Providing Aid to the Cambodian People

Not shortly after we got back that we were on the road again. The Gulf War was in the 90’s and in 1992 Cambodia came up. And the Khmer Rouge still had hold of part of the country still when we all arrived. There were 27 nations over there and what we were to do was to make the country safe so that they could have an election. And so what we were to do was to deliver food and aid and stuff like that around to all the different countries plus deliver the electoral kits to every village there was in Cambodia. And, of course, the Khmer Rouge didn’t want us there and they hassled us quite a bit. We were only allowed to drive during daylight hours. We were told any time after midnight. We were right on the equator there in Cambodia so at 6 o’clock in the morning it’s light, 6 o’clock at night, it’s dark. So if you weren’t back in off the road after 6 o’clock at night you would have to find a place to sleep somewhere. We were pretty much on our own quite a bit for eating and staying for accommodations. We sought out our own. When we were on the road sometimes we were on the road for a few days. It took many days to go through the rice paddies to get to the villages that were, you know, out in remote areas. When we first arrived in Phnom Penh there was nobody. Imagine being in a city like Toronto and there’s nobody. It’s so freaky like there’s nobody riding around, there’s nobody on the streets, there’s nobody. Everybody was afraid. They were all hiding and gone. By the time we had left in I think it was April ’93, they started coming out of the woodwork everywhere and coming back into the city and making, you know, things go, businesses go again and building up their homes again, assuming bombed out apartment buildings and squatting and they were just living wherever they could basically. And the Cambodian people are wonderful people. They stole my heart many times.

Ms. Fuchs provides detail to the roles and responsibilities in providing assistance to the civilians delivering food and aid.

Bettina Fuchs

Ms. Bettina Fuchs was born February 24, 1963 in Nanaimo, British Columbia. With the desire to obtain a stable career, Ms. Fuchs made the choice to join the military and accept a trade as MSE (Mobile Support Equipment) Operations where she held an occupation as a driver. With her 25 years of military service, Ms. Fuchs accepted deployments to the Gulf War region, Cambodia and Bosnia. During these deployments, Ms. Fuchs continued to carry out her responsibilities and always went the extra mile to provide aid and kindness to the local population. After a deployment to Bosnia, Ms. Fuchs was recognized for her humanitarian actions and received a Commendation award for her success. Being medically discharged from the military and now retired, Ms. Fuchs finds herself representing Team Canada for the Invictus Games, participating in the sport of archery. She presently resides in Peachland, British Columbia.