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Welcome
Loung Ung stands with a group of Marianapolis international students who dressed in native costumes in honor of International Day. Photo courtesy of Diana Creed .
THOMPSON --- Marianapolis Preparatory School hosted Cambodian genocide survivor Loung Ung on February 11th, in honor of International Day. She spoke of her journey from the killing fields of Cambodia to immigrating to America, and rediscovering her homeland as an activist and author.
Ung outlined her first person account of her life as a daughter of a wealthy government official with seven children, and describes her family as “filled with acceptance and love.” Yet in 1975, when the sitting government was overthrown by the Khmer Rouge, a reign of suffering began that would decimate her family, kill 25 percent of her country’s population, and ultimately put her in a unique position to help her country.
At age 5, Ung fled the city with her family for work camps in the country, where the Khmer Rouge set up an agrarian, radical communist society. The new regime reset the year to “year zero,” and systematically set out to eradicate all educated members of society, including former government officials such as her father.
“They turned a vibrant country into a land of mass labor,” said Ung, describing how the regime forced citizens to wear the same black clothes and wear their hair a certain way. “This was a nation where they wanted everyone to become the same. But human beings are not the same,” she added.
“As long as I live, I will never forget the day they came to take my father,” said Ung. Ung also lost a sister during this time to starvation and illness. She told students she wondered ‘how can there be any beauty in our world when there was so much suffering in my life?’
To protect her remaining children, Ung’s mother sent them to find work camps for “orphans.” Ung worked tirelessly, tending gardens and planting and harvesting rice, yet was only allowed small rations. During this time, Ung and her family suffered from severe malnutrition. Ung was also trained in a camp for child soldiers, and fed a steady diet of hate and propaganda. Toward the end of this time she learned her mother and youngest sister were also taken away by soldiers and never seen again.
Life After War
When the Vietnamese invaded Cambodia on June 7, 1979, the Khmer Rouge was driven into the jungle, ending the genocide. Ung, now 9, was reunited with the four remaining members of her immediate family - her three brothers and one sister. With her brother and his wife she undertook the dangerous journey to a refugee camp in Thailand, where months later they received the sponsorship of a church in Vermont and came to America. “In June of 1980 we came to the US and our first thought was, ‘it is freezing.’ Then they told us it was summer!”
There, 12,000 miles from Cambodia, Ung grew up as one of the few non-white residents. “My goal was to be like everyone else.” It was then that Ung began keeping a journal, which became the basis of her first book. “In high school I dealt with my identity and had to deal with my differences. I didn’t value my voice. It took years to speak publicly about my experiences.” Ung tells of a turning point, when her sophomore English teacher gave her an A++ on an essay about her life. “I argued with him saying, I don’t deserve this grade, my English is not good enough. He said ‘content counts. Your words matter.’ That never occurred to me. I was amazed. My words matter!? I thought my story was too painful and dark to share.”
Ung managed to learn English, her fourth language, complete high school, and go on to earn a degree in political science from St. Michael’s College. She credits the kindness of the people she met in America for helping restore her faith in mankind. But, she explains, “even though I left war, that didn’t necessarily mean that war left me.” War continued to follow her through the years: “Through low flying planes, a mother’s songs, a father’s laugh, war hovered… and yet I was lucky,” she notes, “I came to a place where people showed me compassion and eventually celebrated my differences.”
After college, Ung worked as a counselor in a women’s domestic violence shelter in Maine, where she grew to understand that “my mother was not weak, but the strongest woman I’ll ever meet.” When Ung was finally able to return home in 1995 to see her family, “I saw great smiles and resilient spirits.” There she also saw those who were missing limbs due to land mines. Ung learned that 40% of Cambodia has land mines – an aftermath of war that is the size of a coffee cup yet can kill for up to five decades; a device that costs only $3 yet costs $1,000 to remove. “Antipersonnel mines don’t care if you are friend or foe,” she explained. With 1 in 200 people in Cambodia an amputee, Ung decided she wanted “to contribute to the effort to rid the world of land mines.” She signed on with Veteran’s for America’s Campaign for a Landmine Free World, which has fitted 17,000 Cambodians with prosthetics.
While rage helped her survive her war years, writing helped her heal. In 2000 she published her first book, “First They Killed My Father - A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers,” a memoir which became national bestseller and has been published in eleven countries. “In writing,” she explains, “I could solve and see that in the midst of war and violence there are heroes and memories of eternal love.” The book won the ALAPA award for “Excellence in Adult Non-fiction Literature” in 2001 and was selected by the ALA as a ‘Best Book for Young Adults’. “Lucky Child,” her second book, tells the story of her years in America and the sister she left behind.
Ung told students, “Your past does not have to determine your future,” and her life is a living testament to that statement. Her activism as an author and humanitarian has taken her to 35 countries throughout the world and given a face and voice to the nearly 2 million who died in the 3 year, 8 month and 21 day reign of the Khmer Rouge.
“25 years ago I was eating garbage and no one cared if I lived or died,” she said. “If you told me then that I would be able to do the work I’ve done, I wouldn’t have believed you.” Today Ung has appeared on major news networks, been called a hero by Angelina Jolie, presented a lifetime achievement award to her idol Paul McCartney, and dined with presidents. But more importantly, Ung has told her story and worked to set an example of redemption through activism. As a dual citizen of America and Cambodia, Ung lives with her husband outside of Cleveland, Ohio, but also visits her homeland often. Ung speaks of Cambodia with love and reverence: “I grew up in a country that is 2,000 years old,” she explains proudly, “a country green and beautiful, with red dirt roads and ancient temples and colorful clothes.” “Cambodia is a part of my soul, there is an ancientness there.”
Ung praised Marianapolis for its diversity in educating students from 18 countries, explaining “Cultural diversity not only leads to acceptance, but makes history more real and relevant.” She told students that through her life’s work she has learned that “peace is not automatic. It is an action.” “Whatever work we do, we show the people who have suffered the best example of humanity... We absolutely CAN change the world and make it better.”