Humans Never Have Enough

My first blog entry since arriving in Cambodia!!

York University has made it a requirement that we keep a detailed blog while on our internships.  I generally enjoy blogging so I didn’t see this as a problem, but this task has appeared a bit more daunting since I’ve arrived.  Trying to describe the pristine beauty that I am surrounded by is impossible, even the pictures aren’t doing it justice.  Throughout my travels never have I felt quite as I do in Samlout.  I am quite literally living in the jungle amongst creatures I’ve never seen and names I can’t pronounce.  Things that I used to fear (snakes, scorpions, tarantulas and massive insects) I’m slowly learning to live amongst and even share my shower with.  Living on a protected area we have a great deal of respect for every living creature and are made aware that this is their home that we are intruding on. 

Before I go into any great detail about my new home I think I need to give a little history about the area.  I don’t mean to be condescending, but the amount of people that told me to enjoy my time in Africa was worrisome.  Cambodia was once an extremely powerful nation with a rich history and culture.  I hope that through my experience others can learn about this fascinating part of the world (which by the way is in Asia) and become aware of some of the daily struggles people are faced with here. 

During the week we live in Battambang and on the

                                           weekends two hours south in Samlout.

I’m not going to go too far back, but I think it is imperative that people know about the Khmer Rouge in order to understand the current situation here in Cambodia.  I stole this next bit of information from the national geographic travel guide for Cambodia….

The Khmer Rouge took full control of Cambodia on April 17, 1975, when troops marched on Phnom Penh.  As soon as they seized power, all soldiers and civil servants from the Khmer Republic regime were summarily executed.  Phnom Penh (the capital) and all other cities were evacuated under the false pretense of imminent American bombing.  Forced to walk hundreds of miles to the countryside, many people died on the road.  The Khmer Rouge sought to implement a radical Maoist and Marxist-Leninist transformation of the country to create a rural agrarian utopia.  Relations with the outside world were cut off, the calendar was reset to zero, money and private property were abolished, all religious and educational sites were shut down, and everyone was forced to dress in identical black pajama-like garments.  Adults were selected at random and forced to marry, children were often taken from their homes so that they could attend political indoctrination sessions.  The Khmer Rouge instituted a grueling four-year plan designed to produce 3 tons of rice per hectare throughout the country.  To meet these nearly impossible goals, people worked from sunrise to sundown without adequate food or rest, and centuries old reservoirs and canals were altered, often to the detriment of a previously functional irrigation system.  The Khmer Rouge was mainly led by Cambodian nationals who had joined the party while studying abroad in France or Russia.  Pol Pot was the head and did not publicly admit the existence of the Communist Party of Kampuchea/Khmer Rouge until 1977.  The leaders of the Khmer Rouge believed they had enemies everywhere.  Anyone viewed as impure, suspect, or otherwise not representative of the peasant ideal was arrested and detained in prisons known as security centers where they were tortured to draw out confessions.  Around the country, thousands of Cambodians deemed traitors were executed en masse in killing fields.  Such individuals included intellectuals, former Khmer Republic officials, ethnic minorities, and anyone suspected of serving the CIA or the Vietnamese.  An estimated 1.7 million people fell victim to the Khmer Rouge regime, dying from execution, starvation, overwork, or lack of medical care.  During the worst purge, from 1975 – 1978, an estimated 100, 000 people were executed.  On January 7, 1979 the Vietnamese captured Phnom Penh effectively ending the Khmer Rouge’s bloody rule, but setting off another round of civil war and a subsequent guerilla war that would ultimately last another 20 years.  As the Khmer Rouge and Vietnamese troops battled, rice stocks and fields were destroyed to prevent them from falling into enemy hands, leading to a countrywide famine.  Several hundred thousand Cambodians fled across the border to Thailand, becoming refugees.  In addition, Khmer Rouge and government forces laid millions of land mines leading to countless deaths and disabilities that continue to this day. 

This fighting continued right up until December 1998 in Samlout (the area we are working and living in), which is also the most heavily land mined area in Cambodia.  Samlout was home for the Khmer Rouge right up until the party fell and continues to be home to many who participated in the Khmer Rouge.  The dynamic is difficult to understand because many working for MJP remember the horrors and lost family at the hands of the Khmer Rouge; and yet they are working in the villages that currently house them.  It is becoming apparent that both sides were victims due to the fact that the Khmer Rouge soldiers were recruited at such a young age and were only aware of the information told to them by the regime’s leaders.  It is a difficult past, but it is obvious that the people here are working hard to overcome it.    

                               Picture taken on my last trip to the killing fields in Phnom Pehn

Just over 10 years later evidence of this regime is everywhere.  Landmines and bullets still scatter the countryside and shift with the heavy rains that come with the monsoon season.  The residents are restricted to clear cut pathways and common areas, as wondering into the jungle is literally a matter of life and death.  Even on the MJP property there are signs everywhere warning of landmines just a few feet off.  Recently MJP built a health care center that is approximately the size of a large western home and in that area alone 100 landmines were found.  This restricts lifestyles in a number of ways even for such simple things as playing sports.  Unlike most countries across the globe kids here aren’t encouraged to play certain sports such as soccer because if the ball goes out of bounds it is not safe to retrieve it.  It is hard to believe that anyone I meet here my age will remember the fighting and have stories of the struggle to survive.  It is a constant reminder of how grateful I should be for living in a safe environment and how petty my complaints are in comparison.  If anyone is interested in learning more about the Khmer Rouge and people’s personal experiences you should read “First They Shot My Father”.  It is a heart wrenching story of a girl’s experience growing up in the time of the Khmer Rouge.      

(if you are wondering about the title of the blog it is a common saying out in the field here)