Cambodia's Dark Past

It was another difficult day for us - this time learning about the Khmer rouge regimen in Cambodia - the genocide - the Killing Fields and S-21. 

We started the day off at the Killing Fields at Choeung Ek - probably the largest of all the killing fields.  On the way to the site - our guide gave a brief history of Cambodia from the French occupation up to today.  We learned about the Monarchy - and how it is now a Constitutional Monarchy much like in the UK - with the actual power of the country in the hands of the Prime Minister who is "elected."  We talked about Pol Pot's rise to power and how that happened and the politics and propaganda behind it.  I will not go into detail about the history lesson here, but it gave us a foundation for the Killing Fields and what we were about the experience. 

Once we entered the grounds of the Choeung Ek, we saw the beautiful Memorial Stupa - which was erected to honor the more than 8000 people who were executed at this site - and now houses the more than 8000 skulls of those whose bodies have been dug up from some of the 129 mass graves.  The Stupa was constructed with the stipulation that the remaining 47 mass graves be left undisturbed. 

After walking around the site, we bought some flowers  and incense and one of the local ladies taught us how to show respect to those killed here before entering the Stupa and then came outside to take a few moments to gather our thoughts and try to process what we had just seen and learned.  To quote one of the students, "This is f***ed up."  I think that was the sentiment of everyone - although maybe not quite in those terms.  As you can see, a picture says a thousand words - very sobering. 

After leaving Choeung Ek, we needed to see something good and pure - so we went to Pour Un Sourire D'Enfant - an organization that was founded by a French couple who came to Cambodia and saw the children working in the dumps and eating garbage and put a plan in motion to do something.  They went back to France - talked to people and raised money finally raising enough to come back to Cambodia to start the organization, starting with just 20 children - providing food, medical attention and education.  Today - they serve over 200 children and families and have a remedial school, a vocational school, medical clinic, daycare, provide transportation for students and parents, among other social services.   We even got to have lunch in their training restaurant and visit their gift shop that had clothes and various other textile type gifts made by the students there. 

Once lunch was finished, it was back to the sobering reality of Cambodia's dark past as we visited the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum.  Here we learned about S-21 (a secret Khmer rouge prison where those arrested were interrogated, tortured and interrogated again until the confessed to crimes that they did not commit and/or gave up names of other people who may or may not have committed crimes against the Khmer rouge.  These crimes included being a soldier of the previous government, government officials, academics, doctors, teachers, students, factory workers, monks, engineers...After the captures felt they had all the information they could get from each prisoner, they were sent to Choeung Ek to be killed.   The Khmer rouge photographed every prisoner brought to S21 and when the regimen came to a sudden end, they killed the last 14 prisoners at the prison and fled before they could destroy all the records - documenting about 1/2 of the people that were brought here.  In the rooms that used to be cells, the pictures of these victims were displayed - including mothers holding their babies, children, and the educated.  Again, very difficult to take it all in. 

There were only 7 known survivors of S-21 and out of those only 3 are still living - and we had the opportunity to meet two of them - Bou Meng, an artist (who we are pictured with above) and Chum Mey, a mechanic.  The resilience of these men is incredible - to come back to this site to share their stories of survival - these men are inspirational.  In the courtyard - there are 2 memorials - one with the names of the fallen etched in panels around a statue - and the other is the graves of the last 14 people executed at this site. 



 Next stop on our agenda was Wat Phnom - a Buddist temple.  This pagoda was given the name "Wat Preah Chedey Borapaut"  According to local lore, a wealthy widow found a large koki tree in the river and inside the tree she found 4 bronze statues of the Buddha.  She constructed a small shrine on a man-made hill by the people living in the village to protect the sacred statues.  This then became a sanctuary and sacred site where people still come to give blessings and pray.  There is a stupa here as well that contains the ashes of the king and the royal family. 

After a very emotional day - it was back to the hotel for a bit of a break before heading off for a much needed river cruise before dinner and then back to the hotel for the night - looking forward to continuing our journey tomorrow in Siem Reap.