The Land I Lost

Would I have a chance to see the moon shine above the land of darkness? When will I be free from the genocide? When I was fourteen, the Khmer Rouge seized control of my country and my life. Soldiers uprooted my family of eleven, made us abandon our homes in Phnom Penh and in Prek Eng and become landless farmers in villages, communes, planting and harvesting crops and building dams and irrigation ditches. Our family unit was shattered and we were divided by age and gender. We were compelled to work day and night without complaint, for fear of torture and death. By the end of the Khmer RougeA[a¬a[s rule, many of my family members and friends had died. When the regime fell, I was alone and desperately trying to avoid being captured and killed.