Many are still tormented by sights of the brutal deaths of parents and siblings. and many are still struggling to work out their anguish. You can see the trauma in the pictures they draw. in the periodic nightmares and bouts of depression they suffer. in the faces that cloud over when distressful memories intrude. More than other Cambodian refugees. these "unaccompanied minors"-so called because all may not actually be orphans but may have relatives they do not know are still aliveare living reminders of the horrors of the Khmer Rouge. These horrors tend to fade into abstraction as new violence and upheaval disrupt the lives of Cambodians and as the Khmer rouge seemingly gain international acceptance. if not respectability. as part of a coalition of Cambodian "resistance" groups opposing the Vietnamese occupation of their country. But the horrors refuse to fade from the memories of those who suffered. The memories are important not only because the children could grow up to affect the future of Cambodia. They also underscore the complications of the search for a settlement in Cambodia and illustrate why that remains one of the worlds most intractable problems. The horror of life under the Khmer Rouge "will always be with the children. no matter how old they get or where they go." said a western social worker at this refugee camp. "They cant erase it." When the guerrillas led by Pol Pot took power in April 1975. they began a brutal experiment in social engineering designed to destroy the old Cambodia and reshape a radical new Communist society from scratch. Many children were separated from their families as the Khmer Rouge took them away to work in "mobile teams" far from their homes. They lived in groups of up to 100 other children and worked "incredibly long hours." said the social worker. who did not want to be named. "They were forced to dig ditches. build roads and plow fields." she said.
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refugee refugees