Sonita Zainal

I was born in Cambodia in 1970. When I was five years old, the country was taken over by Pol Pot's regime. That dictator and his Khmer Rouge group threw the whole country into chaos and extreme suffering for four years, killing almost two million innocent victims. My father was one of them, brutally killed when I was only six.
My mum, six siblings and myself are lucky to be alive, and are proud of our opportunity to have the freedom to live in this wonderful country.
My reasons for writing "Live to Tell" are:
Firstly, to share my childhood experience during that genocidal killing time, showing how I was able to survive and assist my family.
Also, to pass on to the world, shocking stories that friends and others have wished me to write about.
Finally, to give a picture of my life in the wonderful refugee camps in Thailand set up by the United Nations.