Many died. Most of the children ranged in age from 8 to their teens. but some were as young as 6. "Quite often siblings were also separated." she said. "They were only fed at most watery rice twice a day. sometimes with vegetables." the social worker said. "They never had enough to eat." When the Vietnamese invaded in December 1978 and routed the Pol Pot regime the following month. many of the children were forced to flee along with the Khmer Rouge guerrillas. In addition to the deaths at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. they now also saw people killed by the advancing Vietnamese. who often would shell the retreating columns of refugees and Khmer Rouge soldiem. When the children arrived at the ThaiCambodian border. many were among the most malnourished of the skeletal figures with bloated stomachs who managed to make it that far. As refugee workers began to sort them out. 3.500 Cambodian children who arrived without parents were placed in holding centers inside Thailand. Over the next three years. 1.500 of them were reunited with relatives in Thailand. in camps on the border or in western resettlement countries. Thousands of other parentless children joined nonrelated families. were forced into Khmer Rougecontrolled camps or enlisted in the noncommunist Cambodian resistance factions battling the Vietnamese.
Keywords matched
refugee refugees