Vicheara Houn

I am a Cambodian - American woman and a survivor of the Cambodian genocide that occurred from 1975 to 1979. As a member of a small group of Khmer (Cambodian) authors who have been fortunate enough to be able to publish a book about the tragedy in Cambodia, I wanted to tell the world not just my own story of survival in the darkness of horror, agony and grief, but, just as important, how the radical terrorist Khmer Rouge came to power and how they carried out their agenda of genocide as the world stood by in silence.

The Khmer Rouge (KR) extremists were very clever, manipulative, aggressive and inhuman. Readers of my book will quickly see the parallels with ISIS. Like ISIS, the KR used torture, terror, rape, forced labor and mass murder to eliminate all opposition. In the years leading up to their takeover of the country, the KR recruited from all aspects of Cambodian society: highly-educated, politicians, farmers, students, even children. They promised a utopian society based on pure communism, just as ISIS promises a caliphate based upon Islam.

My book, "Bamboo Promise, A Prison Without Walls" was intended as a voice for my family, friends, neighbors, and for all Khmers who are unable to tell their stories and share their pain. Unable because they were among the millions slaughtered without justice; starved to death in a nation that exported the bounty from its fields; raped and mutilated; and dead from illness that could have been easily cured by access to modern medicine. Cambodians who survived the genocide were permanently traumatized by the war crimes perpetrated by Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge guerrilla leader, and his followers.

My bio is my story in this book.

Vichera Houn

http://boramtz.wix.com/bamboo-promise

http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1077&context=jsaaea