Today’s NYTimes includes a report by Seth Mydans about the latest developments in the Khmer Rouge trials in Cambodia. This is part of our history in Lowell because many of our neighbors from that nation came to the U.S. because of the Khmer Rouge’s epic crime against humanity. These neighbors carry personal stories of the genocide and resulting refugee experience. Read the article here, and get the NYT on your porch or online if you want more.
July 3rd, 2011
Chath pierSath’s New Book of Poems: ‘After’
“After” is a book of letters in the form of poems that poignantly describes the author’s life and experiences as a child before, during and after the Khmer Rouge. It traces the author’s journey out of Cambodia to the United States and the experiences he had thereafter, through loss of and separation from family members. A kind of unity emerges as each poem addresses the author’s yearning to make sense of one of the greatest tragedies of our world.
Many of us know Chath, a poet, community activist, and more, with strong ties to Lowell. He is a graduate of the master’s program in Community Social Psychology at UMass Lowell. He has a new book of poems from Abingdon Square Publishing Co. that can be ordered via amazon.com here.
Amazon.com reviewer Stan Sesser wrote: “Chath pierSath, a Cambodian-American who grew up witnessing the horrors of the Khmer Rouge, has come to grips with his traumas through profound poetry and art. Arriving in the U.S. as a penniless refugee who spoke no English, he’s had an astonishing career, earning advanced degrees, helping impoverished Cambodians in the U.S., and returning to Cambodia to spearhead all sorts of educational, artistic and social work projects. His poetry captures this extraordinary life in words that are moving and inspirational. It’s brilliant; I can’t recommend it highly enough.”
September 16th, 2010
Khmer Rouge Trials Proceed in Cambodia
The NYTimes today has a report on the progress being made in Cambodia with United Nations-linked trials of Khmer Rouge leaders accused of atrocities related to the genocide in that country from 1975 to 1979. Read the article here, and get the NYT if you value the international reporting.
August 12th, 2010
Visiting the Disabled in Cambodia: ‘Globe’ Passport Report
The Globe and boston.com include an occasional feature about travels called ”Passport” that is written by people in the Boston area, a kind of citizen journalism feature. This article by young student Akshan deAlwis describes a recent trip to Cambodia. The focus is a visit to the Angkor Association of the Disabled. “According to the Asian Development Bank, close to 10 percent of the Cambodian adult population is disabled due to malnutrition, violence, and land mines,” writes deAlwis. Read the travel account here, and consider subscribing to the Globe.
July 30th, 2010
Killing Fields Documentary Reviewed in NYT
Thet Sambath, left, and Nuon Chea in “Enemies of the People.”
July 27th, 2010
Three Poems from ‘Chanthy’s Garden’ by George Chigas
The Visit
.
When I saw her gnarled fingers,
shaved head, eyes like knots of wood,
I didn’t say anything.
He waved her out of the room,
asked us to sit down,
served iced drinks.
He talked about ’75
when he worked security
at the embassy in Phnom Penh
and helped U.S. Marines load helicopters
when there was no time.
Said he could have got out then too,
but his mother wouldn’t go;
when the Khmer Rouge came
she waved and threw flowers.
. . . . .
From Cambodia
.
She’s from Cambodia
and eats hot noodle soup for breakfast,
that much I know.
But it’s not enough
in the middle of the night
when the flashbacks come
and the best I can do
is hide her in my arms and wait
until they pass
and she looks out
at the glassy calm.
. . . . .
Waiting for E.S.L. Class
.
On cold mornings they huddle in the doorway waiting for English class. They hunch in big coats, smoke; news of the apartment fire stirs up blue air. Soeun catches a ride with a friend who works first shift or walks an hour across town, up Middlesex and Appleton to Church Street past Zayre’s. He kicks snow off his boots, shakes a cigarette out of the pack, whistles a Cambodian folk tune he’s known for thirty years. I think of the song Chathy sings in bed before turning out the light about the boy who goes away to school promising his parents he’ll come home when it’s time to harvest rice.
.
—George Chigas (c) 1986, from “Chanthy’s Garden” (Loom Press)
Culture, Current Events, History, Lowell, Poetry | 
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July 27th, 2010
Khmer Rouge Jailer Sentenced
From BBC news online here’s a report on yesterday’s sentencing of Khmer Rouge prison overseer Kaing Guek Eav or “Comrade Duch” to 35 years in jail. He may, however, only be required to serve 19 years. The public response in Cambodia was mixed, with some people saying they had expected a more severe sentence. Read the BBC report here.
Khmer Rouge Prison Chief “Comrade Duch” (photo: thefirstpost.co.uk)
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