Blog from Bec...
Today was a roller coaster of emotions. We left Battambang bright and early for the six hour drive back to Phnom Penh. The drive consisted of sleeping, singing, eating, sleeping, eating and some terrible but amusing jokes from one of our translators. Checked back to the old faithful Bonitar Hotel then headed to Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.
This is the place where an estimated 20,000 people were detained, interrogated, tortured and murdered during Pol Pot's reign. It was previously a primary and high school which you could have imagined to be beautiful place before 1975. Now the wooden poles which children use to use during their physical education class is a horrifying reminder where prisoners were hung by their feet until unconscious and dunked into barrels of filthy water to shock them back into consciousness so that the torturer could continue their questioning.
However, it wasn't this or the classrooms that were turned into tiny cells or the torture rooms with blood stained floors that got me. It was the rows and rows of photos of Cambodian faces, faces which are just like the faces that we have seen over the last two weeks, adults and children alike, that had been taken before and after they were murdered that sent me into a uncontrollable cry. The team all left speechless and with our sunglasses covering our sadness.
After the history lesson we headed back to the hotel then onto Cheryl and Rodney's for dinner with a special young lady who turned 30 today. Same day as a very special little girl called Nyah who turned 7 today. Happy birthday Nyah, I know your mum and Aunty Carly missed you very much today. After dinner we jumped into the tuk tuks and headed off to Cheryl and Rodney's feeding program that happens every Thursday night. Back to Pom Ourissi, one of the places where we did a medical clinic and then to Mr. Rith's (our tuk tuk driver) village to hand out a bottle of water and a bag with a roll and a cake inside to every child.
It's a bittersweet moment tonight, our last night in Cambodia. We have accomplished so much over the last two weeks however there is still so much to do...
Today was a roller coaster of emotions. We left Battambang bright and early for the six hour drive back to Phnom Penh. The drive consisted of sleeping, singing, eating, sleeping, eating and some terrible but amusing jokes from one of our translators. Checked back to the old faithful Bonitar Hotel then headed to Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.
This is the place where an estimated 20,000 people were detained, interrogated, tortured and murdered during Pol Pot's reign. It was previously a primary and high school which you could have imagined to be beautiful place before 1975. Now the wooden poles which children use to use during their physical education class is a horrifying reminder where prisoners were hung by their feet until unconscious and dunked into barrels of filthy water to shock them back into consciousness so that the torturer could continue their questioning.
However, it wasn't this or the classrooms that were turned into tiny cells or the torture rooms with blood stained floors that got me. It was the rows and rows of photos of Cambodian faces, faces which are just like the faces that we have seen over the last two weeks, adults and children alike, that had been taken before and after they were murdered that sent me into a uncontrollable cry. The team all left speechless and with our sunglasses covering our sadness.
After the history lesson we headed back to the hotel then onto Cheryl and Rodney's for dinner with a special young lady who turned 30 today. Same day as a very special little girl called Nyah who turned 7 today. Happy birthday Nyah, I know your mum and Aunty Carly missed you very much today. After dinner we jumped into the tuk tuks and headed off to Cheryl and Rodney's feeding program that happens every Thursday night. Back to Pom Ourissi, one of the places where we did a medical clinic and then to Mr. Rith's (our tuk tuk driver) village to hand out a bottle of water and a bag with a roll and a cake inside to every child.
It's a bittersweet moment tonight, our last night in Cambodia. We have accomplished so much over the last two weeks however there is still so much to do...