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From the forests with many questions

A Cambodian village ponders the case of the `Jungle Woman'

— Photo: AP

AT HOME: Rochom P'ngieng with the woman who claims to be her mother, on Saturday.

OYADAO: Small groups of people come and go all day, peering into the ramshackle house where Cambodia's `jungle woman' now lives with the family that is claiming her as their long-lost daughter.

About 30 people gathered in this remote district in the province of Rattanakiri on Saturday morning outside the home of Sal Lou, poking their heads through the front door and peering through windows for a glimpse of the skinny woman the family claims is Rochom P'ngieng, who would now be 27 years old.

Their daughter went missing from the area at the age of eight while herding buffalo in 1988. Mr. Sal Lou, a village policeman, and his family insist the woman who emerged from the jungle — naked, grunting, and walking like a wild animal — is their daughter, identifiable by a scar on her arm.

But to many in this poor area of Cambodia, there is more mystery than miracle to the case. No clues have emerged from the woman herself, who can speak but shows no signs of being able to speak any intelligible language.

Scepticism

While few villagers will hazard a guess about what the woman's true story is, many are sceptical she could survive on her own in the jungle. Nomadic people do live in small isolated groups in this part of Cambodia, avoiding contact with civilisation. The woman could be one of them or have been taken care of by them.

The possibility also exists that she could be a lost, traumatised refugee, since many members of hill tribe minorities facing religious persecution in Vietnam's nearby Central Highlands have fled through this area.

The grown-up feral child spends her days mostly sitting or lying on the floor, sleeping or staring glassy-eyed at the visitors who gawk at her.

As she ate a breakfast of plain rice porridge, the onlookers considered her case. She was discovered after a villager noticed that food disappeared from a lunch box he left at a site near his farm. Concealing himself to catch the thief, he was astonished to see it was a naked young woman. With the help of some friends, they captured her on January 13.

Shortened hair

One talking point has been the length of her hair, apparently already trimmed relatively short when she was caught. "It should have been very long by now. I am very puzzled by her short hair," said Meng Chuon, 50, an onlooker.

There were many questions about how she could have survived in the wild at all, especially for such a long time, he noted. "What did she eat? This area is very cold at night. She was naked all the time. Also, this is malarial country." — AP

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