80 percent of the people in Cambodia are under age 30. . .
How many people would need to be slaughtered before the
world notices? How many people-more importantly, who-would need to know before
the world reacts?
In 1975, shortly after the Vietnam War, the Khmer Rouge, run
by a French-educated Cambodian native, took control of the country. Then they
decided to cleanse its nation from any and all Western influences. They chose
the worst possible way to do it.
preparing to drop bombs in their capital city, Phnom Penh. After the mass
evacuation, the Khmer Rouge took over the city and began their cleansing. They
arrested anyone with higher education such as doctors, teachers, and lawyers.
If you didn’t seem “pure” enough, i.e., had Western influences, you were taken
away.
he used to teach, as his detention and torture centres. A place once used to
teach and inspire children now brought fear, isolation and confinement.
Classrooms were turned into cells, and barbed wire blanked the buildings. When
I entered the school, I could almost hear the screaming. I even saw dried blood
on the classroom floors. Here, people were tortured to confess their non-existent
crimes, and driven outside of the city on trucks to what is now known as the
“Killing Fields.”
by one, the victims were forced to kneel by the edge. To save ammunition,
farming equipment such as pick axes, shovels, hammers, and wooden clubs were
used to carry out the executions. The lifeless bodies simply fell into the pit. After a
pit was full, they sprayed chemicals to prevent the stench of rotting corpses
to avoid suspicion from nearby villages, and to “kill off victims who were
buried alive.”
Babies were treated differently. One depiction suggests
soldiers would grab infants by a leg, and swing it against a tree, bashing
its head for a quick and simple death. The crushed bodies would be then tossed
into a separate pit. Another depiction shows babies tossed up in the air, while
another solder would point his bayonet up, and skewering the falling bodies.
brought an endto Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, nearly 2 million people were executed-almost a
3rd of its nation. During their reign, the Khmer Rouge managed to
fool not only its country, but much of the world.
A photo exhibit at S-21 genocide museum displays a 2-week
trip a group of Swedes were invited on, to show the world how the Khmer Rouge
was helping its country. The exhibitor now regrets and admits that the “trip
was a mistake since they became a part of the propaganda of the Khmer Rouge.”
He, like many at the time, was tricked to seeing only what they wanted the
world to see.
Even as I type this, my head hurts, my stomach turns, and
tears flow down my face. The effects of the Khmer Rouge are still evident
today. There are still many graves not yet excavated. Half the city seems to be
under construction. Too many are living in poverty, struggling to make a
living.
Jesus follower to do? Pray? Feel bad and say “I’m sorry your country went
through this?” I don’t have the answer. All I can do is realize that a single
vision can change a country, even if for the worst. I do not want to lose faith
in humanity. All I can do is hope and pray that God is sovereign. God cares.
God cries. God also loves us so much that He does not abandon a nation, or a
single person. In the end, God is victorious. He will bring peace, I know it. I
see it. I feel it.
