🇫🇷 FR
Healing Waters
A Ceremony of Healing
for Survivors of the Khmer Genocide
IN-Presence & Online | FALL – WINTER 2026
From 1970 through the early 1990s, Cambodia endured one of the greatest human tragedies of the twentieth century. During the years of war, genocide, and the difficult aftermath that followed, an estimated 2 million people or more lost their lives to execution, starvation, disease, and forced labour.
Those who bore witness to these years carried – and many still carry – profound trauma, and wounds of loss and exile, that continue to echo across generations.
A sacred ceremony
to bring peace to the hearts weary from the past
and bless the souls, the waters, the lands.
to bring peace to the hearts weary from the past
and bless the souls, the waters, the lands.
Dedicated to survivors
– both local and in exile –
these moments of shared presence also invite their descendants
and anyone who wishes to join in spirit.
– both local and in exile –
these moments of shared presence also invite their descendants
and anyone who wishes to join in spirit.
Date: December 2026 – January 2027 (to be confirmed)
Places: Siem Reap · Battambang · Phnom Penh (to be confirmed)
Time: 10:00 Phnom Penh · 05:00 Paris · 23:00 New York
Duration of Ceremony: ∼ 2 hours
Free and paid options available
Receive project updates, registration announcements, and opportunities to participate.
WHY IT MATTERS
For survivors, and those who come after
Pr Ka Sunbaunat, Psychiatrist, Director of National Mental Health Program in Cambodia, 2019.
Dr Chhim Sotheara, Psychiatrist, Director of the Transcultural Psychosocial Organization in Cambodia, 2022.
Transgenerational wounds
The tragic events have left deep wounds, with lasting consequences including economic hardship and social vulnerability.
And, trauma does not always end with those who lived it. A growing body of research – including studies of survivors of other genocides and their children – suggests that severe trauma can leave biological traces passed down to the next generations, alongside the more visible inheritance of anxiety and violence. History lives within us.
This shows up today. Mental health professionals report a huge need for psychosocial support among the rural population in Cambodia, including within the younger generations.
In the diaspora and at home, many young ones are searching for a history their parents or grandparents could never put into words. Beyond the unspoken grief too painful to revisit, is also the ingrained see nothing, hear nothing, say nothing code of survival under the Khmer Rouge regime.
Our intention is that what is released in these gatherings transforms what is carried forward across families, distances, and generations.
A gift before leaving
For survivors now in their elder years, this may be the first – and for some, the last – opportunity to pass on the memories that young people need, and be held in a dedicated space of recognition, love, and peace.
Despite the admirable and tireless dedication of mental health professionals, traditional healers and spiritual leaders across the country, many survivors, particularly in rural and disadvantaged communities, never received the care and witnessing they needed.
These gatherings are our gift of presence to them: a space to honour lives that were broken, and to honour the lives that continued despite it all.
For those who have little material wealth to pass on, their path of healing from the burdens of the past can become an extraordinary inheritance – their own gift of resilience and freedom offered to their children, grandchildren, and generations to come.
– we are now working in the framework of bio-psycho-socio-spiritual.”
Dr Cornelio Banaag, Psychiatrist, Former President of the ASEAN Federation for Psychiatry and Mental Health, Philippines, 2022.
You can choose to be connected with us in spirit and prayer,
or register to access the recordings and sharing circles.
The Ceremony
Being Alive
What it holds
Rediscovering a sense of ease and presence. Creating deeper bonds that can strengthen the community.
What it means
Giving oneself permission to come back to a body that has known suffering, as a permission to be alive and to start healing. Softly soothing and opening the hearts. Connecting with universal healing resources.
Blessings
Offering prayers and blessings to pure water in vials and pouring the informed water into the river – all done by each attendant.
Our intention is to inform the waters of the river through dilution and prayers, so they can carry forth blessings, purification, and healing into the lands, the plants, the people.
What it holds
Directly empowering survivors to perform a symbolic act for their lost ones and their people, as informed water flows into the lands – permeating both alike killing fields and farmlands.
What it means
Overcoming the sense of “broken courage” (baksbat) and helplessness at not having been able to protect loved ones. A way of honouring, when no resting place is known. Soothing survivor’s guilt by reclaiming the power of caring for others, and transforming it into their luminous legacy.
Renewal
A symbolic release and renewal in the informed waters.
What it holds
Washing away the burdens and resentment that may now be released. Opening to as sense of inner peace and renewal.
What it means
Symbolically severing the ties that bind the persecutors’ power over their lives still. Allowing oneself to be freed, and to stand in the power he/she has reclaimed.
Considered places
- The Phnom Kulen Sacred River, also called The River of a Thousand Lingas, that flows from the mountain into the plains.
- The Angkor Western Mebon Baray, a reservoir within the sacred temples complex, intended to irrigate the entire rice-growing region.
- The Kamping Puoy Reservoir of Battambang, also known as The Killing Dam, where some ten thousands people lost their lives – most embedded on site – in forced labour for one of the Khmers Rouges’ grandest irrigation projects.
- The Tonlé Sap River, which naturally flows into the Mekong river down to the sea during the dry season, and reverses its flow when the Mekong swells during the rainy season, expanding the Tonlé Sap Lake and nourishing its floodplains and fisheries.
Our ceremonies are only a part of a broader journey, preceded by continued training of local caregivers and young people, and followed by visits and gatherings within local communities.
The number of ceremonies, the attendance (∼20 survivors and ∼5 younger people for each), the dates and locations will be later confirmed, depending on the funds raised.
Who this gathering is for
- Open to all who seek a space for personal healing, mourning, or stand in compassionate support of collective healing.
What this gathering is – and is not
This is:
-
Sacred, not by doctrine but through the intention, awareness, and care that each person brings to it
-
Secular and inclusive, open to people of all beliefs
-
Open to spiritual elements, on your own terms, that may be woven in to support relief
This is not:
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Not a religious ceremony
-
Not a substitute for professional care. If you’re in therapy or psychiatric care, please continue it alongside this gathering, not instead of it; in a crisis, contact local emergency services or a crisis line.
Ways to participate
Whether you choose to make a contribution, join one of our offerings, or simply be with us in your heart, every gesture of support is deeply valued.
Every ceremony and online access are offered free of charge to the survivors and communities we support. Your financial contribution helps make this possible and carry the offering forward.
This initiative is facilitated on a voluntary basis in support of Lightrise Childcare, our non-profit dedicated to the recovery of disadvantaged rural communities after mass traumas. The association is responsible for receiving and managing the funds for this project.
Follow the Journey (Free)
Stay informed with selected public resources and updates.
Hold these ceremonies in your heart with love or through a shared intention.
Make a Donation
100% of your donation goes to Lightrise Childcare to fund this initiative and future ceremonies.
Purchase Online Access
Witness the ceremony live from wherever you are and receive lifetime access to the replay.
While no online experience can fully replace being present in person, it may offer a meaningful opportunity to feel connected with us in a shared journey of personal and collective healing.
Contribution: 33 EUR
100% of the proceeds goes to Lightrise Childcare to fund this initiative and future ceremonies.
Circle for Personal and Collective Healing
For those who wish to begin or engage further in their own healing journey.
The Circle for Personal and Collective Healing offers a safe and supportive space for survivors and their families to bear witness, and appease the regrets and goodbyes that could never be said.
3 hours live online · In French, English, and Khmer with translation · Group arranged in your timezone.
Launch participation: 55 EUR until 9/9/2026 (99 EUR after)
Reduced contributions available upon request.
The Circle for Personal and Collective Healing is presented as a separate professional service.
10% of the benefits are donated to Lightrise Childcare.
Read more about Lightrise Childcare’s initiatives →
In their own words
Osman Khawaja
CEO Phare, Siem Reap & CEO Phare Ponleu Selpak, Battambang
It helped me release a burden I had carried deep within me for so long.
Samrith
Child survivor, Battambang
Tito
Survivor in early childhood, United States & Tokyo
Releasing the sorrow that’s deep inside, letting our loved ones know we are sorry (…).
We learned to let it go, learned to move, learned to heal inside.
Chamroeun
2nd-generation descendant, Siem Reap
It was truly transformative, bringing peace and empowerment to everyone.
Rattanakoudom
2nd-generation descendant, Battambang
Rynath
2nd-generation descendant, Siem Reap
Now I know about the healing power of nature, and how to give and care for people.
Phonavy
3rd-generation teenage descendant, Siem Reap
Now younger kids and even adults come to me, and often tell me their problems, and I am able to help them find calm within.
Livyee
3rd-generation teenage descendant, Battambang
THE SACRED WORK OF GRIEF
Medecine for the Soul
Whether through tears, sacred springs, or ceremonial blessings across cultures and religions, water has always accompanied humanity’s life and sacred moments.
Some researchers have proposed that water may powerfully hold information in ways still being explored. Somehow it could be imprinted with frequencies – of an intention, a form or a sound … and what are prayer and blessing if not these?
Beyond scientific questions, water holds a universal symbolism associated with blessing, purification and renewal.
Healing Waters is, at the very least, a symbolic ceremony intended to support the journey of healing hearts and souls. May it offer a moment of deep peace for ourselves, for one another.
We will be bringing a vial of purified water, informed by a blend of more than 500 Waters coming from sources known as sacred and healing all over the Earth.
This ceremony was personally received in meditations to assist the liberation of trapped souls at the killing fields, the purification of lands cursed with blood, and the reclamation of lands as sanctuaries.
I welcome you from my heart in this sacred space of remembrance, love, and the restoration of our inner power and freedom.
France, July 2026.
Kuan Yin with her jar of healing water
Boddhisattva of Compassion
also known as The Goddess of a Thousand Waters.
Each of us has the choice to become the one
who begins healing within our own lineage.
Each of us holds a unique key
to the healing of our peoples, and of humanity.
who begins healing within our own lineage.
Each of us holds a unique key
to the healing of our peoples, and of humanity.
Mass trauma calls for mass healing.
Together, we can weave a new legacy
– one heart, one lineage, one generation at a time.
It is high time.
Join us as we rise as a wave of healing.
THE VISION & THE STEPS
Fundraising & Launch
Call for donations and registrations for remote participation.
Preparation
Liaising with rural communities and local NGOs, managing administrative authorizations and logistics. Dates, places, and modalities to be confirmed.
Pilot Ceremonies
2-4 pilot ceremonies for 2-3 groups, live streaming, Circle gatherings for remote participants.
Expand at a larger scale
Deploying our ceremonies in more times, more waters and more peoples in need on the Earth, calling forth a global movement of healing.
Stay Updated
We are currently setting up our first pilot ceremonies and building the registration process.
Please stay tuned by joining our channels for updates.
🇬🇧 English space on Telegram
https://t.me/InspiredLife_withJulieSvay
🇫🇷 Espace en français sur WhatsApp
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbDMm51EgGfS3ZIKIw0j
These ceremonies are offered free of charge to survivors of local rural communities.
We gratefully receive your support.
Guided by Julie Svay.
All rights reserved @ Julie Svay 2026.