Khmer Health Advocates

Last week I visited Khmer Health Advocates (www.hartnet.org/khmer) in West Hartford, CT. An organization that began its work in the early 1980's with the first wave of Cambodian refugees, the founders have been unflagging in their committment and dedication to the Cambodian community. Theanvy Kouch and Mary Scully are inspirational for their longevity and generosity.

They both voiced strong support for the work of Khmer Legacies and we hope to find ways to use their networks to record testimonies in Connecticut. Mary told me that although Cambodians make up about half of all torture victims in the United States, Cambodians are not categorically recognized as torture victims by the UN. Cambodians themselves, have a hard time articulating their experience of starvation, over work, and sometimes worse as torture. As a result, many resources that could have been directed to serve them are not.

It reminded me that this work is important - if only to document and acknowledge the lives to Cambodian survivors. As long as we are not able to give voice to these experiences, the community still suffers from an undistinguished pain.