Chanty Jong - Running Toward the Guns: A Memoir of Escape from Cambodia

Thirteen years ago, I started to write my lifes horrific survival narrative for my children to attempt to understand my early life. Now my story is more than just recounting the suffering under the Khmer Rouge. It is a story about an 8-year-old girls journey from innocence to evil. My lifes chronicle of overcoming great fear and then having the courage to charge toward the machine guns running for my life. My story describes escaping Cambodia through the intensely dangerous mine lands, and crossing the dark jungle. You will feel my pain surviving the Thailand refugee containment camps and my victory arriving here in America!

I witnessed the horror of genocide, killings, torture, slavery, starvation and so much more. My story then depicts the pain of dealing with the negative flashback memories and the daily terror I endured years after the initial trauma. But most of all, my story has to do with my determination to transform myself from living in frightful emotional bondage after these terrors of the past to now a more peaceful, calm and contented life in America.

I taught myself how to relive and work through each individual snapshot of my traumatic memories, one by one. Through intense meditation I began to reconstruct my life. This journey of my inner-self healing process was tremendously hard and painful. But in the end, I conquered my fear of the unknown. I succeeded in triumphing over my anxiety, depression, pain and measureless suffering. For the first time in my life, I feel free and tranquil. I have taken control over the demons that have haunted me for 40 years.

I would like to share my life story with others so that people who have had similar pain and suffering can begin to explore my healing methods for themselves. I have outlined my methodical inner-self healing meditation process which you can read to perhaps help yourself begin your personal healing quest.

Through telling my story, I have two specific missions in mind to help others. One is through education, visiting schools, sharing factual and historical knowledge with students and teachers concerning the Cambodian genocide. The other is explaining my lifes experiences of pain and suffering to the community at large, so that others may be able to identify with my story and begin to process and heal from their own personal pain. I believe that exposure to both book knowledge and life experiences creates a more complete life cycle of learning. Running Toward the Guns is both historical and factual education, as well as inspirational information for anyone with a thirst for history, adventure and happy ending. Enjoy your journey, learn from mine.