Women Clean Temples as Labor of Love
- By Isa Rohany
- March 7, 2024 10:50 AM
SIEM REAP – Cleaning temples and clearing plants from stone might look normal but such activities are crucial to maintain the beauty of Khmer temples and prevent them from collapsing.
Three older women, proud of their work, are helping to protect the Khmer legacy by working at the temples and cutting small plants out of gaps in the stones.
Lam Sim, 67, says she has enough energy for the work and for other tasks. She is working at a pond excavation site at Bayon temple. Moving from clearing plants to digging land and cleaning plants from temples helps her improve her knowledge.
She has been working at the temples since 1993. She knows a lot of temples in the Angkor area and as far as Beng Mealea temples. Her husband is used to temple restoration as well.
Speaking in a Siem Reap accent while smiling, she showed her love for the temples. She said while working, she is careful to show respect by avoiding any damage to the temples.
After working for years at various temples, Sim wants to work closely with them.
Another worker, Kong Soth, 57, has been doing the work for 20 years. Currently living in Angkor Thom district’s Leang Dai commune, she said her father was a temple restorer during the French colonial period.
Nowadays, she and her coworkers, most of whom are women, are assigned to work at the pond site at Bayon temple. She said she was paid 4,500 riel per day when she started working and now gets 23,000 riel per day.
Soth rides a bike from her village to her workplace, which takes about 30 minutes. As a widow, she relies on work for a living.
Like Sim, Soth said this career gives her the opportunity to see many temples and contribute to the preservation of the ancient Khmer heritage.
“I’ve been working for 20 years, and I see many temples, including small and big temples. If I don’t work, I don’t see them either. I am happy and I never want to quit, even when I fall sick,” she said.
Puoy Yeuk, also from Leang Dai commune which is not so far from Bayon temple, has worked as plants remover since 2003. Yeak is satisfied with her work even though she doesn’t get paid much. She said she doesn’t need to go to the forest like other villagers.
“I am happy when I see temples clean and there are many tourists who come to see temples when they are clean,” she said.
“If I don’t clean temples well I’m not happy to see them either.”
Originally written in Khmer for ThmeyThmey, this article was translated by Nhor Sokhoeurn for Cambodianess.
