We’re sharing some poems by blog contributor Chath pierSath—from his travel diary in Cambodia where he has been for a few months. He often posts multiple times a day from cities and villages in his native country, composing spontaneously and documenting what he thinks and feels. His poems are raw,…
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One of our occasional contributors, the poet-painter-farmer-social activist Chath pierSath is traveling in his homeland, Cambodia, and sending daily dispatches as poems and paintings on his Facebook page. A refugee from the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, Chath came to America as a boy and after various moves settled…
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“In early 1979, after living under the murderous Pol Pot regime for nearly four years, my family and I returned to our destroyed village, finding nothing but the ashes of our home and fallow fields where there had once been prosperous rice paddies. Life seemed hopeless, yet we were determined…
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Writer and painter Chath PierSath, a former Lowell resident who still lives in the region, crossed the Thai-Cambodian border in 1979 with members of his family on the way to Aranyaprathet Refugee Camp. With the help of his brother and aunt, he and his sister came to America in 1981,…
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Cultural afffairs officials in Cambodia want the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City to return two sandstone sculptures that are believed to have been taken out of the country illegally around 1970. The statues, called “Kneeling Attendants,” date from the 10th century and are known to have been part of…
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Today’s NYTimes includes a report by Seth Mydans about the latest developments in the Khmer Rouge trials in Cambodia. This is part of our history in Lowell because many of our neighbors from that nation came to the U.S. because of the Khmer Rouge’s epic crime against humanity. These neighbors carry personal stories of the genocide…
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“After” is a book of letters in the form of poems that poignantly describes the author’s life and experiences as a child before, during and after the Khmer Rouge. It traces the author’s journey out of Cambodia to the United States and the experiences he had thereafter, through loss of…
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The NYTimes today has a report on the progress being made in Cambodia with United Nations-linked trials of Khmer Rouge leaders accused of atrocities related to the genocide in that country from 1975 to 1979. Read the article here, and get the NYT if you value the international reporting.
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The Globe and boston.com include an occasional feature about travels called “Passport” that is written by people in the Boston area, a kind of citizen journalism feature. This article by young student Akshan deAlwis describes a recent trip to Cambodia. The focus is a visit to the Angkor Association of the…
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Read a review of the new documentary film “Enemies of the People” about the genocide in Cambodia perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1979. Thet Sambath, left, and Nuon Chea in “Enemies of the People.”
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