Survivors of Cambodian Genocide Visit Classroom
Groton's America in Vietnam class received up-close and personal insights into the Cambodian genocide last week, thanks to three visitors who shared their unique experiences.
Teacher Jennifer Wallace welcomed Thel Sar, Sivkheng Sar, and Roger Samkhon Pin to class, where they discussed the impact of the Second Indochinese War (the American war in Vietnam) on the people and history of Cambodia.
Thel Sars, parent of Tyler Sar '15, survived the 1975-79 Cambodian genocide. Mr. Sar described being driven out of Phnom Penh by the Khmer Rouge, a Maoist party that attempted to create an agrarian utopia. As a 9-year old boy, he was forced to resort to eating roaches, rats, and leaves—anything to survive the famine, which was a result of the group’s failed political and economic policies (and possibly a deliberate punishment to the people). An estimated 2 million people died during this period.
Both Thel and Sivkheng Sar eventually fled to Thailand and the Philippines before being resettled in the United States. They now live and work in Lowell, Massachusetts.
Thel Sars, parent of Tyler Sar '15, survived the 1975-79 Cambodian genocide. Mr. Sar described being driven out of Phnom Penh by the Khmer Rouge, a Maoist party that attempted to create an agrarian utopia. As a 9-year old boy, he was forced to resort to eating roaches, rats, and leaves—anything to survive the famine, which was a result of the group’s failed political and economic policies (and possibly a deliberate punishment to the people). An estimated 2 million people died during this period.
Both Thel and Sivkheng Sar eventually fled to Thailand and the Philippines before being resettled in the United States. They now live and work in Lowell, Massachusetts.
The third visitor, Mr. Pin, was a journalist for Radio Free Asia; though he did not remain in Cambodia during the genocide, he is one of the few living journalists to have interviewed Pol Pot when he was being held for trial in the 1990s. Pol Pot was the leader of the Khmer Rouge, the communist party responsible for the genocide. Mr. Pin is currently the editor of KhmerPost USA; he also resides in Lowell.
The class, co-taught with Vietnam veterans Jim Lockney and Rudy Kallock, appreciated this first-hand perspective on one of the most excruciating events in 20th-century history.—Jennifer Wallace
Photo: Speaker Thel Sar, co-teacher Rudy Kallock, and speaker Roger Samkhon Pin
Photo: Speaker Thel Sar, co-teacher Rudy Kallock, and speaker Roger Samkhon Pin
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