I am a Refugee

Beginning with the year 1979, the Khmer Rouge's power was coming to an end. The Vietnamese troops entered the capital and chased the Khmer Rouge towards the jungle on the boarders of Thailand and Cambodia where today they are hiding. That marked the end of the Pol Pot era. I was born in that same year.

My family fled from the KR with help from the Vietnamese soldiers. Everyone was tired and confused, the only thought that was on their minds were to get away from the Khmer Rouge as fast as they could. They did not know where they were going nor did they know what to do. They just followed the crowd of people and we had to move quickly with everyone else. It was very difficult for my mother because she was pregnant with me at that time. It was also very dangerous because the war was still going on in the background. There was always a risk of getting shot and sometimes when walking in the jungles, there was the risk of setting a trap off or stepping on a landmine. Luckily no one in our family was hurt, except for my cousin who did step on a landmine and lost his right leg.

My mother describes the day that I was born as a chaotic day. I was born on April 14, 1979, during the journey away from the Khmer Rouge. My mother had to stop to give birth to me. She stopped at an abandoned school. There were sounds of gunshots in the distant. The Vietnamese troops and the Khmer Rouge were fighting in the distance. She stopped at an abandoned school. Tired and hungry from the journey and from the lack of food and forced labor, we did not have much time to stop. We had to catch up because we needed the protection from the Vietnamese soldiers.

My mother thought that I was not going to make it when I was born because I was very ill. We followed the Vietnamese to a nearby campsite called Mt. Sompo, we slept there overnight on the grass and awaited what to do next. There was no food, no shelter and I was at the brink of death. My mother was too sick to move and my father had to protect the family so my aunt rushed me to the Thai border, where there was the Red Cross. An American doctor gave me the necessary medication for me to survive.

"If it had not been for my rushing you to the border, you wouldn't have been alive today." That is what my aunt tells me every time she sees me.

Our family reunited at the second camp in Thailand. We went from camp to camp. This is the story of my journey to America………………

My journey_________________________

April 14, 1979-Mt. Sompo (Cambodia)
Family fled from the Khmer Rouge with help from the Vietnamese. Slept overnight in the woods.

April 1979-"Old Camp"(Cambodia and Thailand border)
There were about 300 refugees at this first campsite.
No shelter was provided, lived in shacks.

October 1979- Koa-I-Dang Camp (Thailand)
Still there were no shelter provided, but we received help from the United Nation and the Red Cross. Families were given rations of food once a week. Food was distributed on Mondays. The foods given were: chicken, fish, and tuna in a can, oil, vegetable and rice. Food was not enough for the whole week. My father went to search for food and save some of the food for trading.

January 1980- Sakeo (Thailand)
The Red Cross provided a house for us to stay in. Many families were given the same house. Food was distributed like the previous camp.

January 1982-Koa-I-Dang (Thailand)
We are back to the same camp as in 1979. My family did not know where to go but to follow the orders from the people in charge. The United Nations relief workers helped us with the paper works necessary to leave the refugee camps.
January 1983 my sister was born. My mother was too sick to nurse my sister, so my aunt came to the rescue again and gave her, her own breast milk. My mother also went to the Health care facility run by the Red Cross; they gave her the necessary things that she need for my little sister.

February 1984- Trancid/Chunnbury (Thailand)
We stayed in Trancid for a couple of months and then we were moved to Chunnbury, they are both refugee camps located right next to one another.
September 1984 we took a plane to the Philippines.

September 1984-Philippine (Philippines)
House was provided, but there was not enough food and there was a lot of crime. It was very dangerous to walk alone, there was always of chance of getting raped, killed or robbed. I was constantly sick and malnourished.
In the year 1985 my youngest sister was born.

September 7, 1985- We finished all the necessary paperwork and we had a sponsor that helped us come to America. On that date we left the Philippines and arrive in the United States on September 9, 1985.

 

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