Cambodian immigrant shares hardships

Navy Phim during a book exhibit

3/4/08
By Virginia Huitrado
Talon Marks (Student newspaper at Cerritos College, Norwalk, Calif., USA)

"I am an earth child in Cambodia," is one of the lines in Navy Phim's biography entitled "Reflections of a Khmer Soul," about her life and finding who she is in Cambodia.

She presented the book to students, Tuesday in S201. She said it took one year to write and was published in August 2007 through Wheatmark Publishing.

A Khmer is a Cambodian citizen.

The book explains her being born in the killing fields, being a refugee in Cambodia and living in America.

She tries to understand Cambodia and why something like killing the fields took place.

She also has pictures of her life in Cambodia with her family in her biography.

She left Cambodia in 1979 when she was 4 years old and her first visit back to Cambodia was in 1998 when she was about 20 years old.

She now lives in Long Beach, where she's been living since 1990.

Long Beach has one of the biggest Cambodian populations in the U.S.

There are two main big events that happen in Long Beach for Cambodians.

One event which is Cambodian New Year that is held in Long Beach at El Dorado park, and Long Beach gave them the day to have a parade on Anaheim Street to celebrate and have a good time.

To learn more about Navy Phim, or if you are interested in reading her biography, go to her web site: www.navyphim.com.

Cambodians Near US Capital Celebrate Community Day

Nuch Sarita, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
27 August 2007

Members of the Cambodian community in the Washington, DC, area celebrated Cambodian Community Day Sunday, in an effort to integrate Cambodian culture into American society.

The purpose of the day was to bring attention of Cambodian achievements to American society, organizers said.

In a ceremony in Ben Brenman Park, in Alexandria, Va., a suburb of the US capital, Cambodians performed traditional song and dance.

"Our purpose is to bring Cambodian and American families and communities together to recognize Khmer achievements," said Boran Tum, an organizer, "and to have fun."