My parent from Cambodia

By Primeny Oeur

​I have never visited the homeland of my parents, Cambodia. My parents always tell me stories of how Cambodia use to be and how beautiful it is. They use to tell me the struggles of what they went through before coming to America and I always wonder what it would have been like if I were to be in their shoes. They have experienced so much and they struggled a lot to give me the things that they have provided me with. Recently my father went back to visit his homeland and it has been around 30 years or more since he last visited his Country. 

​Before leaving for Cambodia he actually spoke about how much it must have changed. Although, he said that his country will always be beautiful to him. As I mentioned in my last essay, my father wants me to experience his homeland and how he grew up. He said someday he will take me to experience where he was from. I heard many stories not only from my parents but I also heard many great stories about Cambodia from my friends. Many of my friends have already visited Cambodia and came back with so many great things they have experienced. They said it is a great opportunity to know where our parents are from and definitely understand our culture better. 

​I can imagine how wonderful the country can be and I want to definitely experience how people live in Cambodia. I would love to know what the temples, cities, and countryside are. Although, I need to find the time and definitely save up more to go visit my parent’s homeland. They believe that I would not like it there but I told my parents that I will determine that myself when I actually do go to Cambodia. I will not know until I experience traveling to Cambodia myself. 

​Another thing I want to experience is meeting my family that lives in Cambodia. I want to know how different my family is from in America compared to my family in Cambodia. I did have family members that lived in America but they got sent back to Cambodia due to committing a crime. When my father went to Cambodia he was glad that he went because he got to see how much his country had changed. He also visited his family that he has not seen in a very long time. The best part of him going back to his homeland was he finally got to do a proper funeral for his mother. His mother passed away during the Khmer Rouge. He was excited that he finally put his mother to rest in peace.

​When my father did return from Cambodia, he bought everyone presents and it was very sweet. My father bought me a snow globe, which it was the temple of Angkor Wat. The other snow globe that he bought was of the Buddha with the four faces. He also brought back instruments for my younger sister that loves to play music. Other than presents, my father took a lot of photos and it was nice to look at because you can just tell that my father was really enjoying his time in Cambodia and he was amazed that he got to go back after so many years. He could not stop talking about how much it had changed. My mother also wants to go back but at the moment she wants to wait a little bit longer because she said sometimes she does not want to be reminded of the horrible times that she had a face in her own country. Although, she said she would definitely return if it is with me and with my other siblings. I want to go someday and I really want to experience all the great things people told me about Cambodia.