Sunday, July 13, 2008

Time at Tuol Sleng...(PG13)


After trying to go to a church service this morning (unsuccessful as it moved from Sunway Hotel - last year's info) the team spent some time sharing about what we have been seeing and experiencing.
We then made our way off from there and took tuk-tuk's to Tuol Sleng Museum. It was a former high school but when the Khmer Rouge took over they made it a torture prison. All of the artifacts, buildings and some prisoner's personal belongings are on display. Our purpose for going was to better understand Cambodia's history and the people.
As I entered the gate and walls covered with barbed wire I got a sense of stillness in that place; amazing since the rest of the city is buzzing with noise and activity. I looked around at the palms that stand 30 feet in the air and thought that if they could talk they would wail and cry out of the horrors they have seen.
As we walked into the buildings which were classrooms we saw for the first time what was probably the last view of thousands. At the time the Khmer Rouge took pictures of each person who came into Tuol Sleng. They are on view in some of the rooms and I was grieved to look into their hollow eyes. Only a handful of people walked out of the prison alive. Everyone else was tortured and killed in the most horrific ways.
I tell you this not for shock value or in a voyeristic manner. I tell you this because the genocide of Cambodia left a hole in their society that is still being endured. It ruptured the fabric of the family and tore apart any trust amongst countrymen. I cannot fathom these things in my western mind and from my upbringing because it is far from my experience, but I have a glimpse... and so when I meet the kids at daycamp tomorrow, I want to love them even more.
One of the pictures I looked at in the museum was of a 5 or 6 year old girl. I presume she was tortured and killed with the masses. I was thinking that that could have been me.

charlene

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