“I Just Want My Dad to See My Painting After the War”: Child’s Plea From Cambodia’s Bombed Border

SIEM REAP, Cambodia (Dec. 26, 2025) — “My only wish is for my father to come and see my painting after the war. He told me he wants to see it. When the war ends, I will take him to see my picture.”

The trembling voice belongs to an 11-year-old Cambodian girl standing before her artwork in a public park in Siem Reap — a small painting that has become a powerful cry for peace as fighting along the Cambodia-Thailand border continues to devastate civilian communities.

Her father, a Cambodian soldier, has been deployed to the front lines since July. Like thousands of families, their lives have been torn apart by shelling and airstrikes.

“I miss my father so much,” she said through tears. “He wants to see my painting, but he cannot come because he is serving at the front.”

In a viral video filmed at the exhibition, onlookers are seen wiping away tears as the child speaks. Her mother, standing beside her, openly weeps.

She also described running in fear when explosions echoed near her school. “When I heard the explosions, I didn’t dare run without my mother,” she said. “I was so scared.”

Dozens of Cambodian painters gathered in Siem Reap to create a massive collaborative mural titled “Art for Peace,” transforming grief into a public call to end the violence.

The five-meter-high, 30-meter-long mural was unveiled near the symbolic Preah Ang Chek–Preah Ang Chorm shrine. Dark, fractured imagery portrays civilians caught in conflict — and among them is the young girl’s painting, now part of a national plea for peace.

Cambodia’s Ministry of National Defence said Thai F-16 fighter jets dropped up to 40 bombs on civilian areas in Chok Chey village, Banteay Meanchey province, destroying homes and public infrastructure.

The Interior Ministry reported that at least 30 civilians have been killed, 90 injured and more than 644,000 displaced, including 337,067 women and 205,382 children. Many homes, schools, health centers, pagodas, bridges, markets and ancient temples have been damaged or destroyed.