**Written by Caroline Potoclicchio**
I was also struck by Eang’s “Leading by Example”. This piece shows that you don’t need a man around in order to survive. Rosanna’s mother had to take care of her children while her husband went into hiding. She would hide in the mountainsides with her children and would use a machete to hunt for food to keep them alive. After many years in middle and lower school learning about hunters and gatherers, I know that hunting is usually considered a masculine job that the men would do, while the women would stay home to cook and sew.
Although we have learned that housework is a stereotypical feminine job, and how sometimes it is somewhat degrading, I feel as if Rosanna’s mother is some kind of super woman because in a way she has carried the family on her shoulder’s in all aspects. The fact that she does cooking and cleaning for seventeen people is pretty incredible.
Rosanna’s experience with the Cambodian man is pretty eye opening. She states that she is pretty ashamed that she allowed herself to touch his private parts, but why should she feel ashamed if she is only 3 or 4 years old? I also have respect for Rosanna because she is also a strong woman. She never had the time to be a little kid. Her eyes were opened to reality when she was 3 years old, and she was only 4 years old when she began working full time manual labor. Rosanna really did follow in the footsteps of her mother but in a different way. She grew up in some of the poorest cities, graduated from high school, and went on to college. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in public health. She really paved the way for future generations in her family, but if it wasn’t for her mom’s determination to keep the family together and alive, then she may have not had the passion to do so.
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