He Knows the Plan: A Story of Survival and Resilience

For many years, the Khmer Rouge, a communist regime, had been training soldiers in the forest and creating an army to take over the country of Cambodia. On April 17, 1975, the Khmer Rouge paraded through Phnom Penh, the capitol, to exterminate the city of 'bugs'. People were first told that they would temporarily have to leave their homes for three days. Some of the adults knew better than to believe this story because rumors had been spreading all over Cambodia about the terrible things occurring in villages and towns. People from the villages and towns had been coming into Phnom Penh and living in parks or any open area in the capitol because their homes were taken over or destroyed by the Khmer Rouge soldiers. Cambodia was a peaceful and self-sufficient country, full of people who only desired peace. We came to believe the propaganda being told because there was not an alternate option. Questions became fears, fears turned into belief that the Khmer Rouge soldiers would protect us.