Kite Lines - Vol.3 No. 1 - KiteLife

THECAMBODIANC SPIRIT I 1By Paul GallowayKhao I Dang-From a distance, you seethem . Tiny, white, hovering in the wind .Scores of them . Above hundreds of primitiveshelters housing thousands of the dispossessed-refugeeswho have enduredwrenching hardship-kites are flying .If the slaughter and death that haveeviscerated Cambodia in the last four yearssignify the human capacity for atrocityand cruelty, these small kites affirm theresiliency of the human spirit .The children make them from scrapsof paper no longer than two hands . Thetails are fashioned from the labels of foodtins, glued together . The kite twine hasbeen spun from plastic wrapping .Khao I Dang is a new camp for Cambodianrefugees . It is about 10 miles from theCambodian border, and its 2000 acres aredesigned to hold 200,000 people who havefled the war and famine in their country .The refugees arrive in buses and trucksfrom the huge settlements along the Cambodianfrontier . After they are examinedby volunteer nurses and doctors, thosewho are not admitted to the hospital areplaced in groups of 100 .Ly-Thy Ngorn, a short, frail youngman of 22. with piercing black eyes, was amedical student when Pol Pot took overCambodia in 1975 ."I want to go to the United States,"he said . "I have cousins who live in California. We admire your liberty, yourhuman rights ."Ly-Thy's chances are remote . The Thaigovernment may hold these refugees inthe new camps indefinitely . There are160,000 other Indochinese refugees inThailand who are marked for relocationin other countries .The United States has agreed to accept14,000 refugees a month .Walking among the narrow, low shelters,a Westerner will attract children, whoappear suddenly, like schools of minnows .They will babble and touch the visitor,and they will smile .It is not possible to know how deeplythese children have been damaged emotionallyand physically by their ordeals,but the smiles offer hope .As we walked toward the roadblock atthe entrance of Khao I Dang, preparing toleave, Ly-Thy called to me . I walked tothe Red Cross tent to see what he wanted ."I must ask you a question," he said .Kites made from scrap paper are flown by two boys in a Cambodian refugee camp in Thailand ."During [the regime of] Pol Pot, so manypeople were killed . It was worse thanHitler." He pronounced the name as"Hit-lee-er .""In four years," Ly-Thy continued,"most of our intelligentsia were killed .Students, professors, doctors, all LonNol [non-Communist] soldiers ."I understand the United States madean objection . You said there was nohuman rights under Pol Pot . My questionis, why did not the United States help us?"I tried to explain that the country wasexhausted after the Vietnam War and inno mood to become involved in anotherwar . I tried to explain that we wereanguished about Cambodia but that thecountry was reluctant to become involvedin such things again ."But the United States is for liberty,"Ly-Thy said .I said I was very sorry . We shookhands and said good-by .As we drove away, we saw them . Scoresof them . Tiny, white and hovering in thewind . Kites were flying above Khao I Dang .