Kosal Suon, a survivor of the infamous “Killing Fields” and Project Director, Cambodian Mutual Assistance AssociationThu Feb 14, 2008
By Staff reports
Wicked Local Wellesley (Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts, USA)
Wellesley - Many readers have already forgotten Pol Pot and his Cambodian “Killing Fields,” where two million were massacred and buried by his Khmer Rouge Communist regime between 1975 and 1979.
Not Kosal Suon.
Suon will recall the horrors of those years in his talk next Tuesday evening following the regular Rotary dinner held every Tuesday evening with a social hour beginning at 6 p.m. at the Wellesley Community Center, 219 Washington St.
Ten years in a Thai refugee camp put Suon in contact with many who lost their families only to end up in American cities unprepared to handle them.
Today, Suon is furthering his own higher education while working for the Cambodian Mutual Assistance Program in Lowell. There he helps a large number of immigrants to learn English and to pass their citizenship tests. CMAA also works with community, educational and social service agencies on behalf of the immigrant community.
Many of the children who come through CMAA face problems like Nanda (not her real name), a 15-year-old Cambodian-American refugee referred to a court-assisted youth program in Lowell.
Nanda, a frequent truant, and drug abuser, began acting out after witnessing and being victimized by her father’s violent outbreaks. Her story can be traced back to the inhuman history of her family in the Killing Fields. Suon’s group has helped her get back on her feet.
Suon will discuss his own family history in Cambodia and since coming as a new immigrant to the United States.
Rotary President Laurence Sheehan called Suon’s talk “an example of what Rotary does to fulfill its mission toencourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise.”
Sheehan explained Rotary’s four primary objectives: 1) The development of acquaintance as an opportunity for service; 2) High ethical standards in business and professions, the recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations, and the dignifying of each Rotarian’s occupation as an opportunity to serve society; 3) The application of the ideal of service in each Rotarian’s personal, business and community life; 4) The advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace through a world fellowship of business and professional persons united in the ideal of service.
Not Kosal Suon.
Suon will recall the horrors of those years in his talk next Tuesday evening following the regular Rotary dinner held every Tuesday evening with a social hour beginning at 6 p.m. at the Wellesley Community Center, 219 Washington St.
Ten years in a Thai refugee camp put Suon in contact with many who lost their families only to end up in American cities unprepared to handle them.
Today, Suon is furthering his own higher education while working for the Cambodian Mutual Assistance Program in Lowell. There he helps a large number of immigrants to learn English and to pass their citizenship tests. CMAA also works with community, educational and social service agencies on behalf of the immigrant community.
Many of the children who come through CMAA face problems like Nanda (not her real name), a 15-year-old Cambodian-American refugee referred to a court-assisted youth program in Lowell.
Nanda, a frequent truant, and drug abuser, began acting out after witnessing and being victimized by her father’s violent outbreaks. Her story can be traced back to the inhuman history of her family in the Killing Fields. Suon’s group has helped her get back on her feet.
Suon will discuss his own family history in Cambodia and since coming as a new immigrant to the United States.
Rotary President Laurence Sheehan called Suon’s talk “an example of what Rotary does to fulfill its mission toencourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise.”
Sheehan explained Rotary’s four primary objectives: 1) The development of acquaintance as an opportunity for service; 2) High ethical standards in business and professions, the recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations, and the dignifying of each Rotarian’s occupation as an opportunity to serve society; 3) The application of the ideal of service in each Rotarian’s personal, business and community life; 4) The advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace through a world fellowship of business and professional persons united in the ideal of service.
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