I wander around The Killing Fields, audio player in hand because I didn’t want to pay for a tour guide, listening to story after story. “She was killed for two bananas,” a man telling of witnessing his first murder of an innocent woman. I stand staring at a mass grave of women and children and I can recognize the horrific event. Thousands of skulls in glass cases put into perspective how many were killed right where I was standing. So many more of these fields scattered all over Cambodia. It wasn’t until I visited S-21, an old high school turned prison, forced workplace and torture center of the innocent that my heart broke for this country. Cambodian genocide. So recent, so unknown.
A few of the thousands of skulls on display.
Bracelets left on the fence posts in memory of the innocent killed.
The Khmer Rouge was a regime ruling Cambodia 1975-79. With a scheme to create a “master race”, they would do anything needed to fulfill it, even if that meant brutal murder of anyone standing in their way. Any person with an education, ties to the government, or artistic abilities were considered “enemies of the state” and needed to be eliminated. “Better to kill an innocent by mistake than to spare an enemy by mistake,” a quote by dictator Pol Pot, leader of the Khmer Rouge.
People, working class people, normal people like you and I were lied to, herded like animals, imprisoned, tortured, worked and starved. So many murdered, others died from starvation and disease. 3 million out of population 8 million, dead. Finally in 1979 a group of Cambodians and Vietnamese took out the Khmer Rouge.
The end of the Khmer Rouge ended the genocide, thank you Jesus. However, it was just the beginning of a healing process that is far from over to this day. The people of this country carry a burden. There is a spirit of fear and lack of emotion. My heart physically hurts when thinking about the history of this place.
There is so much light in the darkness in this country. It is filled with people from organizations and churches that love the Lord and want to bring hope and freedom. Please pray with me.
specific prayers-
The people would be met right where they are and allow God to pour out his unfailing love upon them.
That in their desperation and pain, people would find refuge in the shelter of the Most High.
For softened hearts to receive the truth and freedom.
Any anxiety or fear would be met head on by the Prince of Peace.
That any lies from the enemy would flee as they are not welcomed and can not be where the truth is.
Healing.
For a longing and desire for Jesus.
