Last year, I published a memoir of my refugee childhood at Steemit and www.notesonliberty.com. The story was later on picked up by the Foundation of Economic Education.
If you haven't read it yet, you can find it at the following link:
https://fee.org/articles/memories-of-a-refugee-childhood/
In the article, I discussed some memories of my life in Khao I Dang - a Cambodian refugee camp on the border of Cambodia-Thailand and added some personal pictures of our family.
Here are some excerpts:
I understand that my story is just one, small, but essential part of my family’s overall journey for safety from the civil war (1967-1975), the Khmer Rouge regime (1975-1979), and the subsequent Vietnamese occupation. According to some estimates, 2 million out of 8 million people died during this long period. This figure has been contested many times. I don’t think anyone knows how many people have actually died, but if I look at the family members of my parents’ households: 40% from my mum’s side died and 25% from my dad’s side.
Khao I Dang, the Refugee Camp Where I Was Born
My parents were forced to work in labor camps in the countryside in Battambang by the Khmer Rouge. They eventually met each other while fleeing from Battambang to the Thai border when the Vietnamese invaded Cambodia. As with most fleeing Cambodians, my parents decided to get together – not out of love, but more out of the need and desire to share their hardships. This was, after all, a months-long journey through the heart of the Cambodian jungle in which my father lost his father, the granddad I never came to know. My mother lost her brother and her father. As my mother was separated from her brother early on during the Khmer Rouge regime and never witnessed his death, she had always held hope that one day she would find him again.
My parents’ long journey towards Thailand brought them to the Sa Kaeo camp which was the first organized refugee camp that opened in 1979. Within just 8 days, the refugee population grew to 30,000. The camp eventually closed down half a year later, because of unfavorable conditions. The drainage in the campsite was for example so poor that several refugees, too weak to lift their heads, drowned from a flood as they laid on the floor in tents made of plastic sheets.
One month after the opening of Sa Kaeo, the Khao I Dang camp was opened and many people were repatriated into Khao I Dang. My parents eventually ended up there as well.
Above is a picture of my two brothers, me, and my father after the funeral of my uncle. Behind me is my uncle's grave. My father hired a photographer to take this picture so that he could send it to my aunty. I am the one barefooted.
Please follow the link to read the full memoir: https://fee.org/articles/memories-of-a-refugee-childhood/
