Refugee Narratives: Ten Stories of Cambodian Refugees

Portia Davis

Throughout my life I have tried to live by the moral of helping others or finding ways to be a resource to anyone who is in need of one. I was raised to always see the best in others,  be understanding of situations anyone may have gone through, and be a resource to build them up because I would wish for the same treatment in return. I try to be kind to all and create genuine relationships because these relationships instill these values within others. Through this project, I feel that I have helped refugees voice their stories, as well as helped others gain awareness of what the sisters did during the Cambodian refugee crisis. During this project, I researched events before, during, and after the crisis while focusing on refugee narratives from the journal obtained by the sisters. 

I believe my most valuable take away from this project has been an increased knowledge of the topic, but more importantly I gained a compassionate perspective on refugee experiences. Before taking part in this project, I was aware of refugees and their traumatic experiences, but never imagined it to be as harsh as described in the entries. As I read these journal entries, I would try to compare my life to certain events that occurred, but very soon realized that I could never relate to what they went through as victims of an oppressive regime, something I would never wish on anyone. I think it is important that others are aware of what really went on in day-to-day life as a refugee instead of basing their understanding of refugees off of information from social media or “word of mouth,” as I did before I took part in this project. Working on a project like this causes you to become emotionally attached to your work and creates emotions within yourself, as if you knew each individual as a friend. 

While reading through their journal entries, you create a relationship with each refugee. Personally, I put emotion into everything I do because I love it. As I read through the entries and helped with this project, I hoped to, in some capacity, help more. This digital project was made for you, the viewers, to better understand the experiences these individuals went through while providing you with journal entries and images to aid in your understanding. We saw the importance of digitizing this material for others to view and created a cohesive exhibit that showcases the unique individuality of each person, while showcasing the work of the Sisters. 

In the future, I hope to work in an environment with diverse personalities and ethnicity; being a mixed individual myself, I understand the importance of having significant diversity within the workplace to showcase individuality and inclusion. With the knowledge I gained from this project, I will apply it to the workplace through aiding in the development of technology in a way to help others communicate with individuals who may not have a way in the current circumstances. I plan on using technology to increase the user-to-user connection so that all, including refugees, will have lines of communication to family and friends and have a voice, as I helped to do in creating this digitized exhibit. Although I am not able to meet these refugees, I feel I have developed a genuine understanding of relevant events and helped them voice their stories to the world with the hope of educating others and conveying knowledge of a persisting global issue. 

Portia Davis, Class of 2022
Business Administration Major
Concentration: Management Information Systems

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