A Change of Guard

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Saturday 21 March 2015

Khmer Rouge victims reunited 40 years after daring rescue

A 1975 news report about Canada House from Walter Cronkite

2 young Canadian sisters risked their lives to save abandoned Cambodian children

By Radio West, CBC News Posted: Mar 19, 2015 6:54 PM PT Last Updated: Mar 19, 2015 6:54 PM PT
Eloise Charet (left) and her sister Anna are pictured at the orphanage they founded in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in 1975.
Eloise Charet (left) and her sister Anna are pictured at the orphanage they founded in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in 1975.
Eloise Charet can't forget the horrific scene at the orphanage she walked into in Cambodia in 1975.
"One of the rooms had all these children that were left to die," says Charet. "You could see ants crawling all over their bodies, flies, everything, devouring them while they were still alive."
March marks 40 years since Charet and her sister Anna helped approximately 55 orphaned babies and children escape from the terror of Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.
At the time, the horror of the Khmer Rouge was escalating — more than 1.5 million Cambodians would die in the next four years in one of the most notorious genocides in history.
Canada House orphanage
The sisters named the orphanage they founded Canada House.
Charet and her sister had gone to Cambodia to start an orphanage in Phnom Penh. They called the orphanage Canada House.
She's been trying to find all the children she saved. She was recently reunited with one of them, Sam Nakatsu, over the phone when CBC'sRadio West spoke to them about the anniversary.

Personal history comes into focus

Growing up, Nakatsu, now an RCMP officer in Williams Lake, B.C., knew he had been abandoned at an orphanage because he was half Japanese and half Cambodian. He knew he had been found in a room, left to die.
But he didn't know about Canada House or about Charet and her sister. And until the Radio West interview, he had never heard her voice.
Sam Nakatsu
Sam Nakatsu was one of the babies that Eloise Charet rescued in Cambodia. He now lives in Williams Lake, B.C., and says his life feels complete now that he's met some of his fellow adoptees. (CBC)
"It's pretty neat to hear her talk about that room with the babies crawling around with the flies," says Nakatsu. "It's interesting to hear how stories change over time. But that kind of fits with everything I was told."
The details of Nakatsu's story came into focus a year ago when he saw an article in theOsoyoos Times about ArtPurdon, an Osoyoos resident who had helped at the orphanage inPhnom Penh.
"That’s when I was overwhelmed and learned that there were so many other brothers and sisters and two new mothers out there in the world that I hadn’t known for 39 years," says Nakatsu.
He says up until then, he had felt like a part of himself was missing.
"It’s something I’ve been searching for, and never, ever understood what I was even searching," says Nakatsu.
He says that speaking with his fellow adoptees and Charet has made him realize what he was looking for.
"When I learned this story, and when I hear Eloise talk, and I talk to my brothers and sisters, I feel complete now."
Charet is happy to have heard Nakatsu's voice. So far, of all the children she's been looking for, she’s been in touch with about 20 of them.
"The children lost part of their past," says Charet. "When we left Cambodia we swore that we would try and connect them somehow."

A lifetime of helping children

Charet and her sister, both from Montreal, were in their 20s when they went to Cambodia to start an orphanage in Phnom Penh. Charet says part of what compelled her and her sister to help was the anti-war sentiment of the time.
Eloise Charet
Eloise Charet sits in the CBC Kelowna studio. It was the first time Charet heard the voice of Sam Nakatsu, one of the orphans she rescued in Cambodia 40 years ago. (CBC)
"The Vietnam War affected our entire generation," says Charet. "It had gone on so long, we wanted to do something."
Although the sisters were only in Cambodia for five months, Eloise Charet says "it felt like a lifetime."
The sisters were familiar with helping children. Besides growing up with eight other siblings, they had also helped families in Canada who had adopted international children.
The final push to go to Cambodia came from humanitarian Naomi Bronstein, who asked for their help. Bronstein is renowned for having saved thousands of orphaned children from war-torn regions around the world throughout her lifetime.
The sisters landed first in Saigon, now called Ho Chi Minh City, in Vietnam.
"There was close to a million orphans in Vietnam," says Charet. "That war had broken families and left so many children abandoned."
They discovered the situation in Cambodia was even worse. Charet says there was only one orphanage in the country. When the saw it, they discovered the abandoned children and babies left to die.
"Upstairs there was a room, it was very small, it was overcrowded," says Charet. "The administrator didn’t know what to do anymore."
The sisters took the children back to their hotel, says Charet. Eventually, they were offered a house, which became Canada House.
Babies were sometimes left on the front steps. Occasionally, soldiers would bring them children they had found abandoned in ransacked villages.

‘We refused to leave without our babies’

As the situation in Cambodia deteriorated, Canada House was put on evacuation notice. Charet says it became increasingly difficult to get flights out of the bombed-out airport.
"We refused to leave without our babies," says Charet. "They’d already been abandoned before, how could we abandon them once more?"
Charet says she and her sister worked with government officials to get passports for all the children so they could send them to Canada.
The evacuation was a daring last-minute escape, says Charet. Through an airline stewardess the sisters had met, they managed to secure a flight for all the children.
It was difficult for planes to land — they sometimes got shot at as they arrived, and the runways were riddled with potholes.
"They came in on a suicide mission to get us," says Charet.
The flight left from the middle of a field filled with broken airplanes. It was one of the last flights out of the country.
To listen to the Eloise Charet and Sam Nakatsu's reunion, click on the audio labelled: A reunion 40 years in the making

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Begin of Drgunzet's comment.

‘WE REFUSED TO LEAVE WITHOUT OUR BABIES’

As the situation in Cambodia deteriorated, Canada House was put on evacuation notice. Charet says it became increasingly difficult to get flights out of the bombed-out airport.
"We refused to leave without our babies," says Charet. "They’d already been abandoned before, how could we abandon them once more?"
-----------------------
Sam Rainsy abandoned the farmers who pulled the border post up for him. He let them to rot in jail. Think about it. He took the farmers out to the border and incited them to pull up the border post.

That's an act of a coward. If you want to pull the border post up, you pull it. Don't trick someone else into doing for you. And, do not run away when others go to jail because of you.

-Drgunzet-

Anonymous said...

I probably watched most of the Vietnam war movies posted on Utube. The last one I found interesting was about using dogs in the war to sniff out booby traps, landmines and the enemy. Guess what breed of dogs was pick for this job? German shepherds. Also found out that Vietnamese are superstitious of black dogs.

One time a came upon a video of a GI going back to Vietnam for a visit. During the war he had shot a VC soldier went to look him over and took his identity he had on him, which was a picture of his daughter. Well, this GI goal was to go find this dead soldier's daughter and told her that he had killed her father and was sorry he did that. This was forty years later after the war had ceased. He came with a bonquet of flowers and a contrite heart with the picture of her father to hand him back to her, she bawl and sob in his arms until she regain her composer.

Gog

Anonymous said...

Begin of Drgunzet's comment.

Eloise Charet can't forget the horrific scene at the orphanage she walked into in Cambodia in 1975.

"One of the rooms had all these children that were left to die," says Charet. "You could see ants crawling all over their bodies, flies, everything, devouring them while they were still alive."

There is no way Khmer race can compete against Vietnamese.

---------------------
1. You have to be smarter. Well, but you can't. There is no miracle drug or magic wand to make you smarter.

2. You have to train for some skill, or practice some talents? Again, I know Khmer race is lazy.

When I was in my 20s, I went to the temple to pray, meditate and practice martial arts. I took my belt and whipped my own body to numb the sense for full-contact sparring. I took a wooden rod and smash against my leg shins to toughen the bones.

There is no way Khmer can do what I did.

3. Ok, if you are cannot be smart, refuse too train, learn, can you at least be nice, charming?

Heck no. You are angry, rude, and cruel.

When I was 28 or so, I picked up the food at this Chinese family. One the food day, I baby-sit, played with the children before I drove home.

This 5-year old child showed me her crayon coloring picture. I pointed out, "You missed a spot her." then I turned away. She repainted, and showed again. I pointed to a different spot, "Hey you missed this spot."

I did a few more time and the child got frustrated, stopped showing me her painting. I chuckled and buttered her up, "I am sorry. I was teasing you. May I see your picture?"

I had to beg, bribe and made the child happy again. And she was very happy actually. We were just playing kiddy with each other.

As a result, on the food day, the children wait at the door for me to arrive. They would race or fight each other to open the door for me.

Angry, stupid and cruel Khmer cannot be charming, or nice. You are killers, monsters. Prove me wrong. Show me how can you be nice on this forum.

-Drgunzet-

Anonymous said...

Drgunzet


I know that talking to you is like talking to a piece of rock.
You praise the 2 ladies for saving the orphans.
Why can’t you be a fraction as good as them for humanity sake?
Your foul mouthing here contradicts everything that you claim to be, why?
Something is messed up in your head?

Anonymous said...

Begin of Drgunzet's comment.

The two ladies in the articles are way better persons than I am. I have never achieved much or anything good compared to them. I did try to be good here and there, now and then, but nowhere near what they did.

So, I have been trying to save the innocent, unarmed, defenseless, poor Vietnamese Cambodians from the evil, murderous Khmer killers. I have been trying to stop the Khmer posters from inciting "kap Yuon spirits" to cut, chop, butcher the poor Vietnamese civilians.

But I fail so far. Khmer race are so angry, stupid and murderous. Why?

1. Khmer race has been creamed by the Thais during the sacking of the Khmer capitals again, again, again, and again, and yet again by the Khmer Rouges. Brave, smart and good Khmer got killed. The good genes were creamed off. What's left are the stupid, angry, murderous cowardice Khmer.

2. The Vietnamese are pretty, smart, hardworking. They are winning left and right; becoming the envy and fear of the inferior Khmers.

That's the problem.

-Drgunzet-

Anonymous said...


Drgunzet


Why can’t you be “a fraction” as good as them for humanity sake?

Get it?


Anonymous said...

Begin of Drgunzet's comment.

Let's get riel. A Khmer child is born with so much disadvantage right at birth.

1. Born under weight, poorly developed.
2. Lack milk, and the brain got dehydrated.
3. Malnourished, and neglected.

Oh man, I remember when I was 3-4, I often ran around totally naked, dirty and unsupervised. I climbed through the broken fence to the neighbor house, and the girls there were screaming at me, pointing at my penis. They chased me around their front yard to push me back to my house.

I was so happy, giggling. I still remember thinking about running through the bushes to elude the girls because I was smaller. I did not even think about getting scratched up.

4. Suffer violence and brain concussion.

I suffered a few light brain concussion due to fighting or practice Martial Arts in early teen. And I used to smash rocks to cut my opponents' head bleeding to scare them. And I used to inflict massive brain concussion against other Asian kids too. It was vicious fight against other evil Asian kids.

5. Have poor education. Lack of development, stimulation.

6. Have inferior culture of third-world mentality. Western modern teaching is superior than Asian teaching.

----------------
So, there is no way a Khmer child can compete. Beside Khmer child also has inferior genetics. In contrast, I was born with photographic memory. I copy the whole picture of anything, then read out the texts, details from what I remember. While you folks read one word at a time, I could read a whole page at the time if I concentrate enough.

Also I have superior spatial thinking. One time I played a strategic space war game in college, I plot courses in my head for 6 different space ships to plan for a trap and counter attack.

-Drgunzet-

Anonymous said...

Drgunzet

Let’s start with you first!

Why can’t you be “a fraction” as good as them for humanity sake?

Get it?

Anonymous said...

Begin of Drgunzet's comment.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/high-school-rumble-puts-one-student-hospital

Nasty Khmer.

I could teach the light-skinned Khmer students the DIM MAK technique to inflict internal damages to the dark-skinned Khmer students, then some time after that the dark-skinned students will never cause trouble again.

Basically, the internal organs will be so ruptured, clog with internal bleeding, the dark-skinned students will be rendered totally weak.

-Drgunzet-

Anonymous said...

Begin of Drgunzet's comment.

I watched a lot of Khmer student fights. They were lame. The idiots were only to hurt each other.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOyYf-Dv5aY

When I fought the dark-skin Asian kids, I never wanted to hurt them. I only want to destroy their will to fight. So, some I would trick and swung them or rush their heads against the cement wall causing massive concussion. They got stunned and froze for a few seconds or some time they dropped to the ground confused.

Then I would follow up and continue to crush so that my opponents cannot recover. Some of my opponents could not get out of bed for a couple days. They had plenty of time to remember, "Never attack that light-skinned kid again."

My rule was simple, fair and just: You attack me. I will do what ever it take to make sure you will never attack me again.

I think the Thais adopted this policy: We will come and sack Khmer capital again and again to make sure Khmer empire never rise again. It worked.

-Drgunzet-

kh44 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...



Drgunzet


I know I warned myself that talking to you is like talking to a piece of rock.


So keep on babbling…

Anonymous said...

Thanks to Canada house for saving the children lives. Hero for us.