The most shocking and heart-wrenching part of our trip to Cambodia was visiting the reminders of Cambodia's dark history. Thirty years ago the ultra-communist dictator Pol Pot came to power with plans to make Cambodia an agrarian utopia - to reverse the clock and take Cambodia back to year zero. He commanded the complete evacuation of the major cities, including the capital
Phnom Pehn, and forced these
urbanites to work the land. Pol Pot's regime systematically tortured and executed around 2 million
Cambodias (1/4 the population), targeting
intellectuals, those in contact with foreigners, those of
religious faith (Christians, Muslims, and Buddhists), and any who opposed or rebelled against Pol Pot. Many people were killed seemingly for no reason at all, including children. Eventually Vietnam took mercy on Cambodia and drove Pol Pot out of power. Nevertheless, the scars still exist.
Tuol Sleng, formerly a school in the city of
Phnom Pehn, was transformed into a top-security prison during the Pol Pot reign. Thousands upon thousands of Cambodians were brought to this prison, horrifically tortured into confession, and sent outside the city to be executed. The buildings now serve as a
museum displaying jail cells, torture equipment, and row after row filled with photos of the victims. Walking through this
eerily quiet place, little imagination was required for chills to run down my spine and for my heart to feel the heaviness of the cruelty and injustice.
Each person brought into the prison was carefully documented with a photo. These photos bring a heavy realness that can't be easily shaken off. To stare into these kids eyes and to imagine the
horrors that saw and experienced stuns you.
Choeung Ek, once a quiet orchard set among farmland outside of
Phhom Pehn, became the resting ground for more than 17,000 victims who were systematically killed in the most horrendous ways, and buried in mass graves. Over 5000 skulls now reside inside the memorial, Buddhist-style
stupa, and bones still litter the grounds, a shocking reminder that 30 years hasn't been able to hide.
Walking away from these memorial sites, I groped for understanding as to how something like this could happen. How should I respond? Do I just feel compassion for a few hours and then go my own way? Do I just pretend it doesn't exist so as to not ruin my enjoyment of the next sports game I watch? Or does something like this change the way I look at life, and possibly even change the very course of my life? I pondered the realities of current-day atrocities that might even exceed the Killing Fields of Cambodia, like that of modern-day Sudan. Will we be visiting a similar memorial in Sudan 20 years from now, wondering how we could have let something so terrible happen without doing more to intervene? The obvious, in-your-face injustice that happened 30 years ago in Cambodia also opens my eyes to other "lesser" injustices in our world today. How do we respond to hunger, poverty, women being kidnapped into the sex trade, people thrown into jail for their
religious beliefs, etc.? Do we use "I'm just one person, what can I do?" as an excuse and go on our way to the next movie or video game or manicure? Or does it shake us to the core of our souls and make us cry out and fight for justice? How do we respond when faced with the realities of our world? Are we hiding?
Tuol Sleng, formerly a school in the city of Phnom Pehn, was transformed into a top-security prison during the Pol Pot reign. Thousands upon thousands of Cambodians were brought to this prison, horrifically tortured into confession, and sent outside the city to be executed. The buildings now serve as a museum displaying jail cells, torture equipment, and row after row filled with photos of the victims. Walking through this eerily quiet place, little imagination was required for chills to run down my spine and for my heart to feel the heaviness of the cruelty and injustice. 
Choeung Ek, once a quiet orchard set among farmland outside of Phhom Pehn, became the resting ground for more than 17,000 victims who were systematically killed in the most horrendous ways, and buried in mass graves. Over 5000 skulls now reside inside the memorial, Buddhist-style stupa, and bones still litter the grounds, a shocking reminder that 30 years hasn't been able to hide.
Walking away from these memorial sites, I groped for understanding as to how something like this could happen. How should I respond? Do I just feel compassion for a few hours and then go my own way? Do I just pretend it doesn't exist so as to not ruin my enjoyment of the next sports game I watch? Or does something like this change the way I look at life, and possibly even change the very course of my life? I pondered the realities of current-day atrocities that might even exceed the Killing Fields of Cambodia, like that of modern-day Sudan. Will we be visiting a similar memorial in Sudan 20 years from now, wondering how we could have let something so terrible happen without doing more to intervene? The obvious, in-your-face injustice that happened 30 years ago in Cambodia also opens my eyes to other "lesser" injustices in our world today. How do we respond to hunger, poverty, women being kidnapped into the sex trade, people thrown into jail for their religious beliefs, etc.? Do we use "I'm just one person, what can I do?" as an excuse and go on our way to the next movie or video game or manicure? Or does it shake us to the core of our souls and make us cry out and fight for justice? How do we respond when faced with the realities of our world? Are we hiding? 