Cambodia's dark side

http://www.cambodiatribunal.org/history/khmer-rouge-history

This morning after breakfast I took the opportunity to read up a bit on the Khmer Rouge. This Communist group could be considered the Nazis of Cambodia in the 1970's. I can't believe that I was completely unaware that this scale of genocide occured in this country so recently. Until this trip, genocide was limited in my mind to the WWII stories of Auschwetz and the Nazis. I have heard about horrible genocide in Rwanda and Darfur as well. So how have I never heard of the Khmer Rouge?

Two of my teammates were born here in Cambodia and experienced the brutal Communist presence until they fled in 1980 to Thailand. One Cambodian pastor I met yesterday never left; he was also in this country the whole time. I can't even imagine what atrocities these friends of mine witnessed. Even as they tell me their personal childhood horror stories, I still can't fathom the tragedy. When the Khmer Rouge comes up in conversation with anybody I meet here, their eyes immediately soften and turn to the ground. It is difficult for Cambodians to talk about the effect it has had on them.

I bought a book called The Killing Fields from an eleven year old girl selling books out of a basket on the street. Many of the child street vendors have books about two things- the rampant Cambodian sex trade and the Khmer Rouge. The sex trade is a whole other blog... if I see one more just-over-middle-aged man walking to his hotel room with a quiet Cambodian woman in toe, I think I'll go insane. Single men holding hands with little boys walking down the street is another sight I've seen here in Phenom Penh. Children are heavily used in the sex industry here. My heart breaks just as Paul's must have while in the city of Corinth, seeing its thousands of temple prostitues practice their trade. Oh Jesus, show this city how its people can be clothed in your pure righteousness. Lead the foreigners who are here solely to indulge in Cambodia's women and children to repentance! Christian, please pray for this stronghold to be broken in Phenom Penh, Cambodia. There IS hope in Jesus Christ. God has and will prevail over Satan.

We are going to the actual killing fields and genocide museum today to see for ourselves what the Khmer Rouge did to Cambodia. Pray for my teammates who personally experienced this time period as they remember those psycological and emotional scars. More later.