Heartbreaking: A Survival Memoir

by Vanny Vorng

Heartbreaking: A Survival Memoir is a story about a man from his childhood up to the present time. It entails his struggle to survive many brutal events in Cambodia from the Coup d’ Etat of 1970, the fall of the Khmer Republic in 1975, and the end of the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979. The Khmer Rouge Communist Party of Cambodia purged the cities and countryside of intellectuals, rival politicians, monks and teachers. The extremeness of this group leads to a country that has no religion, no free market, no schools, no families, and a closed border. Citizens attempt to hide their old lives from ears outside the walls while food becomes dangerously scarce in the so called Agrarian Utopia.

The memoir describes the events of each conflict as they unfold, where each time he somehow manages to survive and tell the story.

325 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2015

About the author

Born in Cambodia, Vanny Vorng lived through the cruelties of the Khmer Rouge Regime. He lived through the change of three different regimes, some deadly, and was old enough to realize what was really happening to his country. With his family he escaped Cambodia and went through refugee camps in both Thailand and the Philippines. After coming to America in 1981, he graduated with a B.A. in History and minor in Political Science in 1991 from Sam Houston State University. To more accurately tell his story Mr. Vorng intensely studied Cambodian History and politics so that he might better understand motivations behind the rulers’ actions.
A learned man, he is fluent in English, French, and Cambodian, his native tongue. Mr. Vorng is no stranger to hard work and has had experience in commercial building as well as home construction, farm work, and rice field production. He later went on to gain experience as an entrepreneur and a business owner in diverse markets such as wholesale/retail, and the food service industry. He is an active member of the community serving as a volunteer for the Texas Cambodian community, and he has participated in multiple fund raisers benefiting the community in and around the Houston area. Looking back on his life he believes the time is now right for his story to be told and for everyone to learn from what he has been through.