Recording
Clip from Interview with Chhunny Sok
Clip from Interview with Chhunny Sok is an excerpt from a 2009 video interview in which Chhunny Sok recalls being taken from her family by Khmer Rouge soldiers.[1] It belongs to the Cambodian American Community of Oregon Oral History Project, held in Special Collections at the Portland State University Library.[1]
About the recording
Chhunny Sok was allowed to stay with her mother and father for a short time, and she was very happy. She worked during the day and came home at night. The family could not cook for themselves; they ate food prepared at a communal place under the Angkar, the Khmer Rouge authority, whose guards watched over them. They owned only a spoon and a bowl.[1]
One evening two soldiers with guns came to the house and said they wanted her. When her father asked why, one answered, "It's not your daughter. It's Angkar's daughter," and told him it was none of his business.[1] With guns pointed at her father, she packed her things and went with them, afraid they would kill her mother or father. She calls it the worst thing that happened to her, because she did not know where she was going or whether she had a future. People began to be killed after that.[1]
The collection
The Cambodian American Community of Oregon, a nonprofit that offers cultural activities and social support to families and children, recorded the interviews in Portland, Oregon, in spring 2009. Participants prepared in oral history workshops at Portland State University.[2] This clip is one of five drawn from an archive of 17 interviews, and full transcripts of the five are held at Portland State University Library Special Collections.[2]
Credits
Chhunny Sok is the narrator, and Melissa Im and Kimberly Im conducted the interview on May 31, 2009. Patricia Schechter transcribed it on September 3, 2014. The excerpt runs from 10:52 to 12:25 in the full interview.[1]
Access
The persistent identifier is http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/12689. The digital access copy streams for personal, educational and non-commercial use within fair use under United States copyright law, and it may not be reproduced, distributed or screened for commercial purposes.[1] As of 2014, Special Collections at the Portland State University Library took questions at specialcollections@pdx.edu and (503) 725-9883.[1]