PHNOM PENH: Cambodian Red Cross President, Bun Rany Hun Sen has celebrated her 67th birthday on Wednesday, 15 December. The Royal Family as well as the Royal Government have given birthday wishes to Bun Rany Hun Sen, praising her good efforts and merits for the growth of the nation and its people. Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk has gifted Bun Rany Hun Sen $20,000. The Prime Minister’s wife expresses gratitude and has said that she will use it people in rural areas in the kingdom.

A day ahead of her birthday, the Prime Minister’s wife, Bun Rany Hun Sen has received an overflowing birthday wishes. On Tuesday, King Norodom Sihamoni has sent an early birthday message for her.

He has congratulated the wife of the Prime Minister for her years of noble mission serving the people of Cambodia. King Sihamoni has delivered the message wishing her happiness, congratulations, the best wishes and warmest regards for Bun Rany Hun Sen, who is a great guide and an outstanding person leading the activities of the Cambodian Red Cross with great success.

The King has also stressed Bun Rany Hun Sen has performed her humanitarian work with a high sense of responsibility and has worked hard to fulfill her duties for the nation and the people of Cambodia who have suffered from various disasters throughout the Kingdom of Cambodia. The Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk has greeted her expressing the warmest congratulations to Bun Rany Hun Sen for giving her physical and mental strength and resources to participate in humanitarian activities to build the nation, the motherland and the people of Cambodia making Samdech Kittipritthbandit famous of her works.

The Queen hopes she receive praise and joy both on the national and international stage.

Apart from the heartfelt message, the Queen Mother has gifted Bun Rany Hun Sen a $20,000 and a bouquet of flowers. As a response, the wife of the Prime Minister has expressed her deepest gratitude to the Queen Mother while adding that she will use the noble gift to dig wells for the people in the rural areas of the Kingdom of Cambodia.

Besides the Royal Family, top leaders in different areas of the government have also wished Bun Rany Hun Sen a happy birthday, such as Cambodian Senate president Say Chhum. The Senate President has given the message saying her leadership in doing humanitarian work in Cambodia with all her strength and spirit has helped in playing an important role in the Royal Government of Cambodia.

The President of National Asssembly, Heng Samrin has also delivered his birthday wishes, along with his wife, commending Bun Rany Hun Sen’s active and wise efforts to fulfill her noble mission for the cause of humanitarian work, as one of the most outstanding and virtuous women leaders in the region and on the international stage.

Secretary of State of the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation and Secretary General of the Disability Action Council, Em Chanmakara expressed his respect and gratitude for the patriotic heroism of Bun Rany Hun Sen. In his congratulatory message Em Chanmakara said that Bun Rany Hun Sen has sacrificed a lot in humanitarian work to help the Cambodian people.

Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith has also sent an early birthday message to Prime Minister’s wife. He says the affection of Bun Rany Hun Sen gives warmth to the Cambodian people.

Bun Rany is the wife of long-time Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, First Lady of Cambodia. She has served as the vice president of the National Association of the Cambodian Red Cross and since 1998 as the president.

Bun Rany Hun Sen was born on 15 December 1954. She is a daughter of a farmer from Roka Khnor commune, Krouch Chhmar district in Kampong Cham province which is now part of Tbong Khmum province. Her parents, Lin Kri and Bun Sieng Ly, were prosperous farmers who traced their ancestry to Guangdong in China.

Rany has two brothers and three sisters. As children, before the Cambodian Civil War, they all walked half an hour to school, wading across the Roka Khnao River in the dry season or hitching a ferry ride across in the wet season when the water was too deep to cross.

In 1970, when Rany was 16 years old, her grandparents died. Shortly thereafter, Prince Sihanouk was deposed by General Lon Nol. The two events deeply affected her and when the exiled Prince aligned with the Communist Khmer Rouge and issued a call for Cambodians to fight against Lon Nol's government.

She then secretly joined the National United Front of Kampuchea. It gave her a choice of positions. She chose the medical field and the leadership arranged for her training by doctors who had come from Phnom Penh to lecture fresh recruits. After six months of Khmer Rouge training, she was sent back to Krouch Chhmar with the title of Public Health Officer.

By 1974, she was the director of a Khmer Rouge hospital located approximately 50 km from the front line of fighting against Lon Nol's Khmer Republic government forces. In March 1974, Rany met Hun Sen who having joined the Khmer Rouge in 1970, commanded most of the soldiers that were treated at her hospital.

As the Khmer Rouge leadership forbade fraternization among the people and strictly controlled every facet of life, including courtship and marriage, they carried on a romance through intermediaries and occasionally on the pretense of official Party business. Hun Sen officially requested the Angkar to allow a marriage in late 1974 but despite his reputation as a good leader, was told to wait until Phnom Penh was captured and the whole country was under Khmer Rouge rule

Bun Rany and Hun Sen finally got married on 5 January 1976 during the Democratic Kampuchea regime. Since then, has received national and international recognition and numerous awards for her work with Cambodia's orphans and poor, HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention, and her emphasis on women's issues with efforts to improve domestic safety and empowerment through education and vocational training.