• Welcome
  • home
  • special features
    • flashbacks
    • young leaders
    • guest writers
  • about
  • contact
  BANYAN BLOG

banyan blog

FLASHBACK: Remembering a Nightmare

1/7/2014

11 Comments

 
Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it", Edmund Burke, Statesman
Picture
One of the grueling labor camps during the Khmer Rouge-1975-1979. Cambodians, including my family, worked for 12-14 hours a day, digging canals or planting rice with little food and rest. Photo credit: Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-CAM). All photos in this story belong to the DC-CAM.
Today, January 7th, 2014, marks 35 years since Cambodia became free from the Khmer Rouge nightmare. This day commemorates when Vietnamese troops seized Phnom Penh from the Khmer Rouge. For three years, eight months and twenty days, millions of Cambodians suffered by starvation, disease, and lived under the constant threat of execution. It is estimated that nearly 2 million Cambodians perished under the bloody regime.  For Cambodians, it is a day to reflect on where the country was over 35 years ago and for the survivors to remember the nightmare they lived.   

When the Vietnamese took over the capital that day, most Cambodians, like my family, were not there to see it. Instead, we were hiding deep in the woods of Battambang in northwestern Cambodia.  We were struggling to survive, unaware that freedom was near. I interviewed my mother and asked her to tell me how the nightmare started and how it finally ended. This is what she recalls...



Read More
11 Comments

    FEATURED IN

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    MOST POPULAR

    The Journey
    Inside the White Building
    Young Leaders
    Rediscovering Wise Words
    Hierarchy in Khmer Language
    Relearning Khmer
    Back to Battambang
    The Great Divide
    The Last Promise
    Remembering a Nightmare

    Archives

    March 2017
    October 2016
    July 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013

    follow

    Tweets by @banyanblog

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

© banyan blog 2013-2021
All Rights Reserved