Short Hair Detention: Memoir of a Thirteen-Year-Old Girl Surviving the Cambodian Genocide - Softcover

Laux, Channy Chhi

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1480852937 ISBN 13: 9781480852938

Publisher: Archwaypublishing, 2017

Synopsis

In April 1975, Channy Chhi Laux was a happy thirteen-year-old girl who was excited to start a new school year. But as news reports announced that the Khmer Rouge was getting closer to taking control of Cambodia, Channy and her family were forced to relocate to Poipet, a border town to Thailand. From that point forward, Channy lived a life dictated by fear.

About this title

About the Author

In June of 1979, Channy arrived in Lincoln Nebraska as a refugee.  After four years of no school and not knowing a word of English, she attended Lincoln High School; earned a Master of Science in Applied Mathematics from Santa Clara University and undergraduate degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.  Channy worked in Silicon Valley as an engineer in the Aerospace and Biotech industries for 30 years before starting her own business, Angkor Cambodian Food and publishing her memoir, "Short Hair Detention". She now lives in San Francisco Bay Area with her husband Kent Laux.

From the Back Cover

Early dawn the very next day, I woke up to the sound of intense gunfire. My heart was out of bed before my body. The gunfire continued, and it was coming from all directions...

For a moment, I thought that I was dreaming, but then I heard Em cry, "Hurry, hurry my children". It was not a nightmare. It was worse. It was real. Before I could get out of bed, there was more gunfire, this time very close. Em was still crying to get us all together. "Hurry, hurry my children. Go downstairs".

I got out of the bed and without thinking I found myself hidden behind the door, looking through the crack, over the balcony and down the street where the last gunfire was coming from. There I saw two men ... They had long shot guns in their hands; they looked like twins. With their guns pointing into the sky, they hustled in a general direction, but every step they made they were shifting left and right, turning around and walking backward and forward as though they were possessed by a devil.

"Out! Out! Everybody out! Right now, before I kill somebody!" One of the men yelled from the bottom of his lungs

From the Inside Flap

In April 1975, Channy Chhi Laux was a happy thirteen-year-old girl who was excited to start a new school year. But as news reports announced that the Khmer Rouge were getting closer to taking control of Cambodia, Channy and her family were forced to relocate to Poipet, a border town to Thailand. From that point forward, Channy lived a life dictated by fear.

In a moving narrative, Channy recounts the intimate details of her journey through four devastating years of the Cambodian genocide that killed more than two million of her people. From the first six months of starvation to the agonizing moments when the Khmer Rouge separated her from her parents, Channy details how she found friendship despite dire circumstances, learned to rely on her animal instincts, endured emotional pain, and found the courage to look past her misery and persevere for the sake of her mother. Through it all, Channy reminds all of us that it is possible to survive unforgiving conditions through faith in God, a fierce determination and unwavering inner-strength.

Short Hair Detention shares the true story of a thirteen-year-old girl's experiences as she struggled to survive the Cambodian genocide.

Edition details

• Publisher: Archwaypublishing
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1480852937
• ISBN 13: 9781480852938
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 574