MESSAGE FROM THE AUTHOR

     I am a Cambodian - American woman and a survivor of the Cambodian genocide that occurred from 1975 to 1979. As a member of a small group of Khmer (Cambodian) authors who have been fortunate enough to be able to publish a book about the tragedy in Cambodia, I wanted to tell the world not just my own story of survival in the darkness of horror, agony and grief, but, just as important, how the radical terrorist Khmer Rouge came to power and how they carried out their agenda of genocide as the world stood by in silence.

     The Khmer Rouge (KR) extremists were very clever, manipulative, aggressive and inhuman. Readers of my book will quickly see the parallels with ISIS. Like ISIS, the KR used torture, terror, rape, forced labor and mass murder to eliminate all opposition. In the years leading up to their takeover of the country, the KR recruited from all aspects of Cambodian society: highly-educated, politicians, farmers, students, even children. They promised a utopian society based on pure communism, just as ISIS promises a caliphate based upon Islam.

     My book, "Bamboo Promise, A Prison Without Walls" was intended as a voice for my family, friends, neighbors, and for all Khmers who are unable to tell their stories and share their pain. Unable because they were among the millions slaughtered without justice; starved to death in a nation that exported the bounty from its fields; raped and mutilated; and dead from illness that could have been easily cured by access to modern medicine. Cambodians who survived the genocide were permanently traumatized by the war crimes perpetrated by Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge guerrilla leader, and his followers. 

For Khmer survivors, the Khmer Rouge legacy is PTSD.

     When the Khmer Rouge were driven out by the Vietnamese Army in 1979, the Khmer survivors crawled out of the killing fields with no help. They believed they would find peace and freedom, not realizing that that they were carrying along another war in their hearts and minds. An invisible war called post-traumatic stress disorder, which traumatized them day and night. This is the topic of my second book. I explain how this war still lives inside us; how we carry the trauma even decades after we were "liberated". Treatment and healing are very difficult due to the complications of this sickness and the individual reactions of the victims. As a PTSD patient, I share my experience with PTSD to serve as a bridge between the victims and health care providers. Traditional western medical approaches to PTSD did not work for me. Medication and talk therapy did not bring me the peace I so desperately sought. I did not find therapists who could even begin to understand what I had seen, felt and endured. How could they? I also now understand that there is a cultural context to any cure for mental illness that must be incorporated into treatment. 
After years of mental anguish, I finally understood that I had to find my own route to psychic peace and began to climb out of a deep pit of misery. I want to share my story to help both PTSD victims and health care providers in hopes that they too can craft personalized treatment plans that include both eastern and western medicine.
My second book is available only in manuscript form. Please contact me if you are interested in publishing it.