Vicheara was born in Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh in the peaceful days before the Khmer Rouge rebels engulfed this small Southeast Asian nation in four years of death and destruction.  As the only child of a wealthy and politically prominent father, her young life was one of great contrasts. She was alternately indulged and abused by her father who was determined that she could be both a traditional Cambodian woman and highly educated professional.

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      She went to University of Phnom Penh to study pharmacology and met her husband there. He was not an acceptable choice to her father in a society where social status governed most aspects of life. Their forbidden romance caused much conflict but eventually they prevailed and married in 1975 right before the Khmer Rouge took over and their lives turned upside down.

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      All the residents of Phnom Penh, including Vicheara's entire family, were forced out of their homes and expelled from the city in a mass exodus by the Khmer Rouge rebels. They believed that they would be allowed to return home in days but instead, the Khmer Rouge relocated them to a remote province, where they lived for almost four years with horror. 



Emaciated and alone, she manged to survive until 1979 when the Khmer Rouge was defeated by the Vietnamese and the survivors were liberated. Vicheara  returned to the her paternal home, only to find that it no longer belonged to her family and that liberation by the Vietnamese communists was another kind of prison. She finished her pharmacology degree and made daring escape to a refugee camp in Thailand. There she met the man who would become her second husband and they made their way to the US in 1984, where they had two children, a boy and a girl. She received her bachelor's degree in Chemistry. She later divorced and met her current husband in Portland, OR. Later, they moved to Arizona where she finished writing this first book, Bamboo Promise  to share her amazing story of survival with the world. 

 

 

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Education:  Pharmacist (Cambodia), BS in Chemistry (Portland, OR)

Languages:English, Khmer, French, Vietnamese.                  

                               

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Hobbies: Latin dance, Zumba, knitting, travel, writing, Yoga, Meditation, Reiki

 

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Activities: Speech at Clackamas High School in Oregon (Dec 2012) 

              Speech at Beaverton Rotary club in Oregon (Dec 2012, Jan 2013)

              Interviewed by a local newspaper "Explorer" in Tucson, AZ (Jan 2013)

              Book singing at Mr. An's restaurant (Jan 2013)

              Book presentation at Mr. An's restaurant (Jan 2013)

              Book presentation at Wat Buddhametta, Tucson, AZ (every month on

              the 2nd week)

                  Speech at Marana Rotary club in Tucson, AZ (March 2013)

                  Interview with local TV show at channel 68, Cox20 Comcast 24 (May 2013)

                 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTHtzAIZHLE