From Kits to Courage beyond Aid – A Call for Peace and Dignity

What began as a logistical task felt more like a family outing! It was on Sunday, December 14th. Together, we packed 2,000 dignity kits—each one a lifeline for families forced from their homes due to the current Cambodia-Thailand border conflict. Alongside them, 20 tons of rice were procured, and orders placed for mobile toilets, plastic sheets, water containers and water filtration systems. Oxfam staff and their families arrived in comfortable clothes, snacks in hand, and shared determination to make the packing line move faster. There was laughter, there was joy, but above all, there was purpose: preparing relief for those who need it most at the Internally Displaced People’s (IDP) Safe Centers.

“Eagle, Eagle, we’ve caught up with the carrier truck, Over!” 

I called out over the walkie-talkie. It was amusing, almost surreal—using long-distance radios in 2025, when mobile signals supposedly reach every corner of the country. This was no ordinary field visit. We were delivering humanitarian response to IDP, and we were prepared for connectivity challenge in the most remoted areas under the armed border conflict redzone. 

Behind the humor lay sobering realities. More than 120,000 families, over 400,000 people including 208,000 women and 96,000 children, have been displaced. Across seven provinces, 233 Safe Centers have sprung up in pagodas, schools, and even dried rice fields. In Banteay Meanchey, where we started the first batch of Oxfam humanitarian relief, 102 centers shelter 43,437 families, nearly 150,000 people. This relief was made possible through the generous support of the government of Ireland and Oxfam. We were hopeful that dignity kits, water filters, and plastic sheets would ease their burden. Yet no briefing could prepare us for the stories we would hear: tales of fear, loss, and the fragile hope.

The impacts of border clashes turned military violence are devastating. Drones monitor the skies from 8 PM onward in the Centers we visited. Acrid smells of toxic sprays and smoke linger in the air. Shelling and distant explosions paint the horizon with fire and smoke visible from the distance. Rice and cassava harvests rot in abandoned fields, while families leave behind animals, crops, and livelihoods. 

And yet, when we arrived at one Safe Center, we were greeted not with despair, but with smiles—women, men, children, even their pets. Blue plastic sheets stretched over tractors, hammocks tied to trees, and makeshift shelters on bare dirt fields. The Center Management Committee welcomed us warmly, though exhaustion was etched into their faces. For nine days, they had carried the weight of growing numbers of families moving into the center, struggling to provide shelter, water, sanitation, food, and safety. 

We ask people to have their dinner early and turn off all lights after 7 PM. One committee member explained. “Only small lights and torches under the shade are allowed. We cannot risk being seen from the sky.” As our trucks unloaded supplies, we were urged to leave before nightfall. Fifteen minutes after our departure, the drone arrived, we were informed. The security risk isn’t just for the IDP, security risk is heightened for those delivering humanitarian assistance in the armed conflict. 

For Samnang, Oxfam driver, security measure has been added to his primary task. “On the first day, I helped unload the kits. On the second day, I was assigned to watch the sky, for moving blinking objects and smoke,” he said. It may sound funny but it speaks volumes about how serious the situation had become for our team delivering the humanitarian assistance.

We returned the next day for distribution. The heat pressed down as families lined up in long rows. Materials were arranged with identification numbers, each matched to a family’s card to ensure fairness. Over the loudspeaker, instructions guided representatives on how to wait for their turn, while prioritizing people with disabilities, the elderly, pregnant women, and mothers with small children. 

Faces lit up with smiles as packages and rice bags were handed over. Yet behind those smiles was a quiet truth: this is not the routine they want to carry forward. Relief is welcome, but what they long for is stability, dignity, and the chance to rebuild their lives. If the conflict continues, the consequences will be immense. Children will be robbed of education, their futures slipping away. Families will be pushed deeper into poverty, livelihoods destroyed. Communities will be scarred by trauma and fear. This is not just about numbers. It is about lives interrupted, dreams deferred, and futures at risk. 

Besides the logistical, conversation between Socheata, Oxfam’s Mekong Water Governance Program Manager, and girls in the Center emerged heart-breaking reality, the voices of children from displaced families, uprooted by a war they did not choose. "I miss my school ... and my puppies. My parents left in a rush and we couldn’t bring the puppies along," said LiMa; while Tey said "We came here on Dec 8th. I want to go back to my home," The conflict has disrupted their ordinary lives, leaving them in IDP camps instead of classrooms. As 2025 draws to a close, these children deserve to be in the care of their families, attending school, and growing into responsible citizens, not living in fear. Children must never bear the cost of war.

The smiles we saw at distribution were real, but they were born of survival, not of choice. Families do not want to line up for rations under the heat of the sun; they want to line up for school, for work, for markets, for life. That is why our call must be louder, stronger, and unwavering: end the conflict, build peace, and give these families back the future they deserve.