Last week, my parents and I participated in several genocide commemoration events in Washington, DC. It was an honor to be able to represent the Cambodian survivor community at a Save Darfur event in front of the White House.Although I have had the opportunity to speak many times in groups of 20-500, my parents are relatively meek immigrant Americans who have always shied away from the spotlight. The extent of their public speaking has come after a few screenings of New Year Baby when they answer questions from the audience.
My mother spoke briefly in English and then said a prayer in Khmer to remember the millions of lives lost during the Cambodian genocide.
I'm very proud of them. They loved being a part of this event.
I also had the chance to meet Carl Wilkens, one of my personal heroes. Just two weeks early, I had
invoked Carl's story when speaking to college students at Babson College and UMassAmherst. Carl saved over 500 people during the
genocide in Rwanda, and he was the only American in the entire country during the 4 month tragedy. You can read more his story here.
We also joined 80 members of the Cambodian community to commemorate the 34th anniversary of the Cambodian genocide at a solemn candlelight vigil. We shared stories of our loved ones, our sorrows and even our anger at the lack of justice.
We visited the beautiful Cambodian Buddhist temple in Silver Spring, MD - the largest of its kind in the country. Celebrating Cambodian New Year was truly a pleasure there.
1 comment:
Hi Socheata! My names is Jenise and I'm 21 years old. My father is khmer which makes me half khmer. I do not speak it but I'm drawn to my cambodian side. Ever since I was little I have always been curious about my father past. The only family I knew was my mothers side and always questioned why I didn't have any on my fathers. When I was older my father told me that everyone on his side of the family died and he spent a lot of time in a thai refugee camp. My father was reunited with my uncle when I was around 4 years old. When I grew older I spoke to my father about it but I felt like I was picking at bruise that was still trying to heal. I did reasearch about the khmer rouge on my own. I read biogrpahys and books written by people and watched the killing fields to get a better feel of what my father and many cambodians went through during the genocide.
I heard about your documentary through a professor. He knew I was half cambodian and told me he watched a documetnary about a girl on tv. I went online to try and see if I could fine it and I found your information and your blog. I wanted to thank you for putting things out there for everything to read and find out about. People need to be informed.
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