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UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS LOWELL
SOUTHEAST ASIAN DIGITAL ARCHIVE
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT, 2019-ONGOING
UML 17
Niem Nay-kret, Oral History #19.06
CONTENT WARNING:
Mentions of weapons, violent situations, and situations
that may be distressing
INFORMANT/NARRATOR: NIEM NAY-KRET (NN)
INTERVIEWER: SUE J. KIM (SK)
DATE: SEPTEMBER 15, 2019
SPEAKER
DETAILS
TIME
SK 00:00:02
Okay, right, so this is Sue Kim, I am the co-director for the Center for Asian American
Studies. Today is September 15th 2019, and I am with Niem Nay-Kret at the College of
Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Science office at 820 Broadway Street in Lowell,
Massachusetts. How are you today?
NN 00:00:34
I'm good thank you.
SK 00:00:37
So today we're going to start with some general questions about you and your life and
then we'll go into some questions focusing specifically on healthcare, okay?
SK 00:00:47
So firstly, what is your full name?
NN 00:00:50
My full name is Niem, the English pronunciation is Nie, but actually if it's a French
accenté there, it's Niem Nay-Kret.
SK 00:01:01
Oh, and have you gone by any other names?
NN 00:01:08
No, just that. I keep my original name, because you know how when you spell the
Cambodian name into the English, or into the French, you kind of lost that pronunciation
bit-by-bit.
SK 00:01:26
When were you born? If you are willing to share, also where were you born? You don't
have to share that, when were you born, but where were you born?
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NN 00:01:35
I'm going to skip when I was born.
SK 00:01:37
Okay.
NN 00:01:38
I want to be 21 forever. So where I was born, I was born in Cambodia, Battambang
province, right now they call it Banteay Meanchey province. It's a city at the border, it's
at Sisophon and Niemith is exactly the crossing between Thai and Cambodia.
SK 00:02:10
Did you grow up there?
NN 00:02:12
I grew up there before the Pol Pot came in, in 1975.
SK 00:02:19
All right, and so you experienced ...? Were you there during the Khmer Rouge?
NN 00:02:25
Yeah, I was there during the Khmer Rouge. My family was totally believe in the life in
Cambodia, born there, grew up there, couldn't leave the country. Help other people who
wanted to leave the country, and they left, but for us, we just couldn't leave the country.
SK 00:02:55
You mean even after ...?
NN 00:02:57
Even before.
SK 00:02:58
Or even before ...?
NN 00:02:58
Uh-huh (affirmative).
SK 00:02:59
... as it was-
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�UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS LOWELL
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ORAL HISTORY PROJECT, 2019-ONGOING
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Niem Nay-kret, Oral History #19.06
NN 00:02:59
The people who experienced that Mao Zedong, the communist, they immigrate from
China to Cambodia, and when they immigrate to Cambodia, they have their life there.
Some of the elder who make a very good life for themself in Cambodia, but have
experienced communist in China, when they came and stayed with my families, before
they crossed the border, because we wereat the border between Thailand and Cambodia,
they stay with us, they suggested to my parents, "You guys should leave." Communists
is, you know?
SK 00:03:44
Yeah.
NN 00:03:45
It's a hard life, and the life you know is not going to be the same.
SK 00:03:50
This was in the late 60s, early 70s?
NN 00:03:56
Early 70s. Just before, even before the fall in April. April 1975 was the fall into the
communist. They stayed with us, many different families came overSK 00:04:11
I see.
NN 00:04:11
... to stay with us overnight and then they leave from there to cross the border. So that
was a suggestion to my parents, but my parents say, "No, nothing's going to be as bad as
that. We will make it through. We have our farming here, we have our business here, we
have our life here."
SK 00:04:33
Wow. When did you leave Cambodia?
NN 00:04:47
We stay there. We leave Cambodia for a month, went to Thailand. Just the women, my
mom and my sister, we went to Thailand to stay for one month, but then when they have
the fall of Phnom Penh, it went into the communists.
SK 00:05:09
Right, April 1975?
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NN 00:05:11
Yeah, and they put on the radio that Cambodia is free now, you can come in. They make
that announcement, so the moment we hear about that announcement, we think, okay, it's
safe.
SK 00:05:24
Oh my God!
NN 00:05:26
We actually went back in, all the women went back to Cambodia. So we went in back in
and it's only a week or so, they came to each individual home and tell us to get out and
that's when it's really started.
SK 00:05:42
Oh my gosh.
NN 00:05:44
Yeah, so, that's why it's like, we was not as lucky as the other people, my family and the
people who knew my father, who actually helped other people to get out of Cambodia.
And when they get out, they don't return. But where my mom and my sibling, we actually
went back in to the start of the communists.
SK 00:06:07
Oh my God! Oh my goodness. So you were there then through the whole thing?
NN 00:06:12
Yep, through the whole thing, until 1980.
SK 00:06:16
Wow. Do you mind if I ask, how many of your family survived?
NN 00:06:24
Actually my immediate family are lucky, we didn't lose anyone. My mom have any
pregnancy she has during that time, I think she had three or four, she lost the pregnancy
through that time. But outside of that, no, I didn't lose any immediate family, but my
cousins, we lost my cousin, her husband, and then on my husband's side, we lost a lot of
... like the whole families, my father-in-law. So there was more impact on my other side
of my husband's family.
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Niem Nay-kret, Oral History #19.06
SK 00:07:18
So in 1979, 1980, when the communist's regime falls to the Vietnamese communist
regime, so then what? I mean, what happened? Were you refugees or what happened
then?
NN 00:07:35
Because I was in Battambang province, I was as Me Chbar. Me Chbar is part of
Battambang province. Me Chbar is the city that's close to the ... We call it Khnal Cheate,
which is like the main, we call it a highway, the main road going in and out all the way to
Phnom Penh. I was there and then you hear the shooting, you hear the shooting. We don't
have radio, we don't have any communication.
NN 00:08:12
I think now it's like in 2019, you take so much advantage of the technologies and
everything, but back then you just go by what you see and you hear the ... What was it?
The missile, the shooting and all that, so that day, that night, I remember what day, what
night, but all I know it was in that 79 and I didn't know anything, but you got scared,
you're just running. People all got separated and all that. Then because I was separated
from my parents, I have to look for my parents. All my siblings was separated.
NN 00:08:56
Then it's like, who is running to come back to look for the parent? And when you look for
your parent, will you find your parent? So for me, I wasn't too far away, so I know where
my mom was, so I went back home and then after that, you have to wait to get all your
family, which is missing my brother, is missing my sister. My father had to look for my
sister, and as the Vietnamese came in, some of them the people who are really into the
regime, they would ask you to go into fighting, part of the troop, the fighting troop, and
they made wherever the troop go, you got to go. That's the worry, is that my brother went
with the troop, my sister went with the troop. They went off to different part of the
mountain in the rural area, that was a worry.
NN 00:09:52
If you're smart enough, if you know enough how to sneak out or get out, then you do. But
if you're so into the cause, the propaganda, then you continue, which is some people do
continue to along the border with Thailand, to Vietnam, or to Laos, and along the border
in the rural area. You're still part of the troop, you're still fighting with Vietnamese
soldier.
SK 00:10:24
Right, so how then did you end up coming to the United States? Or let me put it this way,
when did you come to the United States?
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Niem Nay-kret, Oral History #19.06
NN 00:10:35
Because the invasion was in January, so by the time we found my brothers and my sister,
we were trying to come close to the border in Sisophon to cross from Sisophon to
Thailand but we couldn't just cross, right?
SK 00:10:58
Right.
NN 00:10:59
And the village that we lived in, that was just outside of Sisophon. When we went back,
our home was completely changed, converted and you don't really have your home, you
don't really have your garden, your porch or anything like that. Porch, anything like that.
So we know we couldn't live there, so we want to get out, you didn't feel safe, and you
could still hear fighting between the Khmer Rouge troop and the Vietnamese soldier. So
then my father feels that we have to get out.
NN 00:11:32
Finally, we did left, I think, I don't remember the exact month now, because we had only
been to ... You know how here, you write down, put the day and the month, right now?
Nope, back then it was no, not really, no writing, no tracking. Somewhere in there we
actually did went to Thailand and it was ... They didn't even start the refugee camp yet.
SK 00:11:55
Oh wow.
NN 00:11:56
But then what happened was that, when we got there, I don't know how many weeks we
stayed, four week, five weeks or whatever and then the Thai who was in charge along the
border, they said that they're going to change us, relocate us to a different camp. They
wanted to relocate us to a different camp and for everybody to get on the bus. That was
when we crossed the border, we crossed in, where was it? In Nong Chan village. I think
that's close to Anonh, just across the border, close to Baoybet.
NN 00:12:41
We actually did, we actually get on the bus and I don't know how many buses, there was
a lot of buses. They actually took us to Phanom Dong Rak. That was forced repatriations
in 1979 and when ... I'm backing up a little bit. When I was talking about the village, I
said it was not safe, because they have mine, the have bomb, they have things like that
and if you're not careful, you could set off the bomb.
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SOUTHEAST ASIAN DIGITAL ARCHIVE
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NN 00:13:16
So crossing the border, the same thing. Was it? I can remember like seeing body, I
remember seeing the body actually die in the water and you needed the waters to drink,
that's in the ... It was a poor little pond along the border. I think those are the things that
I've seen. And then once you get into the ... It's not a camp yet because they didn't really
start a camp yet in Nong Chan. It's just people get there and you make up tents and all
that. You're living there and then they said that they have a different camp relocation.
That's when they relocated us to Phanom Dong Rak.
SK 00:14:01
I see.
NN 00:14:02
And when we were took to Phanom Dong Rak, but it wasn't really relocation, it was
forced repatriation. They have Thai soldier ask us to go into the Phanom Dong Rak and
we do went through Phanom Dong Rak, which is, you go in between the mountain ...
What do you call it? The slope down ravine, like go down the mountain, but I backup
because of the mine bomb and the same thing. So when they force us for repatriation, it
was the bomb, the mine that could set us off and it did.
NN 00:14:50
The people who got off the first few buses, and it gets dark, and when the Sun set in
Southeast Asia, it set quickly. So as we go down, we were just like getting dusk and then
when you go down the mountain, it gets dark even quicker. And you have the Thai
soldier shoot off up at the top of the mountain and you have no way, you can't go up, you
have to go down. And you go down, then you have the bombs setting off. All I remember
is being scared. Scared.
SK 00:15:28
Yeah, I know, you must have been terrified?
NN 00:15:29
Yeah. And it was so dark. It was so dark. That happened, forced repatriations and it took
us a long time, because we pretty much ... You lost your home and everything during the
communists. You have whatever little that you have. Even an earring or jewelry, you lost
more when you crossed the border of Thailand.
NN 00:16:00
Any research or anything like that on war, you always have people who would take
opportunity. When you crossed the border, you'd either get mugged, you get people who
rob you and like that, so that happened along the way. Even during that mountain time,
people felt that if we all gather whatever little possessions we have, it was gold, a bag,
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ORAL HISTORY PROJECT, 2019-ONGOING
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Niem Nay-kret, Oral History #19.06
money or anything like that, if you give it to the soldier, the soldier might let you back
up, but they didn't. But people did gather whatever possessions they had, put it in a
bucket, trying to get back up, they wouldn't accept that. The people who actually went
back up, actually get killed as well.
NN 00:16:46
So if you go forward, some of them get killed by mines that went off, some people get
injury, so we stay overnight in the mountain. At night, people know that the bomb go off,
so they try just to settle down where they are, but in the morning, people start moving,
then you hear it go off. People need the water, people need this, they need that, and yeah,
so that happened.
NN 00:17:17
I think talking about current now, the books [inaudible 00:17:23], Ly Vong from the
Buddhist Glory Temple, with some Kakuen and Vong Wit and others, so that kind of
related to that experience. And I know that others, elders who are here, who actually went
through that experience. I think some of their story isn't, you know, they didn't get to talk,
but it's hard to talk about.
SK 00:17:51
Yes, it is.
NN 00:17:58
It only come up now and then when a close getting together and some night that people
have the same whatever, it would come up.
SK 00:18:10
Right, right, the same memories or experiences?
NN 00:18:13
Yeah, the same memories, the same experiences. Also, it's just, the time is right or
something, like you know, then it comes up. I mentioned this because my friend was
talking about it. She knows somebody and then other people say, "I know about it", and
talk about it. Even my husband's side, the aunts and all that, we don't talk about it, but
there are moments where we have a gathering and we remember things about what
happened, then it comes up.
SK 00:18:44
And that's why the work that you do is so important, because people have all these
trauma and memories, but they don't ... It's so difficult to talk about.
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NN 00:18:55
Yes, yes, it's difficult to talk about. You can't really talk to the kids about it. You cannot
... It's somebody who has that same knowledge about what happened, that you can bring
it up and then you say, oh this, and that, but you bring it in a certain way so that it's not so
much of a burden to you or to the others, but more like a memory, sharing our remember
things of it, appreciating what we have now and what happened then. I think sometime
that conversation come up, where the people who are a little bit older than me, when
those come up and say ... example, about the food. That come up a lot, because of the
starvation during the communists, right?
SK 00:19:52
Right.
NN 00:19:53
So about the food, but the food here is, you cannot eat too much. When we have plenty,
it's plenty. In our culture, our tradition is to be nice, you offer, "Have some of the
chicken. Have some of the rice." And they will say, "Why didn't I know you during
communist during Pol Pot?" "If you offer me that, it's like you will be my best friend
forever, you know?" "Why didn't I know you then?" You know?
SK 00:20:22
Uh-huh (affirmative).
NN 00:20:24
So I think that latent you know, but the one that we share that experience, we know what
we're talking about. The people whom did not go through this, might have different
perceptions or understandings to it.
NN 00:20:37
But for the older, yeah, uh-huh (affirmative), yeah.
SK 00:20:38
Is that part of why you went into healthcare? I mean ... you know, I mean? Or, I'll put it
another way, how did you get into healthcare? Or what started you onNN 00:20:53
Well in terms of healthcare, somehow I did, what was it? A summer job at a hospital, at
St. Mary hospital and well just, a summer student, to enter data, general accounting, just
entering numbers, the general account, and was in a hospital. Then from there, I didn't
think much about it, but when I was looking for a job, my husband was working for the
Department of Mental Retardation, now which is the ... They changed it, was it in 2007
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or 2011? I forgot now, but they changed it from DMR to DDS, Department of
Developmental Services.
NN 00:21:56
So my husband was working in that field and I had just met him and he said, "Oh, there's
a South East Asian Birthing, Infancy project, which is a pilot project in collaboration with
the local community health center and the Department of Public Health, they probably
need somebody." And they wanted somebody who speaks multiple language. And I said,
"Maybe I'll apply for it", and I applied for another job, they interview me, so I applied for
this South East Asian Bilingual Advocates Inc and they hired me for reception, admin
front-desk person and that's how I started.
SK 00:22:44
That was in 2007, 2008?
NN 00:22:44
No, that was in 94.
NN 00:22:44
Yeah, andSK 00:22:44
That's when they changed, towardsNN 00:22:44
Yes.
SK 00:22:44
Towards when they changed the name. I see.
NN 00:22:44
Yeah, this was when they changed the name, because it was just like, Infancy Projects
and then to the ... Bilingual Advocates Inc, changed to Bilingual later on.
SK 00:23:07
I see.
NN 00:23:08
Yeah, but in 2007 it's changed to Bilingual. Before that, in 94, it was not. And that was
directed by Anita Cole, and, who was it?, Bong Paul, was co-director for the program.
And back then it was Arthur Shaplin who was the CEO of the Lowell Community Health
Center. That was before Dorcas' time.
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Niem Nay-kret, Oral History #19.06
SK 00:23:33
Arthur Shaplin?
NN 00:23:34
Yes.
SK 00:23:35
I see. So were you already in Lowell? So you were already in Lowell at that point in
1994?
NN 00:23:41
Yeah, I was in ... Well working in Lowell, a little company and in Lowell, but I was
actually living in Brighton. That's where I first landed was in Brighton and my husband's
been in Brighton ever since, because he was teachingSK 00:23:57
I see.
NN 00:23:58
... yeah, at the Boston High over there, before he was working for the DMR, DDS or ...
yeah.
SK 00:24:07
I see, so initially it was a summer job at St. Mary's Hospital, just data entry and then you
learned that SABAI, is it South East Asian Bilingual Advocates Incorporated?
NN 00:24:19
Inc, yes.
SK 00:24:21
... They were looking for someone in 1994. So you started ... Did you say that their initial
name was different? Or thatNN 00:24:29
It wasSK 00:24:30
Birthing?
NN 00:24:30
... Birthing and Infancy Project.
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SK 00:24:33
Oh, South East Asian Birthing and Infancy Project?
NN 00:24:36
Yeah, it was only a pilot program.
SK 00:24:38
I see.
NN 00:24:38
Because of the low birth rate or not accessing pre-natal care by a lot of Southeast Asian.
They started that because they wanted, you know, here the healthcare is that, when you
are pregnant, that first trimester, you want to get people in right?
SK 00:24:57
Right.
NN 00:24:58
The second trimester, third trimester, you're trying to get people in there as soon as
possible for pre-natal care. And a lot of Cambodians, they don't access it, unless you have
complications, you have problems, issues, then you access. If you have really bad
morning sickness, and you're totally not able to function, yes, but if you are a functioning
person, you are able to work, and all that, and you don't even want to anybody that you're
pregnant ...?
SK 00:25:28
Right, right, right, right.
NN 00:25:28
... So, uh-huh (affirmative), uh-huh (affirmative), and then you may not even mention it
until late. If you have a physical check-up, then the doctor said, "Oh, are you pregnant?"
You know? All those, the standard American westerner medical care is that you have a
physical check-up, right? Any changes that you have, you go see your doctor. But
traditionally, we don't.
SK 00:25:55
I see.
NN 00:25:57
And also, if anything then, you know, you do that home culture, like making sure that
you're eating good, you're eating healthy foods, things like that. That's what we do, but
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SK 00:26:14
Right, right, under a doctor care, right?
NN 00:26:15
Yeah, not under a doctor care. That's why they did the projects.
SK 00:26:22
And this was a collaboration between Lowell Community Health Center and the
Department of Public Health?
NN 00:26:27
Yeah, and that program is because we needed that 501(C)(3) thing, so that's why it was
under a program, under the local community health center.
SK 00:26:37
So when you started working there, what was it like? I mean, how big was it? How
people respond to it?
NN 00:26:43
It was small. It was small, I'm trying to think how many people, four, five, six
caseworkers and I think the other one was the Lead Program, they kind of shared the
same building at 280 Appleton Street.
SK 00:26:59
What was it? The Lead?
NN 00:27:00
This was at 280. Lead Program.
SK 00:27:02
What's that?
NN 00:27:02
The Lead Program, when the child, they eat the painting from the house and they get lead
poisoning.
SK 00:27:11
Right, like literally lead, right?
NN 00:27:13
Yeah, lead poisoning, yeah. Because there was two programs, and it was shared at the
same building.
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SK 00:27:19
Oh, I see. How did it work? How did you get the word out into the community? Did
people come?
NN 00:27:29
Back then, I can remember volunteering at the church where we have Project Bread, they
bring food, things like that and we give out to the community. We do a home visit, we
talk to people at the temple, we talk with people we know, distribute the flyers that is
mixed, we have both in English and Khmer, and distribute that, talking to people and it's
by word-of-mouth, people came.
NN 00:28:00
Then some of the coworker I know, some of them are assigned to helping at the Lowell
General, actually helping with interpreting for the patients. Back then, because the ...
What was it? They don't have an interpreter law yet. I think the interpreter law came in,
in 2007 I think ... if I remember correctly.
NN 00:28:39
Before that, you don't have it. You don't have somebody who, you know, an interpreter at
the Lowell General Hospital. You don't have that.
SK 00:28:48
Part of it was providing basic services, like interpreting?
NN 00:28:50
Yes, basics, yeah, interpreting, uh-huh (affirmative), uh-huh (affirmative), for social
services. For us, the pilot program was supposed to be really concentrated on pre-natal
care, but then you don't do just pre-natal care. You come across, I can remember an
elderly man who didn't understand about utility, and he needed help to translate what it is
that, you know, what he's paying, what is due. He didn't have enough, even for food, how
he was going to pay for the food, electricity, things like that, and it's become, pre-natal
care and social services and getting people connected to Food Pantry.
SK 00:29:38
I see.
NN 00:29:39
And then education, you know? A lot of case management. I say case management
because you might be helping the pregnant woman, but then there's the other part of the
family, and then the other knowing the other issues that was happening with other
marginalized people in the community.
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SK 00:30:02
What do you mean? Like the other ...?
NN 00:30:04
When I said others, it could be like the people who are working and they become
unemployed and they're not really not sure how to apply and they get letter, they get the
pink slip, what do they do next? Where do they go next? Some know, some don't. It's a
lot about word-of-mouth.
NN 00:30:23
Then if they know us, they come to us. If they know somebody who's working at the
department assistance center, then they go there. So sometimes you have a different
connection and then they came to us with those questions, because the landlord issues,
they cannot afford it, they're not able to pay it, then what do they do next?
SK 00:30:55
So it's finding, once people knew that you were there, once people knew SABAI was
there as a resource, even though it started as pre-natal, it's like everything else became ...
ask for help?
NN 00:31:08
Yeah. And our thinking was, because it was different from the Cambodian Mutual
Assistance Association, we was concentrating on women's health and pre-natal care.
SK 00:31:18
I see.
NN 00:31:19
That's what we were thinking. But the people goes to whoever they connects to, they trust
and by word-of-mouth, who's telling them about it. So for those who know about the
CMAA, they go to CMAA, but for those who know through the woman, they come to us,
through the woman and that's how it got built up, we were more concentrating on health,
but then for the CMAA, it was concentrating on everything else, helping immigrant and
refugee, helping people access social services.
NN 00:32:01
Ours was okay, women's health, pre-natal care, but then all the other things came with it,
because when the woman came, it's about the woman issues, the pre-natal, but then, by
word-of-mouth getting out that, "Oh this person helped us", "That person helped us", and
then they come to us.
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SK 00:32:21
I see. So most of your clients were women at this time?
NN 00:32:26
That was what we thought, that we would do.
SK 00:32:28
I see.
NN 00:32:28
That we would get 99% woman, but in there somewhere I think we get mixed. Sometime
the man came, sometime the family came, but our concentration was woman, pregnant
woman, reproductive age woman, you know? Any teen pregnant or anything like that,
that would be the one that we were working with.
SK 00:32:54
But you still got a lot of other requests though?
NN 00:32:56
Yes.
SK 00:32:58
I see. In terms of working with women, like pre-natal care, or reproductive services and
stuff like that, what were some of the biggest challenges? I mean, I would imagine, I
mean this is still, this is the 90s, what were some difficulties that you saw often?
NN 00:33:17
The program started a little bit even before the 90s, like late 80s. I don't remember the
exact year, it was 87 or 86 they started it. It was really small, just like two or three
people. Then by the time I joined in 94, that's when we get more to like the six, seven,
eight people.
SK 00:33:41
I see.
NN 00:33:46
And I get in, because one of the, Bong Sambath, she was doing the front desk, but then
she was on maternity leave and then I was covering her, so that's how I started working
there.
SK 00:33:59
I see.
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NN 00:34:03
I think back then, they started the pilot program just because of there was, what was the
tradition that ...? Why wasn't women not accessing pre-natal care? Why are they not
going? What's going on? Why is it the birth rate ...? There was some challenges and also
why is it so low birth, the child that was born, was so, underweightSK 00:34:33
Birth weight.
NN 00:34:33
... weight was so low?
SK 00:34:34
I see, I see.
NN 00:34:35
Was so low? I think it was looking at six pounds, because back then even the average is
more like the seven-something, eight, almost eight pounds. But why the birth weight is so
low? I don't remember what the mortality rate was, but there was some mortality as well.
So I think that miscarriage and all that, soSK 00:34:58
I see.
NN 00:35:01
That remind me go back to my mom, during the communists, she lost, she had so many
miscarriages, and I don't know if like just because when we immigrate to here, is that the
woman, there's more like on my thinking back now, is it why is that women having that?
Is it nutritionally not having enough, the body is not adjusted to living here yet, and
they're not accessing the pre-natal care. I think those were the things that the public
health wanted to be aware of, and that's what we were doing, was doing that educations
and providing information here that you can access pre-natal care.
NN 00:35:51
That first trimester, and then you go on until you actually give birth, because normally we
don't, so that culture, that perceptions, that understanding, from there. So that was, you
know, when you say was it a challenge? I would have said increase understanding and
also then the traditional practice, after you give birth, is that in Cambodia, we always
have when you give birth, you loss blood, so you have that hot and cold. What was it Yin
and Yang? Right?
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SK 00:36:30
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
NN 00:36:31
So after you give birth, you're supposed to stay warm, and to stay warm in Cambodia,
you have that, in Cambodia, in the Cambodian tradition houses, you have the low part of
the house on the ground, but you can actually have a fire in a wooden bed or what you
call it, that you can have fire under, and you will stay over that bed and it will heat it up.
I'm trying to find a word, it's not really a "Bed" bed, because it'sSK 00:37:12
But yeah, no, it's like something over the fire that can be heated?
NN 00:37:14
Yes.
SK 00:37:17
Not too hot, but warm enough.
NN 00:37:18
Yeah, not too hot, but warm enough. And then, that helped you after you give birth and
that's always been the tradition, but then you come here, we don't have that. We don't
have an outdoor, we don't have an under the house ... because the house over there is on a
stilt that you can have it, or even have in an extra, what do you call it? Structure that
connects to the house that you can still have that outside.
SK 00:37:57
So what were women here doing?
NN 00:37:59
That was the thing is, what do the women do? How did they do that thing? The other one
would be like, was it steam, like using the hot steam. You will boil the water with the
different herbs from lemongrass, to basil, to other things, and then there are herbs that are
from China or from Cambodia, they cure for 100 things. That you use it to boil, but you
drink it or you use it so that you can use the steam. ToSK 00:38:39
To breathe it in?
NN 00:38:40
Yeah. Then I think as time goes by, as people are trying to figure out ways to do things,
they use the bricks where they heat up the brick in the oven, and you wrap it around with
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the towel and you put on your stomach, just to give you that warmness and drinking hot
drink, but with the ginger. When I'm talking about the hots and cold, some of the food is
cold and some of the food is hot, ginger being hot, then you might be drinking the ginger.
That and then, what was it? The cupping and coining, those are another tradition. That's
more like for the aches and pains and all that.
NN 00:39:34
Oh yeah, the drink, after giving the birth, they brew the herbs. What is it? Balai? It's
almost like ginger, but it's not ginger, but it's not Galangal either. But it's yellow and what
you do is, you brew it and then you drink it. When you brew it, you brew it with alcohol.
So that was the other concern, what are the women doing in term of the Asian traditions?
SK 00:40:12
Right, because could they get those herbs and those things here?
NN 00:40:22
There are some that was imported from Thailand that was frozen or dry. Some of the
herbs that are from China, that was imported here. So they would try to find that and use
that to brew it.
SK 00:40:39
What was the attitude of the doctors? The non-Asian or the non-Cambodian doctors in
things like that at Lowell General or Lowell Community Health? Did they understand
that they were ...? Like were they trying to understand? Or were they confused? Or were
they just saying like, "This is what you have to do"? What was that ...? I know that the
caseworkers and you are trying to interpret both, interpret language, as well as interpret
culture, right?
NN 00:41:16
Yeah.
SK 00:41:16
But what was theNN 00:41:20
The client doesn't want us to tell or say anything. They just know that the perception,
they just feel that the perception of the western doctors, medical provider, would not
understand it. They have a sense of that, and usually they don't tell. But they might,
because we are the caseworker, bi-cultural and anything like that, they might have said,
"I'm just doing some, you know, drink and that's it. You know about that, but don't tell
them."
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SK 00:41:58
Yay.
NN 00:41:59
We're trying to say what we ... "Don't tell anything unless you ask, want to tell." "We are
supposed to tell the doctors, so the doctor can treat you." I can give one example, when I
mentioned Balai root and brewing, and that is yellow. It's not turmeric okay? But that's
supposed to really help after the delivery.
NN 00:42:33
And what you do is you drink a lot of that and then beside drinking, she put it on, you put
it on like a lotion on your skin, but it will make your skin yellow, and she went to the
doctor, and the doctor see that, it's like, "What is going on?" Did you haveSK 00:42:55
Jaundice?
NN 00:42:56
Yeah, jaundice. "What's going on?" And you say, "Oh nothing." Just like, "No, it's
nothing." "Oh, we need some testing." She's like, "I don't know what happened." But they
order testing on me and until later, one of the girls at the Lowell General, talked to us
later, they were asking what was on my skin, we go through the whole thing and then
they think I have kaet lueng jaundice.
NN 00:43:30
I was telling them, "No, it was a lotion", but it was not a lotion. But then, because it was
brew and alcohol, so that was kind of, finally, and she said, "I think they understand after
explaining again and again and telling them don't, and I'm okay, and not need to lab, but
they actually took the lab. I don't like anybody taking my blood, but they did it."
NN 00:43:57
I think sometimes, that little, western medical doctor, they go by what they, what they
practice, but the mother and the grandmother, who's helping with the daughter who give
birth, is saying, "It's our thing." They say, "Don't tell them, it's ours. We do it, this is the
tradition." That's what her grandparents did.
SK 00:44:23
How did you feel? Because you're in between, how did that make you feel when you're in
the situation like this?
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NN 00:44:30
When that thing happened, I wasn't there at the Lowell General, I was hearing it
afterward when I was doing home visits. So I would kind of listen and was asking them
how they feel and do they understand why? And they said, "No, I was upset when it was
happening." But then I’m… you know. "But it's okay, it's okay, but you just tell them you
know?"
NN 00:44:57
She said she drinks the ... I was afraid that there was a community of drinking too much
alcohol and they might do something and it seems wording was going around. So,
especially in the early 90s, because in Boston, an agency called MICAS, connected with
the DDS, no, DSS, I'm forgetting the acronymSK 00:45:24
What is it?
NN 00:45:25
The Department of Social Services.
SK 00:45:26
And what is MICAS?
NN 00:45:28
MICAS, they work with the Department of Social Services.
SK 00:45:32
How do you spell that? M-A- ?
NN 00:45:35
M-I-C-A-S, was it, MICAS? Yeah.
SK 00:45:38
M-I-C-A-S.
NN 00:45:39
Oh my God! That's the whole thing, Pu Sanith know more. Pu Sanith work there. He
worked with all the other people. But the thing is, when you work with the Department of
Social Services, DCF, now, it's DCF.
SK 00:45:56
I see.
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NN 00:45:57
It is, you get reporting for child negligence or issues and problems, things like that.
SK 00:46:05
I read an earlier interview with you from 2006 where you talk about like the cupping, and
then sometimes if children get reported toNN 00:46:12
Yes, yes. That go with that, okay?
SK 00:46:17
I see.
NN 00:46:20
If you're working, right, in Cambodia it's like you go to the farm, the kid might be at the
house, but you don't have ... You know, you cannot leave a six years old at home by
themself here.
NN 00:46:35
But, over there, you do and you have the neighbors keep an eye on them or whatever. Or
if anything happened, you already tell the kid and the kid is knowledgeable enough to go
over to the neighbors, right?
SK 00:46:46
Yes.
NN 00:46:47
But here it's completely different, and even the medical treatment, going back into the
cupping and coining, it's like when a child is not feeling well, because of the Yin and
Yang, you want to get that hot, blood circulation, things like that, then you do the
cupping, you do the coining. To get rid of, whether it's the headaches or the dizzy spell or
whatever, that's what you do.
SK 00:47:15
My aunt does it all the time.
NN 00:47:17
Yeah, and I was just speaking with my friend, whose mom is now 80, and she wants
cupping all the time. She wants cupping all the time. And you're thinking like, when you
do too much, it's not good. You want to do something to make you feel better, but not too
much.
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NN 00:47:40
But the fact that she's 80, she's like, you know, sometimes she's having onset dementia,
you know, she'll forget and she'll still want it again.
SK 00:47:48
Oh! Oh.
NN 00:47:49
Yeah, and she'll want it again, and that becomes like, how much do you give and how
much are you arguing with your mother, who's having onset dementia and she's not
feeling well and you want her to feel well? It's always tradition that she's doing it. So how
much do you want to give?
SK 00:48:11
So SABAI started maybe early on, like later 80s?
NN 00:48:16
Yes.
SK 00:48:17
And then you started there in 1994 and then it changed to South East AsianNN 00:48:24
Bilingual Advocates.
SK 00:48:25
... Bilingual Advocates in 2007 or so?
NN 00:48:29
No, that was in 2000.
SK 00:48:30
2000?
NN 00:48:31
No, yeah, in 2000. So I was in… In 94, I was the South East Asian Birthing and Infancy
project for a year and then I went to work with the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma.
Doctor Richard Mallika and Doctor Kathleen Alder and the social worker Jim Lavelle,
which is providing mental health services. The Indo-Chinese Psychiatry Clinic, which is
including providing services for the Southeast Asian from Cambodia, from Laos, and
from Vietnam.
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SK 00:49:18
So is that when your work with mental health started or ...?
NN 00:49:21
Yes. That's more my work on mental health. So from pregnancy to mental health, and
even that, I was more in front-desk receptions. But I did some group with Doctor
Kathleen doing a medication group, just helping integrate a little bit, and helping with the
elders that came for the services.
SK 00:49:50
And this is with the mental health ... The Harvard Refugee Trauma Group or the SABAI?
NN 00:49:54
The Indo-Chinese Psychiatry Clinic.
SK 00:49:57
Indo-Chinese Psychiatry Clinic, and was that in Cambridge or ...?
NN 00:50:02
That was at the Deaconess Hospital. Deaconess Hospital later merged with ... What was
it? Merged with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, it became B-I, Beth IsraelSK 00:50:29
Oh yeah. Beth Israel somethingNN 00:50:32
Deaconess, right. It's in my mind it's like, B-I-D-M-C, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical
Center.
SK 00:50:41
I see.
NN 00:50:42
So when they merged.
SK 00:50:45
So there you were helping with trauma?
NN 00:50:52
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
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SK 00:50:52
Was it mostly elders or all ages?
NN 00:50:55
It was elders. See it's called the Indo-Chinese Psychiatry Clinic, Indo-Chinese Psychiatry
Clinic.
SK 00:51:09
And this is like in the mid-90s, right?
NN 00:51:11
Yeah.
SK 00:51:11
1995 or so?
NN 00:51:12
Uh-huh (affirmative), yeah. And the Indo-Chinese Psychiatry Clinic, is part of the
Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma.
SK 00:51:19
I see, I see.
NN 00:51:21
You see? And the one that if you search now, you will find that the Harvard Program in
Refugee Trauma, which is up in Cambridge now.
SK 00:51:31
I see.
NN 00:51:31
Okay? It was between Cambridge and then it was in the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical
Center, when it was in there, it's the Indo-Chinese Psychiatry Clinic.
SK 00:51:45
I see.
NN 00:51:47
So changes over the years.
SK 00:51:49
And what was that like? I mean, ifPage 25 of 33
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NN 00:51:52
That one, it was people who came in with trauma, people who go through during the war.
It was all different ... It's an adult clinic, so it was adult only. I think it was a lot of older
women, or the soldier who had gone through the war. I am not, because we have social
workers that do therapy, they go through the screening. They have the Harvard Program
Refugee Trauma checklist questionnaire screening that they use to screen doing its
intake. I know we have up to 750 people so ...
SK 00:53:05
And were the clients usually referred by someone else, or did they just find it by word-ofmouth? How did they come? How did they find you?
NN 00:53:14
It was referred from different people, by word-of-mouth, the family that have problems. I
can think of a family who have a young man, because he, the young man was not doing
well and he was supposed to attend school, but he's not attending and it was having, you
know, create problem for the parents. The sister who was doing well was finishing her
high school, going into college. I was trying to help the parents, so I brought him in, he
needed psychiatric services, while they're having schizophrenia symptoms and all that,
get him to services.
NN 00:54:12
Then there was, a Vietnamese man who, he was not able to function, he was not able to
sleep, he's going to work, but not able to work and the family brought him in. I heard by
other people, and brought him in, see if they can help him. He was having bad back flash
into what he was doing, as a soldier, and that's how he get into services. So by word-ofmouth, by the family knowing somebody who knows somebody and talking to other
people. That and by the doctors who know that needing that ... because of the language
and they know that it's hard for them to see that patient, then they heard about the IndoChinese Psychiatry Clinic then they refer them always.
SK 00:55:23
I see.
NN 00:55:25
And also the psychiatrist working with the international institute, working with the
Dorchester Health, the Lynn Health Center, different parts of the city. Even get connected
to the local community health center. I know we did, was it, and doing advocacy with the
Department of Mental Health. Even back then, the department of mental health had the
bi-cultural, bilingual directory. They have it way back, starting in, I think even in the 80s.
They listed all their services across the state. Right now, I can remember one where
Doctor Edwin as working at the DMH. All I can remember, one was Mary-Lou Sutter,
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who else? Who was the commissioner for DMH, the Department of Mental Health. There
was different people who was ... You know how the term of the commissioner changes?
SK 00:56:54
Yes.
NN 00:56:55
It's depending on who was on at that time and if they were connected to different social
services, even with the CMAA. I believe it was in 97 that we did a screening here in
Lowell, 97, 98. Did a screening on mental health depression, just so that we can reach out
to the Cambodian community. The Southeast Asian community in Lowell, before the
Metta Health Center.
SK 00:57:32
I see, so this was the Indo-Chinese Psychiatry Clinic, did like a screening or an
assessment of Lowell? I see. And that was before, did that help inform the Metta Health
Center when it was forming?
NN 00:57:46
For me, because I actually went when the psychiatrist went to advocates for the Southeast
Asian community, they wanted somebody who looked Asian to beSK 00:58:00
Yes, of course.
NN 00:58:00
... because the Doctor Richard Mallika and Doctor Kathleen Alder was the one who was
meeting with all the different agency right?
SK 00:58:09
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
NN 00:58:12
And then everyone went with them and that was the idea, that can we have agency that
really provides mental health services for Southeast Asians. The Indo-Chinese Psychiatry
Clinic is right there in Boston, but I was saying that for me, I was living in Brighton, but
then later, I came to live out here closer to Lowell and actually went back and worked
over there at the Deaconess in Boston.
NN 00:58:45
The majority of the Cambodian Americans was living here in Lowell, right?
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SK 00:58:50
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
NN 00:58:50
And then the others in Lynn, and Revere. So the people in Lynn and Revere, they don't
go to the Deaconess Medical Center. But then, if they go over there, what about the
people here? Do they always able to get there or not? And that's where for me and for
other people in the community, was like, "What are we providing services for the people
who have traumas and who are Southeast Asians, whether they actually access mental
health services?" If you are out here in Lowell and then if you are in Lynn or in Revere
and you're not able to go into Boston, then what happened?
NN 00:59:32
I think those were the questions that was coming up and also medically, back then we
was advocating how we will have more services in medical services encouraging Asian
Americans to really, especially Southeast Asian, to get into medical field, because for
myself, it was just a caseworker, we're doing it bilingual, like social workers, we're doing
community health education, so we are not professionally trained as a ... We're just
trained as a community health worker and doing education, but not totally professional
license in that area. But how do we get more nurses orSK 01:00:22
Doctors, clinicians?
NN 01:00:22
Right, doctors, clinicians, yeah, so that was the questions. That was the advocates, for
that and then while we was having talk back then, the Lowell Community Health Center
was changing and later Dorcas came in, and the Indo-Chinese Psychiatry Clinic was
changing as well, because of the merge, before the Deaconess and Beth Israel, and then
the question is also because it was on a grant, then what do you do after such amount of
grant, what is the sustainability, what do you do? And so that changes. But this is a lot of
history.
SK 01:01:18
Yeah, no, that's good, that's good.
NN 01:01:22
And then I left, but by the time I left the Deaconess, it became Beth Israel Deaconess
Medical Center already in 99, 2000. So because the advocates for a health center that
really provides services for Southeast Asians was before that, it's like two or three years
before that. Even doing, what do you call it? These research into ... Trying to find
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information, data gathering in terms of getting depression screening, things like that, to
get information. When CMAA was doing it, it was before the open of Metta.
SK 01:02:07
I see.
NN 01:02:10
And that was then, meeting with the DMH commissioners and all that, so that they're
aware of the need of the community. Then, because by then, I left the BIDMC and I was
looking for a job, also they was doing wanting more peoples to enroll in getting health ...
you know, the people who don't have health insurance, they are not buying health
insurance, are they eligible for Medicaid? That was the question. And if you are eligible,
will you even go?
NN 01:02:49
So they was finding a lot of people who are uninsured, and also because I left the SABAI
to go to work at the Deaconess, and then there was somebody I was ... There were one or
two persons that was still doing it, but then were just doing Medicaid enrollments, just to
help people by word-of-mouth. We don't really have much money or anything like that,
but people said between volunteering and helping people and finally we get a little grant
from the Boston Women's FundSK 01:03:30
This is SABAI?
NN 01:03:31
Yeah SABAI, in 2000. So I came back to work under SABAISK 01:03:35
Great.
NN 01:03:36.
.. in 2000 and that's when Metta started, and I did a presentation. Oh, what was that?
What is it? Michael Cole, was it Doctor Michael Cole I think? He was the commissioner
for DPH before he went ... during Obama's for ... Michael Cole, I think that was his
name. In 2000, if you look in 2000 you will see. Yeah, I think it was Michael Cole. 2000,
you will seem that it was Michael Cole was the commissioner back then I think. I don't
think it was John. John Auerbach was after. John Auerbach is after, as commissioner for
DPH. Okay, I don't want to remember so ...
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�UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS LOWELL
SOUTHEAST ASIAN DIGITAL ARCHIVE
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT, 2019-ONGOING
UML 17
Niem Nay-kret, Oral History #19.06
NN 01:04:30
But anyway, that was what was happening. Then so I did a presentation when Metta
opened, about tradition and culture the Cambodian women practice. That you practice the
hot and cold, the Yin and Yang, the traditional food, the beliefs, using herbs, using
different brewing herbs, those was the presentation I was doing. And in the culture from
the cuppings to the coinings, to there are others like the holy water when you're not
feeling well or changes, you go and get the blessing at the temple that help you
spiritually.
NN 01:05:40
If you are changing mentally, it might be possessions or part of somebody is walking
over your grave or somebody who is putting a spell on you, so that's why you're getting
the blessing. So that was some of the presentation I was doing and then I started with
SABAI, because we got a little grant to do that, increase some monies to do enrolling
people in Medicaid and also providing some women's health educations.
NN 01:06:23
Then when I came there, that's when we had a collaboration with Massachusetts AIDS
Projects.
SK 01:06:33
I see.
NN 01:06:35
Jacob Jan. Who was it before Jacob? The director? Emmet's, oh I forgot Emmet's last
name. Massachusetts AIDS Projects, if you look up they're still in Boston. Right now, all
I can remember is Emmet who was the board member who was in everything I was, he is
the long-term one that is part of that project and we did some collaborations. When I say
collaboration with them, we did women's health education or HIV/AIDS and that was
still an issue in the community, HIV/AIDS. And then they did a bit of women's health
education group presentations, group educations. That allowed us to go to actually home
and get women to train and then to do the extra education at their home, hosting.
SK 01:07:41
I see.
NN 01:07:42
Hosting a house party. They just like, we provide them some stipend, like $150 and you
just gather in the women you know, you come to the home and then you provide
information and then as being helping them, taking all the information on HIV. How does
the HIV transmitted? How would you know? Where will you get testing? I think that
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�UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS LOWELL
SOUTHEAST ASIAN DIGITAL ARCHIVE
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT, 2019-ONGOING
UML 17
Niem Nay-kret, Oral History #19.06
was, it's part public health education as well. So we did some of that and we signed
whatever they need, that extra social services information.
SK 01:08:30
So you were working at SABAI, but collaborating with Metta and then on the various
initiatives?
NN 01:08:37
Yes.
SK 01:08:37
So SABAI at this point was Bilingual Advocates ...?
NN 01:08:40
Inc.
SK 01:08:40
All right, and then also partnering with the Mass AIDS project, particularly HIV/AIDS?
NN 01:08:45
Yep, Mm-hmm (affirmative).
SK 01:08:45
All right. I want to be mindful of the time. It's 2:30, but maybe we can ...? I mean I know
that you have to go, but maybe we can schedule another time to ... because I want to ask
you more about the HIV/AIDS stuff, you know? I mean if you worked, if ever like things
like contraception, those kinds of issues?
NN 01:09:05
Yes, those that was part of the education.
SK 01:09:06
Also, if abortion ever came up and those kinds of things right? I mean I'm sure those are
complicated things, but before we finish, just thinking back on those times, is there
anything, like we're talking about the period from mid-90s to 2000, what sticks out most
in your mind about that time? Just in terms of your feelings. I mean, did you enjoy the
work? Was it difficult? I mean as someone who had been through the Khmer Rouge, was
it difficult when you were working with trauma survivors and ...?
NN 01:09:45
What stick the most at this moment was I could remember, people who do, you know,
having a job, able to work and do develop and you have that family whose really
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�UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS LOWELL
SOUTHEAST ASIAN DIGITAL ARCHIVE
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT, 2019-ONGOING
UML 17
Niem Nay-kret, Oral History #19.06
marginalized and the have a hard time getting jobs, paying their bills and you're thinking
when you get here, is that you're never going to go without the necessities of life, which
is that you have water, you have a house, you have food, you have the things that you
needed.
NN 01:10:30
And that pride in the people, they want to work for themselves, they want to do for
themselves. They don't want to ask for help. You have those people who are like that, that
they will never ask you for help. And then those who will always ask for help and they're
never going to do anything, getting a job, things like that.
NN 01:10:56
I feel bad that I still come across family who was, feel that they don't have enough to eat
here, in America. To me that was hard and those are the ones who don't ask. You can see
the ripped shoes or old clothes that they're wearing, you pick up little things like that, that
you feel really bad. I can think about another man, that he is working, he's like if he
doesn't work, his family might starve or his children might not do well, but he has to
work, but he's mentally stressed-out.
NN 01:11:44
At work can be really stressful. He's doing assembly job, but then,
NN 01:11:49
his other coworkers having music on, and he is needing to concentrate on work. He feels
mentally stressed. That story of that man stick out with me, just because you have so
much stress, the trauma that he went through in the war and then now he come here, he
still feels stressed. If he was to get a new job, he's over the age of 50, almost 60, how he's
going to do it? Things like that.
NN 01:12:21
To me some of those things stick out and stay with you. You feel good that you're able to
help. But suffering or the hardship, the challenges they go through, stay with you. I think
it changes. The housing back then. Whoa, housing was more run-down back then. Even
when I see the downtown, I can remember I could see garbage, paper thing that they had
flying around and in the downtown street. I think in the 2000, it was talking more about
the City of Lowell is being revitalized, and those immigrants and refugees come in, it's
revitalized in the city.
NN 01:13:26
Talking with the Vietnamese Association in Worcester, the same thing. I feel that, they
feel revitalized, because when I was in the Indo-Chinese Psychiatry Clinic, we have
connections to over there. And they feel that way, so to me, yeah.
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�UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS LOWELL
SOUTHEAST ASIAN DIGITAL ARCHIVE
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT, 2019-ONGOING
UML 17
Niem Nay-kret, Oral History #19.06
SK 01:13:56
I know it's going to be busy for the next couple of months, but maybe we can make
another date at some point to talk more about what happened to SABAI, work with the
mental health forum and things like that?
NN 01:14:07
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
SK 01:14:08
Okay, thank you.
Interview ends
Page 33 of 33
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Southeast Asian Digital Archive Oral History Project, 2019-Ongoing
Relation
A related resource
<span>The collection draft finding aid, </span><a href="https://libguides.uml.edu/uml17" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://libguides.uml.edu/uml17</a><span>.</span>
The oral history project page, <a href="https://www.uml.edu/Research/SEA-digital-archive/oral-histories.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.uml.edu/Research/SEA-digital-archive/oral-histories.aspx</a>.
Description
An account of the resource
This collection is currently in progress and information will be updated as it becomes available. <br /><br />Read more about the project: <a href="https://www.uml.edu/Research/SEA-digital-archive/oral-histories.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.uml.edu/Research/SEA-digital-archive/oral-histories.aspx</a><br /><br />Part of the collection is accessible on this site. <br /><br />Oral history interviews include: <br /><br /><strong>Maryellen Cuthbert, April 2019, Oral History #19.01</strong> <br />An oral history interview with Maryellen Cuthbert and interviewer Sue J. Kim. Since the mid-1980s, Cuthbert has been a private defense attorney working in the Lowell, Massachusetts, area. In this oral history, Cuthbert shares information about her training as a lawyer and reflects on various cases she’s worked with related to Southeast Asian communities. <strong>Content warning: Mentions of weapons, abuse, assaults, and violent situations.</strong> <br /><br /><strong>Thel Sar, April 2019, Oral History #19.02</strong> <br />An oral history interview with Thel Sar and interviewer Sue J. Kim. In this oral history, Sar talks about his early life: living through the Khmer Rouge, resettling in the United States, and his education; his career trajectory: working at the Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association, working at the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services, and becoming one of the earliest probation officers of Cambodian descent at Lowell District Court; his other community activities; and his family. <br /><br /><strong>Sivaing Suos, August 2019, Oral History #19.05</strong><br />An oral history <span>interview with Sivaing Suos and interviewer Tyler Sar. In this oral history, Suos talks about her early life in Cambodia and immigrating to the U.S., her experiences pursuing education and holding various jobs, including working in the mental health field and with families experiencing domestic violence, and her family.<br /><br /><strong>Niem Nay-kret, September 2019, Oral History #19.06</strong><br />An oral history interview with Niem Nay-kret and interviewer Sue J. Kim. In this oral history, Nay-kret talks about her early life in Cambodia and during the Khmer Rouge and her experiences holding various jobs in the U.S. related to healthcare, including prenatal care, mental health, and more.</span><br /><br />-------------------------- <br />SEADA would like to thank the following individuals for their work in making this collection available online: Chornai Pech and Monita Chea.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Southeast Asian Digital Archive Oral History Project, 2019-Ongoing. UML 17. Center for Lowell History, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral history
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Niem Nay-kret oral history transcript, 2019
Subject
The topic of the resource
Health services
Oral history
Description
An account of the resource
The transcript of an oral history interview with Niem Nay-kret and interviewer Sue J. Kim. In this oral history, Nay-kret talks about her early life in Cambodia and during the Khmer Rouge and her experiences holding various jobs in the U.S. related to healthcare, including prenatal care, mental health, and more.<br /><br /><strong>Content warning: </strong>Mentions of weapons, violent situations, and situations that may be distressing
Creator
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Nay-kret, Niem
Kim, Sue J.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Southeast Asian Digital Archive Oral History Project
Publisher
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University of Massachusetts Lowell
Date
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2019-09-15
Rights
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UMass Lowell Library makes this material available for private, educational, and research use. It is the responsibility of the user to secure any needed permissions from rightsholders, for uses such as commercial reproductions of copyrighted works. Contact host institution for more information.
Format
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application/pdf; 33 p.
Language
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English
Khmer
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Identifier
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uml17_19.06_002
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Lowell, Massachusetts
2010-2019
Cambodians
Documents
Indo-Chinese Psychiatry Clinic
Lowell Community Health Center
Massachusetts Department of Developmental Services
Massachusetts Department of Public Health
Southeast Asian Bilingual Advocates Incorporated
Southeast Asian Birthing and Infancy Project