Refugee Narratives: Ten Stories of Cambodian Refugees

Karissa Kennedy

Throughout the coursework we have done this semester on the Sister’s of the Holy Cross’ work with Cambodian refugees, I have learned a lot more about my own school’s history and how involved the Sister’s have been with these volunteer projects. I was unaware of this outside work that they were involved in and what the sisters do besides religious work within the school. I also learned a lot about Pol Pot’s regime and about refugee lives in general, which has opened my eyes and taught me a lot about what happens internationally and perhaps even within our own borders. 

Reading the refugees’ personal stories was heavy and sometimes challenging because it is difficult to imagine the stories they tell actually happened and that humanity is capable of treating their own so horribly. However, I believe it is important to be educated on these topics, in order to understand the refugee crises’ that are still relevant today, decades after the Khmer Rouge occurred. 

Another thing I personally struggled with when learning about refugee crises is trying to envision the enormity of how many lives were and are affected and knowing that each personal story we read was only a drop in the bucket of how many other families are torn apart and the hundreds of thousands of others’ that have similar stories. I do think, however, that reading the personal stories is important because, even though it is still hard to envision the large numbers being affected, educating ones’ self on even one refugee's story is a step in hopefully helping future refugees’ stories to have a better ending. The more people that have access to learning about these stories and the refugee crises that are still going on today, the more likely they are to make movements towards helping the refugees and ending the crises. 

Through the process of this class I also furthered my ability to create digital websites in the exhibit form that we created on the Scalar website. I had some previous experience with website building that helped me to be able to provide insight to the project, but I also learned a lot about building websites with my work on building splash pages and pathways through the website. As a senior that is graduating soon and hoping to go into public relations and marketing, this class was helpful to me in working on and improving my digital skills, and I think the skills learned in this course are important for any college student to have. Educating Saint Mary’s students on the work the Sisters of the Holy Cross do outside of the school, as well as educating them on important international issues such as refugee crises, and finally combining these skills with the project of putting these lessons into a digital exhibit that also teaches students website development has all been very beneficial. I believe that this course and the work we have done would be advantageous to other Saint Mary’s students as well.

Karissa Kennedy, Class of 2020
English Literature Major, Business Administration Minor
 

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