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The history
Cambodia
Life in Cambodia is centred around the family, religion, food and kindness. For example, they love their food and they are willing to share it with you. Even if you are just walking by. This way of life has stayed the same for centuries and it is a beautiful and thoughtful way to live.
The older generations in the family are very respected. This means the younger members of the family will listen and follow the advice from their elders. In a working environment, the elders will get the younger generations to do the work.
Families and the extended members of their families will all come together to celebrate times of joy and trouble. They often do not talk about the terrible history the country has been through but concentrate on living for the day.
Celebrations
Khmers love celebrating festivals, successes, weddings, and even disappointments and deaths together. When a family’s mother or father dies, out of respect the men will shave their heads.
Many families will live in one house, whether the house is a small tin shack or a giant mansion. It is not unusual to see many generations sharing the same floor space or even the same bed. They will share the same rice, the same costs, the same beliefs and the same religion.
Sadly in 1975 one of the worst atrocities the world has ever seen changed this routine and tore families apart. This was the time of The Khmer Rouge.
The Khmer Rouge
The Khmer Rouge which translates to Red Cambodians, ruled Cambodia for 4 years. The Khmer Rouge was under the leadership of the dictator Pol Pot. Pol Pot wanted to create a master race. He wanted Cambodians to go back to being rice workers only and to live off the land.
This led to over 2.2 million people being killed. Many people died by starvation, torture, disease and being overworked. Children and family members ended up turning against each other and even killing each other.
Families were forced apart and the bond of trust was gone. This bond is slowly being rebuilt today. Although even now many Khmer’s do not trust their own family.
The way that people were killed is atrocious. Children as young as 4 were given guns and told to kill their mum, dad or any family member or be tortured to death themselves.
A Film you should watch
The history
This film portrays the history and I fully recommend watching it. First they killed my father. Directed by Angelina Jolie and another great film is The Killing Fields by Roland Joffe´
These films are heart-breaking, so get your tissues ready.
Matt Dilion also directed and filmed City of ghosts in Cambodia. But this film is not as heartbreaking.
Pol Pot
Throughout the 1960s, the Khmer Rouge operated as the armed wing of the communist party of Kampuchea. This was the name used for Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge mainly operated in the jungle and mountain areas in the Northeast of the country. This was close to the borders of Vietnam. Vietnam at the time was having its civil war.
On March 18th 1970 King Norodom Sihanouk, who later became a Prince, and then a King again was overthrown by Lon Nol, an army leader.
The Khmer Rouge joined forces with the deposed leader and formed a political coalition. The monarch was popular amongst city Cambodians, so the Khmer Rouge started to gain support. The next five years a civil war began between the right-leaning military and those supporting Prince Norodom.
The Khmer Rouge gained large amounts of territory in the Cambodian countryside and in 1975 the Khmer Rouge fighters invaded Phnom Penh and took over the city.
The empty streets of Cambodia
History
The Khmer Rouge opted not to restore power to Prince Norodom and handed the power to the leader of the Khmer Rouge Pol Pot.
Pol Pot came to admire the self-sufficient Khmer farmers living off the goods of subsistence farming. He loved they were like tribes and worked together and shared the spoils of their hard labour. The forces quickly set about creating a new Cambodia and renamed it Kampuchea.
1975 became the “Year zero.” Pol Pot isolated Kampuchea from the rest of the world resettled hundreds of thousands of families from the city into rural farming and completely got rid of the country’s currency. Many Cambodians to this day will not trust banks as they are scared their money will be taken away again.
The Genocide
Therefore many workers were soon to suffer the effects of this hard labour and lack of food. Hundreds and thousands of Khmers died from starvation, disease and general damage to their bodies. Primarily due to the back-breaking work and abuse from the Khmer Rouge guards.
People were executed who were deemed to be enemies of the state. If you wore glasses or spoke another language you were killed. I’ve lived in Cambodia for 16 years now and I still cry every time I see or hear anything relating to the Khmer Rouge. My beautiful friend made a wonderful video about our friend Mr Lim. Who managed to survive these tortuous years as he never told a soul that he could speak any other language, as all trust had been removed.
Mr Lim
This video will tell you about my friend’s heart-breaking life in the Khmer Rouge times. This is a true story of surviving the Khmer Rouge.
S-21 is the old school.
Nearly 17,000 men, women and children were imprisoned, in the security Prison 21 (S-21). They were chained with shackles around their ankles and left to sleep in a small room with maybe 20 people all trying to find a place to sleep on the floor.
Nearly all of the people in Tuol Sleng prison in Phnom Penh were executed. Only seven men survived the Khmer Rouge’s notorious genocide prison known as S-21, and only two of those survivors remain.
One survivor Chum Mey, was a mechanic before he was imprisoned in S-21. He survived his ordeal by proving useful to the Khmer Rouge. he would help to repair the typewriters that were used to note details of their interrogations. Thus he had the sense to carry out his repairs in a very slow manner to prolong his life.
Initially, Chum Mey could not return to S-21 due to the terrible memories but after many years he felt able to revisit the prison. Now he comes regularly furthermore so does another survivor.
Vann Nath survived by being an artist. His skills as an artist were used to create accurate paintings of Pol Pot and the high-ranking officers from their photographs.
Both these men tell their stories to visitors either in person or through the books that each one has been assisted to write.
Tuol Sleng has now become a genocide Museum. If you ever come to Cambodia make sure you go and visit. Take a box of tissues with you though.
The end of the Khmer Rouge
The Vietnamese Army invaded Cambodia in 1979 and removed Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge from power. Thus many of Pol Pot’s fighters hid in the jungle. Although they remained active as an insurgency, with a military presence.
Despite this over the decades since the fall of the Khmer Rouge Cambodia has established ties with the world. Most importantly Cambodia still suffers terribly in widespread poverty and illiteracy.
Prince Norodom returned to govern Cambodia in 1993, although he chiefly ruled under the constitutional monarchy.
The leader Pol Pot
The leader of the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot lived in the rural northeast of Cambodia until 1997 and died under house arrest in his jungle home. The Khmer Rouge trials.
To look at the peaceful and beautiful Cambodia now and compare it to the old days it looks and is totally different.
If you were to compare it to its neighbours, Thailand, Vietnam and Laos you would see it is still very third world.
Cambodia is indeed very corrupt, in fact, corruption is a way of life. Things are changing slowly. I recommend you to come and see this beautiful country and its beautiful people.
The Khmers will not tell you about their history, as the Khmers live for today. In other words, they are an inspiration to me and many others.
Granted Cambodia has suffered a lot but you would not know that if you visited. Come and see for yourself. You surely will not regret it.
Sadly we are still left with many mines
The Vietnam War did not only drop bombs on Vietnam but on most of Cambodia too. Not that many people got to know that.
If you ever come to visit Cambodia. Please go to the land mine museum in Siem Reap.
A total of 3,630 flights over Cambodia dropped 110,000 tons of bombs during a 14-month period through April 1970. Another bad day in History.
Cambodia remains one of the most heavily mined countries in the world. Landmines and bombs can be found in backyards, in the rice fields where people work, and on the roads where children walk to school. Which means thousands of people are maimed or killed every year.
Land mines
Over the years many of the landmines have now been cleared but there is still a lot of work to be done. It is estimated Cambodia will not be entirely free of landmines for several decades to come.
Angela Jolie and the wonderful Princess Diana did amazing work to help clear the land mines. But so do those amazing rats.
Takeaway
The flag of Cambodia
I have now been living in Cambodia for 16 years. But I first came in 1997. I have seen a lot of changes since then but luckily the changes are slow, like the pace of life.
I love this country, its people, its nature and its animals. It breaks my heart to see the state that some of the animals and children are in. Thus I try my best to help those I can. As I love to pay it forward.
Don’t forget to also look at the beautiful islands of Cambodia.
Here are some great books to read
About Cambodia
If you would like to know more about Cambodia and its history, please read these books.
The first book is by a Cambodian author. Chenda Keo. He discovered that human trafficking was a serious social problem that needed to be urgently and effectively addressed. He began his work by interviewing 17 trafficked children. Surprisingly he found that none of these children considered themselves trafficking victims.
The second book was written by my lovely friend Kate. Who sadly recently passed, due to an illness.
- A book about human trafficking: Human Trafficking in Cambodia by Chenda Keo
- A book about Cambodia: Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture
- A book about the history of Cambodia: A History of Cambodia by David Chandler
- A book from a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist: Cambodia’s Curse: The Modern History of a Troubled Land by Joel Brinkley
- A book about a younger trained as a soldier for the Khmer Rouge: First They Killed My Father
- A book about being in S-21, the prison during the Khmer Rouge: A Cambodian Prison Portrait by Vann Nath
- A book about the leader of the Khmer Rouge: Pol Pot: Anatomy of a Nightmare by Philip Short
- A book about a survivor of the Cambodian holocaust: Survival in the Killing Fields Haing Ngor
- A book about two sisters reuniting after the Khmer Rouge: Lucky Child by Loung Ung
- A book about surviving under the Khmer Rouge: When Broken Glass Floats by Chanrithy Him
