"Cambodian Masters: Stories Told" - By Stéphane Janin

My sincere thanks to Stephane Janin and The Cambodian Buddhist Society, Inc. for bringing these stories. They allow me to learn about our wonderful and talented Compatriots and they also bring back a flood of memory from another time and another place (that of the refugee camps in Thailand) - THANK YOU! Socheata

Orginally posted by Stéphane Janin
at http://stephanejanin.com/2010/05/06/a-cambodian-journey-in-america/

From the Cambodian refugee camps of the Thai border in 1979 to America today, there’s still thousands of stories that must be told.

The confirmed artists that I have met at the Cambodian temple of Silver Spring, Maryland these last two years have a compelling story… Most of them have fled Cambodia while the Vietnamese took over the country and the Khmer Rouge loosing it. Several ended up meeting together in Kao-I-Dang refugee camp where they were eager to bring back the Cambodian living arts alive. After a few months, a group of 30 families of artists was admitted in the United States, among the first Cambodian refugees accepted in the US. They settled in Maryland and started a new life in the early 80s. For the last 30 years now they have challenged the odds, going back to school, looking for jobs to support their family and raising their children. Still they continued practicing their art, sharing the tradition to a younger generation of Cambodian Americans. This project made with the Cambodian Temple of Silver Spring has received the support of Maryland State Arts Council.

“Cambodian Masters: Stories Told” presents you 7 pieces of 7 artists who have become Masters in their art, plus one piece introducing the whole story and project. I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I had pleasure working on it!

These stories are not just about keeping the Cambodian arts alive, but it is also about healing, community, and family.

Link to the slideshows:

http://www.cambodian-buddhist.org/CambodianMasters/

The Nurse - Another slide show/interview by Stephane Janin

The Nurse

Malida's journey from Khao-I-Dang refugee camp to serving the needy in Lowell

(All photos: Stéphane Janin)

Malida’s Suong parents fled Cambodia after the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime, and escaped to Khao-I-Dang refugee camp on the Thai border, where an estimated population of 160,000 refugees was living. Malida was born there in 1981. In 1985, the whole family finally left for a new life in a new country, the United States. After a short period in Maine, Malida’s family moved to Lowell, Massachusetts, where South-East Asian refugee families had already settled, among them a big majority of Cambodians. Malida’s parents found jobs easily there, factory works… It’s not until she traveled back to Cambodia in 2004 - the first time since her family had left the country - that Malida envisioned the career she wanted to embrace: public health and nursing. In May 2009, she has graduated with a Masters in Science and received her license to be a nurse practitioner. Malida is now working at LCHC (Lowell Community Health Center), a non-profit organization that started in 1970 to serve the diverse ethnic population of Lowell, with high quality and affordable health care services.

Click here to watch Stephane's slide show

Click here to see Stephane's still photos

Survivors’ Voices - Slide Shows By Stephane Janin

While the trial of Khmer Rouge leaders in Phnom Penh is still on process, some survivors of the Khmer Rouge regime in the United States continue to share their stories and file complaints to be addressed to the ECCC in Cambodia. Supported by the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at New York University, and local Cambodian organizations, non profit ASRIC (Applied Social Research Institute of Cambodia) has organized in November two workshops in Philadelphia and Lowell, Massachusetts. More than 30 new complaints have been added to the more than 100 already received in previous workshops throughout America earlier in 2009. You can see two slideshows of these last two workshops at this link: http://www.stephanejanin.com/ as usual.

Direct link for Phillie is http://stephanejanin.com/2009/12/03/survivors-voices-3/
Direct link for Lowell is http://stephanejanin.com/2009/12/03/survivors-voices-2/

Still photos are also available at http://khmerabroad.blogspot.com/

Sopheap Pich, Sculptor... - Photos by Stéphane Janin

September 24, 2009
By Stéphane Janin

Based in Phnom Penh, Sopheap Pich is a Cambodian artist. He was born in Battambang in 1971 and has emigrated to Amherst, Massachussets, USA in 1984, with his parents and his three brothers. During his College years, Sopheap eventually traveled, studied and lived in Miami, Chicago, France and Boston where he received his Masters of Arts.

Click here to see Stéphane's photo gallery

Click here to watch Stéphane's multimedia story

Updates from Stéphane Janin's Khmer Abroad website

Survivors’ Voices

Far from their native country, few Cambodian Americans have a full understanding of how the Khmer Rouge trial works in Cambodia, and about the possibility to file a complaint to be addressed to the court, as witness or victim of physical, material psychological injuries. A Professor of Sociology at California State University has founded an [...]

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Dear Cambodian friends and friends of Cambodia,

I would like to share with you some important updates on my web site with multimedia slideshows about the Cambodian Americans. You can see that at this link:

http://www.stephanejanin.com/

If you have time, please have a look and listen to stories shoot these last months in the DC area and Long Beach. The most recent one tells about a workshop organized in Virginia by Prof. Leakhena Nou from Cal-State University to help survivors from the Khmer Rouge regime bring their stories and testimonies and file complaints to be addressed to the ECCC-Khmer Rouge trial in Phnom Penh.

Hope you have a good visit on the site,

With my best regards,
Stephane Janin