the years of the Khmer Rouge regime. However, when the Vietnamese liberated Cambodia, she did not want to live under Communist rule. She fled with her family to a refugee camp on the Cambodian-Thai border, where they lived for more than ten years.  Dara finished his schooling as they moved from one refugee camp to another.

In 1991 he returned to Cambodia, where he completed his university studies and worked to promote democracy and human rights, as well as working with youth and students.

Dara came to the United States by himself in 1999 and became a citizen in 2004.  Although his brothers and sisters still live in Cambodia, his mother just joined him in Seattle recently!

Since arriving in the United States, Dara’s goal has been to educate people about the rich Cambodian culture that the Khmer Rouge tried to destroy and about the genocide, so that the world will not stand by and allow such atrocities to occur again.  Toward that end, he has created the Cambodian Cultural Museum and Killing Fields Memorial, which began in his garage and is now in White Center, Washington.

Dara’s story is one of survival against enormous odds, one of perseverance, one of courage and hope.

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