On April 17th, 1975 the Khmer Rouge, a communist guerrilla group led by Pol Pot, took power in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. They forced all city dwellers into the countryside and to labor camps

The enormity of what Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge party did in the latter half of the 1970s defies hyperbole. The only word for it: genocide. The death toll: certainly more than a million, perhaps twice that amount. Among the first evidence of the horror, this "killing field" was uncovered in 1980.

Amongst the survivors was a young man, Prasith Khay who had once fought alongside thousands of other young men, some of whom he had played with in his village as a child. They fought not only for freedom but for their very survival and the hope that their nation might be restored.

After the Vietnamese invaded and liberated the Cambodian people from the Khmer Rouge, 600,000 Cambodians fled to Thai border camps. Ten million landmines were left in the ground, one for every person in Cambodia. The United Nations installed the largest peacekeeping mission in the world in Cambodia in 1991 to ensure free and fair elections after the withdrawal of the Vietnamese troops. Cambodia was turned upside down during the Khmer Rouge years and the country has the daunting task of healing physically, mentally and economically.

Peace was restored to Prasith's beloved homeland where he retired from the Army as a Colonel. He went on to pursue his dreams and became one of Cambodia's most famous actor/entertainers.

Prasith Khay is a quietly spoken man who had once lived a lifetime of tragedy in war torn Cambodia but he survived. Now he fights a new battle... to keep his family united in freedom in Australia.

You can assist the Khay family by sending a letter of support to the Australian Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone. Click Here to add your support now!

Research from Khmer Rouge: Learn about Cambodia's Killing Fieldshttp://www.dithpran.org