We’ve been in Cambodia for 3 weeks so far. Our ministry has been at a church, working with their preschool and adult English programs. We have also been doing a Bible School with an HIV orphanage. Our days have been filled with children, smiles and laughter. They have been fantastically fun to spend the month with.
We leave in about 8 hours for Siam Reap, for a few days of “debrief” and to tour Angkor Wat, one of the 7 man made wonders of the world.
Here’s a look back at our time in Cambodia……..
We started the month with some pool-side debrief in Sihanookville, Cambodia, on the Gulf of Thailand. A few days of western food, lounging by the pool and swimming in the ocean were just what we needed to refuel.
We were able to spend some time snorkeling and eating beach-side cooked barracuda on Bamboo Island, a BEAUTIFUL island off the coast of Cambodia.
Upon our return to Phnom Penh, we spend a day touring the city. Our first stop was the temple for which the city of Phnom Penh was named, Wat Phnom.
Most businesses and homes have a Spirit House, outside. Here the ownesr or inhabitants give their offerings of incense and fake money, to please their ancestors and the spirits in the area.
There was an elephant at the temple. Isn’t she cute? She’s waving at you……..
Monks are seen everywhere. Their bright orange robes stand out in an otherwise dreary setting.
We visited The Silver Pagoda, home of the King’s throne room, and the Temple of the Emerald Budda, both excuisite examples of Khmer architecture and artistry.
Another town, another market.
This is the Central Market.
This market serves tarantulas, silk worms and water beetles….
…and crickets…
And all kinds of foriegn delicacies…
You can buy any and every home convienience, clothing article, and hardware supply imaginable.
Cambodia has a tragic history, one that is unknown to much of the world. I have gone my life until this point completely oblivious to the communist regime of the Khmer Rouge. In 1975, after the Vietnam War ended, the Khmer Rouge took power, forcing the populations of the major cities into the country side for “reeducation”. Then they proceeded to take the educated in mass quantity to fields all over the country, later named “the killing fields” and execute them. Estimates show that 2-3 million people were killed between 1975 and 1979. Children were taught to be soldiers, and families were separated. Doctors, teachers, people with glasses, people with independant thought were murdered and buried in unmarked, mass graves. 80% of the population of Cambodia is currently under the age of 30, due to the massive genocide that occured on this soil 40 years ago.
In Phnom Penh, there was a large prison, S-21 in a former school called Toul Sleng. The classrooms were converted to prison cells for the “enemies” of the Khmer Rouge. For the people who did not believe in the ways of the revolution.
This is a hallway of the cells.
This is a hallway of the cells.
The following are from one of the Killing Fields near Phnom Penh.
These are bones, that have been excavated from the mass graves.
The Killing Fields.
These are clothes that are peaking up from the earth, where they were buried many, many years ago. Peaking up from their graves.
Cambodia still hurts from this tragedy. The coutry still bears the scars of the pain it felt when the cries rose up, past the guns and knives of the Khmer Rouge.
More updates from the next part of the journey…..Angkor Wat.
