To the editor:
I have just finished reading [Publisher Assunta Ng’s] blog. I cannot tell you how sad it makes me feel. I appreciate every effort she puts into showing the world what Cambodia is — and its people and its history. Thank you so much for the beautiful pictures. They are haunting and beautiful at the same time. I can tell you that whenever my parents and friends talk about their past experiences as prisoners of the Khmer Rouge, there are so many horrific details. I can’t imagine how they survived.
I was not born until 1983, and my parents and their friends were always talking about their past experiences as prisoners and of planting in the rice paddy fields, starving and resorting to eating crickets, tarantulas, scorpions, and snakes. These were real survival stories.
Each picture taken definitely had more stories behind them and [Ng] did great in explaining and detailing what each picture depicted. I watched a documentary behind S21, the high school-turned-prison/torture grounds. It made me cry and made me so angry, especially after seeing the pictures of each person they tortured and killed. One picture, in particular, was of a woman holding her infant baby. I don’t know what happened to the mom or her poor baby. I felt like I didn’t want to know because I didn’t think I could take the truth.
I would love to learn more through [Ng’s] eyes. At least until I can return [to Cambodia] once I become a U.S. citizen.
[To Ng,] please continue to inspire others in your journey! Please continue to keep up the good work! I am rooting for you! (end) — Vannary Sea, Seattle