My team and I have made it to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Month 11 of my race has officially begun! I can't believe that just 3 weeks from today I will be back in Tucson with all of my friends and family! It doesn't seem possible that 11 months has went by so quickly. God has opened my eyes to so many things about Himself, about myself, and about the world around me this year. I have been so blessed to have been given this opportunity. Thank you so much to everyone that has supported me, encouraged me, and prayed for me throughout this journey. Without you, none of this would have been possible. 🙂
I have blogged a lot this year about what God has spoken to me and shown me about myself and about Himself. But in the past two weeks, God has really opened my eyes to what has happened and what is currently happening in the world around me. And a lot of what I have seen is hard to comprehend. Last weekend my teammates and I visted The Genocide Museum and The Choeung Ek Genocidal Center, more commonly known as the "killing fields." My heart was broken by the stories that I heard from the victims, the pictures that I saw, the graves and remains that I witnessed of those who were viciously executed. The people in Cambodia have suffered through extreme injustice. From 1975 to 1979 – through execution, starvation, disease, and forced labor – the Khmer Rouge systematically killed an estimated two million Cambodians, almost a fourth of the country's population. The Khmer Rouge was a corrupt, radical communist movement. The goal of the Khmer Rouge was to create the perfect communist society. The big cities were all evacuated and the Cambodian people were forced to move to the villages. Everyone was expected to become farmers. Anyone with education, with money, with status, even anyone who wore glasses, was looked at as a threat. The Khmer Rouge began to imprison those that they felt would oppose their idea of a perfect communist society. They accused these Cambodians (and some foreigners), of being CIA or KGB spies. They would torture the prisoners for months until they either died from the pain or until they gave a false confession, so that they could be executed and have the torture finally end. For almost 4 years, Cambodians suffered. Families were torn apart. Hope was lost. The repercussions of this great injustice are still felt today. Everyone here in Cambodia has in some way been affected by the genocide.
Here are some photos of what I experienced. (PLEASE BE AWARE SOME OF THE PHOTOS MAY BE GRAPHIC.)
–This is the S-21 Prison (formerly a local high school) used by the Khmer Rouge to interrogate, torture, and kill almost 20,00 victims in 5 years. There were 160+ prisons just like this one across Cambodia, but this one was the Khmer Rouge's best kept secret. —
　
These were the members of the Khmer Rouge. They recruited boys from 13-18 yrs of age to do the torturing because they needed the money to eat and support their families.
Before and after pictures of the prisoners.
　
This was my tour guide. Her father and brother were taken by the Khmer Rouge and she never saw them again.
　
　
　
He is one of only two of the remaining survivors that were held in this prison. Only 7 survivors were found by Vietnemese troops in 1979 when the Khmer Rouge fled Phnom Penh.
　
　
　
–This is the Choeung Ek Genocidal Center, more commonly known as the "killing fields." —
(Some of the skulls found were still blindfolded)
　
　
I know that these images are not easy to look at. It makes us uncomfortable. It makes us wonder what we can do. Having my eyes opened to this tragic injustice has made me more thankful than ever for the stability and peace that we have been blessed by in America. But God has really laid it upon my heart to be in prayer for this country. Intercession is powerful. Please join with me in prayer for continued healing, hope and restoration for Cambodia! I hope that God continues to open my eyes (and your eyes) to the injustice around us so that we are able to be prayer warriors for His Kingdom and to bring change and hope to His beloved people.
　
Love you guys!
　
<3 Cassie
　
　
　
