Dual citizenship
May 8, 2008
By Susan Smallheer Herald Staff
BRATTLEBORO =97 She was barely two weeks old when she came to the United
States, an infant in the arms of her 17-year-old mother, both refugees
from the brutal Khmer Rouge of Cambodia.
On Wednesday Suphada Rom, 19, of Windsor, a freshman at Castleton
State College, became a United States citizen, making a dream come
true for herself and her family.
And on Saturday, her mother, Rhumdoul Rom, 37, a longtime resident of
Windsor who now lives in Keene, N.H., is slated to take her own
citizen's oath in Manchester, N.H.
Daughter and mother hugged and cried after the ceremony in U.S.
District Court in Brattleboro, as 16 people became United States
citizens when District Judge Garvan Murtha administered the oath of
allegiance.
They came from 12 different countries: Bosnia, Vietnam, Canada,
France, Argentina, the Philippines, Cambodia, Congo, Brazil, Ukraine,
Lebanon and Pakistan.
The mother and daughter both declared it a "blessing" that they were
allowed to come to the United States and become citizens =97 within days
of each other.
"I feel so happy," Suphada said after taking the oath, and later
registering to vote. "It's a blessing for us and a blessing for us to
be citizens so close together."
Suphada Rom could be any Vermont teenager =97 one with a dramatic life
history.
She was a standout athlete at Windsor High School, a dedicated honor
student and queen of last year's senior prom.
While the mother and daughter have long wanted to be U.S. citizens, it
wasn't until 2001 that the U.S. Congress passed a bill that would
allow them, and other Indochinese refugees, the opportunity to become
citizens.
Five years ago the Roms got their green cards, and began the five-year
wait for citizenship.
Suphada Rom and her mother, along with other members of the Rom and
Soy family, had settled in Windsor starting in the 1980s, sponsored by
a large community group. The group raised thousands of dollars to
support the family, arranging medical and dental care, education and
jobs.
"The citizens of Windsor gave us a home, and they fed us and clothed
us," the college student said. She is studying health sciences and
Spanish, with a career goal of becoming a physician's assistant.
It was the Windsor group that pressured Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., to
find Rhumdoul, who had been kidnapped away from her family as a young
girl, only to escape and live in a refugee camp on the Cambodian-
Thailand border. It was at that refugee camp that Suphada was born.
She was only five days old when Tim Rieser, an aide to Leahy, traveled
to the refugee camps to try and find Rhumdoul on behalf of her mother
and brothers now living in Windsor. Rieser found the young woman and
managed to get her and her newborn to Vermont.
Leahy has maintained a relationship with the family, working on the
bill that would allow them citizenship and sending Suphada
congratulations when she graduated from Windsor High School last year.
The Roms' story was made into a television movie and has been the
subject of newspaper articles and television coverage dating back 19
years.
Rhumdoul Rom, now a laboratory technician at Valley Regional Hospital
in Claremont, N.H., lives in Keene with her fianc=E9, John Mills.
Michael and Jan Coxon of Windsor brought a scrapbook about the Rom
family to the ceremony. They had been Suphada's honorary Vermont
grandparents since the young mother and baby arrived in Windsor, and
Suphada lived with them for a year and a half while her mother
attended college.
The Coxons said Suphada was like a granddaughter to them.
"We've known her since she was two weeks old," Jan Coxon said. "I
taught her to read at 5 =85 she has a real love for words and reading.
"It's added so much to our lives," she said. "She's our family."
Michael Coxon said the Windsor community pulled together to sponsor
the family. His scrapbook painted an amazing picture, complete with
stories on The Today Show, the New York Times, and a modeling gig for
Rhumdoul in motherhood magazines.
The family centered around Prak Soy, the mother of Rhumdoul and her
brothers, Sarin and Somnang. Prak Soy came to Vermont in 1988, and the
matriarch of the family died last year in Windsor. Suphada remembered
her grandmother with tears of joy.
"She was the glue that held our family together," Suphada said.
Her mother's father, an educated Cambodian, had been killed by the
Khmer Rouge, along with four brothers and other family members.
"A lot of this is for her. She's always in our thoughts," said Suphada
of her grandmother, who saw her family fractured and murdered before
making a bold move to Vermont.
"It's quite a saga," said Mills, an emergency room physician who met
Rhumdoul while working at the Claremont, N.H., hospital.
The Roms have never been back to Cambodia, although Suphada said her
mother "always made me in touch with my culture. It's just miles."
Rhumdoul and Mills joked they may choose Cambodia for their honeymoon
after they get married in June.
"They'll have to take me," Suphada said.
Brattleboro Town Clerk Annette Cappy helped many of the new citizens
register to vote, including Suphada, who sent her stepfather-to-be to
the car to retrieve her driver's license.
Jan Coxon said her Cambodian granddaughter has made no secret of her
political leanings toward a child of an immigrant.
"She plans on voting for Obama," she said.
Contact Susan Smallheer at susan.smallheer@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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