Two weeks ago, my team got a chance to visit the Killing Fields. Before coming to Cambodia, I had no idea of the genocide that occurred here in the 70s. It is crazy to think that something that awful happened such a short time ago. In talking to people at home, I realized how few people actually knew about it so I wanted to give you a little history lesson of what has happened in Cambodia in the past 50 years.
Between the years of 1975 and 1979, around 3 million Cambodians were brutally murdered. At this time the Khmer Rouge, with Pol Pat as the ruler, was in power of the country and wanted to create a classless society of collective farmers. Educated people were viewed as a threat and were the first targets. Within the first few months of Pol Pat’s reign, he evacuated all the big cities and sent people back to their home provinces. Province by province people were separated from their families into groups of male and female and thrown into trucks to be taken to these killing fields.
The one that we visited had several mass graves that contained several hundred people in each one. The Khmer Rouge killed an average of 300 people a day in just this one killing field. The people were forced to confess to crimes they didn’t commit, and then were brutally murdered in front of their family members. In the words of Pol Pat, “better to kill an innocent than to let the guilty escape”.
Can you imagine? 1/4 of the population was murdered in just 4 years. There were warnings to stay on the path at the museum because of the bone fragments, and clothing scraps that still surface. As of 2009, they located almost 23,000 mass graves all through Cambodia.
At church last week, there was a guest speaker who was 1 of 200 Christians to survive the Khmer Rouge genocide. His mother and sister were the only other two of his family to survive. He spoke of how he prayed every day to survive just one more day. He was held in captivity for 4 years and remained in a refuge camp in Thailand for 8 years after. He has traveled all over the world telling his story and speaking of God’s grace and love. He talks about how God provided for him and how blessed he was. Can you imagine? You lost your entire family and 25% of your country, and he was still thanking God. Would you have that courage and faith?
Pol Pat remained in office until 1997. He died at home surrounded by his family on house arrest. He served no time. He wasn’t punished for this brutal tragedy that almost destroyed Cambodia.
Cambodia is still recovering from this tragedy. Kids today grew up with parents that witnessed this horrible crime and suffer from PTSD. Half the population is under 21. You can still see the hurt and damage everywhere, but healing is sweeping through Cambodia. This generation is making a difference in rebuilding their country.
I think what struck me the hardest is how unaware we are. This wasn’t front page news in America. I know several people who grew up during the genocide and never heard of it or at least didn’t know the extent of the tragedy. Despite all of this, this country still has an amazing amount of hope. Keep Cambodia in your prayers as they continue to rebuild and recover.
