Cambodia's dark past

Arriving in Phnom Penh, we dove straight into the heart of Cambodia's horrifying history...a necessary lesson in order to understand the country today. We visited two sites in particular that attempt to document and explain the autrocities that occurred under the reign of the Khmer Rouge from 1975-1979. The darkest side of humanity was expressed during the Khmer Rouge regime, which followed a challenging period of civil war and attacks from the US (related to VietNam war). During the period under Pol Pot's control, a quarter of the population was executed or died of starvation and disease. The regime banned money, entertainment of any sort, schooling, and just about anything you can imagine with the idea of creating a self-sufficient agrarian society. As the Khmer Rouge came to power, the cities were cleared out, and everyone was sent to the countryside to work in the fields. We visited one of the main detention centers and also the 'killing fields', the main execution center where people were sent after the torture and detention center.

S-21, the torture and detention center was a former school, no longer in use under the regime. We walked through rooms containing nothing more than the metal frame of a bed and torture implements laying on top. A solitary picture on the wall documented the horrifying torture practices that took place a couple of decades before in the very room we stood in. Following the long hallway and walking over the yellow and white tiled floor, you could imagine a school with classrooms packed with children, but the empty rooms told another story. Some rooms had black and white photos of the detainees. Hundreds of pairs of eyes staring back at you...some defiant, some full of fear...and others blank and lifeless. Young children, women, and older folks present alongside male detainees. Another building was full of makeshift cells where the detainees were kept. I was absolutely overcome by the confusion and absolute fear those detained must have experienced. Rain poured down as we made our way through the museum, much in the same state as it was when it was used as a detention center. Rain has such a cleansing power, and I felt as if the pouring rain, along with the many other showers that have fallen, are helping to wash away the stain that this place leaves on a population and its history.

Then we went to Choeng Ek genocide center (also known as the 'killing fields'), where nearly all the detainees were taken after varying stays at S-21. It is now a pockmarked landscape that was once a Chinese cemetery in the countryside outside of Phnom Penh. Still a peaceful area full of trees, with school children's voices giggling and yelling from the plot nearby, birds and frogs calling during a pleasant morning. But the quiet is full of untold stories and weighs heavy on you as you walk around the former mass graves and sites of executions. A memorial stands tall at the center of the site displaying the bones and clothes of the hundreds of victims whose lives were taken at this very location. A chance to recognize and honor the victims, an attempt to offer closure to their families...and yet another lesson for all so that these horrifying acts can never happen again.

And this atrocious history is still awaiting closure. The lead newspaper article that we picked up later that day spoke of the trial of the chief of the S-21 detention center. Nearly three decades later, and the process is moving at a snail's pace to bring justice to those responsible for the genocide that claimed nearly 2 million lives.

Although it was exhausting and heart wrenching visiting these museums, it has helped shape our understanding of this small country and what it is still recovering from.