The day began with a lecture on the history of Cambodia from a French journalist who has lived here almost 20 years.
The visit to the Choeung Ek Killing Fields was difficult and disturbing. The genocide of the Cambodian people by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970’s is horrifying yet I knew almost nothing about it. Why? Politics, of course. The Khmer Rouge were welcomed to Phnom Penh as liberators and then drove everyone from the city, tortured and executed hundreds of thousands, forced hundreds of thousands more into slavery and “re-education camps,” brainwashed children to torture and murder anyone they labeled as a dissident, CIA or Vietcong, and starved to death many thousands more. Perhaps 3 million died– perhaps 2 million – the numbers cannot be easily calculated. The Killing Fields are the site of the mass graves and executions – now are a memorial. Forty-three of the mass graves have been excavated to provide proof of the crimes against humanity but the rest in this area (almost 100 more) are left untouched. There is a tree where infants where killed – it is covered now with prayer bracelets.
S-21 (Tuol Sleng) is the interrogation center where prisoners were tortured and forced to confess their “crimes”. The shackles are still present, along with pictures of hundreds of the victims, complete with their identifying numbers. We had a local man, Pun, as guide for the day. He lost his father and two brothers to the Khmer Rouge – it seems no Cambodian today is untouched by the horror of the 4 year occupation.
In spite of this terrible period, today Cambodia is surging – there is a lot of investment from the Chinese, Malaysia, Japan and Singapore and a great influx of Chinese to build and secure their business here. All those we’ve talked with have said that the past 10 years have seen a real uptick in the standard of living for many Cambodians. Make no mistake, this is still a poor country, but there is a lot of justifiable pride in what they are accomplishing now.
journeys 