The Immortal Seeds: Life goes on for a Khmer family - A book by Sambath Meas

Dear Readers,

Please check out my book called The Immortal Seeds: Life goes on for a Khmer family. The book is about my family’s journey - a peasant family - to find peace, freedom, and happiness after having lived under the Khmer Rouge regime for four years, which the Khmer population had experienced. It follows my family from the Issarak movement to the Vietnamese invasion.

I was born during a civil war between the American-backed Khmer Republic and China-backed Democratic Kampuchea that ravaged Cambodia. Tragically, the latter emerged victoriously and ruled the country with communism’s iron hand.

Since I became aware of my surrounding, which randomly started at the age of five, I noticed that my family was always on the move and we lived in constant fear and hunger. I never understood why and my parents did not explain why. They didn't think I needed to know as a young child. Our last move brought us to the United States of America.

Growing up as a Khmer-American, I was constantly bombarded by sad and tragic news about Khmer people and country, whether overhearing adults’ discussions or listening to radio and television news. It is also tremendously discouraging to hear people say Khmers are not good at anything but killing each other. I believe the reds had permanently stigmatized us.

In the end, almost two million lives were destroyed. Just like you, my family was among these millions. Nearly all of our immediate family members and relatives were either executed or starved to death. All Khmers suffered the same tragedy; but my father’s hope, faith, and courage saved us from the unimaginable. As the survivors of the darkest period in human history, we stood out as the immortal seeds..

This is not just another Khmer Rouge and killing field story, it is about us, Khmer people, our culture, religion, and the way we once were before the world refers to our motherland as the "Killing Fields." It has a brief story about my father's famous cousin, lok oam Has Salorn, and my granduncle's experience as a soldier of the military governor of Siem Reap, Dap Chhuon. He was one of the soldiers who was with the governor during the flee to Thailand. The story is way different from what Samdech Ta Sihanouk had revealed. Please check it out and leave your review at Amazon.com.

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