International Children's Day and Tuol Sleng
OK, so many things have happened in the past 10 days. All last week, I felt like I was on sensory overload, and I just didn’t have time to process or think through all the things I was experiencing. I have had a little time to reflect this past weekend, so hopefully I’ll be able to convey my thoughts coherently.
On Wednesday, June 1st, we celebrated International Children’s Day. Our co-worker Samnang met us at our guesthouse at 6:50 AM. All of us interns (more about the other interns later) were donning these great International Children’s Day t-shirts and hats that Samnang had given us the day earlier. We arrived at Wat Phnom in the center of Phnom Penh and were surrounded by hundreds of children wearing similar t-shirts and hats. And about the “march” I mentioned earlier—we walked around the hill on which Wat Phnom sits to the other side, where a stage was set up and surrounded by many, many chairs for the children. (The entire “march” took about 10 minutes. I had been wondering if I should wear my sneakers, but I’m glad that I wore my flip-flops.)
At the ceremony, many prominent speakers spoke, including the head of UNICEF and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen. It was pretty neat to hear Hun Sen speak, even though he only spoke in Khmer. The poor children had to sit in the hot sunlight for over two hours listening to the speakers drone on and on. Fortunately, they played games and participated in a drawing contest after the ceremony finished. The theme for the UN-sponsored drawing contest was “Stop the exploitation of children and violence towards children.” Pretty light topic for a children drawing contest, isn’t it? Even more disturbing was the fact that the children had no problem drawing pictures exhibiting the theme—despite their short lives, they understand all too well the meaning of exploitation and violence.
In the afternoon, I visited Tuol Sleng museum. Once a high school, Pol Pot’s security forces turned it into the largest detention and torture center in the country from 1975-1978. Approximately 20,000 people died at Tuol Sleng or in the Killing Fields just outside of Phnom Penh. Only 7 people survived Tuol Sleng.
Tuol Sleng has photos of every person who entered its prison gates. The photo records were taken in case a prisoner escaped, so the guards could easily find the prisoner. Many torture instruments were displayed at Tuol Sleng, and blood stains were still on the walls and floors. One of the buildings was converted into small cells (approximately five feet by three feet) for individual prisoners. Several prisoners tried to kill themselves (and a few succeeded) because they did not want to be subject to further torture, even though suicide is condemned by Buddhist doctrine. On the scale of human life, the higher the life form, the greater one’s obligation to it. Human life is the greatest gift of all, and throwing away one’s own life was the greatest of all sins. The Khmer Rouge eventually had to cover the walls of the school with barbed wire because so many prisoners attempted suicide by jumping off the balcony while they were being lead to the torture chambers. It is very difficult for me to comprehend how anyone could be pushed to do such awful things to another person. Fear leads people to do crazy, awful, unthinkable things.
On Wednesday, June 1st, we celebrated International Children’s Day. Our co-worker Samnang met us at our guesthouse at 6:50 AM. All of us interns (more about the other interns later) were donning these great International Children’s Day t-shirts and hats that Samnang had given us the day earlier. We arrived at Wat Phnom in the center of Phnom Penh and were surrounded by hundreds of children wearing similar t-shirts and hats. And about the “march” I mentioned earlier—we walked around the hill on which Wat Phnom sits to the other side, where a stage was set up and surrounded by many, many chairs for the children. (The entire “march” took about 10 minutes. I had been wondering if I should wear my sneakers, but I’m glad that I wore my flip-flops.)
At the ceremony, many prominent speakers spoke, including the head of UNICEF and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen. It was pretty neat to hear Hun Sen speak, even though he only spoke in Khmer. The poor children had to sit in the hot sunlight for over two hours listening to the speakers drone on and on. Fortunately, they played games and participated in a drawing contest after the ceremony finished. The theme for the UN-sponsored drawing contest was “Stop the exploitation of children and violence towards children.” Pretty light topic for a children drawing contest, isn’t it? Even more disturbing was the fact that the children had no problem drawing pictures exhibiting the theme—despite their short lives, they understand all too well the meaning of exploitation and violence.
In the afternoon, I visited Tuol Sleng museum. Once a high school, Pol Pot’s security forces turned it into the largest detention and torture center in the country from 1975-1978. Approximately 20,000 people died at Tuol Sleng or in the Killing Fields just outside of Phnom Penh. Only 7 people survived Tuol Sleng.
Tuol Sleng has photos of every person who entered its prison gates. The photo records were taken in case a prisoner escaped, so the guards could easily find the prisoner. Many torture instruments were displayed at Tuol Sleng, and blood stains were still on the walls and floors. One of the buildings was converted into small cells (approximately five feet by three feet) for individual prisoners. Several prisoners tried to kill themselves (and a few succeeded) because they did not want to be subject to further torture, even though suicide is condemned by Buddhist doctrine. On the scale of human life, the higher the life form, the greater one’s obligation to it. Human life is the greatest gift of all, and throwing away one’s own life was the greatest of all sins. The Khmer Rouge eventually had to cover the walls of the school with barbed wire because so many prisoners attempted suicide by jumping off the balcony while they were being lead to the torture chambers. It is very difficult for me to comprehend how anyone could be pushed to do such awful things to another person. Fear leads people to do crazy, awful, unthinkable things.
posted by Laura at 7:16 PM
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