un-titled - Siem Reap, Cambodia
Siem Reap, Cambodia
I have to leave a title so the blog site saves the entry, I don't feel a title is appropriate on this one. Nor is leaving a comment or a rating for the places' we visited. You don't go here to rate the trauma, the emotions the feelings that these places have!
I do however, feel that these particular entries need their own entry to remember the tragedies that took place and to pay honour and respect for the lives lost and for those that survived! We had the honour of meeting one of the survivors from S21, very humbling. One regret is not wrapping my arms around him. We did shake his hand and Shane put an arm around him. I didn't know if I would be stepping over the cultural barrier for a hug!
So, Choeung Ek...otherwise known as The Killing Fields. It needs no explanation it is what it says. We went around with ear phones on, tears in my eyes and vivid pictures in my head, as we listened attentively to survivors tell stories and others re-living the stories of those that did not survive. I did however, skip through the part of the 'killing tree'...as a mother/parent, I did not need to listen to this one.
I found it heart breaking to hear the story of a 30plus year old telling of her time now, and how she had to leave her village and family because of the shame that she felt from the sufferings she endured in Choeung Ek.
There were many stories that we did not allow the girls' to listen to, they did however, enjoy listening to the very moving song and orchestral music composed by one of the survivors.
S21. This was a School until Pol Pot decided to turn it into a prison camp. It housed over 1400 Cambodians who Pot felt would be any threat ie; educated citizens. Anyone with university qualifications' or could speak another language that he heard about were taken here along with women and children. One man told of how he was 'tricked'. He was an Artist (I think for a newspaper or government, I can't quite remember) and was told that he was needed to do some work for Pol Pot. He was instead, along with his wife, taken to S21. He survived and watched his wife die. The streets of Phnom Penh were a ghost town.
This is where Olympic Gold Medalists, Rob Hamell's brother, was also imprisoned and did not survive. He was captured by the Cambodian Navy, at sea, along with an Australian and an English man. (Apparently no other nation knew what was happening in Cambodia during Pol Pots 'cleansing' so were not warned to stay out of the Cambodian waters.)
As Hitler also did, Pol Pot made sure a strict inventory was kept of all prisoners which included photos, the only trace of Hamell was a large black and white print on the wall amongst all the other prisoners'.
There were very moving and some extreamly disturbing photos and paintings in some of the rooms, class rooms that held between 150-200 prisoners in each!
Media claims that only 7 people survived S21, but with research by the Cambodians it is said that 127 prisoners survived out of 1400!
At the time of paying our respects and learning more about the trauma of the Cambodian people, I wasn't sure how much the girls' actually understood or took in. The next day at our hotel we bumped into an Australian family. Jessi was asked by the Father if he should take his children and she replied "No. It's just too sad" Even for me it is so hard to comprehend the evilness and hate that a human can have to inflict these atrocities on their own kind! The Court hearings are still going for Pol Pots four main 'generals' (3 male and 1 female).
(I apologise if any of the details above are slightly wrong)