Refugee Narratives: Ten Stories of Cambodian Refugees

Sierra Zielinski

While working on this project, I kept coming back to an idea we learned in class early in our development regarding an individual’s ability to connect with a document that they have no specific relation or connection with. My classmates and I discussed how every object or document has a meaning associated with it, but it can be difficult to attach meaning to an object they are personally removed from. With that in mind, one of our goals for this project was to ensure that the general public would be able to arrive at our site and be able to associate a meaningful connection with the contents we created. 

I struggled initially to develop a connection between myself and the refugees who authored this journal because I lacked the historical context regarding the Cambodian Refugee Crisis. After learning about the history of the terror from the Khmer Rouge and understanding more about the Sisters of the Holy Cross’ role in the refugee camps in Thailand, I began to read the contents of the journal in a new way. The individual refugee’s stories were more than just stories; they were [are] real life experiences of individuals. My instinct to disassociate from something I did not fully understand washed away once I was able to connect the individual refugees and their experiences to historical information. The individual voices of the refugees are important to relay the raw and real horror that many Cambodian refugees faced, and their ability to still find gratitude during such a time of trial amazes me. 

The work of the Sisters and their ability to preserve this document that demonstrates the challenges and perseverance of the Cambodian refugees has allowed my classmates and I to share this history with you. It is imperative for us as individuals to connect with the past in order to learn about our present and protect our future, and this website hopefully will allow you to come away with a new appreciation for preserving your own documents and a new understanding of the impact of the Sisters of the Holy Cross towards aiding the Cambodian Refugee Crisis.

Sierra Zielinski
English Literature Major
Class of 2020

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