529: Healing From Khmer Rouge With Sambath Meas

Sambath Meas was born in Pailin, Cambodia at a time of civil war. Having survived the effects of the Vietnam War, the Khmer Civil War, and the Maoist-inspired Khmer Rouge regime, her parents decided not to stick around for another phase of mass killings. Her family, like thousands of other Khmers, fled to the Cambodian-Thai border in 1979. After being displaced in various refugee camps for two years, Chicago became their new home in 1981. Meas graduated from Loyola University of Chicago with a B.A. in political science and has taken writing classes at Northwestern University. She works in the legal industry for 20 years now. In her spare time, she helps novice writers to get started with their stories. Her current projects include self-help, science fiction, graphic novel, and young adult fantasy books. She writes fiction, focusing on murder mystery, fantasy, and science fiction; and nonfiction, focusing on memoir, biography, and self-improvement.

Sambath shares her story about her family’s experience from the Khmer Rouge era and what her parents went through. She also shares what she has done to help her father’s PTD from the Khmer Rouge, have a better relationship with parents and live a much happier life.

Bio

Sambath Meas is an author.

Cultural Background

Sambath is of Cambodian descent.

Favorite Self Confidence Quote

If you do not conquer self, you will be conquered by self.

Definition of Self Confidence

Self-confidence is able to think, say, and act with knowledge and without regrets.

Her Life Before the Discovery of Self Confidence

Sambath’s life was horrible. She was bombarded by negative emotions. Her PTD father experience from Khmer Rouge made him always angry and didn’t know how she could deal with it. Sambath didn’t understand why he was the way he was.

The “AHA” Moment

Sambath’s AHA moment came to her when she wrote The Immortal Seeds: A Tribute to Golden Treasures. During the Khmer Rouge era, her father, along with other men, were forced at gunpoint to burn books, destroy buildings, and anything that represented the capitalist and modern world. Her father felt shameful about it until this day. Since she loved reading, writing, and researching, she thought she should create her own publishing company, write fiction and non-fiction books, and hope to be successful enough to sign other talented authors and republish rare books from the pasts regarding Cambodia and her people. In the process, she hope to cleanse her father’s shame.