“I want to learn what it means to be a Khmerican, so I can better understand what my wife and son experience,” says Will Koenig, a journalist who lived in Cambodia for three years, returning to the states in 2006.
Koenig didn’t have much contact with Cambodians until he went to the country and found various employment, including at publications, academic institutions, and development agencies. His communication and technical skills allowed him to earn his keep while experiencing the culture and meeting people who changed his life, including the woman he would eventually marry.
But he sees the relationship between America and Cambodia in terms of strides to be made abroad. “I think a lot of Cambodians look to Cambodian Americans for a hint at the possibilities the future holds. America offers a beacon for freedom and progress, and Khmericans will have an out-sized role to play in the development, in every sense, of Cambodia,” says Koenig. “That’s why Khmerican.com is so valuable, because it is a place to showcase the best and brightest.”
Koenig believes his involvement with Khmerican will be a chance to experiment with the possibilities of online journalism. He feels his long background in the profession is strength yet also a weakness, given the precarious position of news personnel as their industry changes dramatically thanks to technology. And how is his Khmer linguistic ability after his sojourn in the Southeast Asian kingdom? “Terrible.”
Even so, we welcome Will Koenig, based in Salem, Oregon, to our team. He brings to the table further multimedia competency, having initiated our podcasting, and an eye for copyediting, his day job. An ebook compilation of columns he has written about his adventures in Cambodia is available at http://khmr.cn/at-home-on-the-mekong
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