Eng Duncan stands in her church the Episcopal Church of the Holy Family.
Patrick Sullivan
By Amy McCraw
Times-News Staff Writer
Published: Sunday, July 17, 2011
MILLS RIVER — In a photograph taken earlier this week, Eng Duncan wears a big smile full of pride and excitement. She’s holding a brand-new certificate proving that she is now a citizen of the United States of America.
A friend took the photograph just after a naturalization ceremony in Charlotte on July 13. About 100 new citizens received their certificates along with Duncan that day, and several of them can be seen holding American flags in the photograph’s background.
The look of joy on Duncan’s face hides the fact that the 56-year-old soft-spoken Cambodian woman carries the weight of some of the most painful memories imaginable.
“She really wants people to know her story, but it’s hard to tell it,” said Michele Burnette, one of Duncan’s many friends in the community. Burnette met Duncan while working in the area a few years ago as an adult literacy instructor.
Duncan continues to learn English, and she often struggled to find the correct words last week as she talked about her life in Cambodia and her journey to U.S. citizenship. Burnette helped Duncan tell her story as the two worked at their church to distribute boxes of food to needy children.
Duncan survived the killing fields of Cambodia during the brutal rule of the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s. But her husband, who worked as a teacher, was executed shortly after the regime, led by the infamous Pol Pot, took over the country in 1975. Duncan and her two young daughters were forced to leave their comfortable home in the city to work along with thousands of other Cambodians in the country’s rice fields. They nearly starved to death before the Khmer Rouge were driven from power in 1978.
Duncan stood and demonstrated how soldiers ordered her at gunpoint from her home in 1975.
“Pol Pot say, ‘Get out. Go to field,’ ” she recalled.
Duncan showed how she put one child on her hip as they set out on the long journey to the country’s rice fields. She tied her other daughter’s hand to her own hand so she would not lose the child among the thousands of other city dwellers who were ordered to labor in the fields.
She carried a small amount of food on her back as she and her daughters made the trip.
Duncan, who stands about 5 feet tall and weighed only 97 pounds at the time, also demonstrated how she crossed a river with water up to her neck four times as she carried her children and few belongings on her back to keep them safe.
The food Duncan carried with her ran out after a few days. For nearly four years, she waged a battle each day to keep her children and herself from starving to death.
“If I die, I have nobody to take care of (my) kids,” she said.
Duncan worked long days in the fields standing in water as she planted and harvested the rice. When she could, Duncan searched the surrounding countryside for potatoes and bananas to eat. She risked her own life to steal food when she had no other way to feed her children.
By the time Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge were driven from power, Duncan and her children suffered from malnutrition and wore only rags for clothes. She answered quickly when asked how long she suffered during the regime’s four-year rule — “Three years, eight months and two days.”
Many of Duncan’s friends and relatives were among the estimated two million people who were executed or died due to starvation, overwork or disease during the regime’s rule. The regime killed an entire family Duncan knew — seven children and their parents.
After the Khmer Rouge were ousted, Duncan and her children returned to Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital, to rebuild their lives. Duncan sold clothing she made or bought in a marketplace to make enough money to support herself and raise her daughters. Her daughters remain in Cambodia and now have their own children.
Life in the US
Duncan first traveled to the United States in 1998 to visit a friend. She fell in love with the country and eventually married Mills River resident Jesse Duncan. She has worked for the last 10 years at the Kyocera company in Hendersonville.
Duncan also began attending Holy Family Episcopal Church in Mills River with Burnette. In 2008, Duncan converted from Buddhism to Christianity and joined the church.
Burnette said Duncan has been a committed, active member of the church and has participated in a variety of ministries including providing food boxes to needy school children and making infant blankets and caps for the county’s health department.
Duncan has also become famous in the church for the homemade egg rolls she prepares for church events.
“Eng’s many ministries are always carried out with great joy, humility and lots of laughter,” Burnette said.
When Duncan applied for U.S. citizenship in 2009, the congregation at Holy Family worked to help her improve her ability to speak and write English. They also helped prepare the paperwork.
Several people from the church traveled with her to Charlotte to hear her pledge her oath of allegiance to the United States.
The ceremony and the story of Duncan’s life have helped many people in the church to remember that they should not take the freedoms in America for granted, Burnette said.
She will always remember Duncan telling her about how she learned of her husband’s execution. A friend whispered the bad news to Duncan but told her she could not cry or show any sign that she knew what had happened. The friend feared Duncan might become a target if the regime learned she knew the truth about her husband.
“Eng said the freedoms in this country are taken for granted,” Burnette said. “When her husband died, she could not even cry. We take everything for granted, even the opportunity to mourn.”
The church plans to honor Duncan and celebrate her citizenship after services today with a party. The party will include photographs showing Duncan’s work at the church and her citizenship ceremony, along with photographs of her family in Cambodia. Friends from the church and her job and some of her relatives in the United States will attend.
The church also plans to give Duncan gifts and sing “God Bless America.” A meal including Duncan’s famous egg rolls will be provided.
Burnette said she and others in the church want to honor Duncan’s triumph over the pain she has endured in her life.
“She has so much joy for someone who has so many reasons not to,” Burnette said.
Duncan was again smiling as she considered how much her life has changed since the days she spent struggling to survive in the rice fields of Cambodia.
“I am happy now. I have a job, many friends,” she said. “I worried every day. Now, I don’t worry.”
Patrick Sullivan
By Amy McCraw
Times-News Staff Writer
Published: Sunday, July 17, 2011
MILLS RIVER — In a photograph taken earlier this week, Eng Duncan wears a big smile full of pride and excitement. She’s holding a brand-new certificate proving that she is now a citizen of the United States of America.
A friend took the photograph just after a naturalization ceremony in Charlotte on July 13. About 100 new citizens received their certificates along with Duncan that day, and several of them can be seen holding American flags in the photograph’s background.
The look of joy on Duncan’s face hides the fact that the 56-year-old soft-spoken Cambodian woman carries the weight of some of the most painful memories imaginable.
“She really wants people to know her story, but it’s hard to tell it,” said Michele Burnette, one of Duncan’s many friends in the community. Burnette met Duncan while working in the area a few years ago as an adult literacy instructor.
Duncan continues to learn English, and she often struggled to find the correct words last week as she talked about her life in Cambodia and her journey to U.S. citizenship. Burnette helped Duncan tell her story as the two worked at their church to distribute boxes of food to needy children.
Duncan survived the killing fields of Cambodia during the brutal rule of the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s. But her husband, who worked as a teacher, was executed shortly after the regime, led by the infamous Pol Pot, took over the country in 1975. Duncan and her two young daughters were forced to leave their comfortable home in the city to work along with thousands of other Cambodians in the country’s rice fields. They nearly starved to death before the Khmer Rouge were driven from power in 1978.
Duncan stood and demonstrated how soldiers ordered her at gunpoint from her home in 1975.
“Pol Pot say, ‘Get out. Go to field,’ ” she recalled.
Duncan showed how she put one child on her hip as they set out on the long journey to the country’s rice fields. She tied her other daughter’s hand to her own hand so she would not lose the child among the thousands of other city dwellers who were ordered to labor in the fields.
She carried a small amount of food on her back as she and her daughters made the trip.
Duncan, who stands about 5 feet tall and weighed only 97 pounds at the time, also demonstrated how she crossed a river with water up to her neck four times as she carried her children and few belongings on her back to keep them safe.
The food Duncan carried with her ran out after a few days. For nearly four years, she waged a battle each day to keep her children and herself from starving to death.
“If I die, I have nobody to take care of (my) kids,” she said.
Duncan worked long days in the fields standing in water as she planted and harvested the rice. When she could, Duncan searched the surrounding countryside for potatoes and bananas to eat. She risked her own life to steal food when she had no other way to feed her children.
By the time Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge were driven from power, Duncan and her children suffered from malnutrition and wore only rags for clothes. She answered quickly when asked how long she suffered during the regime’s four-year rule — “Three years, eight months and two days.”
Many of Duncan’s friends and relatives were among the estimated two million people who were executed or died due to starvation, overwork or disease during the regime’s rule. The regime killed an entire family Duncan knew — seven children and their parents.
After the Khmer Rouge were ousted, Duncan and her children returned to Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital, to rebuild their lives. Duncan sold clothing she made or bought in a marketplace to make enough money to support herself and raise her daughters. Her daughters remain in Cambodia and now have their own children.
Life in the US
Duncan first traveled to the United States in 1998 to visit a friend. She fell in love with the country and eventually married Mills River resident Jesse Duncan. She has worked for the last 10 years at the Kyocera company in Hendersonville.
Duncan also began attending Holy Family Episcopal Church in Mills River with Burnette. In 2008, Duncan converted from Buddhism to Christianity and joined the church.
Burnette said Duncan has been a committed, active member of the church and has participated in a variety of ministries including providing food boxes to needy school children and making infant blankets and caps for the county’s health department.
Duncan has also become famous in the church for the homemade egg rolls she prepares for church events.
“Eng’s many ministries are always carried out with great joy, humility and lots of laughter,” Burnette said.
When Duncan applied for U.S. citizenship in 2009, the congregation at Holy Family worked to help her improve her ability to speak and write English. They also helped prepare the paperwork.
Several people from the church traveled with her to Charlotte to hear her pledge her oath of allegiance to the United States.
The ceremony and the story of Duncan’s life have helped many people in the church to remember that they should not take the freedoms in America for granted, Burnette said.
She will always remember Duncan telling her about how she learned of her husband’s execution. A friend whispered the bad news to Duncan but told her she could not cry or show any sign that she knew what had happened. The friend feared Duncan might become a target if the regime learned she knew the truth about her husband.
“Eng said the freedoms in this country are taken for granted,” Burnette said. “When her husband died, she could not even cry. We take everything for granted, even the opportunity to mourn.”
The church plans to honor Duncan and celebrate her citizenship after services today with a party. The party will include photographs showing Duncan’s work at the church and her citizenship ceremony, along with photographs of her family in Cambodia. Friends from the church and her job and some of her relatives in the United States will attend.
The church also plans to give Duncan gifts and sing “God Bless America.” A meal including Duncan’s famous egg rolls will be provided.
Burnette said she and others in the church want to honor Duncan’s triumph over the pain she has endured in her life.
“She has so much joy for someone who has so many reasons not to,” Burnette said.
Duncan was again smiling as she considered how much her life has changed since the days she spent struggling to survive in the rice fields of Cambodia.
“I am happy now. I have a job, many friends,” she said. “I worried every day. Now, I don’t worry.”
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