MEET THE TEAM
We - The Reconnecting Cambodia Project - have been proudly going since 2021, organically growing into a small but highly dedicated team, expertly positioned and united by our love for Cambodia and deep respect for the identity of the Khmer people.
With international offices in the UK as Reconnecting Cambodia and in the Netherlands as DNACambodia, we proudly operate on the ground in Cambodia as the Khmer Family Charity Organization KFCO). United in our mission to bring families back together, we are the Reconnecting Cambodia Project!
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Founder, Reconnecting Cambodia (UK) | Co-founder, DNACambodia (NL) | Patron, Khmer Family Charity Organization (KH)
Li-Da was born in Cambodia but adopted to the UK. A career in TV and independent film was initiated by the need to explore her origins story in her documentaries Belonging (ITV, 2004) and Prue Leith: Journey With My Daughter (Channel 4, 2020). She maintained a connection to Cambodia through the Nginn Karet Foundation for Cambodia and her mentor Ravynn Karet Coxen. Inspired by the harrowing but not unfamiliar story of 77-year-old Mrs. Soth losing her baby daughter, Li-Da co-founded DNACambodia, followed by Reconnecting Cambodia (UK). She also co-founded RELISH - a female-led TV production company.
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Trustee, Reconnecting Cambodia (UK)
Ilana was born in the UK and raised with a relaxed approach to her Jewish faith. While not religious, she understood her family’s history and knew the stories of her grandmother’s cousins lost in the Holocaust. Upon meeting Li-Da and learning about the Cambodian genocide, she felt an immediate connection. She wanted to support Li-Da’s mission to reunite families and educate younger generations on preserving these stories. Only together, we learn, rebuild, and continue our hope to reconnect.
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Trustee, Reconnecting Cambodia (UK)
Jenny Pearson holds dual UK and Cambodian citizenship. She first went to Cambodia as a VSO volunteer in 1995. She then founded a Cambodian NGO and played a leading role in developing the capacity of the not-for-profit sector until she retired and returned to England in 2022. She has qualifications in social work and management and worked in the public sector in England before going to Cambodia. Jenny retains strong links with Cambodia and still visits regularly.
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Trustee, Reconnecting Cambodia (UK)
Christine Su is a Visiting Faculty Member in Southeast Asian History and Asian American Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, United States. An experienced education professional with a strong background in serving diverse populations across two- and four-year colleges and universities at both undergraduate and graduate levels, she is skilled in nonprofit management, women's leadership, fundraising, international relations, and conference and workshop organization and training. The biracial daughter of a Khmer father and a Scottish mother, her research efforts focus on multiracial and transnational identity and Southeast Asian diasporic history and culture. She is the author of Voices of a New Generation: Cambodian Americans in the Creative Arts (2021), and Kroeung: Cambodian Cooking with Chef T (2022).
A dedicated community advocate and activist, she holds degrees from the University of Notre Dame, Bowling Green State University, and the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
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Trustee, Reconnecting Cambodia (UK)
Y Sok is a Cambodian American restaurateur and cultural curator based in Manchester. A survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime who spent her early years in a Thai refugee camp, she grew up in Los Angeles within the vibrant Khmer diaspora. After two decades as an international art dealer at a prestigious New York gallery, Y relocated to the UK in 2014, where she opened one of the country’s first Cambodian restaurants. Today, she operates three acclaimed eateries across Greater Manchester, curates an avant-garde music and art series, and serves as a trustee for Reconnecting Cambodia.
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Director, KFCO (Cambodia)
Po-Thai has worked as a tour guide and archaeologist at the Angkor World Heritage site for over 20 years. Through his film and TV work as a fixer and producer,he met Li-Da Kruger in 2019 while she was searching for her birth parents for a documentary. Despite extensive research, a DNA test proved Li-Da and a mother looking for her daughter weren’t related. Inspired by his experiences, Po-Thai is helping his compatriots by leading Reconnecting Cambodia’s efforts through KFCO in Cambodia to help society heal from the Khmer Rouge regime.
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Volunteer | Phnom Penh Representative (Cambodia)
Chanserey was born in Cambodia and raised in the UK. Feeling out of place and disconnected from her Cambodian roots, she returned to Cambodia with a desire to reconnect with her heritage. Introduced to Li-Da by her uncle, Chanserey passionately joined Reconnecting Cambodia to support its mission of reuniting families and rediscovering history. She deeply believes in the power of healing and forming new connections with lost relatives, especially given the painful past that tore many families apart.
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Co-founder | DNACambodia (NL)
Meta first visited Cambodia in 2002 to adopt her daughter. She tried to gather information about her origins but later found it was likely incorrect. Using 23andMe and Ancestry, they sought relatives and joined the Khmer Cousins Project. In 2016, Meta started a Facebook page to help find her daughter’s birth relatives. Inspired in 2018, she raised funds and traveled to Cambodia in 2019, collecting 15 DNA samples. In 2020, Meta’s dream came true as she, Kari, and Li-Da started an NGO to continue this work.
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As the sister of Meta Meulenbelt, I have witnessed firsthand the profound impact that adoption has on both adoptive parents and adopted children. Through our family’s experiences, I have come to understand the lifelong questions, emotions, and connections that are often part of an adoption journey.
Today, advances in DNA technology make it possible to establish biological relationships with an accuracy that was unimaginable only a few decades ago. This creates new opportunities not only for adopted people seeking their origins, but also for individuals who have been separated from their families due to war, displacement, or other circumstances.
I believe these opportunities can change lives. Helping people reconnect with their families, identities, and histories is deeply meaningful work, and I feel strongly compelled to contribute to this mission. That is why I am proud to support Reconnecting Cambodia and its efforts to reunite families and restore connections that have been lost.
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Kari was introduced to the Khmer people when her college ask if anyone want to volunteer with a new program to assist all the new Cambodian refugees arriving in Santa Clara County, California in 1983. Kari volunteered and was soon using her VW Bus to deliver basic supplies to families new to America. One 10 year old girl, grabbed Kari and asked "teach english?" So for six months she came to this girls home and taught the 5 familiy members english. Over the six months more people came to learn. It was an amazing experience, and they taught Kari a lesson in compassion, hospitality, kindness.
Later in life, Kari wanted to adopt a child and was offered a choice between China and Cambodia. She and her spouse adopted two children from Cambodia. As the children got older and were asking questions it was difficult because they knew that the stories they had been told about each child was probably not true.
Kari knew about DNA testing from having done her family genealogy and using YDNA testing on her uncle. When Family Tree DNA announced in 2011 that they had a new test that could test men and women to find cousins, it was a huge breakthrough and she could see how it could help her kids. In 2012 she started the Khmer Cousins DNA Project at Family Tree DNA and started actively searching for other adoptive families to test. The initial goal was to see if any of the adopted kids were related to each other and they were! Kari's 2 kids were 4th cousins.
It is very exiting to be able to merge the Khmer Cousins DNA Project into the NGO DNACambodia. This will bring expansion of the project and new testing in Cambodia!
