October 26, 2009 By Traci Scott,
Oregon Faith Report
As conveyed in his recent book, “Golden Leaf: a Khmer Rouge Genocide Survivor”, Kilong Ung was a “golden leaf” propelled by the wind that blew him from one terrifying part of the world to the next. Through adverse weather, turmoil and calamity, he was subjected to a barrage of horrors. While two million other leaves disintegrated along the way, Ung persevered against all odds, rose above the devastation, and landed safely here in Oregon. His legacy is the tree that took root and the many branches he has utilized to reach out to others who have experienced a similar plight.
For more than 30 years, Kilong Ung, currently a Portland software engineer, struggled with nightmares, insomnia, paranoia and haunting memories of nearly starving to death in a slave labor camp where his parents and other family members perished before his very eyes.
Ung was living in the city of Battambang in Northwest Cambodia with his parents and seven sisters in 1975 when the brutal Khmer Rouge regime took control of the country. During its four years in power, the Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, attempted to completely recreate Cambodian society by systematically imprisoning, torturing, starving and executing nearly two million people, primarily those considered urban and intellectual.
Wweek.com recounts how the Khmer Rouge invaded Ung’s town and forced his family into slave labor camps where they worked 13 hours a day. Daily rations were two small bowls of rice porridge, plus whatever wildlife they could catch on their own. Although his mother grew weak, she refused to eat the rats he caught.
“To some people, they would rather die than go that route. My mother was one of those,” Ung told wweek.com. “Eating rats—if you get to that point, you’re pretty much dead anyway. You’re no longer human.”
In addition to losing his mother and father, Ung lost his youngest sister and seven other relatives to exhaustion, starvation, and disease. Other Cambodians were subject to torture and execution across the country’s infamous “killing fields”.
The Vietnamese overthrew the Khmer Rouge in 1979, and Ung fled to Thailand with his older sister and her boyfriend, according to wweek.com. The three came to America as refugees and eventually settled in Portland. Ung graduated from Cleveland High School and Reed College, where he earned a math degree.
Ung went on to graduate school and several well-paid jobs in the corporate world. Along the way, he married his high school sweetheart, Lisa, and together they had two children. But the nightmares continued, despite his successes.
Ung hoped to find a way to share his experiences with his two children, as well as honoring the survivors and non-survivors of the atrocities. He decided to write a book to achieve both objectives. This summer, he self-published his memoir and is hoping his book will help to heal the wounds that continue to plague his homeland.
The book depicts the cruel, agonizing and ravenous life inside a labor camp from a survivor’s perspective. He describes burying his grandmother, his frantic attempt to catch and eat a rat and his degrading arrest for stealing a coconut, among other painful and horrific experiences.
“On the one hand, I wanted to free myself from this memory. On the other hand, I was afraid to lose that memory,” Ung told wweek.com. “Anything I put down in the book, I am clear from it now…. and my nightmares are better.”
According to The Oregonian, Ung hopes his memoir will “leverage the past” and help his native country. He plans to use some of the proceeds from the sale of the book to build a school in Cambodia, which he plans to name “Golden Leaf.”
Ung also hopes to encourage others in the Cambodian community through his leadership and involvement as a language teacher, youth mentor and past president of the Cambodian American Community of Oregon (CACO), which provides support for members of the Cambodian community. His aspires to serve as a bridge between the Cambodian and American communities and hopes his successes will inspire and motivate others.
Mardine Mao, current president of the CACO, told The Oregonian that what sets Ung apart from fellow survivors is his ability to transform pain and suffering into something positive. “His work is a great example that ordinary people can do extraordinary things. It provides an inspiration to those of us that may want to share similar stories,”
“I’ve lost so much,” Ung told The Oregonian, “and if I do nothing with the past, all that has happened would have happened for nothing. A book becomes evidence. It becomes a legacy, a document.”
Ung is a living testament to the power of faith and forgiveness—that through these virtues one can rise above life’s seemingly insurmountable challenges and not only survive, but thrive.
For more than 30 years, Kilong Ung, currently a Portland software engineer, struggled with nightmares, insomnia, paranoia and haunting memories of nearly starving to death in a slave labor camp where his parents and other family members perished before his very eyes.
Ung was living in the city of Battambang in Northwest Cambodia with his parents and seven sisters in 1975 when the brutal Khmer Rouge regime took control of the country. During its four years in power, the Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, attempted to completely recreate Cambodian society by systematically imprisoning, torturing, starving and executing nearly two million people, primarily those considered urban and intellectual.
Wweek.com recounts how the Khmer Rouge invaded Ung’s town and forced his family into slave labor camps where they worked 13 hours a day. Daily rations were two small bowls of rice porridge, plus whatever wildlife they could catch on their own. Although his mother grew weak, she refused to eat the rats he caught.
“To some people, they would rather die than go that route. My mother was one of those,” Ung told wweek.com. “Eating rats—if you get to that point, you’re pretty much dead anyway. You’re no longer human.”
In addition to losing his mother and father, Ung lost his youngest sister and seven other relatives to exhaustion, starvation, and disease. Other Cambodians were subject to torture and execution across the country’s infamous “killing fields”.
The Vietnamese overthrew the Khmer Rouge in 1979, and Ung fled to Thailand with his older sister and her boyfriend, according to wweek.com. The three came to America as refugees and eventually settled in Portland. Ung graduated from Cleveland High School and Reed College, where he earned a math degree.
Ung went on to graduate school and several well-paid jobs in the corporate world. Along the way, he married his high school sweetheart, Lisa, and together they had two children. But the nightmares continued, despite his successes.
Ung hoped to find a way to share his experiences with his two children, as well as honoring the survivors and non-survivors of the atrocities. He decided to write a book to achieve both objectives. This summer, he self-published his memoir and is hoping his book will help to heal the wounds that continue to plague his homeland.
The book depicts the cruel, agonizing and ravenous life inside a labor camp from a survivor’s perspective. He describes burying his grandmother, his frantic attempt to catch and eat a rat and his degrading arrest for stealing a coconut, among other painful and horrific experiences.
“On the one hand, I wanted to free myself from this memory. On the other hand, I was afraid to lose that memory,” Ung told wweek.com. “Anything I put down in the book, I am clear from it now…. and my nightmares are better.”
According to The Oregonian, Ung hopes his memoir will “leverage the past” and help his native country. He plans to use some of the proceeds from the sale of the book to build a school in Cambodia, which he plans to name “Golden Leaf.”
Ung also hopes to encourage others in the Cambodian community through his leadership and involvement as a language teacher, youth mentor and past president of the Cambodian American Community of Oregon (CACO), which provides support for members of the Cambodian community. His aspires to serve as a bridge between the Cambodian and American communities and hopes his successes will inspire and motivate others.
Mardine Mao, current president of the CACO, told The Oregonian that what sets Ung apart from fellow survivors is his ability to transform pain and suffering into something positive. “His work is a great example that ordinary people can do extraordinary things. It provides an inspiration to those of us that may want to share similar stories,”
“I’ve lost so much,” Ung told The Oregonian, “and if I do nothing with the past, all that has happened would have happened for nothing. A book becomes evidence. It becomes a legacy, a document.”
Ung is a living testament to the power of faith and forgiveness—that through these virtues one can rise above life’s seemingly insurmountable challenges and not only survive, but thrive.
8 comments:
LOL,
How come every book written by our educated Khmer in US always has the "Ung" last name?? Are they related?
True, just like author "Loung Ung" Fist They Killed My Father.
I highly doubt it if the software engineer can write a book ... without the assistance of the professional writers. Also, this author must give a lot of credit to his American friends for helping him with this book--like Mr. Siv Chan, and the rest.
There is no shortage of other "golden" stuff on the horizon.
Who actually will purchase this book and finish reading it? Certainly, not me.
Good luck.
Ung Ma KaTach= Arch Ma KaTong!
I KNOW KILONG SINCE HE WAS 13 YEARS OLD . HE WAS VERY INTELLIGENT YOUNG MAN.HE HAD BEEN TEACHING IN COLLEGE AS HIS SECOND JOB AFTER GRADUATION IN MASTER DEGREE. HE HAS BEEN WORKING IN THE COMMUNITY TIRELESSLY TO BRIDGE THE GAP BETWEEN THE OLD AND YOUNG GENERATION IN OREGON.HE WAS ALSO A PRESIDENT OF THE CAMBODIAN ASSOCIATION IN OREGON FOR 4 YEARS.
I HIGHLY PRAISED ABOUT HIS VISION AND HIS INTELLECTS. HIS INSPIRATIONAL BOOK IS WORTH READING
12;57AM im PROUD YOUNG KID LIKE YOU
SURVIVE LIVE FROM POL POT..AND HAVE IDEA TO WRITTE BOOK . I DONT CARE WHO YOU ARE 12:57AM...MAY BE YOU CAN NOT DO LIKE HIM ,THAT WHAT CRITICIZE HIM RIGHT....?
Yes all that happened, would happen for nothing, if everyone says that it' o.k to forget and do nothing. Two millions people in Cambodia were gone during those 4 years of the strangest regime on earth. What do those people look like? dog ? cat? or an invisible men and women or children? Anyone who had relatives that were dying or dissappearing during this darkest period or even had to taste themself must have their own story to tell, but this is Kilong's. It's his experience and how he gets out of it. A must read book. See for yourself and God bless his courrage to write. Way to go Sir!
12:57am. I'm not Kilong, but that hurts and there are a lot of Ung out there. You should shuff all that back down your throat.
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