Ageing with memories of genocide

27 Jul 2012, 11:50 am   -   Source: Jeanette Francis, SBS
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Sarim, 61, is a survivor of the Cambodian genocide, which saw millions slaughtered by the Khmer Rouge.

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Sarim Chan’s house is overflowing with memories, some joyous, some unimaginably painful.

The space is small and scattered with doilies and chiffon. She often potters about in her small, bare kitchen preparing tea for herself.

Sarim, 61, is a survivor of the Cambodian genocide, which saw millions slaughtered by the Khmer Rouge.

“My children are dead and I feel so alone. I can’t forget it because it weighs on me,” she says, flicking through the handful of photographs she has left of her children.

Sarim came to Australia in 2006 with her husband. She left the relationship last year after her husband became abusive. She was placed in community housing with one other woman, who doesn’t speak Khmer.

Often, says Sarim, they just sit in silence.

For five hours each week, Sarim leaves her home to take part in a Khmer aged-care community group, the only one in New South Wales.

It’s the only interaction she has with her community, because she has no family in Australia.

“They take us sightseeing and give us food when I am sick. They tell me which hospital to go to because I wouldn’t know otherwise.”

Sarim’s memories of her time in Cambodia under Pol Pot are raw. Almost four decades later, far from healing all wounds, time has opened them up again.

“The Pol Pot era was very, very sad. Every time I talk about it I want to cry. I feel so bad that my children died and that I was forced to leave them,” she says.

She recalls her suffering vividly and with emotion.

“We never had enough to eat. I tried secretly cooking something for my children and they saw me. They took me away and cut my head with a machete. There was blood everywhere.”

Sarim says because she lives alone she has more time to think about the past, even though it’s painful.

“I have mental health issues. I am on medication and I’ve been to the mental health clinic several times. The doctor talks to me about pleasant things to keep my spirits up. He asks me what the matter is and always tries to cheer me up.”

Experts say that older survivors of such trauma are more vulnerable to poor mental health than the general population because they are undergoing the dual process of ageing and dealing with the past.

Karen Teshuva, from the Lincoln Centre for Health and Ageing at La Trobe University, says when people age they tend to have more time on their hands and that often means more time for reflection on the past.

“Life has changed and there seems to be that space now for memories that they've managed to suppress and sort of the life review process to happen and  once that’s starts happen a lot of perhaps painful memories can reoccur and that can trigger off all sorts of mental health processes," she says.

“When a person gets older they need to confront a lot of the normal transitions of ageing, such as such as declining physical ability, possibly widowhood, retirement, changing role and the issue with ageing survivors is that they're undergoing those changes in their lives, those life transitions at the same time as confronting past trauma.

Jorge Aroche, CEO of the NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors says there is insufficent research into the issue.

“What we see is really just the top of the iceberg - there is probably a lot more people that are suffering in silence and are experiencing this resurgence of traumatic symptoms but not really been identified as such,” Mr Aroche says.

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