Citizenship Will Open The Door For Secretary’s Return Trip To Cambodia

By Kaaren Valenta

Sokheon “Sunny” But doesn’t remember much about her childhood years in Cambodia, the years before she came to the United States as a refugee with her family.

 Next month the 26-year-old medical secretary at Dr Peter Licht’s office in Newtown will become a United States citizen, a step that will make it possible for her and her husband, Heng Na, to visit Cambodia for the first time in nearly 20 years.

“My family were farmers,” she said. “My father was injured in the war. I don’t know much about it because my parents didn’t talk about it.  Our family – my parents and four children – were able to come to the United States because we were sponsored by the Congregational Church in Redding. We didn’t know any English and it was really hard, but our sponsor, Rosemary Stark, paid for our food. She gave us a good start.”

Sunny But was the youngest in the family, not yet eight years old. Her oldest brother, now in his 40s, remained behind in Cambodia.

“We got separated during the war,” she explained. “We didn’t find each other again until five or six years ago, and that was because my brother Phon – who is called Charles – got his US citizenship and then went back to Cambodia to find him.”

Sunny But’s family settled in Danbury, and later moved to Bethel, where she graduated from high school.

“My father couldn’t work because of his war injuries. He died last year,” she said. “My mother worked at Pope John Paul nursing home and my sisters and brother all worked. I was the youngest and the only one still in school.”

Sokheon But’s sisters are Sokha, who is about 38, and Sokhom, about 35. “Phon – Charles – is about 33,” Sunny But said. “I’m not positive about their ages because birthdays are not customarily celebrated in Cambodian culture. It’s just another year that passes.”

What is always celebrated, however, is the Cambodian New Year, usually in April each year. The Cambodian community in the greater Danbury area hires a hall for the festivities. It was at a Cambodian New Year celebration that Sunny But met her husband, also a refugee, more than eight years ago. They have four children: a son, Mony, 6, twin daughters Monitha and Bonitha, 5, and a son, Rathana, called “Reta,” who is 4.

“My husband is a machine operator,” Sunny But said. “He works the second shift at Ambel Precision in Bethel so he can watch the children while I work with Dr Licht and Dr Halloway.”

Six months ago, Sunny But filed an application for citizenship. During the following months she prepared for the exam, which included a written test, a spelling test, and an oral test.

“There were 50 questions and you could only get five wrong and still pass,” she said. “They give you 100 questions to study. There were questions like who wrote the ‘Star Spangled Banner’? and if the president and vice president both died, who would be president? And when was the Constitution written?”

“They also asked questions about the flag – What do the stars and stripes mean?”

Sunny But only got one answer wrong. “They asked who elects the vice president of the United States,” she said. “I answered ‘the citizens of the United States’ but it is really the Electoral College.”

 “I studied very hard,” she said. “The day before the test the people in the office were great. They tested me.”

The test was given at the federal building in Hartford. Sunny But learned immediately that she had passed and would be sworn in as a citizen on September 1.

“My husband will go with me,” she said. “He wants to take the test, too. He knows it is important. Once we went to Canada to visit friends and we were at the border for nearly six hours because they wouldn’t let him back into the United States.”

 Next year, in April, the couple plans to make the long trip back to Cambodia, to find and visit what remains of their extended families.

“It’s a very long way,” she said. “And I don’t know what we will find. But now that I am a citizen, it is something that I want to do.”