The Killing Fields and Tol Sleng

I didn't know much about Cambodia before deciding to come here for the summer.  All I really knew was the Cambodia was next to Thailand and they make some of the clothes in the US....that's about it.  Over winter semester I took a prep class with the rest of the students who are here with me now and we learned a bit about the language, culture and history.  Part of our work for the class entailed reading two books: Survival in the Killing Fields and Voices from S-21.  Through these books and our lessons I learned the story of the Khmer Rouge.  The Khmer Rouge only lasted for a few years, but in that time one-fourth of the country was killed.  In my family that means at least one of my siblings would have died, which is too hard to even imagine.  Everyone in Cambodia now knows someone who was killed, children born since the tragedy still see the impact and know of the family members who aren't there.
As part of our cultural experience here, we visited a couple of historical sites.  We first visited the Killing Fields, a place where thousands were taken to be killed and buried in mass graves.  It's interesting, the juxtaposition between how beautiful the area is, right outside the city by rice fields with beautiful trees and gardens, compared to how horrible the events were that happened there.

The Killing Fields and museum

This is a fence surrounding one of the graves.  Visitors here put these colorful bracelets on the posts in respect of those who died here.

'The Killing Tree against which executioners beat children' is also covered in the bracelets.

Inside the monument of the Killing Fields- 17 levels of skulls and bones of the victims found here.

After visiting the Killing Fields we went to Tol Sleng (aka S-21) the school inside the city where thousands were tortured for false confessions before being sent to the Killing Fields to be executed.

A list of the insane rules the prisoners were forced to follow.

There were a whole series of rooms filled like this with pictures of the victims who were kept here of which only 7 survived.

The tiny, 1 meter, cells that held the prisoners here.

Tol Sleng, once a regular school before the Khmer Rouge.

It's hard to describe what it was like to visit these places.  It was similar to visiting one of the Holocaust Museums.  You're glad you went and that you understand better, but there's a feeling of disgust and horror.  This only happened less than 40 years ago!  The older generations here still remember it vividly and it still affects their lives today.  It's impossible for me to understand how this could happen, how millions were killed because of a corrupt and horrible government that was so afraid of being overthrown that it condemned it's own innocent citizens.  It serves as a great reminder of what can happen and what should never happen again.  But now it shows how well this country has recovered.  They were set back a long way due to these events and they still have many many problems, but the people here are so amazing and I love being around them.  They are so happy and friendly, friendlier than anywhere else I've ever been.  They love talking to us here even though we really struggle to understand each other.  The children here love when we bike past and they all run out into the streets yelling 'Hello!  Hello!'

I'm just so grateful for the chance I have to be here and to meet them and get to know the culture and the people in Cambodia.  And that I get a chance to give something small back to them through my internship here.