In May 1980, thousands of Cambodians stood in line day after day in the gruelling heat and dust at the Thai-Cambodian border to receive sacks of rice supplied by UNICEF and the UN World Food Programme. Located at the Nong Chan Refugee Camp, this was the famous Landbridge, a relief operation conceived by Kong Siloah, Cambodian commander of the camp, and Robert Ashe, a veteran British aid worker. At a time when famine threatened the displaced people of Cambodia, the Landbridge was created to provide them with rice and rice seed to take back into their country, and also to deter them from entering Thai territory as refugees. Thus, its purpose was both humanitarian and political.
Fig. 1. Nong Chan. Photograph by Colin Grafton.
Fig. 2. Nong Chan. Photograph by Colin Grafton.
Fig 3. Nong Chan. Photograph by Colin Grafton.
Fig. 4. Too tired to keep carrying the rice they have just received, a Cambodian family rests on the road back into Cambodia. Photograph by Colin Grafton.
Colin Grafton travelled overland to Asia in 1969. He taught English and took photographs in Laos (1970–1972) and Cambodia (1972–1975). He taught Japanese overseas volunteers (JOCV/JICA) in Japan until 1980, then returned to Thailand as a JVC/WFP volunteer in the Cambodian refugee camps. He held his first photo exhibition on Cambodia in the UK in 1981. Back in Japan, he was English language adviser for ACCU (Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO) in Tokyo, and produced several photo exhibitions on Laos and Cambodia. He returned to Cambodia on a visit in 1992, became a frequent visitor, and settled there in 2014. Since then he has worked on exhibitions and projects at Bophana Center, Meta House, Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, and the Institut Français, including “Remembering Cambodian Border Camps—40 Years Later” in collaboration with Y-Dang Troeung. From 2021–2022, he and his wife Keiko Kitamura produced the book Dancers. To see more about his photographs in this issue, visit https://colingrafton.wixsite.com/phnompenh1973/refugee-camps.
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