Children of Cambodia’s killing fields : memoirs by survivors

著者情報等. Dith P. et al. Chiang Mai. Silkworm Books, 1997.
寄稿者名1年生　山内 智子、内村 亜里紗（2012年1月）
本学所蔵http://opac.jrckicn.ac.jp/mylimedio/search/book.do?target=local&bibid=37295
          I would like to introduce Children of Cambodia’s Killing Fields . This book presents a variety of recollections of those who have experienced the tyranny of the Khmer Rouge as children. The Khmer Rouge came to power in April 1975. After that, two million Cambodian lost their lives in three years. Probably many of you have heard of the mass murders under the Pol Pot regime, but there are many other things you have never heard of or imagined. Do you know who the victims of the massacre were? Do you know that young children were forced to work all day, with only a bowl of thin rice soup as their supper, and had to sleep on the ground? Can you imagine how they must have felt when they had to see their family members killed for no good reason? When I read this book, I was shocked by what they had to go through. What happened was sheer cruelty and seemed more like a movie. Particularly, I found the ways of execution employed by the Khmer Rouge too cruel to be true.

            However, cruelty is not the only thing I found in this book. Many of the essays show that there were strong bonds of affection and true love among family members and friends. An essay tells us how a girl caught some crabs along the way, and instead of eating them herself, fixed crab soup for her father. Another essay relates how a mother, risking her own life, traveled for a long, long way and traded gold for medicine to give her sick daughter, and how she made offerings to the gods to save her.　Don’t you agree that only the bonds that stay firm in difficult situations, only the bonds that stand the test of hardship, are true bonds?

            I would like to recommend this book to those who have the blessing of having been brought up in comfortable circumstances. This book will tell you something you never have the chance to feel in your ordinary life. Please find yourself how cruel human beings can be to others and how strong love toward family and friends can be.
【1年生　山内 智子】


            I would like to recommend a book titled 'Children of Cambodia’s Killing Fields'. You can find out how the lives of many Cambodian were like when the Khmer Rouge took control of all the cities in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. It was complied and published by Dith Pran in 1997.

            Cambodia was once a beautiful country. But under the Khmer Rouge, terrible massacre of civilians took place. It began with men, and then the Khmer Rouge killed their wives and children in order to prevent revenge. They encouraged children to find fault with their own parents and spy on them. They tried to destroy family structure and communities that once held love, faith, comfort, happiness and companionship. Cambodia became full of blood and corpses. All the city people were driven to the countryside and most of them were taken away to a labor camp, and were forced to work from sunrise to sunset with a minimum amount of food in their stomachs. Many were executed for no specific reason, many died from hard work, malnutrition, and diseases and many were killed by striking a mine.

            Most of the authors of the essays included in this book had to live apart from their parents and saw tragic scenes with their own eyes at a young age. They survived the hard days and found new home in the United States. They are now leading a happy life, as you see smiling faces in the pictures included in the book, but I suspect that they may have a deep wound in mind. I really respect them for the strength of their souls. And they are not alone. There must be many more people in Cambodia who are suffering from pains from by-gone days.

            This book is neither pleasant nor funny. You might find it too bitter to read on, which was what sometimes happened to me. More than once, tears come up in my eyes as I read. But we have to face facts. This book made me realize how superficial my understanding of other countries was. Now I see that we have to learn histories and their backgrounds, and think of them from many points of view. I would like to add in the end that this book has also made me realize the happiness of living and having a dear family. So I recommend everyone to read it.

【1年生　内村 亜里紗】







（付記：因京子）

"Children of Cambodia’s Killing Fields" は2011年後期の英語ⅡのAクラス（1年生27名）の読解課題として用いた本である。このクラスを担当した因京子が2008年に国際看護学Ⅱの研修旅行に同行してカンボジアを訪れたときにプノンペンの書店で求めたものであるが、これを後期のAクラスの教材として選んだのは、カンボジアの地雷のことは知っていてそのことに心を寄せていても、なぜカンボジアにあれほど地雷が埋まることになったのかを知らない若い人があることを知り、カンボジアに起こったことを、そして、それが必ずしも歴史上ただ一度しか起こらなかったことではないことを、知ってもらいたいと思ったからであった。内容は、幼年期少年期にポルポト政権下の状況を経験し、その後アメリカに逃れることのできた人々による手記であり、著者の中には間接的にでも弾圧する側の当事者となった人はない。しかし、そうであっても、しばしば、書かれていることの想像を絶する酷さに、息を呑むことがあった。二人の学生による紹介文を通して、本書に興味を持ってくださると共に、学生たちの成長を感じ取ってくだされば、嬉しい。