Draft:Cambodian Diaspora in Lowell

Lowell, Massachusetts, located north-west of Boston, is home to a diverse population from many different backgrounds and ethnicities, such as Southeast Asians, Africans, and Hispanics. The city has been the gateway to immigrants and refugees for a very long time, dating from the 1800s till the present.

Lowell is known for being the residence of one of the largest Cambodian populations, representing around 25% of the overall Lowell population.. This leads to many Cambodian holidays being celebrated in the city, along with many cultural programs offered to the public as an attempt to preserve and celebrate their culture.

History

Around the 1970s, Lowell started to become a sanctuary for Cambodian refugees, a haven away from the Cambodian genocide, also known as the Khmer Rouge. The Khmer Rouge is a name given to the Cambodian communist party that ruled over Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. Although their rule was short-lived, there’s no doubt that it caused a major impact on Cambodia as a whole. This whole event resulted in around 2 million deaths, or about 25% of the Cambodian population at the time; this also included the mass murder of the educated population in the country.

This event was a pushing factor that made many Cambodians decide to leave their home country and take refuge in many different places, such as Thailand, Vietnam, and the United States. The decision to move to a completely different country and rebuild a completely new life was mostly influenced by the tiny hope of maybe having a better and improved life. Moreover, it was believed that their children will have access to better education and believed that it is the best choice to ensure they will have the chance to experience a better life. This choice was the cause for the large group of Cambodian-Americans in Lowell.

Problems faced by immigrants and refugees

Many obstacles and challenges were present for these refugees and immigrants. The first major obstacle was, of course, leaving the country. This has always been one of the most challenging steps and decisions for any immigrant to take. Firstly, it is a place far away from their home, far from everything they’ve known, friends, and family. Despite the fact that they have managed to escape the mass slaughter in their home country during the reign of the Khmer Rouge, they are faced with different problems upon arriving and transitioning into the United States. The hardships faced by these immigrants include rationing the scarce resources available for all the refugees, the identity crisis, and the lack of physical and mental health support available.

The most immediate problem for the refugees was the lack of resources available. Resources include financial resources, human resources, and material resources. Part of the reason why this is a major issue is because aside from sharing with the other Cambodian refugees, it is also spread amongst others who have sought refuge long before the Cambodian appeared. This caused the refugees to start fighting for resources, not only among themselves but also among the African Americans and Hispanics. During this period of time, the government wasn’t very involved in providing the support needed for the refugees.

Furthermore, even after settling in and gaining enough resources for survival, they still continue to face problems, especially the new generation of Cambodian-Americans. While most choose to identify as Cambodian, it is still a struggle to live up to this as the educational systems in the United States fail to educate them about their own culture and history. This problem was later identified and attempted to be resolved by creating after-school and weekend programs in the community of Cambodians to preserve and pass on their culture to the later generations. This move allowed the younger generation to have a better understanding of their ethnicity, allowing for a sense of community and belonging and instilling pride in their identity as a Cambodian.

The lack of health support, both physical and mental, was also a significant problem for these refugees. Despite escaping the torture and murder in their home country, they still struggle to survive due to the lack of support. This issue was caused by the lack of money, the lack of support by the government, and the lack of documentation for them to be admitted to hospitals.

In addition to trying to fit in and enduring the cultural differences, the migrant generations have to raise children as working or single parents, unable to fully look after their children and provide all the support needed alone. Therefore the younger generation had to navigate their own way through American school, growing up as an American whilst trying to find their own culture, breaking free from the pressure of following their parents' practices and culture in order to fit in, which turned out to be a challenge. . Cambodians are often grouped with Vietnamese, resulting in racial discrimination due to the Vietnamese war. As a result, some type of bullying has occurred in school and around the white community

Additionally, the lack of mental health support was also an issue for refugees. Many of the refugees during the period of Khmer Rouge had posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to the horrors they had experienced and witnessed. The majority of these refugees aren't able to reach out for proper treatment, causing many noticeable impacts on their everyday lives. A lot of the adults during that time resettled with some mental disorders such as depression, hallucinations, anxiety attacks, and thoughts of suicide. Whilst the generation after, due to disrupted childhood during the genocide attack, also ended up with mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders, but less severe, such as depression, anxiety disorder, ADHD, and mood disorders.

Moreover, there are also discriminations against the Cambodian-American community. It was evident in the elections by mail, which came with missing information, making the voting process unfair to the Cambodians who did not understand English. Despite the fact that this was merely a careless mistake, it still led to many misunderstandings. As a consequence, many Cambodians, who are qualified to vote, are not able to participate in the election, bringing about many complaints from the Cambodian community, seen in forms of strikes as an attempt to be seen and heard.

Present day

In the present day, the lifestyle and quality of life have been improved for these immigrants. There is accessible health care, both mental and physical; accessible education for the younger generations of Cambodian-Americans; and sufficient support from both the Cambodian community and also the city.

The current Cambodian community is trying their best to preserve and spread their culture, not only to pass it on to their younger generation but also to show the residents in Lowell their pride of being Cambodian. This is done with the celebrations of Cambodian traditional holidays, including Khmer New Year, and also through the sharing of traditional food in Lowell.

In addition to traditions, religions are also maintained throughout this process. Evidence of this is seen through the daily life of these immigrants but also the constructions of Buddhist temples, such as Wat Khmer Samaki Santikaram, the Glory Buddhist Temple, etc.

Recently, the United States also welcomed their very first Cambodian-American mayor in Lowell, Sokhary Chau, a former small business owner. This, without doubt, shows that the community of Cambodian refugees has come far from being the group of people having to compete for scarce resources with the other refugee groups and is indeed leading a much better life as a result of their hardworking and unending effort.