A Change of Guard

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Saturday 25 May 2013

Cambodian immigrant turned ambassador brings poetry back to Wallingford

Posted: Friday, May 24, 2013
http://www.myrecordjournal.com 
WALLINGFORD — Nowadays, Sichan Siv spends the bulk of his time either traveling the country and world to speak about his work or writing about whatever is on his mind.
“I’m having fun,” Siv said while letting out a laugh. “I’m doing everything. I travel quite a bit ... and I do a lot of writing.”
Siv, a former town resident, will return to the Wallingford Public Library on Wednesday, June 5, at 7 p.m., to talk about his newest book of poetry, “Golden Words.”
The 34-poem book features various poems written in different languages. While living in Texas, he began watching the sunset and sunrise. It made him think of his past and his upbringing, which was the inspiration behind writing poetry.
“When I was growing up in Cambodia, most of the rules of etiquette, culture, how men and women should behave were all written in poetry,” Siv said. “We all studied those rules ... in poetry. It was a part of my educational upbringing.”
With themes of love prominent throughout the entire book, Siv said he decided to dedicate “Golden Words” to his mother and the Cambodian king crowned 900 years ago in 1113.
“The whole book is dedicated to my mother because she was born on April 13, 1913,” Siv said. “If she were alive, she would be 100 years old.”
Siv’s mother and most of his family were brutally murdered by the Khmer Rouge.
He makes an effort to return to Wallingford at least once a year. It’s the place where he was able to start a new life and escape the slave labor camps and killing fields. Growing up in Cambodia, his father was a police commissioner. Siv was a college graduate and teacher and worked for the U.S. humanitarian organization CARE.

With the rise of the communist Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot’s regime, Siv’s life changed dramatically. Since he worked for CARE, he had the opportunity to evacuate with America. However, Siv missed the last helicopter by 30 minutes.
He worked on a labor camp for 10 months before escaping into Thailand. He was eventually brought to Wallingford by Bob and Nancy Charles. Bob Charles had been the Peace Corps’ director for Thailand and ran a planning agency in Hartford to help local groups gain access to federal and state programs.
He also served as a U.N. ambassador under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2006.
Siv has held a few events at the library, drawing a large turnout of town residents and individuals from all over the state. Beth Devlin, community service librarian, said so many people come to hear Siv speak because of his story.
“His story touches so many other people. It’s a story of hard work and survival and tragedy,” Devlin said. “It touches people throughout our communities. Everyone took something from his stories.”
The easiness to relate to his story is the very reason why Siv enjoys the events, he said. But Siv, a man who “enjoys interacting with people,” said it’s not just his story.
“It’s not my story. It could be your story, anybody’s story — anyone can relate to it,” Siv said. “It’s an American Dream story ... I made it from the killing fields to the White House in 13 years and that can only happen in America.”
Over 100 people have showed up for his previous appearances at the library, Devlin said. While it’s free, those who are interested in attending are encouraged to reserve their seats by calling the library at (203) 265-6754.
(203) 317-2235
Twitter: @EricVoRJ

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

With your personality and your experiences, Mr. Sichan, you will able to explain and teach something good from the past to our young generation of Khmer in Cambodia. They are the future of our beloved country.

We know so well, you never said something or bad of our country, because you still love Cambodia so much, as we the most oldest generation did.

Anonymous said...

I have respect for his personal achievement; but I would admire him more if he uses his personal success to help Cambodia, which he hasn't shown/done so far.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Sichan Siv is a very arrogant and a selfish Cambodian.

Anonymous said...

Man, when will anybody stop talking about that Sichan Siv dude. I once met him in Long Beach during the Khmer New Year Celebration Parade. He does not ever represent the Cambodian people at all. He is still the most conceited person ever. This dude was of a high class in Cambodia. Thus he was the leech that sucked the hardworking Cambodian poor dry back in his days in Cambodia. How many Cambodians in America has he ever helped? NONE. I observed the way he looked at any Cambodians with a distance. For example, out of Mark Twain Library, he was pushing a elderly lady in a wheel chair, and his wife was walking besides him. Then one of their belongings dropped and a Khmer gentleman picked it up and handed it over to them. Not a word of thank was uttered by that man or any of his company. It is humanly rude even by the American cultural standard. When he held a position of status during the term of the elder Bush, many Cambodians came out to support him during Elder Bush's short stop in Orange County. The Cambodian admirers were so excited to see one of their own made it in the America and wanted to hear him speak the Khmer language even briefly to them, but no, the dude didn't even say anything at all, except in English instead. He may look Cambodian physically, but he is simply a sellout to the white communities. Until now, this dude has never done anything to advance any of the Cambodian causes or progress. He only brags about how in such a short time he could make it a success in America. Oh please, dude. It is expected of you already, you super high class leech way back in Cambodia. Who is going to clap for you, huh? It is expected of you to be successful because you are a high class leech.