The Killing Fields, then hope!

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Hi All

This is getting a wee bitty muddled up now, that last blog (the jump one) was actually done in Cairns in Auz. So I 'm probably about 3 wks behind with my stories!

We visited the 'Killing Fields' in Cambodia which I'm ashamed to say I was totally unaware of until then. Those of you who are a certain age will know about it. In 1975 thousand of innocent Cambodians (men, women and children) who were considered enemeis of the then ruling Khmer regime were murdered at this site. If you were considered 'an intellectual' then you were even more at risk of being captured and murdered (I think 7 Europeans in the country at the time were also killed). Most were brutally tortured, then sometimes shot. But when they were afraid they were running short of bullets then would just beat people to death, then bury them, sometimes while they were still alive. This place really affected both of us, I think especially me cause this was the year I was born and when my Mum and Dad would have been full of hope and happinness. WHile unbeknown to most people, even those living close to the site, thousands of killings were being conducted.

For a place with such gruesome and inhumane activity, it is actually very beautiful, with trees and a big lake/fresh water area just behind it. However, the area has huge craters all over it which mark the spots of the unmarked graves of hundreds of people. These have now been excavated and the sculls which were found are now held in a huge memorial monument about 60 feet high. Again, a reminder of the atrocities that occured.

It really makes you want nothing like this to ever happen again...but then it is in Darfur and other areas of the globe, heart breaking....

However, in the midst of all of this grief I saw and heard hope. A couple of children were playing near the memorial while their parents sold water to tourists, totally unaware of what had went on around about them. I'm sure their parents will let them know in time. Also, a school has been built next door and you could hear even more children singing and laughing..........Hope for the future!

Then onto more horrific sites at the 'S-21' building, where even more people were killed, innocent victims of the evil Khmer regime. The place hold hundred of photos of those who were killed, each one of them had a photo taken. Some clearly didn't know what was going to happen to them and some had shear terror on their faces. This former high school site held rooms of between 30-50 people (40-ish classrooms) each of whom were tortured daily then eventually killed.


Very solemn, sad and quite horrific, but I really feel people who are unaware of what happened here should know...

Kxx

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Photos

The Monument at the Killing Fields
This holds thousands of skulls of the dead

Comments

[Susan]

What's Happened to you out there?
Kaz, children with hope, not fear, what's happened to you out there, have you gone all sentimental on me. Where has the ice queen gone? Seriously, sounds very touching, I love learning things like this, and to see where it happened brings it all the more to life. Can't believe you are home in a few weeks. I'm now in Londinium but be back around 16th or 17th December so definitely see you then. Can't wait to hear more. S