Arn Chorn-Pond
| Arn Chorn-Pond | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 1966 Battambang, Cambodia |
| Alma mater | Gould Academy, Northfield Mount Hermon School, Providence College, B.A. (Political Science), L.H.D. |
| Occupation | Co-founder, Children of War; Co-founder, Cambodian Living Arts; Co-founder, Southeast Asian Big Brother/Big Sister Association (Providence); Founder, Peace Makers (Providence); Founder, Cambodian Volunteers for Community Development, (Cambodia); Director of Youth Programs, Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association (Lowell, Massachusetts); Special Advisor on Cambodian Affairs, Clear Path International |
| Known for | Work with Cambodian refugees, trauma survivors, Khmer traditional musicians, education on forgiveness and reconciliation, education on the Khmer Rouge genocide |
| Relatives | Peter L. Pond (foster father), Shirley Mason Pond (foster mother) |
| Awards |
Reebok Human Rights Award (1988); Amnesty International Human Rights Award (1991); Kohl Foundation International Peace Prize (1993); Spirit of Anne Frank Outstanding Citizen Award (1996) |
Arn Chorn-Pond is a human rights activist committed to preserving traditional Cambodian ("Khmer") music.
Chorn-Pond was born in Cambodia in 1966 into a Battambang family of performers and musicians. According to Chorn-Pond in a 2006 article:
When the Khmer Rouge came to power in 1975, Chorn-Pond and hundreds of other children were sent to Wat Ek Phnom, a Buddhist temple near Battambang converted into a prison camp, where he survived by playing the flute and keeping the soldiers entertained.
In five days a master trained Chorn-Pond and four other children to play the flute and the khim, a Cambodian hammered dulcimer. The children learned to play a traditional lullaby known as bompay. At the end of that time, Chorn-Pond and another boy were chosen to play propaganda songs for the camp guards. The other three children and the master were led away and killed. "When they brought in another old master for more lessons," Chorn-Pond recalled, "I begged them not to kill him. I told them I didn’t have enough skills yet, and I offered them my own life instead." On a visit to Cambodia in 1996, he was reunited with his teacher.
In a 2002 interview Chorn-Pond described how his survival depended on repressing his emotions and distancing himself from the horror of his situation:
When the Vietnamese invaded Cambodia in 1978, Chorn-Pond was handed a gun and forced to fight:
Eventually he escaped into the jungle where he survived for months by himself. "I followed monkeys and ate whatever they ate. I fished with my hands and ate fruits, and killed monkeys, too." In late 1980 he crossed the border into Thailand and a Thai Soldier took him to the Sa Kaeo Refugee Camp. There he met the Reverend Peter L. Pond. "He weighed about 60 pounds and he was very sick," Reverend Pond later recalled, "He had cerebral malaria and he was really close to death...This sick little child reached up and touched me, and said in English, 'Hello.' That...was Arn Chorn from the very first, reaching out and touching."
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Wikipedia