Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, was a city full of incredible highs and disturbing lows. The lows came from learning all about the genocide Cambodians faced in the 1970’s. A communist party called the Khmer Rouge killed thousands of people in attempt to turn Cambodia into a peasant-dominated country. Anyone suspected of having an education, spoke a different language or in some cases just wore glasses was slaughtered. Visiting the well-known prison S-21 and the killing fields was an educational but horrible day. The goose bumps and sick feeling in my stomach was as real as the hundreds of faces, mug shots, of the prisoners that were brutally tortured and murdered at S-21. It was sickening seeing photos of the tortured prisoners, lying dead or dying on the prison’s checkered floor, and then standing on that same floor as in the photo.

The killing fields were just as awful with it’s shrine to the victims made up of over 8000 skulls and seeing bits of tattered clothing and pieces of bones poking out of the dirt paths that lead to you the sites of the mass graves. A sign telling visitors “Killing tree against which executioners beat children” made the whole experience almost too much to take. Approximately 17,000 men, women and children were executed here.
I can’t begin to understand the mindset of people who could do that to another human being. How does a person or a group of people get to that point? Almost 2 million Cambodians died between 1975-1979.

On a brighter note I had one of my most inspiring and wonderful days on this trip visiting Phnom Penh’s Lighthouse Orphanage. To say I was greeted warmly would be a terrible understatement because from the moment I got to the orphanage I had a child glued to my side, clinging to my hand, eager to show me around. About 40 children ranging in ages from 18 months to 17-years-old call this place home. They spend their days going to school at the compound and playing volleyball or futbal in the courtyard. They sleep in tiny twin bunk beds, usually 3-4 children per bed and are each responsible for scrubbing their clothing clean using buckets and water from an old pump well.

On Sundays visitors are invited to come and play with the children. The older kids get all dolled up in make-up and costumes and perform traditional Cambodian dances while the younger ones gather around wildly clapping and smiling from ear-to-ear at the performance. The way these kids smile, laugh and play you would think they are the luckiest people in the world. They were so sweet and friendly that the second you sat down you had a child crawling onto your lap. It’s so amazing to see happiness in such a raw form. In reality they have very little to be happy about and yet their joy was so strong it was contagious.