Will Woodbery
The Daily Beacon (University of Tennessee, USA)
More than 20 years after the fighting ceased in Cambodia, millions of land mines are still littered across the countryside. Typically no bigger than a regulation-sized hockey puck, these devices continue to cause injuries to nearly 100 people every month.
Loung Ung, a native of Cambodia, has made it her crusade to change this tragedy.
In Conversations on World Affairs Tuesday night at the International House, the activist and author recounted the devastating effects landmines have had on her home country, where there are currently 40,000 amputees. She said she hopes these harsh realities were not lost upon students attending.
“I hope they get their heart crushed a little,” she said in an interview after the lecture. “I like to expose them to what’s happening in the world.”
Growing up under the oppressive Khmer Rouge regime, Ung experienced hardship from a very young age. In an attempt to validate its power, the new government set out to systematically exterminate all those who stood in its path to complete power.
Her father was seen as a threat and the day inevitably came when soldiers arrived to take him away to the killing fields.
“I knew I would never see him again,” she said.
As she stood helplessly by her family and watched her father for the last time, she said she recalled the sky was particularly brilliant, with shades of magenta and pink.
“I wondered how there could be so much beauty when there was so much hell on earth,” she said.
Her cynicism would grow with time as she was forced to train as a child soldier after the deaths of her mother and two siblings. When other girls her age might be playing outside, she was learning how to use weapons and evade the enemy.
When the war ended in 1979, she was reunited with her surviving siblings. After a 4-month stint in a refugee camp in Thailand, she was relocated to Vermont and thus embarked on yet another challenge in her life: assimilating into American society.
“I desperately wanted to be normal,” Ung said. “I wanted to be an American.”
However hard she tried to adapt to her new surroundings, the memories of her experience in Cambodia lingered and the war would come back to her. She recalled how even in her sleep, she couldn’t escape its grasp.
“I worked hard to leave the war behind me,” she said. “But I was being attacked in my sleep.”
Likewise, the sounds of fireworks on the Fourth of July would disturb her greatly.
For Ung, the war’s end indeed brought on new challenges in order to “survive the peace.” Survivors must deal with the detrimental psychological and physical after-effects of the war, she said.
“The war hasn’t ended just because the guns have fallen silent,” she said.
Ung implored students to become more active at home or abroad. She hoped that she served as an example that one can make a difference. Additionally, she hoped students would simply make the attempt to increase their awareness of such issues as landmines.
“Educate yourselves, educate each other. It is a must,” she said.
Lecture attendee James Gehlhar, former director of the Center for International Education, said he was impressed by Ung’s commitment to her cause.
“It’s a heartfelt thing that she’s doing,” he said. “It’s something that the world needs.”
For some, Ung’s detailed account of her experiences during the war was especially poignant.
“It brings me to tears just to listen,” said Lee Rhea, director of the I-House. “I can’t even imagine how it would have been to live through something like that.”
Loung Ung, a native of Cambodia, has made it her crusade to change this tragedy.
In Conversations on World Affairs Tuesday night at the International House, the activist and author recounted the devastating effects landmines have had on her home country, where there are currently 40,000 amputees. She said she hopes these harsh realities were not lost upon students attending.
“I hope they get their heart crushed a little,” she said in an interview after the lecture. “I like to expose them to what’s happening in the world.”
Growing up under the oppressive Khmer Rouge regime, Ung experienced hardship from a very young age. In an attempt to validate its power, the new government set out to systematically exterminate all those who stood in its path to complete power.
Her father was seen as a threat and the day inevitably came when soldiers arrived to take him away to the killing fields.
“I knew I would never see him again,” she said.
As she stood helplessly by her family and watched her father for the last time, she said she recalled the sky was particularly brilliant, with shades of magenta and pink.
“I wondered how there could be so much beauty when there was so much hell on earth,” she said.
Her cynicism would grow with time as she was forced to train as a child soldier after the deaths of her mother and two siblings. When other girls her age might be playing outside, she was learning how to use weapons and evade the enemy.
When the war ended in 1979, she was reunited with her surviving siblings. After a 4-month stint in a refugee camp in Thailand, she was relocated to Vermont and thus embarked on yet another challenge in her life: assimilating into American society.
“I desperately wanted to be normal,” Ung said. “I wanted to be an American.”
However hard she tried to adapt to her new surroundings, the memories of her experience in Cambodia lingered and the war would come back to her. She recalled how even in her sleep, she couldn’t escape its grasp.
“I worked hard to leave the war behind me,” she said. “But I was being attacked in my sleep.”
Likewise, the sounds of fireworks on the Fourth of July would disturb her greatly.
For Ung, the war’s end indeed brought on new challenges in order to “survive the peace.” Survivors must deal with the detrimental psychological and physical after-effects of the war, she said.
“The war hasn’t ended just because the guns have fallen silent,” she said.
Ung implored students to become more active at home or abroad. She hoped that she served as an example that one can make a difference. Additionally, she hoped students would simply make the attempt to increase their awareness of such issues as landmines.
“Educate yourselves, educate each other. It is a must,” she said.
Lecture attendee James Gehlhar, former director of the Center for International Education, said he was impressed by Ung’s commitment to her cause.
“It’s a heartfelt thing that she’s doing,” he said. “It’s something that the world needs.”
For some, Ung’s detailed account of her experiences during the war was especially poignant.
“It brings me to tears just to listen,” said Lee Rhea, director of the I-House. “I can’t even imagine how it would have been to live through something like that.”
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