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Authors: Nawuth Keat
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single person could have traveled much more quickly than our family did. We had eaten such poor diets for so long, we were all weak. Hackly and Chanty could not go fast because they were so small. We were all exhausted, but our fear kept us moving.
It was hard to find water. One time we came across a pond, but the water was so muddy it wasn’t drinkable. We needed water to cook our rice. Van Lan boiled the water to purify it, but the amount of water was so small in comparison to the dirt that as soon as the water boiled, all that was left was dirt. We walked for many days before we finally came to a good-sized pond of clean water. Alongside it, we saw neat rows of coconut palms and mango trees. There were no houses in sight. The Khmer Rouge must have destroyed the buildings of a small village, and only the trees remained. I was exhausted, and my feet were burned and sore from the hot sand. I was glad that we stayed there for a few days to regain ourstrength. We ate fruit from the trees, I fished, we cooked rice, and we felt better. Then Van Lan said. “It’s time to move ahead again. Let’s go.”
We met other people trying to escape, too. One man told us that he’d heard the Khmer Rouge caught a group not far away from us. They were all killed.
After three weeks, our zigzagging route brought us closer to Battambang, which we knew the Vietnamese controlled. Van Lan hoped his parents would find their way there, too. Finally, after about a month of walking, we got to the outskirts of Battambang. We were totally worn out. Van Lan asked everyone we met on the road, “Do you know my parents? Have you seen them?” No one had, but we continued into the city.
The first night in Battambang, we were so tired and weak that we just lay down and slept on a sidewalk. The next day, Van Lan met someone who knew his family. He said that they were living in a house by the train station. Van Lan found them. It was a reunion not of joy and celebration, but of exhausted relief. For a short time, Van Lan, Chantha, Vibol, my brothers, and I moved in with Van Lan’s parents, sisters, brothers, and their children in a house that had a roof and walls. What a change from sleeping in a primitive hut, or on the ground with no protection at all! I began to feel like a human being again. I was reminded that life might be more than endless work, endless hunger, and endless fear.
Many of the houses in Battambang had been abandoned. People like us who escaped from the KhmerRouge looked for an empty house that suited them, and then they moved into it. The house my family found was fairly close to Van Lan’s parents’. It needed two new windows, the sink had to be replaced, and the front step had cracked. We made the repairs, and then put a new lock on the door to show that the place was now occupied. That house provided the best living conditions I had experienced for years. It had a flush toilet and, sometimes, even electricity.
“We are free of the Khmer Rouge at last!” I dared to whisper. At least that’s what I thought.
Chapter Nine
IN THE CITY
“People here walk so slowly,” I said to Ang, Van Lan’s nephew whom I’d just met. “This is amazing!”
“Why?” he said.
“In the countryside, the Khmer Rouge made everybody hurry. They made us rush from field to field, or they pushed us as fast as they could to make us go away from the advancing Vietnamese.”
Here in Battambang, people were relaxed. They chatted calmly as they strolled the streets. Vendors sold ice that people bought to keep their food cool. I had not seen ice for more than three years. When Chantha asked me to get ice for her, Ang came with me. We were a lot alike. He was just my age. Like me, he was short and skinny. And like me, he was eager to have a friend and to re-learn how to have fun.
After we took the ice to my house, we wanted to go back out and explore more of the neighborhood. We were curious, but one place that we were not allowed to go was the
It was hard to find water. One time we came across a pond, but the water was so muddy it wasn’t drinkable. We needed water to cook our rice. Van Lan boiled the water to purify it, but the amount of water was so small in comparison to the dirt that as soon as the water boiled, all that was left was dirt. We walked for many days before we finally came to a good-sized pond of clean water. Alongside it, we saw neat rows of coconut palms and mango trees. There were no houses in sight. The Khmer Rouge must have destroyed the buildings of a small village, and only the trees remained. I was exhausted, and my feet were burned and sore from the hot sand. I was glad that we stayed there for a few days to regain ourstrength. We ate fruit from the trees, I fished, we cooked rice, and we felt better. Then Van Lan said. “It’s time to move ahead again. Let’s go.”
We met other people trying to escape, too. One man told us that he’d heard the Khmer Rouge caught a group not far away from us. They were all killed.
After three weeks, our zigzagging route brought us closer to Battambang, which we knew the Vietnamese controlled. Van Lan hoped his parents would find their way there, too. Finally, after about a month of walking, we got to the outskirts of Battambang. We were totally worn out. Van Lan asked everyone we met on the road, “Do you know my parents? Have you seen them?” No one had, but we continued into the city.
The first night in Battambang, we were so tired and weak that we just lay down and slept on a sidewalk. The next day, Van Lan met someone who knew his family. He said that they were living in a house by the train station. Van Lan found them. It was a reunion not of joy and celebration, but of exhausted relief. For a short time, Van Lan, Chantha, Vibol, my brothers, and I moved in with Van Lan’s parents, sisters, brothers, and their children in a house that had a roof and walls. What a change from sleeping in a primitive hut, or on the ground with no protection at all! I began to feel like a human being again. I was reminded that life might be more than endless work, endless hunger, and endless fear.
Many of the houses in Battambang had been abandoned. People like us who escaped from the KhmerRouge looked for an empty house that suited them, and then they moved into it. The house my family found was fairly close to Van Lan’s parents’. It needed two new windows, the sink had to be replaced, and the front step had cracked. We made the repairs, and then put a new lock on the door to show that the place was now occupied. That house provided the best living conditions I had experienced for years. It had a flush toilet and, sometimes, even electricity.
“We are free of the Khmer Rouge at last!” I dared to whisper. At least that’s what I thought.
Chapter Nine
IN THE CITY
“People here walk so slowly,” I said to Ang, Van Lan’s nephew whom I’d just met. “This is amazing!”
“Why?” he said.
“In the countryside, the Khmer Rouge made everybody hurry. They made us rush from field to field, or they pushed us as fast as they could to make us go away from the advancing Vietnamese.”
Here in Battambang, people were relaxed. They chatted calmly as they strolled the streets. Vendors sold ice that people bought to keep their food cool. I had not seen ice for more than three years. When Chantha asked me to get ice for her, Ang came with me. We were a lot alike. He was just my age. Like me, he was short and skinny. And like me, he was eager to have a friend and to re-learn how to have fun.
After we took the ice to my house, we wanted to go back out and explore more of the neighborhood. We were curious, but one place that we were not allowed to go was the
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