Taught to kill – my childhood under the Khmer Rouge
About this episode
Loung Ung shares her harrowing experience as a child soldier under the Khmer Rouge and her journey to survival and activism.
Separated from her family and trained as a child soldier, Loung Ung's unbreakable spirit helped her survive Pol Pot’s regime, which killed nearly a quarter of Cambodia’s population. In the Chinese tradition of Loung Ung's mother, the element of fire was dangerous in a daughter: too bold, too defiant, too difficult to control. And, according to her, Loung had been born with ‘too much’ of it. But when the Khmer Rouge seized power in April 1975, that fire became key to Loung's survival. Between 1975 and 1979, up to 2 million Cambodians died through execution, famine and disease. Forced into the countryside to do hard labour, Loung's family struggled. As their world was torn apart, Loung was told by her mother to run away. Loung would end up as a child soldier, separated from the rest of her siblings. Once the regime fell, she became the only child from the family chosen to go to the USA for a better life. But it was a dangerous journey and Loung would suffer with PTSD for years afterwards. The plan was to reunite the family within a few years, though due to financial constraints that wasn't possible. As an adult, Loung has worked on campaigns addressing violence against women, the…
People in this episode
Guest: Loung Ung
Topics covered
- child soldiers
- Khmer Rouge
- survival
- PTSD
- family separation
- violence against women
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: BBC World Service
Books & works: First They Killed My Father, Lucky Child, Lu
Places: Cambodia, USA
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