Before we left Cambodia, Jamos and I had the chance to learn a little about the history of Cambodia. One of the most recent and horrific events that hit Cambodia in the late 70’s was that of the Khmer Rouge. Basically, a communist dictatorship came into the country and tried to create economic equality among the people of Cambodia. People left the cities and headed to the countryside to become rice farmers (or other farming activities).
It was also during this time that the Khmer Rouge started killing its citizens if they seemed like they had an advanced education (doctors, teachers, etc.,). They also killed people if they wore glasses or had soft hands. This also showed signs of above average earnings/intelligence.
Not only were people killed because of their knowledge base, but they were killed if they seemed like a possible political threat to the Khmer Rouge and its leadership. Whether or not they actually were- they were killed.
Cambodians died of starvation and modern day slavery as they were working the fields with little food or water. Schools were shut down and the children were also sent to work in the fields or killed by the Khmer Rouge.
Jamos and I spent the day visiting the killing fields, where they brought these innocent women, children, and men to be killed- blindfolded and dumped in huge holes that were dug in the ground.
In Cambodia, there are over 300 killing fields, where mass graves held the bodies of the victims. Most of the time they used farming equipment to kill these people. They would hit them in the head with a garden hoe or a shovel.
They actually beat the babies against a tree, which is now named “The Killing Tree” and threw them into the mass graves.
Over 4 million Cambodians were killed/died during this 3-year period that ended in 1978.
Before they were sent to the killing fields, many Cambodians were held in former schools, now prisons, and interrogated. They were bound to bed frames or held in small brick cells until they were either beat to death or sent to the killing fields only miles away.
As we walked around S21, I realized that the pictures of the victims who had been beaten or bound, where laying on the same tile floor that I was now standing on. It made me realize how recent these events really were.
As a direct result of this, Cambodia has had to start over. Only 3% of the population is over the age of 60. Because many of the professional people were killed, that left a country with non-educated Cambodians, whose only way of life had been farming in the villages.
It is safe to say, I now understand why Cambodia is the country it is today. I feel privileged to have served in the small village in the Kampong Cham region of the Cambodia. The country is poor and most people know no different life other than the life they live each day. Sure, I went without running water and electricity for an entire month. But this is these people’s life each day. They are surviving and coming back from a horrific genocide that they did not deserve.
They have not yet caught up to the surrounding countries, but they sure know how to love others WELL. And honestly, what could be better for a country to do well?
