Ben (Panhavuddh Reth)

Summer Reading Assignment (AP Lang)

Article: Cambodian Deportees Return to a 'Home' They've Never Known

Type: News Article
Source: The Atlantic News
Prompt: What personal connections are you making with your text?

Cambodia, hearing this word brings back the warmth and fond memories of my birth country. I
am a son of a political asylum seeker and my family immigrated to the U.S. in hopes of escaping
the death threats from the government. I was excited to move to a “foreign” country but adapting
to the new set of challenges was overwhelming. After a year of coping with the change of
environments, people and school system, I am proud to call the United States my second home.
However, my roots and culture are still anchored deep in Cambodia. My country was not rich,
had a bad leader and high crime rates but it offered the most essential thing to me- home. Ever
since I landed in the U.S, I have always planned to visit Cambodia to remind myself of the
childhood memories and the relationship I built with my culture as well as to do charity to help
my fellow poor Cambodians.

I stumbled upon this article while researching for news and the title caught my eye. After reading
the text, I found myself making several connections. This article was about Cambodian
Americans refugees who were taken here to the U.S. between 1975-1994 to escape the Khmer
Rouge,a brutal regime that killed nearly a quarter of Cambodia’s population. Many of the
refugees were placed in poor conditions without mental-health support nor a stable financial aid,
leading some to drift towards criminality and getting deported. This article illustrates the
problems in which these refugees faced when they were sent “Home”, a place they never even
knew; problems such as the language barrier, people's judgment and being “foreign”. As my dad
is an asylum seeker, I manage to find many similarities with a refugee. Although the refugees did
not recognize home, I did, which makes it even harder for me to know the fact that I am
forbidden to enter my own country. Being forced right out of your country of origins makes you
feel like you have been assimilated. The second connection I made is a connection that all
immigrants can relate to. Living in a country without citizenship means that we live in constant
fear of deportation. We escaped from our country because of threats and poverty so being sent
right back to the warzone is an absolute nightmare. The third connection I made is directly with
Sek, the victim of this article. He was deported to Cambodia without speaking a lick of Khmer
which is our language. He was also visibly seen as an American through the eyes of
Cambodians, seen as a “foreigner” or a tourist rather than a true Cambodian. I have to admit that
this is one of my biggest insecurities. I cannot imagine returning to a country you once grew up
in and being treated as a tourist instead of a True Cambodian. I will always be a Cambodian and
I try to represent my culture by practicing Khmer (Our Native Language) , always remembering
the traditional practice and doing everything that makes us Cambodian. I will continue to stand
by my people and value our culture because I am very proud to call myself a True Cambodian.