Jungle girl goes into training

Photo by: Douglas Long
Jungle girl sits in a hammock

via CAAI

Thursday, 09 September 2010 20:14 Mom Kunthear and Vong Sokheng

CAMBODIA’s “jungle girl” is receiving life skills training from an NGO in her native Ratanakkiri province as she works to reintegrate into society, her purported father said yesterday.

Local residents say Rochom P’nhieng, believed to be 30 years old, spent 18 years living in the wilds of Ratanakkiri after going missing in 1989 while herding buffalo. After being discovered in the jungle in January of 2007, she was taken in by the family of Sal Lou, from O’Yadav district, who claimed her as his long-lost daughter.

While Rochom P’nhieng was said to have made progress in the years following her return to civilisation, helping out around the house and learning a few words of Khmer and Phnong, a local language, she fled her home briefly in May in an attempt to return to the jungle. She was later discovered stranded in a 10-metre dugout toilet, and Sal Lou said her efforts at reintegration had been largely stunted since then.

“I hope that she can be reintegrated in our community and learn the language,” Sal Lou said. “I have no time to teach her, so I am happy she is working with an NGO”...

read the full story in tomorrow’s Phnom Penh Post or see the updated story online from 3PM UTC/GMT +7 hours.