196 Books: Cambodia

Crossing Three Wildernesses by U Sam Oeur

This is Cambodia:

And here's a little summary:

In a harrowing but ultimately triumphant affirmation of the human spirit, celebrated Cambodian poet U Sam Oeur narrates his incredible life story, testifies to the horrors of genocide and shares his fervent prayers for peace and freedom through the process of democracy.

Born in 1936 to a large and moderately prosperous farming family, Oeur spent his childhood herding water buffalo and tending rice paddies in the lush Cambodian countryside. He was educated under the French colonial system and selected to attend California State University in Los Angeles. While in the United States, he awakened to the possibilities of the democratic ideal and went on to receive his MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop.

Upon returning to Cambodia in 1968, Oeur married, became a captain in Lon Nol's army, served in the National Assembly and was part of the Cambodian delegation to the United Nations. When Pol Pot assumed power in 1975, Oeur, having vowed to help establish democracy in Cambodia and unaware of the events ahead, elected to stay. Driven out of Phnom Phen with millions of the city's residents, Oeur, along with his wife and son, miraculously survived the killing fields, feigning illiteracy and relying upon the skills he had learned as a child to endure six forced-labor camps over the next four years. Millions, however, died during the Khmer Rouge regime, including Oeur's twin daughters.

Crossing Three Wildernesses is a personal account of survival, an astute political analysis and a beautiful illustration of the Cambodian culture--its people, myths and traditions. In a world still plagued by genocide and terror, this remarkable memoir is a moving call to freedom and a passionate plea for peace.

Ugh. Guys. This was yet another book that left me sick to my stomach about the way we treat each other. Whyyyy does the human race continue to decimate itself? I've been saying for the past couple of years that I feel like there's less empathy in the world today, but then I read yet another book like this and remember that people are just historically awful. But, with as many terrible things as it described, this book was written so beautifully. I know I've said it before; this was the kind of book that reads like a friend telling you a story. And because it was so good, I have some notes like I used to do. 

• With the title, I had assumed that the "three wildernesses" were different landscapes, but here's the actual description: "The three wildernesses represented death by execution, by starvation, or by disease, which almost all Cambodians faced during Pol Pot's regime..." Holy crap. Every time I read one of these war stories it reaffirms that I would not survive. 
• Here's a quote that got me fired up: "I should explain that my older sisters were not educated because my father, like other farmers, felt that if they learned to read, they might write love letters to their boyfriends." Harumph. Why is it always the women who get screwed over? Why was there no concern over boys writing letters to their girlfriends? Rude.
• U Sam Oeur first learns French in school, and later on learns English. He says he found English easier to learn because there aren't as many tenses. THANK YOU. People keep saying English is such a hard language to learn but at least we don't make inanimate objects masculine or feminine! People who speak languages that have that...if you have any tips to make any sort of sense out of which sex an inanimate object is, please share it. 
• The author notes at one point that 17,000 people were imprisoned at Tuol Sleng and only 7 survived. (I looked up Tuol Sleng and it was a school turned prison turned museum. Wikipedia says that an estimated 20,000 people were imprisoned but that the actual number isn't known.) I keep reading these stories of genocides and wonder why we don't hear more about them. I understand that the breadth of the killing under Hitler was astronomical, but that doesn't mean we don't need to know about other genocides. I think there are cases where we need to hear about these horrific things; we need to be uncomfortable so that maybe we won't keep doing this shit. 
• When Oeur first takes a job in the government, the president wanted to build protective fences around the Presidential Palace, and submitted a ludicrously high bid. It's argued against and experts say that the actual cost would be a fraction of the amount proposed. He goes on to say, "But I didn't know about the power of the presidency--that you could do anything you wanted once you got in." Which is to say, the president got the amount he wanted. Umm...sound familiar? For all the checks and balances we're supposed to have, I'm afraid this is what we'll end up with if the government ever reopens. 
• Even though the years of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge seem to have been the scariest, the time before and after their reign wasn't very safe either. And U Sam Oeur is really freaking lucky that he didn't get killed a few times over. He says as much in the book, but he relays many, many stories of him speaking up on his disagreement with whatever the government was doing at the time. There were even a couple of instances that he was supposed to have been executed and he somehow scraped out of it. 
• Apparently there's a thing called Chbap Srei, which is the Buddhist code of ethics for women and, excuse me? I couldn't actually find any information about it, except that some women recently tried to rewrite it. AGAIN, why is it always women being screwed over?! Full disclosure, I didn't actually look up to see if there was one for men, so my anger may be unfounded. I'm okay with it. 
• Throughout the book, Oeur talks a lot about significant dreams, visions, and spirits. I found it really interesting, because the things that the spirits spoke of, or the significance of the dreams, led to real events. I mean Christians have saints and angels, but it's not a widespread thing to say that one of them talked to you or came to you through a medium. It was kind of fascinating. 

One thing that I thought would be fun to start doing is trying food from the country I'm reading about. There happens to be a Cambodian restaurant near the apartment, so Soldier and I went to check it out this past weekend. I had taprom, which is a dish with veggies (even one I hadn't tried/heard of before: napa) with a lemon grass and tamarind sauce, and Soldier had bayon (which of course I tried). Bayon was a Cambodian curry. They were both quite good, and really not out of the ordinary. I do kind of wish I'd tried a few different things, so maybe we'll find a time to do it again. I did get a little nervous to try any of the dishes made with coconut...I really am not a fan. Maybe I'll be more brave next time. I also plan on trying to find the movie The Killing Fields to get a little more information and another perspective on this era. So...the learning continues.