The next day, as we began or adventures with Mr. Mada, we stopped at one of the many, “ Killing Fields” throughout the countryside. We knew that Cambodia, to be precise Paul Pot, killed one third of their nearly 8 million people. What’s also insanely unique is how this horrific history happened in our lifetime…. in the 70’s. We hope you share these photos (age appropriate) with your kids and family then talk about history and what can be done differently for our futures. How can we make a difference when such atrocity’s are happening?
Here is the memorial building which houses many of the sculls of those killed with weapons used during that period. They were trying to conserve on bullets so often went to other brutal methods.
Paul Pot convinced others along with himself that all those educated or who had wealth should be killed (he himself was a teacher) and that they should concentrate on producing more rice and that would make them become wealthy and a world leader. This twisted logic not only killed more then 3 million of their own people but made them a very poor country affecting generations far into the future. Check out the Killing Fields website for more information on this part of history.
While listening to our auto tour, I stood horrified and while tears fell on the ground as I heard the explanation of what they used this tree for. My mind could not wrap itself around the thought that anyone could even think of such an idea, let alone follow through. Marissa noticed my silent tears and asked if I would be OK…. even writing this months later my eyes are tearing up. This impacted me for a lifetime.
While walking the path around the perimeter of the Killing Fields lies this old fence with a make-shift house on the other side. These kids begged for candy but were happy that I had gum to share with all of them.
The things we learned, saw and felt will forever touch our souls. Most of them we won’t even write about here, as they were so horrific, but we encourage you to explore on your own. We feel that by understanding history, hopefully we will avoid making the same mistakes in the future.
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