"My mother and I lived 300 km (186 miles) from Phnom Pehn, the capital of Cambodia, and I went to visit my older sister and her husband who lived in Phnom Pehn. It was 1975, and I was 19 years old. While I was there, the country fell to Communism, and Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge came to power. I couldn't leave the city to get back to my mother. The Khmer Rouge killed so many Cambodians. People like doctors, lawyers, and professors were taken away and shot or beaten until they were dead. I lost many in my family that way. My sister, her husband, and I were taken to slave camps where we worked very, very hard and with very little food. Just a little rice to eat. I got so thin that I looked like an old grandma; my arms were like sticks, and my hip bones stuck out. We worked long, long hours in the fields every day, even when it was raining. So many people got sick and died. There's a movie about that time called The Killing Fields, but real life was much worse than in the movie. Whole families would be there one day and then just disappear. They were taken away and killed, even the babies. My sister and I were in the slave camp for three years and nine months. We both survived, but her husband died there.
"In January of 1979, the genocide ended. Pol Pot was no longer in power, and my sister and I went to a refugee camp in Thailand. We were there for three months, and then the Catholic Church sponsored us to come to the United States. I've been here for 35 years now and worked at a uniform manufacturing company for almost 30 years, first as a seamstress and now in the shipping department. My sister is still with me, and I have one son; he was born in the United States.
"It's been a long time ago, but I still remember. I will never forget."
"In January of 1979, the genocide ended. Pol Pot was no longer in power, and my sister and I went to a refugee camp in Thailand. We were there for three months, and then the Catholic Church sponsored us to come to the United States. I've been here for 35 years now and worked at a uniform manufacturing company for almost 30 years, first as a seamstress and now in the shipping department. My sister is still with me, and I have one son; he was born in the United States.
"It's been a long time ago, but I still remember. I will never forget."