S21/Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, a Discussion

A quick expansion on Amy's comments about the atrocities that occurred in Laos during the 1970s. These are not isolated incidents. These are not distant past. These are more common than we would like to think or than we are taught to believe - the Armenian Genocide during World War I, USSR in the 30s, the Holocaust during World War II, Mao's Cultural Revolution in the 60s, Somalia, Serbia, Rwanda, Congo, Sudan. The list goes on along the dual axes of magnitude and history. The horror and sadness, however, clearly not linear, are in fact immeasurable. But if there's no yardstick, the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, a former middle school converted into the S21 prison in which 20,000 men, women, and children died, does its best to capture these elements.

I won't go into gory details about S21, but the Khmer Rouge was fastidious in its documentation and record-keeping. So one of the most powerful displays is the collection of pictures of a fraction of those murdered by their own people. It is important, often difficult, and always heartbreaking to look into the eyes of these men, women, and children. Faces show visceral emotions, at times combinations, at times isolated - confusion, sadness, an inability to understand. Some bear fear, some terror, some hatred. Some, mostly children, smile, a cruel irony in retrospect. Various backgrounds frame the faces in the fore - the cold metal contraption used to hold the head forward, the slight woman reaching up to hold the white sheet behind, the undernourished baby in the mother's arms, the indifferent companions looking on vacantly. There seems little discrimination - children, grandparents, mothers, fathers, men, women, able, unable.


Phnom Penh in April 1975, a city of a million, a ghost town within days. These were the faces of those forced out, of yet another in a seemingly global and historical tradition of irrational, insane, inexplicable acts. At Angkor Wat, I hesitantly waded into a delicate conversation with a tuk tuk driver about the genocide. "The hardest part for us to understand was why somebody would do this to his own people," he reflected. I bit my tongue before attempting to get into a discussion of explanations. Foreign interference? The economics of supporting people in a failing Socialist state? Maintaining false international appearances? Common extreme idealism? Simple greed? Insanity? It's impossibly dangerous and perhaps offensive to rationalize. Inevitably, these atrocities cannot be explained, and they above all stand as a chilling reminder that the extent of man's potential for inhumanity is unfathomable.

Ways to Stay Cool in SE Asia

Get out of town and find a hammock near a rice paddy field,

then hang out with your elephant friend

before hiking to a waterfall.

Hang out along the river, or rent a kayak to paddle slowly down it.

The pool's always an option, but if all else fails...

just buy an umbrella.

Sunrise at Angkor Wat

Except this one!  The temples of Angkor were the most amazing of the wats:

What wat is this?

After visiting so many wats, or temples, they all start to look alike...

Learning about Cambodia...

While reading the book Motorcycle Diaries sometime in college, I copied this quote, about Che Guevara (said by his father), into my travel journal:

"He wanted to travel the world, not as a tourist stopping to take pretty pictures along the way, but as a person who could help alleviate human suffering in any way possible."

Now, clearly I am not Che Guevara, nor do I try to be (Ian and I have nearly 1,600 pictures!!  Too many pretty pictures!), but this quote has inspired my travels, to say the least...

Something we haven't blogged about so far on this trip is the "ugly" side of tourism -- the poverty, inequality, and human rights issues we've encountered, which are numerous.  The issues only seemed to exacerbate as we continued on our travels -- we saw some pick pocketing in Malaysia, some (a lot) prostitution in Bangkok, Burmese refugees seeking asylum in northern Thailand, and land mine victims elsewhere.  And then there was Cambodia. 

I'll start with the recent history...

I feel ignorant for never having heard of "Pol Pot" or the "Khmer Rouge" before this trip, considering the horrific events that took place there less than 40 years ago.  As recent as the mid 1970s, Pol Pot, leader of the communist party of Cambodia, instituted radical social reform that called for all urban dwellers to be forced into collectivized farming labor camps in the countryside.  He literally evacuated the population of all of Phnom Penh, the capital city, into the countryside and then abolished all religious practices, including Buddhism, and rid the country of a national currency (no money - what?!).

The country then experienced a large famine and many died of starvation, disease, and from generally being overworked, malnourished, and without medical care.  Along with the educated population that this regime had already killed en masse (because the educated were more likely to oppose the regime), Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge began carrying out massive executions at killing fields located outside the city.  Many were first taken to the Tuol Sleng (today a genocide museum, which Ian visited) to be tortured into "revealing secrets" before they were "bludgeoned" to death at Cheoung Elk.  Apparently the Khmer Rouge didn't want to waste bullets.  The torture and killings continued for three years and came to an end when Vietnam invaded Cambodia in 1978, but not before the Khmer Rouge had killed nearly 2 million people -- or more than 25 percent of its population.

This is all history today, but Cambodia's people and economy still struggle to recover, which has led to some unimaginable hardships.  In our short time there, Ian and I bore witness to some of the most extreme poverty and dire human situations I've seen, namely child prostitution.  In Phnom Penh's city guide, we read about several organizations that help to alleviate the situation and visited one called Daughters of Cambodia (daughtersofcambodia.org).

Daughters of Camboida strives to rescue victims of human trafficking, some of which have been forced into brothels and enslaved against their will.  More from their website:

"The commercial sexual exploitation of children and young people in Cambodia has escalated over the last decade, into what is now an 'industry' utilized by foreign visitors and by a large domestic market. A combination of causal factors are involved, chiefly the cultural obligation of children in Cambodia to financially support their parents. Government figures for 2003 found that 90% of girls are knowingly sold by their families, a factor which serves to maintain enslavement in the sex industry once there, compounded by lack of alternative job opportunities and social stigma. Families’ main reasons for selling their children include poverty, debt & financial difficulties – but in reality social problems undergird this situation: parental alcohol or gambling habits, parental debts, parental materialism. Girls are also at risk of being sold if they are raped or lose their virginity. The girl is viewed as having lost her value and the hope of finding a husband to provide for the family. Parents then feel her only remaining value is to provide them with income through sex work. In a few cases trickery is involved: a boyfriend or close friend sells her to the brothel, or a trafficker tricks the family with offer of a respectable job."    

In short, this organization removes girls and women from the sex industry and job placement at the organization's cafe, spa, or craft-making center.  Workers receive fair trade wages and are given education and training to find jobs so that they will not always depend on non-profit assistance.  The organization continues to expand after only 3 years of running and 100 percent of the girls taken out of the sex industry never return.  It's an interesting project that is worth reading about.  Of course there are others too, but in our short time there we only visited one. 

Anyway, travel is certainly a learning experience that can motivate one to help "alleviate the human suffering" in any way they can.  Far away back in New York now, I already feel removed and I wish I could do more to help than just donating...but don't worry mom, I'm not moving to Cambodia to volunteer.  I'm just glad to have learned more and be able to spread the word to others.