By Julie Zhu and Saraid de Silva
Mom Meng came to Aotearoa in 1979 as a refugee from Cambodia. After spending two years in a refugee camp, she arrived in New Zealand with her husband and their son Ty who was a toddler at the time.
Now, Ty has his own daughter Emrie who has recently graduated university. Having both grown up in the Lower Hutt, Ty and Emrie are separated from the conflicts of the Khmer Rouge era by decades and thousands of kilometres. And yet, the effects of conflict were present in their upbringings. In this conversation, three generations of Meng whānau - Mom, Ty and Emrie - grapple with the intergenerational trauma of war.
Conversations With My Immigrant Parents is a podcast and video series where parents and children learn about each other anew, and confront the complex issues that are deepened by differences in generation and culture.
Made possible by the RNZ/NZ On Air Joint Innovation Fund.