Mr. Chum Mey, one of only 12 survivors of Tuol Sleng Detention Centre
Chum Mey is a quiet man. He is 83 years old. When he speaks, he looks at you with the direct gaze of a man who wishes to add the weight of sincerity to his words. Despite his age, there’s a light in his blue-brown eyes and a determination in his stance.
In 1977 he was captured and imprisoned by the Khmer Rouge at the infamous Toul Sleng Prison. It is estimated that between 17,000 and 20,000 prisoners entered Tuol Sleng. Only 12 prisoners left with their lives intact. The others were systematically tortured, beaten and murdered in Cambodia’s Killing Fields.
Chum Mey was kept alive by the brutal regime because he had been trained as a mechanic. He could fix typewriters. And the Khmer Rouge kept scrupulous records of their victims’ fate.
It’s hard to comprehend anything about what happened at Tuol Sleng. The brutality was indescribable. The lack of humanity beyond belief. Much of the prison, now the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, has been left as it was when liberated by Vietnamese forces in 1979. The tiny cells, the iron shackles, the implements of torture and blood-stained tiles provide evidence of the horrors which took place inside what was, ironically, formerly a school. Yet nothing can compare to the chilling first-hand account of a man who experienced the prison himself.
If you met Chum Mey on the street or in a cafe, you would think he is a kindly, gentle man. And he is. There is no outward evidence of his experiences, save for the twisted finger which was broken as he defended himself against a beating from the guards. But when he speaks of those ghastly days, which he does regularly, his eyes still glaze over. When he remembers how he heard his wife and young child being gunned down by Khmer Rouge guards and says “When I sleep, I still see their faces, and every day I still think of them”,… well, it’s hard not to cry. He still does.
Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum may seem like an unusual place to begin a photography workshop in Cambodia. The beautiful Khmer temples of Angkor are only a day away, and we will get to them in time, but for today, we had the opportunity to speak to a man with a story unlike any other – and despite the fact that it’s a sobering and distressing story, it’s well worth hearing and I’m pleased that Chum Mey is still here and still so keen for visitors to learn about his experiences.
Sometimes people ask me why I don’t shoot weddings or architecture or lifestyle images for magazines or wealthy clients with funky villas. It would be more lucrative, for sure. I guess being able to meet people like Chum Mey is the reason.