Recording
Clip from Interview with Kakrona Khem
Clip from Interview with Kakrona Khem is an excerpt from a 2009 video interview with Kakrona Khem, a survivor of the Khmer Rouge years.[1] It belongs to the Cambodian American Community of Oregon Oral History Project and is held in Special Collections at the Portland State University Library.[1]
About the recording
In the clip, Kakrona Khem speaks about his older brother in Cambodia. The family had no father, and his brother cared for him and his siblings like a father. When their mother had no money, the brother woke early to sell bread before classes and brought home food to help feed them.[1] Later the brother guided him in choosing work, and Kakrona Khem became a mechanic at a power plant. After the two were separated, and after the Vietnamese came, his brother went looking for him at his old workplace, found him there and found him a job.[1]
In the full interview, his account turns on two experiences: he refused his mother's offer to send him away to protect him from the war, and he later decided to make a run for it on his own terms.[2] The interview was conducted in English, which he speaks as a second language.[2]
The collection
The Cambodian American Community of Oregon, a nonprofit that offers cultural activities and social support to families and children, developed the project to record the experiences of survivors of the Cambodian genocide of 1975 to 1979.[3] Youth interviewed elders so that heritage could pass from the generation that migrated to young people born in the United States, and storytelling was used to help narrators heal from wartime trauma. Participants prepared at oral history workshops at Portland State University.[3]
The interview is one of 17 video oral histories recorded in Portland, Oregon, in the spring of 2009. In early 2014 the organization's leaders agreed to donate the materials to the Portland State University Library, and this selection of clips and transcripts was the first step in archiving them in Special Collections.[2]
Credits
Kakrona Khem is the narrator and Samantha Khem conducted the interview in May 2009. Patricia Schechter transcribed it on September 3, 2014. The clip runs from 42:45 to 44:30 in the full interview.[1]
Access
The library offers the digital access copy as streaming media for personal, educational and non-commercial use within fair use under United States copyright law. It may not be reproduced, distributed or screened for commercial purposes.[1] As of 2026, Special Collections at the Portland State University Library answers questions about the recording at specialcollections@pdx.edu or (503) 725-9883.[1]