Stories of Cambodian Genocide Survivors Told Through Son, Grandson's New Memoir
My biological mother (left) and grandmother (right).
My biological mother (left) and grandmother (yeay) (right) are survivors of the Cambodian genocide. My grandmother, a young woman at the time, and my mother, who was born in 1973, lived through a period of civil war and the communist Khmer Rouge takeover in April of 1975. They witnessed the murder of hundreds of thousands of their neighbors and friends and millions more of their own countrymen and women forced to evacuate cities and marched to the countryside.
My mom and my yeay faced unimaginable trauma and pain, the kind that is passed down through generations.
As I wrote in my memoir Moon in Full: A Modern Coming-of-Age-Story:
“The Khmer Rouge broke the spirit of the Cambodian people in unimaginable ways. They tore the fabric of Cambodian society apart. They targeted intellectuals, monks, people with glasses, business owners. Then they forced Cambodians, particularly young people, into re-education camps and subjected them to brainwashing. They were taught to turn on each other, their families, friends, and neighbors, and to tear each other apart. They demanded absolute allegiance to the Khmer Rouge and their ideology, and they rooted out all signs of disloyalty.
And when they couldn’t abuse the Cambodian mind and spirit, the Khmer Rouge abused the Cambodian body through forced labor and starvation.”
Now, over two decades since the fall of the Khmer Rouge, my biological mother and yeay hold in their hands a new memoir written by their son and grandson. It’s not necessarily the story and the written words (they don’t read, write, or speak much English) that will help them heal and feel more at ease and at home.
But just the fact that they can hold my memoir, my story… their story… in their hands must bring them not only feelings of pride and tears of joy, but might have them believing (in Khmer) that “the kids are alright.”
Moon in Full, a contemporary coming-of-age story, shines light on one young man’s search for truth and compassion in a complicated era as it unwinds the deep-seated challenges we all face finding our authentic voice and true identities. Author Marpheen Chann’s heart-warming journey weaves through housing projects and foster homes; into houses of worship and across college campuses; and playing out in working-class Maine where he struggles to find his place. Adopted into in a majority white community, Chann must reconcile his fears and secret longings as a young gay man with the devoutly religious beliefs of his new family. Chann, a second-generation Asian American, recounts what he has learned, what he has lost, and what he has found during his evolution from a hungry refugee’s son to religious youth to advocate for acceptance and equality.