April 17, 1975 was an important, unforgettable and tragic date in the history of Cambodia. It was the date Cambodia, again, further slipped into one of the darkest eras in the world history. It is the date the communist insurgent Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia. Now started what the new master Khmer Rouge called Year Zero. It came at the tail-end of the Cambodian New Year’s Celebration. The Khmer Rouge now proceeded with the killing field policies openly and in full swing. A general and brutal mass evacuation from the Capital Phnom Penh and other cities and towns was ordered immediately after their victory, which took away all the residual festive mood of the entire Cambodian population of eight millions. Great uncertainty set in and the horrible tragedy began. Millions faced horrors inside Cambodia and hundreds of thousands fled the country and lived desperately at the border area just inside neighboring Thailand.

April 17, 1975 was also a date many Cambodians living abroad became people without a country to return to. In the United States of America, they became refugees, legally allowed by the US government to stay here indefinitely. With this change of status came the change of living addresses as well, especially for former military trainees. Within two months, some Cambodians had settled in the Greater Philadelphia area, living quietly and temporarily with American sponsors. In general, Cambodians living abroad were at great distress and wondered about their own future, while still followed the news related to Cambodia and moving events inside it or at the border area just inside Thailand. Horrible news came out of Cambodia on a daily basis, keeping Cambodians here on a distressful course for many years to follow.

In December of 1978, we heard of a preparation inside Vietnam for the so-called Operation for the liberation of Cambodia. It was another twist in the Cambodia’s history. The operation was spearheaded by hundreds of thousands of the Vietnamese armed troops with a small number of Cambodian expatriates; some of them had just fled the Khmer Rouge regime into Vietnam, including Mr. Hun Sen, who was first put in jail by the Vietnamese. January 7, 1979 was another important date in the Cambodia’s history. The Vietnamese invasion captured the capital Phnom Penh after chasing out the Khmer Rouge forces. Cambodians, victims of the brutal Khmer Rouge treatment, breathed some sight of relief, but prepared themselves to live with a new master, Vietnam, which has been well known to have expansionist ambition over neighboring countries for centuries. In transition, within the next few months, hundreds of thousands of Cambodians, again, took great risks to escape to the border camps inside Thailand.

2. The Start
January 7, 1979 was a moment Cambodian refugees in Greater Philadelphia area experienced a mixed feeling. We were somewhat happy for our fellow relatives, brothers and sisters inside Cambodia now were out of the jaw of death orchestrated by the Khmer Rouge regime, while very concerned about the fate of Cambodia and Cambodian Nation now in the hands of the historical arch rival Vietnamese. With this serious situation on the field and in the mind, we reached out to each other through various means available, particularly the network of Christian churches, and called for some kind of gathering to share the joy, the grief and concerns and personal experiences without any pre-conceived notion to do anything. Such gathering would bring us out of isolation and obscurity and probably better serve to get to know each other. Among us, initially, were Dr. Tong Hor Hin, Dr. Volay Pen and his wife, Mr. Yang Sam, Mr. Samien Nol and his wife, Mr. Phokol Thor, Mr. Soy Taing, Mr. Doeun Srey and his wife, Mr. Siekkim Iem, Mr. Kim Hort Ou, Mr. Phanna Siv, Mr. Koy Meas and his wife and Ms. Line. The gathering generally took place at the home of Dr. Volay Pen, located just in the outskirt of the City of Philadelphia.

In subsequent gatherings, various ideas had had been raised, of which the idea of bringing the issues related to Cambodia and its people to the attention of the American public. Mr. Yang Sam, with his artistic talent, was willing to head the effort through his public art exhibitions, while some of us played a supporting role. At the same time, we reached out further to the State of New Jersey. Mr. Sorn Huy also joined our group.

February of 1979 was the month the idea of creating an organization came up. We sensed that a good number of Cambodian refugees at the border camps in Thailand were in a fast-paced process to come to America for permanent resettlement. Philadelphia was then the forth largest city of the United States. Many refugees were going to head here, and we wanted to lend our hands to help respond to their immediate needs. For this simple reason, the Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia was officially born in the evening of Sunday, March 31, 1979 at Nationalities Service Center, 1300 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There were thirty one Cambodian participants. The Bylaws were adopted by which the organization name was the “Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia”; the election was called and the very first balloting for the organization’s Board of Directors was done with the following results:

Dr. Tong Hor Hin President
Mr. Yang Sam Vice-President
Mr. Phanna Siv Secretary
Mr. Siekkim Iem Assistant Secretary
Mr. Kim Hort Ou Treasurer
Mr. Sorn Huy Assistant Treasurer
Mr. Samien Nol Auditor
Mr. Phokol Thor Auditor.

3. Office and Purposes
The organization, its formation and its first election were over. The purposes were set in the adopted Bylaws to: (1) assist Cambodians living in the Greater Philadelphia area and its vicinities; (2) preserve the Cambodian culture; (3) disseminate to Cambodian people information concerning them; and (4) promote and foster close relationships among the Cambodian people. All efforts leading to the organization setup were done with and only by Cambodians already here in the Philadelphia area without any outside help. The only exception was that the Nationalities Service Center allowed us to use its facility to conduct our initial official gathering.

The Association’s main office normally, in the early days, was at the residence of the President. The official meetings may take place in various locations, homes, churches, schools, etc. Our meeting agenda and activities normally reflected the purposes listed above. The very first (1979) Cambodian New Year’s Celebration was organized within two weeks following the Association’s inception in the Lutheran Family Service Center, located at the 3100 block of Midvale Avenue of East Falls section of the City of Philadelphia. The participation numbered less than one hundred, practically all Cambodians living in this area. We funded the Celebration through donations from participants and the long-timers here were expected to donate the most. The atmosphere was very good and brotherly. We were very united and caring.

In the early years, in 1980 and 1981 we celebrated our New Year at Franklin Learning Center, located in the 600 N. block of 15th Street of Philadelphia thanks to our young students’ intervention with their school officials. The 1982 New Year’s Celebration was done at the International House of 3600 block of Chestnut Street of the City.

4. Activities
Guided by the above purposes, our activities were centered on tackling the immediate needs of the newly arriving refugees, which were concentrated in two sections of the City, West and North Philadelphia. We organized collection efforts for clothing, drinking wares, kitchen wares, living room furniture, entertainment items, bedding, etc.; bringing the newcomers to China town, Italian market or shopping malls to buy their provisions on a weekly basis. At least once a year we organized an outing with practically all Cambodians participating. The early memorable picnics took place, once on the West River Drive, twice in Ridley Park at Newtown Square and once at Brandywine Battlefield Park on US Route 1. These efforts were highly efficient for we had very limited capabilities in finance, material and transportation. It should be noted that a small number of us who had the transportation means, both small and big, made multiple trips to bring other brothers and sisters to and from the picnic sites. In these outings, some popular Cambodian games, such as carrying egg with a spoon held by the mouth, were played. We shared all the laughs and joys together. We all were very pleased with the atmosphere of sisterhood and brotherhood created by and for us all.

The collection activity was scheduled for any available time of the day and for seven days a week. It started with reaching out to potential donors through personal contacts, friendship, churches and commercial entities. Many truck loads of items had been collected and distributed in the first few years of the CAGP’s existence. Few of us, who were more settled in this area, teamed up with some of the newcomers, significantly donated ideas, efforts, time, and transportation means to accommodate this rigorous activity.

Regarding the Cambodian art and culture, we started our Cambodian classical dance classes thanks to the newcomers’ expertise and experience in the field while staying in the border camps in Thailand. The trainees thus had ample chances to perform during New Year’s Celebrations and in public venues, such as schools, libraries or parade sites at which some public events were organized by others. No outside funding was sought for we did not realize that such support was available for such endeavors.

Mr. Yang Sam, besides performing his usual duty for the Association, lend his artistic skill and desire to paint our famous temple Angkor Wat and others and exhibited them in public places in the hope to make the American public aware of the situation inside Cambodia and at the border camps. Moreover, we also organized small English and Mathematics classes at night to refresh and to raise the comfort level of our young newcomers, who were recommended or suggested to go to school and continue to college if possible. There was also a driving class was provided, again, at night for our male compatriots penchant for driving vehicle they longed to have. Regarding welfare benefits, we have made connections with sponsoring agencies to facilitate the process as much as possible. It was good that many agencies employed Cambodians with fluent English for such purposes.

5. Significant Achievements
There may be some achievements that can be considered as significant, both tangible and intangible.

The intangible is that we, as Cambodians with tragically broken social fabric while in our own homeland, could come together building trust, comfort and brotherhood among ourselves in a fast and remarkable pace thanks to good caring hearts of those that had gotten here before the sizable influx of the newcomers. Our sincere collective actions tremendously helped bring us so close to one another and make unity possible naturally that manifested itself in many ways and forms.

Mr. Phanna Siv and Ms. Line loved to move around, especially within the City of Philadelphia. They were very happy and went out on their own to collect information regarding the new arrivals, their temporary and permanent staying places, their sponsoring agencies, etc. to enable a sincere welcome act by the Association. Personal home/apartment visits were the norm and frequent, thus, fostering a warm relationship with the newcomers. This type of information was passed along to the leadership of the Association, in general, within three hours of the arrivals of the refugees, even at night. Through these simple activities and acts, we now knew that the Cambodian refugee population gradually expanded to South Philadelphia.

In every election or event, practically all Cambodians came regardless of whether it was sunshine or rainy. Many came to the election carrying babies and small children along, and also with umbrella over their head if necessary. It was indeed an exciting time. We could look straight into each other’s eyes and came to realize that after all we were real Cambodian brothers and sisters. We have a lot of things in common readied to share and cherish. We were well connected and caring for each other. This could genuinely be considered as a great harmony hardly found in Cambodian communities in those days. It was so beautiful, and yet hard to be built and maintained.

During the 1980-1981 presidential term of Dr. Tong Hor Hin, the newly formed Association was incorporated with the Department of State of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as the Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia with CAGP as its abbreviated name. The full legal name was the Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia, Inc.

The 1981-1982 terms, under the presidency of Mr. Yang Sam, saw the CAGP acquire a building at 5412 N. 5th Street, Philadelphia, Pa 19120. It happened that Mr. Yang Sam, through his awareness efforts with the American public using his art exhibitions, crossed path with a Japanese American, who later became one of his closest friends. His new friend had close relationship and connection with an American millionaire for they both were in a business network well known as AMWAY. The millionaire owned the 5th Street building. Mr. Yang Sam raised issues with both his Japanese American friend and the millionaire concerning our refugees’ plights and the CAGP’s dire need for office space for its effective and efficient operation to provide assistance to them. With good connection with a friend and with the good intervention of the friend, the millionaire accepted to donate the building to the Association for just one US dollar.

The presidency of the Association had changed as follows:

1979 to 1981 Dr. Tong Hor Hin
1981 to 1982 Mr. Yang Sam
1982 to 1983 Dr. Tong Hor Hin
(1983 – 2009)

Please note that the term of the office was one year. All activities were personally and totally directed and performed by members of the Board for we did not have any staff personnel to help out (between 1979 to 1983).