The Mother of Three Girls and Many…

April 14th, 2017…the most beautiful and strongest woman spent her whole night, to save lives of seven mothers and babies, while the entire Cambodian people celebrating Khmer New Year with their families and friends.

Of course, it was not the first time this woman sacrificed her time and energy to save other mothers. She is the bravest and the strongest woman I have ever seen in this world. All my life, I have been inspired by her. She is my mother.

I remember I used to be scared of ghosts more than anything. Every night, in a small village, I prayed to God “ Please, don’t let my mother leaves me and my little sister alone at night”. My mother is a midwife and a nurse. Thus, it should not come as a surprise that she often leaves me and my sisters at night to help deliver babies.

In the small, dark, and scary town, Leach Village, there was no electricity at night after 11 pm. The village was underdeveloped and the hospital, where my mother works, was far away from home. In order to get to the hospital, she had to ride her motorbike and then take a boat because that was the only way to get to the hospital.

I am such a light sleeper and I learned to hate whenever I heard a ring tone of my mother’s phone. The ring tone was the sign, telling me that my mother is going to leave me. And I often pondered “ why does it have to be very late at night all the time? I muttered “Come on babies, are you a vampire that scared of the sunlight or what?! You are taking my mother and leave me alone again”. Even if she tried her best to not make a sound when getting up from bed, I could still hear it. It was as if the sound of a needle dropping on the ground when the whole world went silent.

I sometimes cried and stopped her, but she would not stop. She must leave anyway. I used to complain about the fact that she never spent a whole night with me. Why did she love money this much? Why couldn’t she stay with me like other mothers? Did she know that the fear within me could drive me crazy? I hate that I have to worry about her safety on the road because it was very unsafe. What if someone stopped in front of her motorbike and robbed her? What if the boat leaked, she would have drowned in the water because it was in the rainy season?

She said, don’t you think that I wanted a full night sleep like others? Don’t you think that I am afraid? What kind of a mother does not love her kids? As much as I love you, I need to save others and help them successfully deliver kids. As much as I love you, I also want to share the love with those mothers. Seeing them struggling with fear on the verge of painful labor, I rather sacrificed my time and energy to help them. I know how painful and dangerous it is to deliver babies, as a mother of three, they could also have lost their lives. So…please let me save them, their lives are in my hands.

Since my village, was underdevelops, my mother had to ride her motorbike for approximately 13 kilos meter from my home. One night, a woman did not make her way to the hospital because her house was too far, and the horse’s truck moved too slow. My mother had to deliver her baby under a big tree in the middle of nowhere. She only had one flashlight to see. She did not have anyone to hold the flashlight for her, so she placed it inside her mouth as her hands getting ready to do what they always do: delivering babies. I saw the whole thing with my eyes! I was not allowed to help because I was young. My mom was alone. Men are also not allowed to be near her because it is culturally inappropriate for a man to be around the baby-delivering process. No matter what it took, my mother only had one thing in mind: to save the baby and the mother.

My mother once butted head with my father. When someone invited her to deliver a baby later at night, my father wanted to see how committed she was to helping others. So, my dad made an attempt to stop her from going out that night. Of course, he would give her a ride if she begged him. Without a word, my mother left the house. She put my father’s clothes on, those big men’s clothes, and dressed up like a man. She put a fully covered helmet on. She kept a knife in her bag for safety purposes and without hesitation jumped on the motorbike. She made her way to the patience. For those who are reading, please take a minute and put yourself in her shoes, would you choose to go by yourself???

Trust me, it was not a very good decision, but she did it! She said she was frightened to death, but she wanted to prove to my father that she is the emblem of a strong and independent woman. Even more important, there were two lives waiting for her. My mother is needed to save them as the babies await to see the outside world for the first moment. The husbands are also waiting to celebrate the introduction of new babies to the family. In their family — I have no word to complain or comment.

Talking about money, I do not think that my mother made a lot of money from those patients. Instead, she gave her own money to those patients who were extremely poor. She even shared half of her lunch with them. To my consternation, I guess, she even gave away my old clothes which sometimes ended up as diapers for those babies.

Once I wanted to impress my cousins, my aunt brought me delicious candies from the U.S., I saved those to share. Who knows, as I returned home after school with total excitement to share the candies, all was gone and I was mad. She said I appreciated that you love your cousins, and it was so kind of you to share, but you need to know that your cousins have their parents to buy for them. But there are so many kids are, at the community sites, hungry and need our compassion.

Thus, she received so much respect from her community. Even my father used to complain that no one loves him. Whenever my mother returns home from the community hospital, she usually brought sugar candies, watermelons, mangoes, chickens, pineapple…etc that were given to my mother as a gift. It is not about receiving, but I can see the true love and gratitude that the community has toward my mom. They always stand on one side of the road, waiting for my mother to pass by so that they can give her fruits, snacks, and other drinks. These are the symbol of Respect.

My mother is one of the mothers in the world, who inspired their children all the time. She is my hero, my best friend, my role model….still she is my mother, the mother of many.