Loung Ung Visits Rocky River High School

Author and activist Loung Ung paid a visit to Rocky River High School on Thursday, September 8. Her visit was the culmination of students' study of her book, First They Killed My Father. The book, which was assigned summer reading for the students, recounts her early years in Cambodia, including the 1975 invasion by the Khmer Rouge. As the title indicates, Ung's father was killed by the group, as were her mother and two of her sisters.

Ung was introduced to the students as "a beating heart behind a statistic." She challenged the students to think about how they would have coped in a similar situation. For instance, what would they pack if they were told to leave their home immediately, as she was? How would they find their parents and siblings if they were told to leave Rocky River at that moment?

Ung had two main points in her talk to the students: first, that she considered herself lucky in many ways. These examples of luck (or sometimes "blessings") included surprising ones, including the fact that her family was together when they were ordered to evacuate, the fact that she still has all her limbs because she didn't step on one of the millions of land mines buried in Cambodia, and the fact that although she was trained as a soldier at age nine, she was never forced to take another human life. If she considers these harrowing facts to be lucky ones, she challenged, how much luckier are the students of Rocky River, in their supportive and caring community?

The second main point Ung made in her talk to the 9-12 graders had to do with individuality. In the labor camp in which she and her family were forced to live, individuality was not permitted. Every person had to wear a black shirt and black pants, and there were only two haircuts permitted, one for men and one for women. She now embraces her own individuality, for which she was teased as a 10-year-old when she escaped to Vermont with her older brother and his wife. If she can embrace her individuality after those threats to it, she challenged, how much more should the students of Rocky River, with the freedoms they enjoy, be able to embrace their own?

After her talk (for which she received a standing ovation), students were invited to ask questions. Their insightful and thought-provoking questions showed the impact Ung's book and talk had on their world-view. Students asked how her family has reacted to the book (she asked their permission before publishing it, she says, and does not take political positions in order to protect her relatives still in Cambodia). They asked if she learned anything surprising about herself while writing the book (she learned to let go of some of the guilt and shame she used to hold). They asked what piece of advice she would give to her younger self ("She probably wouldn't listen," Ung joked, but she'd tell herself to live in the moment more and appreciate the happy, loving family she had before it was taken away). Students also asked what Angelina Jolie-Pitt is like as a friend (Jolie-Pitt, who is directing a film adaptation of Ung's book, has been her friend for almost two decades, and Ung described her as "kind, authentic, and hard-working).

Finally, students presented Ung with a check for her work with providing prosthetics to the thousands of Cambodians who have lost limbs to land mines. The money was collected as part of a "Change War," in which students brought change to their English class. One thousand, five hundred dollars was raised. Ung thanked the students of Rocky River High School, telling them that "twenty to thirty people will be walking next year, because of you."