All the music used on this podcast is originally produced and composed by a creative soul in our family. He composed a small snippet that accompanies the scene of Robert's group finding their way through the jungles of Thailand. Completely optional, but hopefully this can add a soundtrack that will contribute to your overall experience as you listen to Robert's story.

Roberts group of escapees follow the roosters crow and creep towards what seem to be a village. They create the plan and Robert leads the pack in. What they found is a quaint Thai village and stumbled upon some locals who immediately assume this group are Khmer Rouge soldiers. Because of this lack of trust, Robert's group is thrown into jail and tortured to get information. Yes they are in Thailand, but as Thai prisoners.

Robert’s group of 5 walk towards the forest and follows their leader. They all agree to never let this guy out their sight, it fear that he would take the money and run. About 1/3 of their way into the forest, they encounter a massive storm. This rainstorm, ended up saving the groups lives. They end up getting lost and encounter dangerous animals and lack of food and direction.

The Vietnamese have officially taken over the country, and everyone is flooding the Thai border in hope to get out of the country. The street is not opening, and people are starting to consider walking through the dangerous forest to reach Thailand. There are lots of criminals who took advantage of this demand, leading people into the forest to be stranded. Robert finds a trustworthy guy, gets a group together and takes the risk of walking through the forest.

Robert reunites with the family but understands that there is just not enough food to stay on the side of the road forever. Robert gets a group together and they all decide to walk towards Nimitt to pick up scraps left after the massacre. At the time, the Vietnamese soldiers were still fighting the Khmer Rouge. Since there was no food left, Robert sees a warehouse storage in the middle of the battlegrounds, and decides to raid it. While doing so, he gets stuck in the middle of active fire.

The majority of the Khmer Rouge soldiers are now back at their “home base”, in the jungles between Thailand and Cambodia, which happens to be where more and more refugees are trying to cross in order to escape their country. There are a few Vietnamese soldiers are guarding the town of Nimitt, however not enough to truly protect the thousands of people who are flooding to the border. One night, the Vietnamese soldiers pulled out from the town, allowing the Khmer Rouge soldiers to raid the city and attack. Thousands of people were murdered, as the Khmer Rouge wanted to kill anyone in sight. They pushed all the refugees back so far back, it felt they were back at square one. These are the parts of history that people don’t hear about. These are the untold truths.

The war is upon us, and Robert makes the decision that he needs to escape to the Thailand border. The Khmer Rouge soldiers seems to be gone, leaving it wide open for people to leave as they please! He keeps walking and starts realizing that many people are trying to cross the border. He is so hungry and meets a nice family that offers to be with him and share food since he is alone. Robert still has not found any of his family members, but at this point, the goal is to get out of Cambodia ASAP. He reaches a town called Nimitt, right before the Thai border, and is met by Vietnamese soldiers.

Robert starts hearing more and more bombs in the distance. All the people in these labor camps had no idea who was bombing who - but they did know they have been waiting for a change for the past 3.5 years. People know that something different is happening, which is exciting. As the Khmer Rouge soldiers get more scared of the situation, they kill more people in a last attempt to feel powerful. Over time, less and less Khmer Rouge guards seem to be around. Robert waits for the right moment to make a move.

While Robert is being fed at another camp location under a new leader, Robert runs into a familiar face who also recognizes him. He is a distant relative who was lucky enough to marry a Khmer Rouge solider - therefore has protection. He secretly tells Robert to come meet him at his place to get more food and medication that he would need to stay alive. Robert figures out a way to meet him and this uncle gives him a bunch of food and antibiotics. For the first time in Robert’s life, he feels a sense of security. It was the best day of his life during the 3.5 years with the Khmer Rouge.

Mama has become such a powerful character in our story, that it wouldn't feel right to not officially introduce her. In this epsiode we will learn more about where she was born, how she grew up, and a small clip of Auntie Amanda recalling her mother's strength.

Robert leaves the hospital and gets an assignment to pick up herbs close to where Mama’s camp was. He made the executive decision to use this opportunity to visit Mama, regardless of the risk. At this point he has slowly started to loose hope that there were going to be future chances for him to see his mom. While he was with Mama, she secretly rubbed some sugar on his body so he would be able to have some sustenance. He slowly gains his energy back, and with new energy comes a new found motivation to figure out how exactly he can gain trust of the Khmer Rouge soldiers.

Robert has been back at this camp for over 3 months, and again had now gotten really sick from eating rats. He is extremely weak and is sent to another hospital where he is basically to rest until he dies. He gets weaker and weaker, with no hope in sight. For the first time in all this suffering, he says he lost all hope. He is 100% sure that this is where he is to die. Then one day sitting under a tree waiting for death, he is recognized by a familiar face… that changes the course for Robert forever.

Robert has now safely assimilated back into this original camp, away from Mama and Auntie Amanda. He describes how women were forcibly married to Khmer Rouge soldiers, the many holes he had to dig for people who were killed, and the more horrific time he experienced in the camp. He remembers a group who had tried to escape and got caught in the process. The consequences were gory and indescribable. All the while, the laborers are getting less and less and less.

Robert is walking back into the first labor camp when he meets an old friend who gives him a banana. He has accepted that he may never see his family again and that his was his life moving forward. He has arrived to the labor camp that we was originally sent to, and has safely integrated back. He remembers one night when a bedside friend was pulled out and beat to death.. Robert couldn't sleep that night thinking when it was his turn.

Robert enjoys his time with Mama and Auntie Amanda in hiding, and finally starts to feel like he has a sense of family again. His health also starts to improve as he gets more rest. Through it all, he still feels that this kind of luck in dodging the Khmer Rouge in this camp isn't going to last forever. Robert makes the very important that was pivotal in saving his family's life...

After recording last weeks episode, I realized that I wanted to spend a little more time diving into that creepy hospital! I mean seriously, I couldn't even begin to imagine a place like that! We take a step back and go day by day. In this episode, Robert opens up more about exactly what he experienced and saw, and my goodness... If you like scary movies, you definitely want to tune into this one.

Robert is sick with asthma and can't continue working, so the Khmer Rouge solider send him away to a local "hospital". On his way there he almost passed out of weakness, and when he finally got to his destination, the hospital wasn't as he imagined. He was tested to his limits, and had some of the most painful experiences here. He makes another very important decision and ends up finding his way back to Mama for the first time in a long time.

Robert continues to work and hunt for food whenever he can. One day, another guy in his group accidentally ate a bunch of poisonous berries out of deep starvation. He immediately became sick and Robert and some other group members needs to deal with the situation. Life in the jungle was so hard that Robert truly started to question his will to live.

Because Robert was set in a labor camp in the middle of the jungle, there were many workers that not only died of starvation and overworking, but also sicknesses like Malaria. Robert pulls a memory stuck deep in his past about one of the guys who slept next to him during this time at this labor camp. It was a sad night and he was left to make an important decision to help this friend. This is one of the most important episodes on this podcast.

Robert gets separated from his family and starts walking towards an unknown destination. On the way, the Khmer Rouge pulls other kids to join. They finally arrive to a new camp that is close to the Thai Border. He planted rice fields by himself, and was constantly tired and hungry. Every night before going to bed, there was a meeting by the Khmer Rouge that enforces control over the people. Every morning they woke you up as they pleased and forced you to work. He felt like a prisoner.