Daravaan Yi (Photo: http://saltseeker.com)4/20/09
Jenna Shepanski
The Quad, Student Newspaper of West Chester U. (Pennsylvania, USA)
West Chester University welcomed Daravaan Yi, author of "Salt Seeker" and a survivor of the Cambodian genocide, to speak of his experience on Friday April 17 2009 at 11 a.m. in Sykes Student Union.
April 17th consequently marked the 34th anniversary of the takeover of Cambodia in 1975, and Yi still gets chills when he talks about his experience. He noted this saying that he had goosebumps while sharing his story.
Yi was nine years old when Cambodia came under attack by the Khmer Rouge, an armed resistance movement formed by its leader Pol Pot. The men of the Khmer Rouge, which means "Red Cambodians" forced him out of his home, AK47s in hand, and made him walk for six days to a remote part of Cambodia. It was there where he was put to work by these men doing anything they asked. He lived in a tiny hut packed with people.
The men of the Khmer Rouge would take two or three people from these huts about every three months and they wouldn't return the next day. Yi explained. Yi's own brother was one of these people.
"They killed like a stealth bomber," Yi said. "You just never heard from them again." Others died from starvation, because they were given little to no food, or "they just gave up living," Yi said. He and the others who were enslaved were without soap, shampoo, or toothbrushes for four years.
He stayed a slave in Cambodia until he was 14 when he made the six day trek on foot to a refugee camp in Thailand. He remained there for a year until "this wonderful country took him in" and he became a legal U.S. citizen at age 15. When he arrived in the U.S. he had nothing, and knew no English.
"I wanted to learn English so I could tell my story," Yi said. After his arrival in America, he was placed into foster care and lived a life he had always dreamed of. He attended school where he learned English, and went on to college at Penn State. It was there where he earned a degree in Political Science in 1993. He then extended his schooling to earn a degree in student personnel. He now works as a counselor at the Philadelphia Community College.
He never forgets his experience and feels that he is a better person for having endured what he did.
"I am stronger than ever today, and if I die when I walk out of this building today, I die a happy man," Yi said.
Yi also sends the children of Cambodia items they desperately need to live every day life, such as medicine, bikes so they can ride to church, and sandals. He said that this is the way he gives back to those in need because he has everything he needs.
He then showed a series of photographs of his family, friends, and him while enslaved and at the refugee camp. He remembered those he knew and honored them for enduring for as long as they did.
Yi offered the students present a piece of advice at the conclusion of the presentation. He encouraged everyone to not give up on their dreams and to strive for whatever makes them happy, also to help people because "you can never be truly successful until you help someone in need," Yi said.
Jenna Shepanski is a fourth-year student majoring in English and minoring in Journalism. She can be reached at JS618186@wcupa.edu.
18 comments:
He is a very good guy. He is a kind of person who has the ambition of helping people in need specially those who live in poverty in Cambodia. When I studied in CCP, he shared a little bit of information about his background too. He is a good friend and adviser.
Such a sissy-looking guy!
im sick of the Khmers who exploit their stories in the khmer rouge regime to make their living. They spread this bad image everywhere and think this makes them proud and get sympathy, no wonder one only knows Cambodia through Khmer Rouge, Genocide, Piles of skulls..etc. When Cambodia can get rid of this past and move on?
agree, no khmer people who were old enough to remember the atrocious KR era can ever forget. it was hell on earth, to say the least! cambodia and the world must work together to prevent this kind of brutal regime from ever taken over cambodia again. once is enough, no second chance for such regime in cambodia. i think people were gullible and ignorant back then, now, it is a totally different generation of cambodian people and even cambodia is so different now compare to the oppressed society back in history of cambodia. plus, older generation of khmer people are too old and too fragile, so, naturally, the new generation of khmer people, well educated new generation of khmer people will one day lead the cambodia into a very prosperous, peaceful, stable, rich cambodia. welcome cambodia into a new millenium, a new era, of course. let's all work together to make cambodia a great country. who cares anymore about fighting to no available as nothing is useful comes out of it. we must think openly like the rest of the world. please, by all means, do learn from the rest of the industralized world out there. god bless cambodia and all khmer people on the planet.
How many books have been written by us khmers about our time under Pol Pot? Heaps. everyone wants to tell their stories. some seems to think the larger the number of relatives lost during Pol Pot's time the greater their suffering. BUT isn't it time to move on and stop living on other people's pity? Let me ask those who are currently drafting their own memoirs of their time under Pol Pot - do you have any pity on those innocent people that are NOW suffering across the world? like the Sudanese people who are victimised by their own government. Stop that self pity and let your experience during Pol Pot's time help you help others who less fortunate than you, NOW.
Want to write a book? write a book. want to tell? tell your story. Get it out and tell some more. You could not tell someone enough of your living hell during the Pol Pot's regime. So please go right ahead and tell us. The more the better. To those that had never been there, please don't say that they don't tell. It was real and it was a true story and if one can tell and save another life from living the same misery, God bless that person. We must find our way to connect with each other. I have a family that had never been in Cambodia during pol pot's time. They have lost almost all of their family and everything else the past in Cambodia before 1975 and yet want nothing to do with it. Why? They get terrified by this nightmare and just did not want anything to do with it. Fine, but to those who have been suffering so much during this Era has the right to tell and prevent. Hello? aren't most of us Cambodian now sharing the same thing? Lost is the word sisters and brothers. Darkness is the other. Sad isn't it? very very sad. Like it or not we have lost so much and why not embracing that lost together and try to make something good out of it? A museum? a book or a place to share that memory? This is Cambodian true part of history. Sure we have beautiful cultures and everything else, but this is also our very own culture. It will always be a part of our lives. This darkness, yes, but like they say, until the night has gone thru its darkest hour, it won't be day light coming. So true hope and happiness won't be arriving until we all understand where we truely are coming from. It's just like Mr. Yi now. He cann't be so happy and be the person he is today unless he knew the true cause of his unhappiness. So stop stopping people from doing thing or writing about it. If two millions or more people were truely suffering from this nightmare or greatest misery, two millions or more stories will be told. Don't get left out, get along, because these are the majority part of people of Cambodia today. They are the people that will one day bring true day light and brightness to our future. They are the one to look up to and the one to follow. All I can say, from head down to their toes, they are our heros.
One ordinary Khmer
yes 10.22am, those who pretend to relive their lives of KR only do so to gain attention at the expense of khmer image as a nation without cilivization.
yes, no doubt khmer rouge brought genocide to the history, but we all need to move on and rebuild our country.
stop reminding others that cambodia is full of atrocity, in fact, tell how beautiful it is, even under Youn's exploitation.
I'll be born Cambodian again if there will ever be the next life.
hey, it's call freedom to express oneself, etc... nothing wrong with that. except one thing perhaps, it gets kind of boring with read sad story. well, perhaps, a personal memoir is what a person writes given everyone was curious about his/her background. i think it is good that everyone tries to put it on paper in writing; otherwise, it may have been forgotten. god bless.
been there, gone that!
I dont give a shit about what y'all think, modafuckaz!
im sure this sissy-looking dude is a cocksucker! any chump who give comments in this blog can get a blowjob from him provided that you would give him back an ass-fuck.
me personally, i could careless what a person do in his/her personal life as long as it doesn't infringe on my rights or anyone else's rights. as long as it's good for the reputation of cambodia make more tourists come to visit cambodia and drives the khmer economy, i'm for everything and anything. mind, the good life for all to enjoy in cambodia. more eduation for cambodia, please. god bless cambodia and all our beautiful khmer people and citizens.
why are some of us still crying about our 30-year old tragedy? most have moved on and a few made millions just ask Hun Sen's ministers. yes many of us cannot move on and cannot find peace. those that can why don't we urge each other to do something positive in favour of those still suffering? sponsor a khmer child, send contributions to aid NGOs etc... we can make a difference. why write the same tearful stories that have been told a few million times by others more knowledgeable than one who only was 9 year old at the time? beggars belief i reckon!
Oh Yeah! just a child? who do think you are motherfucker? Putting a child thru that horror regime meant nothing to you. You're a dog.
I am Daravann Yi and the author of Salt Seeker. I am truly surprised that I am being attacked, even though you don't know me, because I share a personal story of what I had been through as a young child during the Khmer Rouge regime. My book is not an attack on Khmer or put down our Khmer Race, but it is about how and what I did to survive and overcome obstacles. I wrote it not because I can't let the past go or of self-pity, or can't move on with my life or want to exploit, but because my experience has made me very strong educational, professional and socially today. Yes, I was young. Though, I still member almost everything that happened to me, my family and others. For the past 34 years, I have used my horrific experience in the US to build a great future for me and my family. I have a wonderful job at the college where I help students achieve their goals. I am very glad my mind did not mess up, but I have a feeling that many Khmer have not recovered from their experience. As an educator, I have taught many students and faculty to use their bad experiences to better themselves and build a brighter future. My speech about Khmer race and culture is usually positive because I love my people and the country. I feel so bad that I lost family members and millions of Cambodians were killed. Let's stop using profanity because it sounds so uneducated and stop attack each other. I think that if you have chance to know me, you probably like me because I am all about helping Khmer People in the community and Khmer students to succeed in life. I have visited Cambodia twice and I am thrilled to see that the country and the people are doing better. By the way I was not a bagger before April 1975. My family was well educated and I was just a kid who likes his second grade school and played with his friends in the street. I welcome constructive criticism and suggestions to improve the way I say and do things. Let's put our heads together so that we can help those in need here in the US as well as in our home, Cambodia. I wish all of you the best of everything.
-- quoted "I think that if you have chance to know me, you probably like me because I am all about helping Khmer People in the community and Khmer students to succeed in life."
I dont think so, unless im a cocksucker like you.
Stop wolf crying, u sissy faggot lol
Daravan, do u teach kids to blowjob?
Daravaan,
You have to know that there are a lot of morons out there that don't give a sh.. about anybody, but their own. So keep your chin up. You're alright. Take care & God Bless!
Why is it that people have to use obscenities to get their point across? can't they criticise the author on this blog as if they are fronting him straigth up, face to face? having said that i don't know that many 9 year old boys that have survived Pol Pot like the rest of us who can still remember details of life under that regime that well. "the work is terrible","i was weak with hunger", "they beat me because i tried to run away from the korng chalat to see my mother", etc.. such are the kind of recollections a 10 year old will say. But ask him where, who, what why and the certainties drift away. Unless of course you were a lot older at the time - say 18? All the best to you & family, and don't cross into that dark cynical world of those who have suffered bitterness and have given up showing mercy on others.
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