Poetry. Southeast Asia Studies. In 1975, U Sam Oeur and his family along with 2.8 million citizens of Phnom Penh were driven out of the city by the Khmer Rouge. During the next four years, the family survived life in six different concentration camps. SACRED VOWS retells the recent terror of Cambodia and the beauty of its culture using myths, prophecies, and history of the tradition as ironic counterpoint to Cambodia's present-day situation.
U Sam Oeur grew up in a Cambodian farming family. After studying in the US, he served in the Cambodian government, becoming part of the Cambodian delegation to the UN. When Pol Pot assumed power in 1975, Oeur, along with his wife and son, survived the killing fields while feigning illiteracy in six forced-labor camps. A devout Buddhist, Oeur now lives in Texas.