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For almost 50 years, I have carried questions about who am I and where I came from, who my biological family was, and what my life in Cambodia might have looked like.

When I began exploring my Cambodian roots with my adoptive mum Dame Prue Leith, I never imagined where that journey would lead.

And then there was Mrs. HONG Soth.

With no existing records or archive to rely on or information other than we both were at Ta Khmau hosptial at the same time - she having lost a daughter and I a mother - DNA testing provided the evidence I needed to know if my search of so many years had reached its end and answered the question: could this be my biological mother?

But as I have learned through my own search, reconnection is never just about finding an answer. It is about the people, memories, stories, and emotions that come with it.

Mrs. Hong Soth and her warm, helpful and welcoming family became an important part of my story — and her story became one of the reasons I felt so strongly that other Cambodian families should have the opportunity to search for the people they have lost.

Reconnecting Cambodia grew from a deeply personal family search.

So today, I remember Mrs. Hong Soth with love and gratitude. I vow to continue the search for the daughter she lost, Sun Ly, who may be in France in her early 50s.

I think of the lives that might have been different if families had been able to find each other sooner and of all the families still carrying unanswered questions today.

Her story will always be part of mine.

And in a way, it is now part of the stories we are helping other families write.

— Li-Da Kruger, Co-founder of RC Project