunities for trauma healing through art. There she befriended the project’s founder, the artist Paul Hogan, who introduced Bo to a method of healing through ritualistic painting called “mystery painting”. Paul also told her about a special monk, who was believed to live somewhere in Cambodia. Both the work of the Butterfly Peace Garden and Paul’s captivating stories of the Khmer monk touched something inside Bo. When she returned to the Kingdom she decided to try and locate the famous monk.

She never found him. But her personal journey led her to the Sweet Mango Pagoda in Sre Khnong village. She felt an immediate resonance for the name of the pagoda. The head-monk welcomed children from neighbouring villages to come on a regular basis for creative activities. Inspired by Paul Hogan’s work in Sri Lanka, Bo founded the Mango Tree Garden in August 2005. “I never intended to do that,” she says. But the series of events made her decide otherwise. Although registered as an NGO, Bo’s project is very small and grassroots.

The Garden Path

“The objective is to offer a place of healing to all children, especially those who have been affected psychologically and emotionally or are at risk of developing mental health problems,” Bo explains. Through creative play, a healing process is set in motion that helps the children to grow and develop into resilient and mentally healthy adults. To achieve this objective, Bo’s Mango Tree Garden is adopting the principles she learnt from Paul Hogan in Sri Lanka – the ‘Garden Path’.

“The Garden Path uses earthwork, heartwork, and artwork,” she explains. “These elements together lead to healing and stimulate learning through play, which has a positive, contagious impact on all children and adults, and eventually the community.” Apart from working with the local community, the Mango Tree Garden  also offers creative programmes for children from other local organisations, orphanages and schools based in and beyond Phnom Penh. Besides working for Mango Tree, Bo works as a psychologist for a local NGO – Children and Development.

Together with her Dutch husband Erik, Bo has now been living in Cambodia for six years. They have two young sons. “Sometimes I’m torn between two different worlds and cultures, but I am learning to live with this tension which kind of feels like a dance,” Bo says. “I have discovered that my roots are in me.” But the personal journey does not seem to be finished. “We plan to go back to Holland by the end of this year and settle down there for a few years,” she confides. “Then we will see. Maybe we will come back to Cambodia again – who knows ...”

For more information about Mango Tree Garden, visit: www.mangotreegarden.org

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