Pastor Rith's story
I am going to write this in parts as I learn more. I asked him if I could tell you about his life. He was happy that I thought others would want to know about him. I told there were many that would want to and that were praying for us.
Rith was born in 1962 in Kampong Chanang. Things have always been hard for his family. They were very poor like most of Cambodians. But life wasn't so bad if that is all you know then you don't have anything to compare. That was soon to change for him and the rest of the country.
In 1965 the U.S. started the secret bombing of Cambodia but until about 1970 that was contained to the border area. Then we started bombing most of the country. 3,500 B-52 shorties over 600,000 killed Mr. Rith has talked about running form the bombs that came from planes. You could not see them and didn't know where they would land. This went on until 1975 when we finally pulled out of Cambodia and forgot they then even existed.
He tells of friends not as lucky as him. They ran to wrong spot. You could never find any of them. Not one piece. Many of his friends didn't make it through those years. You can see just how sad it makes him when he talks about it. He tells of hiding in the rice paddy from the bombs and the Khmer Rouge, dodging bullets at ten years old.
As I sit and talk with him it makes me so thankful that I was born in America. I could just as easily have been born here. It also make me sad for him and all the others that went through so much killing. But that wasn't even the worst of it. That was still to come.
Things got much much worse when the U.S. pulled out. At first everyone thought it would be good. The war was over. But within a few days the Khmer Rouge took over the country and was to throw it into what I would call the dark ages for five years.
More next time.
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