It's taken me a while to write this blog entry and for two reasons. The first is that I was in no way ready to write. Cambodia was extraordinary and I was so consumed by it that I couldn't focus on getting it on to paper, I needed to let it all sink in. The second reason was that, well, I didn't quite know what to write? How do I explain Cambodia and it's people? How do I explain the sheer love and happiness that seems to radiate from them in all their poverty and especially in the shadow of Pol Pot. It's hard to put words to it but I'm going to try.
I've been to quite a few countries now where poverty is rife. The rich and the poor live side by side with no middle ground. The wealthy rise from their western beds, have hot showers rinsing the dirt off with shampoos and soaps, they eat a hearty breakfast, hop in their air conditioned cars and drive off for another day of work. As they drive they will pass poverty stricken families who will watch these modern people rushing about their lives as they go about their simple ones. This isn't just in Asia of course, this happens worldwide but here it just seems different. There is no space between the classes, they simply exist together with no questions and strange as it may be, they almost seem blind to each other. On one street there could be five rich households and right next door, families that have no running water, little food and only each other to keep themselves entertained. These strange relationships, if you can call them that, can be found in Cambodia too but to me, it's no where near as dramatic as anywhere else I've been.
There is a kind of general love between everyone in Cambodia. A respect and consideration that gently graces each and every person no matter their financial status. You watch wealthier people bypass chain stores and head directly to poor street vendors always showing each other kindness. The sick and poor who beg on the streets and try to sell their goods to tourists will often get business from passing locals who spend their money on books and tat I assume they already own. I witnessed younger Cambodians helping their elders and vice versa with simple things like pushing a bike or shaking fruit from trees. Often I watched strangers stop and briefly chat and play with children in the street, sometimes buying them a bag of crickets before departing. Everywhere you look you find the rich and poor walking side by side and unlike other countries, here they are more than aware of each other. For me it was a disconcerting experience. We don't show each other that kind of kindness where I live. We are too consumed by our own lives to help others with the simplest of tasks so often. It made me sad to belong to a country like that and long to call somewhere like Cambodia home. A place that has gone through hell but instead of stew in their grief or shut the world out, they have become some of the most loving people I've ever met.
Many don't know the story of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. I certainly didn't know much before I visited Cambodia. I knew of Pol Pot and his genocide but I was in no way ready for the horrifying details that I came to learn. I can't image having my family ripped apart, watching neighbors and friends disappear overnight or simply witness my country being broken so dramatically. Unfortunately these things have happened too many times in the past. This time however Pol Pot and his minions make Hitler, as a person, look like a puppy. Hitler invented the term 'cleansing' and it seems the Khmer rouge adopted it with pleasure however, as horrific and tragic as Auschwitz was, Cambodia took it to a whole new level.
In 1975 the Khmer rouge took over and their dream was to turn Cambodia in to a Communist country. Of course this meant ridding the nation of capitalists which included anyone of wealth or learning and of course they must rid themselves of anyone not Cambodian which included Chinese, Thai's, Muslims, Christians and of course whites. The list is endless of what was not acceptable and the list extremely short for what was. All they wanted and needed were simple farming people whom they could mold and shape in to perfect communists. In doing all of this they brought about one of the worst genocides in modern history, brutally murdering nearly 2 million innocent people out of only 7 million. We can painfully reflect upon ethnic cleansing in WW2, Rwanda, Former Yugoslavia and even Sudan but for me there is something different about Cambodia. I think it's the sheer brutality, the lack of bullets may be it. The lack of worth in a human life that they would rather beat them to death with clear effort than take a bullet and end it quickly. All war is horrific and I'm in awe of anyone whom has lived through one.
There is a place called S-21 in Phnom Pehn which was once a school. When the rouge took over it was turned in to a prison camp but not just any prison camp, this is one where they tortured and murdered man after man, woman after woman and even child after child. People who simply wanted freedom, people who had been educated, innocent children who had undesirable parents and even people who just wore glasses. This all sounds too familiar.
These souls were stripped of life for no reason at all and when we visited S-21 you were more than aware of it. Untouched S-21 is a terrifying place that everyone should see if only to witness the brutality of man. A place where they felt bullets were worth more to them than human lives so instead beat their prisoners to death.
This prison murdered too many to mention but it wasn't just here that death lurked. People were sent from the cities to live in the country. Whilst there they were stripped of everything and forced to wear black outfits so every person was equal. The crazy thing about it was that these people were never going to be equal. They were beaten and raped by the rouge soldiers. Forced against their will to work endlessly to provide food and arms for the same soldiers that were murdering their families and refusing them the most basic things in life, like food or water. For years the soldiers tortured the people, murdered their families and stood by as thousands and thousands died from neglect. If they didn't die in camps they would have been taken to a place now known as 'The killing fields'.
The Killing fields was in the simplest way a place to torture, murder and get rid of bodies away from gazing eyes. All that needs to be said is that this place broke my heart as I'm sure it did to thousands who have visited. Mass graves litter the land, bones still protrude from the ground after a rain and the monument above is stacked with the remains of the people who perished in such a horrific manner. This place should be seen by all so that we can learn and attempt not to let anyone make this mistake again, just like we should visit all the other places around the world like it.
The Rouge only officially lasted until 1979, just shy of 4 years of hell. In that time they murdered nearly 2 million people and for years after more died at their hands. The Rouge continued to kill and raid villages from their jungle hideouts and the land mines still to this day kill people and precious animals. The aftermath for those who survived it and who lost family or were brutally hurt themselves isn't as obvious as it could be. People have simply got on with it. The wounded may be living in poverty but they are shown kindness in the streets and they themselves radiate an incomprehensible happiness. It's baffling. I will never fully understand what the Cambodian people went through and I'll never understand how they took so much and have come out the other side even more beautiful as before they went in. They have taught me a great deal about family and simply about caring and loving each other. They have also taught me an extremely valuable lesson of taking time. Taking time to relax and appreciate myself, my friends and family and the world around me. So for that, I thank them and one day when I return I'll find out what else they have to teach.
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