OBOC - Cambodia

Looking back on the 30+ countries I've completed, I realized that most of the stories are not necessarily what one can call as "light reading". War, Genocide, Poverty, Colonialism all form the undercurrent for many of the stories. Cambodia is no exception.

"First they killed my father" is the moving autobiography of Loung Ung who survived the killing fields of Cambodia, and moved on to become an advocate against violence for the UN. What is powerful about this story is how a 5 year old can dig deep within herself and find strength to survive brutality, hunger, and tragedy in the midst of absolute despair.

Under the Khmer Rouge millions of urban residents were forcefully "relocated" to rural Cambodia in an attempt to rid the country of loyalists to the previous Government. Urban dwellers were also viewed with suspicion as they were deemed to be "polluted" with capitalistic ideas. Walking for 8 days from the capital Phnom Penh Loung's family seeks refuge in one camp after the other, hiding their identity (Loung's father worked for the previous Government). The family gets separated and unfortunately not all of them survive - losing her dad, her oldest sister and her mother and her baby sister, it was a miracle that Loung survived.

Her experiences as a child soldier in the work camps, witnessing of the execution of a Khmer Rouge soldier, escaping rape, narrowly escaping death from hunger, infections and bullets, working in leach infected waters - makes you wonder how can a child ever recover from these harrowing experiences. Finally reuniting with her surviving siblings, she escapes to Thailand with her oldest brother - Meng and his wife Eang and from there gets a ticket to the US as a refugee.

Throughout the 5 years under the Khmer Rouge she and her sister Chou faced similar atrocities and being of different temperaments they each coped in their own way. Leaving Chou behind in Cambodia, must've been overwhelming for Loung as she must've been consumed by guilt. I believe this prompted her to write her second book "The Lucky Child".

While the book is a story of the victims of the Pol Pot regime it is still very much a story of a survivor and is one of hope. This is a story of someone who has overcome the childhood scars and survived in an alien nation and then made their life one of purpose. To think that all these happened not too long ago only shows  the need for the world to learn more from these stories and makes one more appreciative of Loung's role in the campaign against landmines.

As a small aside: I wanted to read more about how Loung wrote this book as she could not have possibly remembered every small detail as she was 5 years old at the beginning of the invasion and was only 9 or 10 when she moved to the US. I am no psychologist, but wouldn't blocking these memories out be one of the chief ways of coping or were the scars too much that even a child that young remembers and recollects everything that happened? I don't know. Hey at 5, or even 9 my biggest concern was getting through school and the only violence i had experienced was the simulated ones on some badly made Tamil movies ! How can I even pretend to understand what she must've gone through!

OBOC - Cameroon

"Mission Accomplished"... before you think I am doing a George Bush by declaring victory in OBOC a bit prematurely (I still have 100 odd countries to go, and I only hope it won't last as long as the Iraq war!)... I am just referring to Mongo Beti's comic novel "Mission terminee" which I read in English as "Mission Accomplished".

Despite failing his Baccalaureat exam in the "best tradition", Jean Marie Medza is charged with an all important duty as a messenger to the remote village of Kala, to bring back the wife of a relative, Niam,  who had fled her husband's home unable to bear his abusiveness. Going to Kala on a bicycle with nervous apprehension, our hero is pleasantly surprised by the welcome he receives at his uncle's home, and the friendly warmth of his cousin Zambo only to discover that the object of his mission has run away from her father's home with another man. Forced to spend many days at Kala, he receives the attention of everyone in the village as the only town-boy amidst the country folk who was educated by the white man. Compared to the abuse he suffers at his father's hands, Medza finds himself being elevated to a demi-God status in the village and for the first time forms a great friendship with other boys of his own age thanks to Zambo and his friend.

What starts out as a comical adventure, turns about to be a coming of age story of Medza, where he develops a deeper understanding of himself, his culture and the "colonized African". At the end of his journey, he finally stands up to his father but is forced to leave his home and his young wife. He summarizes his entire understanding in light of his experience in the following words "the tragedy our nation is suffering today is that of a man left to his own devices in a world which does not belong to him, which he has not made and does not understand. it is the tragedy of man without an intellectual direction, a man walking blindly through the dark in some hostile city like New York....How will he solve the intricacies of a subway map or know where to change trains?"

Besides the comical nature of the story, I loved Mongo Beti's sketches of the lead characters, Medza, Zambo and Medza's father ("living example of the astonishing results that can occur when Western hypocrisy and commercial materialism are grafted onto a first-rate African intelligence") in particular. Also the seemingly pointless jocular ramblings that Medza had with the villagers of Kala were also very revealing - what did Colonization, Constitution, Law, Capitalism, Communism mean to people flung in remote corners of Cameroon?What does it say about Medza, who finally escapes the tyranny of his father, while at the same time benefiting from the education he received, but never comes back for his wife? How does he resolve the conflict between his heart and his mind? Is this the dilemma the educated elite of Africa (or for that matter, any colonized developing country) face?

Wikipedia tells me that the book received praise for its realism and criticism from the likes of Chinua Achebe for romanticizing the past. To me, it was one of those books which appear very easy to read, with farcical situations, but actually have a few layers if one cares to look.

OBOC - Burundi

Everyone, well almost everyone, has heard of the Rwandan genocide and know that it had something to do with ethnic tensions between Hutus and Tutsis. But until I read "The voice in my heart" by Gilbert Tuhabonye I had no idea how the Rwandan conflict was closely tied to the political history of Burundi and the 2 clashes of genocidal proportions that took place in Burundi in the early '70s and '90s.

Here is a brief primer if you are interested, else skip to the next paragraph.  (This does not figure in the story of Gilbert, but is a good-to-know background). In a country of Hutu majority (>80%),  the Tutsis have held power and senior positions in the Military and Government since Independence. In the first post-independence elections despite a sweeping Hutu victory, a Tutsi was appointed the Prime Minister and this led to a failed coup attempt which was followed by Hutu insurgents killing Tutsis and the Tutsi controlled military retaliating with a systematic slaughter. This also led to many Hutus fleeing to Rwanda resulting in radicalization of the overall Hutu population in Rwanda. This was the infamous first Burundian genocide.

Gilbert's story happens in the '90s when the first Hutu President Ndadaye was assassinated during the second genocide. What followed was a Hutu retaliation on the Tutsi population and the subsequent crackdown by the army. Gilbert growing up in an idyllic village in Mount Fuku in Bururi was at that time attending middle school in the prestigious Lycie Kimbee area, where he had already established himself as a super star athlete. When the Hutu population rounded up the Tutsi students and hacked some of them to death, and set fire to the remaining, Gilbert was the only one who miraculously survived the slaughter. Using the burned bodies of his schoolmates as a shelter and a human bone to break open the window, Gilbert escapes and is eventually picked up the army where he is treated for his burns. Slowly regaining his strength - physical and mental, he does not give up on his dream to go to the US on a track scholarship. Despite the harrowing experiences, his faith in god and the kindness of people around helps him heal and achieve his dreams.

Gilbert's biography - his childhood days, his family, the education system in Burundi and his athletic feats are interwoven with the slaughter episode at the school in alternate chapters. This is an interesting piece of writing and takes the reader from the idyllic childhood spent chasing cows, to the horrific incidents of that day in a swing of emotions. I also found the comparison to Bosnia interesting given that it was around the same time when the genocide was happening there.

I especially liked the description of his simple, yet peaceful life in Mount Fuku. Childhood days spent roaming around the hills, chasing cows, running barefoot to fetch water, singing along when doing chores, the sounds of the Kirundi language, the staple food and the drumming and other rituals. Also his description of the education system in Burundi, closely mirrors the system in India and I found this fascinating. It also gives you great insight about athletes from developing countries who manage to compete in international arena despite complete lack of resources - be it facilities, sponsorships, coaching support etc.

Gilbert's success despite his humble beginnings is attributed by him to his unflinching faith in god. I believe in addition to faith, his hard work, finding a mentor in Adolphe, single mindedness of purpose, and an openness to new experiences all had significant contributions to his success. Overall, a very interesting biography - inspiring and informative.