Welcoming Refugees

Over the last two years I've been excited to learn of the work of Welcoming America,

"a national, grassroots-driven collaborative that works to promote mutual respect and cooperation between foreign-born and U.S.-born Americans. The ultimate goal of Welcoming America is to create a welcoming atmosphere – community by community – in which immigrants are more likely to integrate into the social fabric of their adopted hometowns.

One of WA's projects is Welcoming Refugees:

"Through a cooperative agreement with the Office of Refugee Resettlement, Welcoming America helps organizations and communities across the United States to prepare their communities for successful resettlement over the long term by fostering greater understanding and support for refugees." 

Sign up to be part of the Welcoming Refugees network. Their Community Blog is full of resources.

On the Community Blog, I've just begun a series of posts, "Connecting Through Stories," which will focus on creating welcoming communities and conversations by using children's books featuring stories of the experiences of new Americans.

This first post is about the Cambodian American experience, in celebration of Cambodian New Year and acknowledging the 40th anniversary of the Khmer Rouge invasion of Phnom Penh and the start of the 4-year genocide.

Upcoming posts will include books related to World Refugee Day, Ramadan, and finally in September, National Welcoming Week.

Christina

Christina Nhek, the graduate student in library sciences I met at the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association award ceremony, sent me this photo and caption:

Here is Christina, reading "A Path of Stars". As a future librarian, hoping to continue to help others find their paths by providing library resources to enrich their futures.

Christina writes:

I read (A Path of Stars) and immediately felt a connection as the story mirrors what my family experienced as they escaped the genocide and settled in America. I was the only "American" born child, the baby of five. I've heard the stories and that is one of the main reasons why I am pursuing my masters in Library Science. I want to piece together tangible artifacts, especially photographs that survived the war, of Cambodian people, and help continue to preserve the culture of what was almost destroyed... We are such a small minority group in the vast ocean of immigrants here in the U.S. that people generally don't know where we are located on a map. 

Meeting Christina and hearing a tiny bit of her story - and knowing she's a future librarian! - is the kind of experience that makes writing and illustrating children's books across difference so rewarding.

To be Cambodian American

Ten years ago, when I received a commission from the Maine Humanities Council under their New Mainers Book Project, my assignment was to create a picture book representing the Cambodian-American experience. 

I considered it an impossible task; that is, on my own, I could not produce an authentic Cambodian-American story. But I thought that if I listened long enough, perhaps a story might come through me. I read every book I could find about Cambodia, the war, the escape, and life in the U.S.; most titles were survivor accounts. The local community was wonderfully supportive, especially my friends, educators Peng and Veasna Kem, who shared their own stories as well as advising me throughout the process; and Pirun Sen, educator and founder of Watt Samaki Temple, who reviewed the final draft and wrote an afterword.

The book that resulted, A Path of Stars, was published in February (see announcement here). There are a few children's nonfiction titles featuring Cambodian Americans, including Who Belongs Here? An American Story, by Margy Burns Knight, which I illustrated; and there are several picture books set in Cambodia, including Fred Lipp's The Caged Birds of Phnom Penh). But to my knowledge, A Path of Stars is the only fiction picture book available about the Cambodian American experience. (Dara's Cambodian New Year by Sothea Chiemruom seems to be out of print, although copies can be found online.) [Please suggest any other titles in the comment section.]

The book's release has created wonderful chances to connect with Maine's Cambodian community, which numbers about 2000, including Portland's Cambodian Dance Troupe. In February my friend Tania Jo Hathaway, who manages the troupe and whose daughter Sophia is one of the dancers, invited me to share the book with them. Taught by Sokhoueun Sok, a classical dance performer trained in Phnom Penh, the troupe includes sixteen girls, ages 4 to 20. Some are 2nd-generation Cambodian Americans whose parents escaped the Khmer Rouge; others were born in Cambodia and adopted by American families.

This week I attended a delightful performance of the troupe, luminous in brilliant traditional clothing, at a New Year's Celebration (the Khmer new year is observed April 13-15). But classical dance wasn't the only item on the menu; there was also break-dancing duo, a band playing Khmer pop songs, and a hip hop group.

When I met with the girls in February, one of the ideas that struck me is that their identity is a relatively new one. Communities of Cambodian Americans, such as ours here in Maine, began taking root in the U.S. in the late 1970's. The oldest American-born Cambodians - in any significant numbers - are in their 30s. What it means to be Cambodian American is being defined now, in all its variety, by these young people, creating a brand-new, unique piece of the American mosaic.

I look forward to the day when books about the Cambodian-American experience will be written and illustrated by the people who are living that story.

Announcing My Newest Book

 I'm happy to announce that A Path of Stars, a picture book I wrote and illustrated under commission from the Maine Humanities Council, has just been released from Charlesbridge.







From the jacket copy:  
"Dara's grandmother, Lok Yeay, is full of stories about her life growing up in Cambodia, before she immigrated to the United States. Lok Yeay tells her granddaughter of the fruits and plants that grew there, and how her family would sit in their yard and watch the stars that glowed like fireflies. Lok Yeay tells Dara about her brother, Lok Ta, who is still in Cambodia, and how one day she will return with Dara and Dara's family to visit the place she still considers home. But when a phone call disrupts Lok Yeay's dream to see her brother again, Dara becomes determined to bring her grandmother back to a place of happiness."

And from Kirkus Reviews: "... this moving depiction of the special relationship between a grandmother and a grandchild has broad appeal. The Cambodian particulars are intriguing, but the satisfaction that a child can also help a grieving adult is what readers will take away from this sympathetic story."