Cambodian genocide survivor Loung Ung to tell her story

May. 7, 2012
Written by Keith Uhlig
Wausau Daily Herald

A survivor of the Cambodian genocide of the late 1970s will tell her story in Wausau this week.

Loung Ung, author of the award-winning memoir "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" will speak in a community forum Tuesday at Wausau East High School. Ung's presentation is sponsored by A Walk in Their Shoes, a collaborative effort by a group of north central Wisconsin educators. The goal of A Walk in Their Shoes is to bring history to life for students and community members, linking personal stories to world-changing events.

The group has sponsored presentations by people who witnessed wars in Rwanda and Sudan in Africa, and the son of a leader of a Jewish guerilla army that fought the Nazis during World War II.

Ung was a young girl in 1975 when Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge conquered Cambodia, killing some 2 million people. Among them were Ung's parents, two sisters and 20 other relatives.

She managed to live, and was brought to the United States. As an adult, she's worked as an advocate against violence and a peace activist in Cambodia. In addition to "First They Killed My Father," she has written two other memoirs, "Lucky Child" and "Lulu in the Sky." "Lucky Child" is about her childhood growing up in America, a story she juxtaposes with the story of one of her sisters, who stayed in Cambodia and also survived. "Lulu in the Sky," a book recently published, is about her young adult years, dealing with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Ung, 41, now living in Cleveland, will speak about the struggle she went through in Cambodia and "what it takes to survive the peace, long after the war," she said in a phone interview Friday from Boston, where she was on a book tour.

She'll also underscore how the good in humanity remains even in the worst of horrors.

"It hasn't been easy," Ung said. "But's it's possible to be OK. ... I found healing love with my country, with myself and healing with work in activism."

Colin Hanson, an Edgar Elementary School teacher who is one of the founders of A Walk in Their Shoes, said Ung was chosen to speak because of her compelling story, and also because she is from Southeast Asia.

"I hope it builds a connection with the people from Southeast Asia living here in central Wisconsin," Hanson said.