‘Born lucky’: Escaping the Khmer Rouge
According to Cambodian folklore, Sieu Do was born with a ‘cloak of good fortune’. His family believed it helped them survive life in a Khmer Rouge labour camp in the 1970s.
According to Cambodian folklore, Sieu Do was born with a ‘cloak of good fortune’. His family believed it helped them to survive under the brutal regime in the late 1970s. Sieu was a teenager who could speak seven languages. This made him a target for the Khmer Rouge, who wanted to exterminate the educated classes. But those language skills would save his life when he found work as a physician’s assistant treating thousands of refugees alongside international aid agencies.
Image: Composite of Sieu Do images
Credit: Courtesy of Sieu Do
Last on
More episodes
Broadcasts
- Mon 18 Oct 2021 11:06GMT´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service
- Mon 18 Oct 2021 17:06GMT´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
- Tue 19 Oct 2021 02:06GMT´óÏó´«Ã½ World Service
Contact Outlook
Info on how we might use your contribution on air
Podcast: Lives Less Ordinary
Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected