Last Monday, we took a 7-hour bus ride from Saigon to Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital. We stayed at a resort with a beautiful pool where we had cocktails, fresh spring rolls, and mini toasts with tzatziki. That evening, we enjoyed an evening of traditional Khmer dancing and theater at Cambodian Living Arts. Cambodian Living Arts was founded by musician Arn Chorn-Pond, one of the few artists to have survived the genocide during Khmer Rouge rule from 1975 to 1979. His aim is to rediscover and preserve the traditions that Pol Pot’s regime tried so hard to wipe out when they murdered nearly a third of Cambodia’s population. The show was beautiful, and proceeds from the tickets go to preserving art and supporting education for young Cambodians. We had a delicious Cambodian dinner at Labaab consisting of papaya salad, morning glory, lemongrass chicken, and fried rice. On Tuesday, we visited Choeung Ek, one of the many locations throughout the country where civilians were killed and buried in mass graves by the Khmer Rouge, and Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, formerly Security Prison 21, where an estimated 17,000 people were imprisoned, tortured, and killed. When the Khmer Rouge took over in 1975, they forced everyone out of the cities into rural, agrarian communes where they were often starved, worked to death, or murdered, until the regime was defeated by Vietnam in 1979. The Khmer Rouge targeted anyone they believed posed a threat – doctors, lawyers, journalists, anyone who was educated or even just had soft hands or wore glasses. They also made an attempt to wipe out minority groups within Cambodia such as the Cham Muslims and those of Vietnamese descent. Using torture, they forced ridiculous confessions, and no one was safe from suspicion. If a person was condemned to die, their whole family was murdered with them to prevent survivors from seeking revenge.
Out of a population of 9 million, between 1.5 million and 3 million people were killed. The people we met in this country were warm and smiled often, somewhat astoundingly given their history. Before the Khmer Rouge even came to power, an estimated 500,000 people were killed and millions were displaced by the 2.7 million tons of bombs the United States dropped on Cambodia during the Vietnam War. Cambodia’s leader at the time allowed the North Vietnamese to traffic weapons and military personnel through Cambodia on the Ho Chi Minh trail, and the US responded by bombing the trail heavily. After doing research on the Cambodian Genocide at Penn last semester, it was very meaningful and heart-rending to visit the places where the unfathomable cruelty and suffering occurred. It was hard to forget that everyone we met who was in their 40s or older would have memories of the Khmer Rouge and possibly the time that came before. Everyone knew people, likely family members and close friends who had been killed during that time. This harrowing fact, combined with the poverty of much of the country (Cambodia’s GDP per capita is only $1,270), is starkly juxtaposed with the smiling, friendly people we met during our week in Cambodia.
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September 2018
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