Children of the River

Everyone has heard of the terrible injustice that went on during World War II when Hitler and his German army murdered and tortures millions of Jewish people. Almost everyone has heard of the Tutsi massacre that occurred in Rwanda when feuding tribes recklessly killed one another over the death of the Rwandan president. It surprises me then, that many people do not know of the genocide-the killing of a people-that took place in Cambodia. After the United States left Vietnam and North Vietnam took over South Vietnam, Cambodia had a coup of sorts itself. A communist rebel group called the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia’s government and attempted to set up a form of communism similar to Maoist China. The Khmer Rouge believed that the population should be made to work as laborers in one huge group of collective farms. Anyone that disagreed with them- and all well-off and educated people- were killed, along with all un-communist ideas of traditional Cambodian culture. And so began what was known as the Exodus. Everyone-old, sick, newborns, injured, crippled, children-was forced to leave their home and march into the countryside. If people didn’t move fast enough or didn’t move at all they were killed, along with anyone who seemed weak during the march. Everyone’s rights were taken away-freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and pretty much all ability to make your own decisions. Families were split up on purpose and brought as far away as possible from their homes, anyone known to have received a formal education or a professional job (like in the medical field) was beaten to death along with their families, and anyone caught worshipping, singing, crying, or laughing was executed. After all these deaths the worse was still to come. The people that escaped execution were forced to be unpaid laborers, pretty much slaves, that were given barely any food, horrible living conditions, and expected to work for ridiculously long hours in the beating sun. Disease and sickness were rampant, and many more perished from pure exhaustion. The total death toll of the genocide is estimated to be well over two million people- almost 25% of Cambodia’s population. My book tells the story of Sundara, a young girl that escaped the genocide with her aunt, uncle, and cousins and comes to America for a better life. She is torn between adapting to her new school, surroundings, and country or sticking to the Khmer way and pleasing her strict aunt. All the while she is combating new found feelings for an American boy, Jonathan McKinnon, who is the son of the doctor that saved her sick cousin, and still praying that the boy she was promised in marriage to, Chamroen, is still alive in Cambodia. Her day to day struggle just to please her family and keep moving on is very well portrayed by the author and makes this book not only intriguing, but heartfelt.