Our ministry contacts asked
us to visit the Genocide Museum, Tuol Sleng, so that we could get a better
understanding of Cambodian history. All I can say is that it was heavy and
intense. We made sure we were prayed up and took a tuk-tuk over there around
8.30 in the morning.
Tuol Sleng was created on
orders of Pol Pot on April 17, 1975 and was designed for detention,
interrogation, inhuman torture and killing after confession from the detainees
were received and documented.
Previously a high school, the
four buildings of classrooms were turned into small cells for prisoners and the
front of the buildings were covered in barbed wire to prevent them from
committing suicide by jumping.
In 1975, there were 154
prisoners.
In 1976, there were 2,250 prisoners.
In 1977, there were 2,350 prisoners.
In 1978, there were 5,765 prisoners.
These figures do not include
children that were killed by the Khmer Rouge; that figure is estimated to be
about 20,000.
On January 7, 1979, the
United Front for the National Salvation of Kampuchea found the bodies of
fourteen victims. The corpses were unidentifiable and were carried out and
buried in front of Building A. Out of the 14, one was female and these were the
last people to be tortured and killed before S-21 personnel fled.
It was hard to walk through
these buildings – to see bloodstains on the floor, to know that people were
tortured and killed right where I was standing, to see walls of photos of
victims and cases of skulls. It was shocking to learn that the three leaders
are just now being prosecuted; the fourth died years before the trial.
Honestly, it wrecked me, but
in a good way. It further fanned the flame burning in my heart to love on the
people of Cambodia and bring the hope of Jesus to them.
Please pray with me that
restoration and redemption would overtake the city of Phnom Penh and Cambodia.
“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” -Ephesians 1:7
