Day 7

Today we had a slightly later start with the alarm going off at 7.30 am. We had a quick breakfast before piling into the minibus to head to the killing fields and S21. This is the darker side of Cambodia and as we travelled to see these sights our tour guide told us more about this;

So in the ealry 1970s communism was growing in Cambodia and they called themselves the Khmer Rouge. At the beginning it is believed that they set out with good intentions but as they grew they became more extreme and they took over the country through a coup in 1975. They took everyone out of their usual work and sent them to the rice fields to help the farmers harvest and grow more rice to give to china as china had funded the Khmer Rouge and this was part of their payment back. This meant that there was no proper healthcare, banks, news or any other standard service during this time. They rationed the food so strictly that 1 million people died from starvation in the 4 years that they ruled and considering their population at the time was around 6 million this is a lot!

Their leader PolPot was so paranoid about an uprising that he had everyone who was previously in government arrested. This spiralled out of control and also intellectuals, farmers, ordinary people and anyone who they thought could be a spy was arrested. They were taken to prisons such as S21 and tortured for information, if they gave any, they would kill that person and their whole family but most people were completely innocent and they were killed anyway. They would be sent to the “killing fields” which were hidden and the Khmer Rouge didn’t want to use guns as bullets were expensive and they also didn’t want anyone to hear the gunshots and find out what was happening as the people in Cambodia didn’t know they just noticed people started going missing. This means they would use things like hammers, saws, bricks and other weapons to kill people.

The rest of the world didn’t know what was happening as the borders were completely shut until a branch of the Khmer Rouge told the government in Vietnam who sent the military to overthrow the Khmer Rouge, many fled to the jungle and it was until the 90’s that it is thought that all if not most were caught. Only 5 men stood trial, 2 died soon after so only 3 were sentenced with only 1 acknowledging that what he had done was wrong and he was the guard of the S21 prison.

So this was the background that we had in mind as we arrived first at the killing field. I find it really hard to explain how sick I felt walking around after our guide said “you are walking over thousands of dead bodies”. Many of who were found headless, women and children found naked who had probably been raped and in mass graves with hundreds of bodies in a tiny pit. They also have a building there filled with the skulls from the victims who they have found there and it has 17 tired glass levels and they haven’t even excavated the whole site. There were over 380 killing fields and they estimate that 3 million people were killed during this 4 year rule.

After this we visited the prison which was a school beforehand. The makeshift cells have been preserved with just enough room to lie down in with no light and being shackled to the floor I can’t even imagine how terrifying this would have been. They also had “VIP” rooms for high profile prisoners such as government officials. With the beds still in there, blood stains still on the floor, pictures of men women and children up inside it was really difficult and emotional.

We then had the incredible chance to meet two survivors of the prison. There were only 7 prisoners who survived and only 2 still alive, they are 94 and 88. They both suffer from dementia suspected to be caused by the beatings and electric shocks they experienced during their time in prison. Neither could really speak to us so our guide told us about their story and then we had the chance to buy a book to help support them which most of us did.

Our guide then told us that Cambodia is technically still under the Khmer Rouge as the small subgroup who reported it to Vietnam where then put in charge and have been voted in ever since. When we asked why they had been voted in if they were apart of the horrors that had happened our guide said people are too scared to vote a different party in because what if they are worse. He said that this party is not as awful as they had been before but they weren’t great but people are too scared to relive another horror like the one before so they always vote for the same. For example, there is no pensions in Cambodia so “you work until you die or you’re homeless” was how our guide described the situation in Cambodia.

It was a really eye opening day as I didn’t know the in depth history before now and I think it’s really important that we learn about these events. It really was a tricky day but also something that should be done.

After this it was already midday so we grabbed a small lunch and then headed back to the hotel. Some of our group is going out on a boat cruise tonight but unfortunately the food here hasn’t been agreeing with me so I’m staying in tonight in the hope that tomorrow I feel a bit better!En savoir plus