A Song for Cambodia

Eight or nine year old Arn lives a full life in his village in northern Cambodia surrounded by the familiar water buffalo, the long-legged cranes and his loving family. Then, in 1975, the Khmer Rouge exploded onto the scene destroying hospitals and schools and tearing families apart. Arn was forced into a children's work camp where he and the other children would work from "sunrise to midnight" on an empty bloated stomach. Then came the day when the soldiers asked for volunteers for a musical group. Arn raised his hand and went to learn to play the Khim from an old man who held the memory of Cambodian music in his head. His teacher was killed by the soldiers but Arn continued to practice using music as a release for his hidden feelings. Eventually Arn was sent to the border to fight the Vietnamese and after months of danger and deprivation, he washed up in Thailand and was eventually adopted by an American, Revered Peter Pond. This is a true story about a boy who works today to save the traditional Cambodia music that saved his life. 32 pages