Arn Chorn-Pond was born into a prominent family of performers and musicians in Cambodia, but when the Khmer Rouge came to power in 1975, he was sent to a children’s work camp. He escaped death by execution and starvation by playing flute for the camp’s guards. When Vietnam invaded Cambodia in 1978, Arn Chorn-Pond was given a gun and forced to fight. He escaped into the jungle and eventually reached a refugee camp in Thailand. He was befriended and adopted by Peter Pond, a Lutheran Minister, and educated in the United States. Today, he’s an international human rights activist and founder of a group teaching a new generation of Cambodians about traditional music and art forms. He’s the subject of the new book “Never Fall Down” and speaks tonight at the University of South Dakota.
Escaping Cambodia: Arn Chorn-Pond
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