Girl found in jungle after 18 year dissapearance

[Raph's Girl]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070118/...nam_woman_dc_2

A woman has been returned to her home in Vietnam's Central Highlands 18 years after she went missing as an eight-year old girl tending cows near the Cambodian border, her father told a newspaper on Thursday.

Policeman Ksor Lu long believed that his daughter had been eaten by a wild animal until last Saturday when he was told that loggers had found "a forestman" at a village in Cambodia's province of Ratanakiri.

Lu arrived and "recognized his daughter from the first sighting" even though her body was blackened and she had long hair down to her legs and could not speak, according to the account in the Vietnam Rural Today newspaper.

Lu said his daughter, Ro Cham H'pnhieng of the Jrai ethnic minority group, probably spent most of the time in the jungle in Cambodia since she went missing in 1989.

The loggers told Lu that they caught her after realizing that someone had sneaked up and taken their lunch.

Lu said that at first it was difficult bringing her back to normal life because she resisted showering, wearing clothes or using chopsticks, fending him off and shouting and crying.

Four days later she started cooperating, Lu said.

"It is not easy indeed but life is waiting ahead for her,"

[Katie]

WTF.....

It's Mowglina?

[Raph's Girl]

Originally Posted by Katie

WTF.....

It's Mowglina?

Mowglina... or Georgia of the Jungle or Tarzana

Seriously tho...It's been a long time since a wild child was found. I learned a bit about them and all the problems they have adjusting to society in high school psychology class.

Her father had better have alot of patience with her cuz it's gonna take a long time for her to readjust to society. Especially since she was 8 when she went missing and she's 26 now.

[Mecha Cow]

What the...? How would he have recognised her? Why can't she speak if she'd been raised up until her eight year? How the hell did she survive?

This seems kind of fishy, but cool I guess.

[Raph's Girl]

Originally Posted by Mecha Cow

What the...? How would he have recognised her? Why can't she speak if she'd been raised up until her eight year? How the hell did she survive?

She can't speak because of the trama of being alone for nearly 20 years. And she probably survived by stealing food or from killing animals in the forest and stuff.

How would he have recognized her? He's her father... a parent can always recognize their child even if it's been 20 years.

[Ra]

Wowza...that's a good story. It's good to know that there are some Jungle Kids out there after they found Tarzan and George of the Jungle. The only problem here is the culture shock for the girl. Almost 20 years without being in touch with modern society can be a bit of a challenge for her and everyone around her. I mean, she was resisting to take a shower and wear clothes, which are 2 basic things we must do in the world of today just for the sake of good hygine. Still, if all goes well she should be fine. I wish her and her father good luck for the long and diffcult road ahead

[Roseangelo]

Actually, she can't speak because she hasn't been around language in order to know what language is. Yeah, she would have known some when she disappeared, but 20 years alone is a LONG time.

I heard she has a scar that her parents were able to identify, in addition to her facial features.

These stories are always so facisnating.. but there never seems to be follow-up to let you know how they end up adjusting.

[Jo Dawn]

I agree. I find these stories facinating. I'd love to know more details on this... And, yes. Especially the aftermath.

[Spitfire]

Wow the things you pick up when your alone huh? Nuts story, reminds me of that Hatchet book I had to read in school.

[Raph's Girl]

Update!

A Cambodian woman who went missing in the jungle for 18 years before being found last week is struggling to adapt to life as a human and wants to return to the forest, police said on Friday.

"She prefers to crawl rather than walk like a human," said Mao Sun, a district police chief in the jungle-clad northeastern province of Rattanakiri where the girl's family live.

"Unfortunately, she keeps crying and wants to go back to the jungle," he said. "She is not used to living with humans. We had to clothe her. When she is thirsty or hungry she points at her mouth," he told Reuters by phone.

The girl, called Ro Cham H'pnhieng, went missing as an eight-year-old along with her cousin when they were sent to tend cows near the border with Vietnam.

Villagers believed they had been eaten by wild animals until a girl was caught last week by a logging team as she was trying to steal some food they had left under a tree.

With blackened skin and hair stretching down to her legs, she was unrecognizable apart from a scar across her back that allowed her father to pick her out.

After 18 years in the wilderness, police said she was able to say only three words: father, mother and stomach ache.

Villagers from the Phnong ethnic hilltribe minority believe the girl is still possessed by evil spirits of the forest. They have brought in Buddhist monks to bless her and set up a round-the-clock watch on the family hut.

In December 2004, four families in the same province, which was crisscrossed by the paths of the Ho Chi Minh trail during the Vietnam War, emerged from 25 years in the jungle after fleeing the 1979 Vietnamese invasion that ousted the Khmer Rouge.

Here's an image of her and her mother:


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070119/...m_woman_odd_dc

[iris]

Originally Posted by Mecha Cow

What the...? How would he have recognised her? Why can't she speak if she'd been raised up until her eight year? How the hell did she survive?

This seems kind of fishy, but cool I guess.

The jungle is full of things to eat, if you are willing to eat what's available. Or simply starving enough to eat what's available. But she must have been a strong person to adapt.

I'm not sure this story is 'cool.' Fascinating, maybe. But this is no fantasy Jungle Book story.

[VGiselleH]

It's the opposite of cool, it's a horrible story. It's a little 8-year-old girl that has had to survive all by herself in a jungle! A real jungle, not a pretty Hollywood jungle. Jungles are dangerous for an adult to wander through alone when they're lost, but for a child? She must have been so alone, and who knows what happened to her cousin, what she had to witness there or not. Suddenly no more parents to come home to, no regular (cooked?) food anymore. Lonely nights. No way to make clothing when whatever she wore got damaged, or when she outgrew it. Entering puberty without anyone to tell her about...certain stuff changing...-.- She obviously adjusted over the years, but the first few days/weeks/months/years must have been hell for her.

And now she has to readjust all over again. It's harder for an adult to do so, not to mention she can't learn certain things we take for granted anymore. I hope she still retains some memory of grammar and language and such to relearn to talk, because once you get to be a certain age, you can't learn it from scratch anymore.

I can't help but hope they faked this, some cry for attention or something. Yet at the same time the scientist in me can't help but say that this is a great opportunity for studying the human mind and brain... Fascinating indeed. Either way, it sucks to be her! I hope she gets through this with minimal trauma. Maybe one day she'll be able to enjoy her family again and not want to go back to the junlge she has gotten used to ^_^

[Mecha Cow]

Of course it's cool, provided it's true this is an amazing story.

Also, Dutchies represent.

[Raph's Girl]

New update on the Jungle Girl (if she is indeed who she is).

Spanish psychologist met Tuesday with Cambodia's "jungle woman," hoping to unravel some of the mystery surrounding the woman who emerged from the forest, naked and unable to speak, after what may have been nearly two decades in the wild.

Hector Rifa, a doctor of psychology from Spain's University of Oviedo, said his priority was to ensure the woman was receiving proper treatment for whatever traumatic experience she has undergone.

But it was possible he may find clues to the woman's true identity — whether she is indeed a girl who disappeared in 1988 while tending water buffalo, as claimed by a family in northeastern Cambodia who has taken her in as their long-lost daughter.

Rifa said he plans to spend several days at the home of village policeman Sal Lou, who claims the woman is his 27-year-old daughter Rochom P'ngieng.

"I can only tell you that I am (now) taking dinner with them, a nice family," he said, stressing that he was there "to make an evaluation" of the woman.

Sal Lou's family, members of Cambodia's Pnong ethnic minority, say they are certain the woman is Rochom P'ngieng because a scar on her right arm matches one that the missing girl had from an accident before her disappearance from the remote village of Oyadao.

With no other evidence supporting their claim, however, others have speculated that the woman may have a history of mental troubles and simply became lost in the jungle much more recently.

The family's hut has drawn crowds of villagers and journalists, eager to see the woman who was found Jan. 13 walking bent over out of the jungle. She pats her stomach when hungry and uses animal-like grunts to communicate.

Rifa has been working with indigenous people in Rattanakiri province over the past four years for the Spain-based group Psychology Without Borders.

He told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he thinks the woman's behavior shows she is having difficulty adapting to normal life, as would be expected if she had been lost in the jungle for an extended period of time.

Sal Lou has said he is willing to undergo DNA testing along with the woman "to clear any doubts that she is my child."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070124/...a_jungle_woman

[Ecto Jedi]

Originally Posted by Ra

Wowza...that's a good story. It's good to know that there are some Jungle Kids out there after they found Tarzan and George of the Jungle. The only problem here is the culture shock for the girl. Almost 20 years without being in touch with modern society can be a bit of a challenge for her and everyone around her. I mean, she was resisting to take a shower and wear clothes, which are 2 basic things we must do in the world of today just for the sake of good hygine. Still, if all goes well she should be fine. I wish her and her father good luck for the long and diffcult road ahead

Yes, but we're not talking about modern society -- we're talking Cambodia, here.

[iris]

Originally Posted by Ecto Jedi

Yes, but we're not talking about modern society -- we're talking Cambodia, here.

Eh... ?