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> Home > War...> Khamer Families
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You have to leave tonight...
If a war, an act of terrorism, or a hurricane forced your family to leave home, how would you decide what to take with you? Would you take food or family pictures, your pet, or medicine? Remember, you can only take what you can carry and you may have to walk for many days. This is the situation many Cambodians faced when they had to flee from war and famine. The Math Hai family took these three objects with them: a spoon, a cooking pot, and a piece of fabric that could be used as a sack, a sweater, or a sleeping mat. |
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Khamer Families
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| Savath So and Touch Sun Family |
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 We didn’t have enough energy, we didn’t have enough food to eat, that’s why we didn’t have the strength to fight back.
– Savath So
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 If we didn't escape, we would die. If we stayed, we would die. If we ran we would probably die too, but we took our chance, we just tried our luck. We ran to Thailand. It took about two months. They [the soldiers] were shooting and there were land mines. People died, piled on top of each other, but we just kept taking our chances. We just continued going through the woods and the fog with our children. And I was pregnant with our younger one. It was hard when we ran and I was pregnant with him.
– Touch Sun
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| © © Greensboro Historical Museum |
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It was the beginning of 1976. They separated my father from us and put him in prison. They sent me to start planting the rice crops. Sometimes when we ate, the [Khmer Rouge] group leader would run a machete down my back. I was afraid they were going to kill me. I missed my mother and my father.
When we got to Greensboro, I had a family waiting for me in the airport. I didn’t know who or what’s anywhere. They have a picture of me. They see me and they gave me a hug.
It was very hard for me to make the decision to leave my country. I know once you run out of your country, you can never return, because people will accuse you of not loving your country.
