It is hard to believe that I am halfway through my summer in Cambodia. Though it has been a relatively short time, I have already learned so much about the country and its people. The children and my assistant teachers love to tell me about their culture and beliefs, which has been incredibly helpful. Being here and interacting with the locals has taught me more than any book ever could and I realize how valuable my time here has been.
Yesterday, the Palm Tree staff invited the volunteers to see the Killing Fields and S-21, the Khmer Rouge torture camp. I had read and written about Pol Pot’s regime in college, so I did know some background information about the genocide. However, I was still entirely unprepared for what we encountered. We first visited the Killing Fields, where the Khmer Rouge would take prisoners, execute them, and throw them into mass graves. It was chilling to actually stand where such horrific massacres had taken place. Thousands of skulls filled a large pagoda in the center, as a tribute to those who were murdered. It was simply shocking to see the remains of those who were victims of the Khmer Rouge, right in front of me.
After visiting the Killing Fields, I was already feeling emotionally exhausted. I had studied so much about the genocide that standing so close to the mass graves was almost unbearable. I carried on to see S-21, also known as Tuol Sleng. This was a school that the Khmer Rouge used as an interrogation and torture camp. Each room in the school had a metal bed, which was accompanied by chains and torture devices. Cement dividers were created in some rooms, so that prisoners could be held in smaller cells. On the walls, we saw tally marks to keep track of who was interrogated and beaten. I was shocked to find that many of the rooms were still stained with blood. We also visited the documentation center, where we saw photos the Khmer Rouge took of the victims. It was so frightening to see photos of young children and mothers holding small babies, with facial expressions that seemed to cry out for help.
So many people were murdered by the Khmer Rouge. After Pol Pot’s regime took power, they evacuated Phnom Penh, in pursuit of creating a classless peasant society. They killed men, women and children who did not comply, as well as government officials, college professors and other intellectuals, resulting in millions of deaths. Walking around S-21, where so many people had been tortured, I began to think about how genocide occurs. How does one evil person convince others that torture and killing is acceptable? How does the rest of the world stand idly by as innocent people suffer? How can we ensure that genocide never occurs again? It is sad that these questions are unanswerable and that such massacres continue to this day. Despite the activism taking place on college campuses about Darfur, governments still turn away from those in need in Sudan. How can we, as a global society, work together to stop genocide? When will such hatred and depravity end?
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