Day 31- A Little Taste of History

This past Sunday I FINALLY had the opportunity to do some touristy stuff here in Cambodia. I met up with my Khmai friend, Bopha, who works at COCD, and we went to two of the museums here in Phnom Penh: The National Museum and the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. I actually didn't plan on going to the National Museum but with that language barrier between us, there was a bit of miscommunication and we ended up there first. Since we were already there and I hadn't been yet, we went anyway. The National Museum is full of ancient statues and relics mostly from the Angkor Empire which was one of the most powerful kingdoms in Southeast Asia between 800 A.D. and 1500 A.D. Bopha knows a lot about the Khmai history from school, so she was able to tell me quite a bit as we wandered around. A wonderful part about hanging out with Bopha is that she really wants to practice her English so she can travel abroad one day. I also want to learn how to say some basic things in Khmai. So, when we are together, she has an opportunity to speak English with me and at the same time I also have the opportunity to learn some Khmai from her. 

Our next stop was the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. This place is actually not more than a mile away from where I am living but I had yet to go until this Sunday because I did not want to go by myself. It's a very sad place to see. Tuol Sleng is an old school property with a few classroom buildings. During the Khmer Rouge regime, all forms of education were outlawed and Tuol Sleng was converted into a prison/torture chamber. Out of the estimated 20,000 people imprisoned there, only 12 survived. Almost all the men, women, and children imprisoned there were killed, many after being viciously tortured.

Walking through the school was very surreal. The classrooms in the first building are mostly empty except for a steel skeleton bed frame in the middle of the room. Sitting on some of the beds are the torture devices used by the Khmer Rouge and a few of the rooms also display a picture of a victim that was found in that room. The entire first floor of the second building is full of thousands of pictures with the faces of many of the victims killed at this prison, from infants to the elderly. The next floor is actually full of information about the genocide and what has been done since then. By the time we reached this section, I wasn’t in the mood to look at much else. 

We did get some ice-cream afterwards at one of my dodgeball friend's shops right around the corner. That certainly made us feel a little better. It's pretty unbelievable what happened to the people of Cambodia, but I'm so glad I had the chance to learn about it. Not only learn about what happened, but also learn what is being done to counter it. I know that my internship site, COCD, is part of that powerful counter movement.

National Museum Courtyard

 

Me and my lovely friend, Bopha :)

The first photo shows a look inside one of the empty classrooms at Tuol Slang. In the second picture, The white objects below are the caskets for the some of the last victims killed at the prison. I didn't take any pictures of the people killed here.