Khmer Rouge Survivor, Former Pro Soccer Player Will Use Sports to Reach Kids in Cambodia
by James L. Lambert
June 18, 2004
(AgapePress) - Kiri Nguon knows all about suffering. He experienced it in his homeland of Cambodia. As a native of Phnom Penh, Kiri was born into a family that worshipped Buddha and practiced Confucius' teachings. Life was hard for the young Kiri, but he found his release in soccer. Soccer was a sport that he excelled in, so much so that he was recognized for his athletic skills and assigned to a school that specialized in training gifted athletes. As a 17-year-old, Kiri was appointed to the Cambodian national soccer team -- a high honor. His team competed internationally and represented the country throughout Asia. But with the outset of Spring 1975, a dark cloud descended over the land of Cambodia. The Khmer Rogue came to political power in this small country of seven million people, which is located along the western border of Vietnam.
While the regimes in both Vietnam and Cambodia had Communist governments, the Khmer Rogue was known for its brutal tactics and abuse perpetrated on the Cambodian people. Their leader, Pol Pot, and his cronies garnered control over the country by intimidating and eliminating all opponents of their regime. Many of these so-called opponents were more imaginary than real, so this new government would often accuse people of political crimes when no such crimes existed.
Fleeing Cambodia
The regime forced thousands to flee the capital city of Phnom Penh to work the fields and the farms in the country. During this purge, thousands were killed and tortured. Cambodians with any social prestige or stature prior to the Khmer Rogue's ascent to power were viewed suspiciously. Kiri's position as a nationally recognized soccer player forced him to leave Cambodia and flee to Vietnam in June 1975. (Kiri later found out that of the 22 members of his Cambodian national soccer team, 19 had died from either sickness, starvation, or murder by Pol Pot's thugs.)
Kiri fled to Vietnam as a refugee and became a fisherman, with the plan to eventually flee that country by sea. He also played soccer professionally in Vietnam. By 1979, the communist government of Vietnam declared war on the Khmer Rogue. Now Kiri was in a bind because his place of origin was now Vietnam's enemy.
Kiri knew he had to leave Vietnam. His life was again in danger. He decided to go back into Cambodia and escape to Thailand. He also knew that this journey was extremely dangerous. Traveling by foot, bicycle, and automobile, Kiri moved through war-torn towns and provinces controlled by the Khmer Rogue or by the Communist army of Vietnam.
The experience was not only terrifying for Kiri, but opened his eyes to the extreme cruelty of humans against their own countrymen. He once described this experience as similar to the imagery portrayed in the acclaimed movie-documentary, The Killing Fields.
In one such episode outside of Batdambang providence, Khmer Rogue insurgents fired bazookas at a civilian bus that moments before was close to Kiri. On his excursion through New Camp 007, Kiri remembers seeing bodies and body parts strewn near the roadside of the village. The Khmer Rogue was infamous for the deadly mines and sharpened, poisoned bamboo stakes they buried on trail heads throughout the remote countryside. Kiri had to be careful not to walk on these remote but well-used trails that refugees would regularly use. In just seconds, these buried mines could tear limbs from their victims and kill people both young and old. The Khmer Rouge sought to discourage refugees from escaping into Thailand.
Turning to Christ
Miraculously, after several weeks Kiri found his way to a Thai refugee camp. In December 1979, Christian missionaries found Kiri and he committed his life to Christ. Less than two years after his conversion to Christ, Kiri -- with the assistance of a missionary group -- found a sponsor who brought him to the United States. In May 1981, Kiri found himself working in a church in Providence, Rhode Island.
For the next four years, Kiri learned more about his new-found faith and studied the Bible. His days in Cambodia and on the soccer field seemed far away. In July 1985, Kiri was assigned to a position as assistant pastor in a large Christian and Missionary Alliance Church in Santa Rosa, CA. Two years later, he was entrusted with a new church and a new assignment, this time as senior pastor of the San Diego Cambodian Evangelical Church.
San Diego, a community of more than two-million people, has a distinct Cambodian population of over 8,000. Kiri resides over a unique church of Cambodian people. While many in his congregation still sadly remember their days in Pol Pot's Cambodia, many face new challenges in this country as well.
Still, Kiri remembers his native land and the intense hardships his people have endured over the last three decades. He remembers his remarkable past and realizes that his talents can serve him well in reaching out to the young people of Cambodia.
Bringing Christ to Cambodia
Kiri believes that God has given him knowledge and a particular talent in the sport he loves to reach out to a people who desperately need the message of hope found in the gospel. Kiri also knows that God has given him a few more years to reach out to these people. (Three years ago, doctors donated their time free of charge to perform surgery on Kiri to remove a cancerous skin nodule from the back of his neck.) Kiri now wants to show his gratitude to God in a special way by reaching out to the poor children of Cambodia with his dream of a Christian sports camp.
For the last 15 years, Kiri has been the spiritual leader and pastor of his mostly low- and moderate-income congregation in San Diego. To fulfill his dream of forming a sports camp outside of Cambodia's capital of Phnom Penh, he needs some special people who will see his dream become reality.
Christians who are interested in donating directly to Kiri's cause can contact him at P. O. Box 552, La Jolla, CA. 92038 or by calling 619-255-1138. Checks should be payable to the San Diego Cambodian Evangelical Church.
James L. Lambert, who resides in San Diego, California, is a frequent contributor to AgapePress. He is the author of Porn in America (Huntington House), which can be purchased through the American Family Association; and a licensed loan sales agent who offers all types of real-estate mortgage loans. He can be reached via his website.
