Wednesday, June 5, 2013

The Chuon Ek Killing Fields

Monday, June 3, 2013

Another fabulous day in Cambodia. We arrived at one of the most famous sights to see here, the "Chuon Ek Killing Fields." For those of you who do not know, it is a place where the Khmer Rouge would send innocent men and women to be brutally murdered. Your emotions run wild as you try to understand how could people do this to each other. But really you see this acted out again and again throughout history in many countries.



After feeling disgust toward the Khmer Rouge, my emotions did not really hit me until later in the tour. I saw a white spec as I was walking along the trail, only to discover it was a lone tooth. Even after thirty years of decay and excavating, tons of clothes and body parts still lie in the grave pits around the large parcel of land.



But that was not the only tense moment of the day. Later, we went to S21, an old school that had been converted into a torture and prison facility for the Khmer Rouge to further express their evil. We walked through all three floors of the building. Each floor was either used as a torture room or a small and bloody prison cell. But, with all this we can now understand the history and the harsh views of the Khmer Rouge.

~Dane DeRouin

1 comment:

  1. I am sorry that the world contains evils like this, but I think it is better for you to know about them than not. Many times throughout history the words - Never again! - have been uttered. Not yet...but there is always the hope that your generation will be the ones to make those words come true.

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