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10. The Rebuilding When I first met Nuon Chea, I did not know if he was bad or good. I tried to get to know him and investigate his character every time I talked with him —Sambath While infighting plagued the Khmer Rouge, Sambath and Cambodia were given a new life. After several years of studying and regaining a sense of normalcy , Sambath followed in his uncle’s footsteps and in 1988 took an exam to become a health worker for the American Refugee Committee. Working for the ARC, he received weekly rations of rice and canned fish, a luxury for him. He sold some of his food to buy books and pay for private English classes. Through his work as a health care assistant, Sambath began dreaming of becoming a doctor. “That was my first job and the beginning of my life,” Sambath said. “It was the job that led me to every other success I have had.” Peace in Cambodia derailed Sambath’s plan to become a doctor. In January 1989, Vietnamese forces withdrew from Cambodia. Two years later, Cambodia signed the Paris Peace Accords, which ended the fighting between Vietnam, the Khmer Rouge, and other forces. Under the Paris Accords, refugees were to be repatriated, and Sambath returned to his native province of Battambang, ending his work in health care. The Khmer Rouge no longer ruled Sambath’s life, but when he arrived back in Battambang to live with his uncle he found he could not escape his past. His grandfather told him that the Khmer Rouge cadre who had married his mother in 1975—his stepfather—wanted to see him. Sambath refused. “He is the man who killed my mother and my whole family got separated later because we had no mother,” he said. “He is the man who destroyed my family and made me an orphan.” With his new language skills, Sambath found a job teaching English, but anotheropportunitysoonpresenteditself.InMarch1992,theUNTransitional The Rebuilding 141 Authority in Cambodia arrived, and Sambath found a job as an interpreter for the UN civilian police unit. With the help of the United Nations, Cambodia held its first free elections in decades. After UNTAC left the following year, Sambath moved to Phnom Penh to work at various international organizations . Still, he felt restless. Sambath married and had a son. But he never discussed his past with his wife, and the deaths of his father, mother, and brother were never mentioned among the siblings. Despite the silence, Sambath still questioned his past and was at a loss to explain the Khmer Rouge period. In 1995, while reading the English-language Cambodia Today, he saw an ad seeking a reporter with English skills. Sambath told a friend, who applied. Sambath took him to the newspaper office, but when they arrived his friend said he wouldn’t take the test unless Sambath did as well. Sambath took the test but explained to the newspaper staff he was only there for his friend. Sambath passed the exam, while his friend did not. An editor told Sambath he would receive a monthly salary of $90 plus fuel costs. He asked for one day to decide. At home he discussed the offer with his wife and wondered how he could feed his family on $90 a month when he was currently making $300. But the newspaper job would improve his English skills. He took the job. To supplement his income, he spent almost his entire savings from his time working at the United Nations and other international organizations. Sambath could speak English, but he knew nothing of journalism. He rarely read local newspapers or paid attention to the news. But he had seen Western journalists during his time at the refugee camp and he admired their bravery and hard work. On his first day, he attended the opening of a pagoda at which Prime Minister Hun Sen spoke. When he returned to the office and sat down to write a story, he didn’t know where to begin. He had never been taught how to put together a news article. He simply translated everything that was said during the ceremony and passed it on to another reporter, who laughed at him. The reporter didn’t tell him how to fix the story. When Sambath returned home, he told his wife he was going to quit his new job. His wife told him he should stay. For a year, Sambath struggled to learn what it meant to...

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