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We’re preparing for a weekend trip to the south coast of Cambodia, where we will observe, analyze, and immerse ourselves in the Natural World components of the SST experience. Before that, though, we wanted to hear from another student’s perspective, this time from Jessie, who wrote in her journal about her experience with interviewing her host father about his time in the Khmer Rouge period. From Jessie’s journal (with permission): My (host) father taught me more about the Khmer Rouge Regime history, and his own personal history. I was about to take a shower when my dad said that after…
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In addition to the stimulating weekend trip to Siem Reap (please see the three entries posted 24 hours ago on Angkor Wat, Kampong Phluck, and Skuon), our larger week has been full with more routine and once-in-a-lifetime activities in Phnom Penh. The big event in Phnom Penh over the last five days has been the funeral for the King Father, Norodom Sihanouk, credited with gaining Cambodia’s independence from the French Protectorate and considered the father of the country. Sihanouk, 89, died in Beijing in October, and the mourning for him has continued since that time, with formal rites taking place…
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- Funeral processions for King Father Sihanouk.
- Cambodians mourn the king’s death at his funeral yesterday.
- Women read their journals under a tree at RUPP.
- Uniform-wearing SSTers at RUPP, reading their journals.
- Nate lurks behind the women reading their journals.
- Women relax at P’teah Goshen last week.
- Relaxing and reading at P’teah Goshen.
- Resting, reading at P’teah Goshen.
- Getting taco salad at last week’s P’teah Goshen night.
- Jacob M with his taco salad.
- Henry with his brother Oudoum’s girlfriend’s puppy. The Graber Miller kids were ecstatic to see a puppy (well, and Henry, too).
- Audrey and Maryn relax at P’teah Goshen last week.
- Dustin Combs, a Cambodia SSTer from 2007 and now a lawyer for Bun and Associates in Phnom Penh.
- At Dustin’s lecture.
- Dustin’s service home in Spring 2007, in Dongrrabpoo village in Ratanakiri Province in the far northeast of Cambodia.
- Dustin’s parents, who were part of the Kreung indigenous group, in Spring 2007.
- Students at one of last week’s lectures at the International Christian Fellowship building near Tuol Sleng.
- Dr. Vuthy Kieng spoke with us about HIV/AIDs in Cambodia.
- Professor Diep Sophal spoke with us about Angkor History the day before we left for Siem Reap and Angkor Wat.
- Her excellency Mu Sochua, a member of the Cambodian Parliament (equivalent to the U.S. House of Representatives), spoke with the group Monday morning.
- Vegetables at a local market.
- Vegetables at a local market near the waterfront.
This is the third and briefest of three entries from our four-day trip to Siem Reap, so please read the additional entries on Angkor Wat and Kampong Phluck. On the return trip from Angkor Wat, we stopped near Skuon, definitely the highlight of the 6 1/2-hour bus ride from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh. Skuon villagers are known for their level of consumption of deep-fried spiders, which apparently is greater than that of ordinary Cambodians. Legend has it that Skuon people began eating spiders in greater volumes during the Khmer Rouge period, when food sources were extremely scarce. Now they…
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Among the memorable parts of the Siem Reap field trip was Saturday’s adventure to Kampong Phluck, a village built on 20-foot stilts right along the Tonle Sap. Two students — most likely Audrey and Joel — will do their service assignments at the village, teaching English and possibly basic computer skills. The village is memorable because of the complexity of getting there, and because of the otherworldliness of the wooden homes rising out of the ground. Because of the yearly expansion/flooding of the Tonle Sap Lake and the flatness of the central part of the country, most provincial Cambodian homes…
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One of the things our Cambodia SSTers were anticipating was their visit to the ancient temples of the Angkor Wat temple complex, the subject of much academic study and the backdrop for many Hollywood Films (e.g., “Lara Craft: Tomb Raider” and “Two Brothers”). On Friday, groups of three or four students each toured the Angkor grounds on bicycles and in tuk-tuks, lingering longer at some temples than others. The Angkor Wat trip was part of a four-day excursion to Siem Reap, located near the Tonle Sap Lake. Today we are posting three blogs about the trip, so please take a…
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Over the weekend, the SST Cambodia group traveled to Ba Phnom in Prey Veng Province, about 78 kilometers (but 4 hours) from Phnom Penh. In the first century, Ba Phnom, then known as Vayathapura (the hunting city) was the capital city of Nokor Phnom, the earlier name for what is now Cambodia. Uong Sam Ang, a friend of Mennonite Central Committee workers in nearby Prey Veng town, was our guide of the Ba Phnom area, where he was born and has lived most of his life. Among the sites we visited were the ruins of French Provincial sites; a nearly…
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- Guide Sam Ang with the group on our visit to Nokor Phnom.
- Like most villages, Phnom Kamplok had its own Killing Fields during the Khmer Rouge period. At this one, the Khmer Rouge regime didn’t even bother to bury the dead.
- Viewing a nearly 200-year-old well.
- Local children checking out the new visitors to Ba Phnom.
- Audrey with Sam Ang at the rock-mining site.
- Among the sites we visited was a mining project that is destroying the local hills/mountains.
- Boys swinging from a rope over a pond near the mining site.
- An up-close look at the crystal container for Buddha’s bone fragment.
- Examining a tiny fragment of a bone from Buddha, brought to the wat from Sri Lanka.
- Walking up to our first wat in the Ba Phnom region.
- Inside the Preah Vihear Chann temple ruins.
- The ruins of pre-Angkor Preah Vihear Chann temple.
- Henry and Renae listen as Sam Ang tells a tale.
- The animist shrine at Neakta Mesor.
- Keeper of the animist shrine.
- Sarah T, Maryn, and Jacob M with the keeper of the animist shrine.
- Lauren and Carina learning about the animist shrine.
- Sam Ang at one of Nokor Phnom’s wats.
- Corey, Jacob M and Seth take a break during the long walk up Nokor Phnom.
- Group photo on the stairway at Ba Phnom.
- Kate, Audrey, and Joel at Nokor Phnom.
- Monks near the top of Nokor Phnom.
- The view from another hillside wat toward Nokor Phnom.
- Sarah T and Audrey look at the spectacular view from Nokor Phnom.
- Lauren and others come down a steep stairway at Nokor Phnom
- Sarah T, Lauren, Henry and others take a break on the long Nokor Phnom walk.
- Another group photo with Sam Ang. It was a big day for group photos.
- At a pavilion midway up Nokor Phnom.
- Joel and Jacob listen to Sam Ang.
- Another group shot from the Ba Phnom field trip. Sen Marya, our local assistant, and her husband Omoeut also joined us for the trip.
- Sam Ang with the monk who heads the monastery where Jacob M will live on service and where Jacob and Lauren will teach English and music.
- At Preah Vihear Thom Pagoda, we were treated to a traditional dance show by local children.
- The dance show musicians.
- Dancers performing for our group.
- The boy and girl dancers at the wat.
- Wat dancers.
- Wat dancers.
- Wat dancers.
- Henry, with his new haircut, grinds rice with a traditional device while others look on.
- Maryn, Nate, and Brett at breakfast in Prey Veng the morning after the Nokor Phnom trip.
- Traditionally, after rice was ground as Henry’s was doing it, it is further pounded by this device. Now most of this process is mechanized, even in the provinces.
- An older man walks up the stairs in Prey Veng.
- Boats preparing to head out from Prey Veng with their loads on Sunday morning.
- Beautiful expanse of rice and waterways at the edge of Prey Veng town, where we stayed Saturday night.
This week was the most emotionally draining of the term thus far, in terms of our academic and historical focus. Nearly every lecturer in Cambodia refers to the horrific three years, eight months, and 20 days (April 17, 1975 to January 7, 1979) of the Khmer Rouge regime, and this week we heard lectures about and visited the key sites of that tragic period. Pol Pot and his cadre of Communist leaders established what they called Democratic Kampuchea, seeking to establish a fully rural/agricultural society. During the Pol Pot regime, somewhere between 1.7 and 2 million Cambodians were brutally killed…
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- Photo from April 17, 1975, when Khmer Rouge troops marched down Monivong Boulevard to “liberate” Phnom Penh.
- Renae and Carina arriving at the Document Center for Cambodia (DC-Cam) Wednesday morning.
- Students relax at DC-CAM before our lecture.
- Original documents from the Khmer Rouge period are stored in a wall of these locked filing cabinets at DC-CAM.
- Dy Boly speaks to students at DC-CAM.
- Initially, Phnom Penh residents welcomed the Khmer Rouge when they came to Phnom Penh, with the hope their coup would bring a better government than Lon Nol’s.
- Students wait at the S-21 prison (Tuol Sleng) before entering the museum.
- Jacob M and Brett walk the grounds at Tuol Sleng.
- Razor wire over the cell hallways at Tuol Sleng, intended to keep the prisoners (destined for execution) from jumping to their deaths.
- Before the Khmer Rouge period, Tuol Sleng was an elementary school and high school.
- The rules at Tuol Sleng during the Khmer Rouge period.
- Instruments of torture at Tuol Sleng.
- Sarah L-R on the stairway at Tuol Sleng.
- Henry behind the barbed wire at Tuol Sleng.
- Sarah T, Audrey, Renae and Keith at Tuol Sleng.
- Carina examines the instruments of torture at Tuol Sleng.
- Keith and Jessie at Tuol Sleng.
- Photos of Tuol Sleng’s victims between the bars.
- Carina and Sara K examine photos of victims at Tuol Sleng.
- Keith and Sarah T at Tuol Sleng.
- Lauren and Audrey examine photos of Tuol Sleng victims.
- Audrey, Joel and Keith at Tuol Sleng.
- Part of the group waits to see a film at Tuol Sleng.
- One of the mass detention rooms at Tuol Sleng.
- Victims’ photos at Tuol Sleng.
- The walkway at Tuol Sleng.
- Sarah and Carina tour the grounds at Tuol Sleng.
- Gated window at Tuol Sleng.
- In the conference room at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia.
- Sarah, Audrey, Madeleine, and Carina at the Tribunal grounds.
- At the ECCC Tribunal grounds Thursday afternoon.
- Lars Olsen, spokesperson for the ECCC, and the person usually quoted in Western media when the Tribunal is referenced.
- Bus ride to Choeng Ek Friday afternoon.
- Just after we entered Choeng Ek, Henry ran into Phil and Julie Bender, who know his parents well in the U.S. The Benders are living in China and happened to be visiting Cambodia today.
- Sign at Tuol Sleng.
- Some of the 8,000 skulls in the memorial stupa at Tuol Sleng.
- Students examine the stupa skulls.
- Maryn and Seth examine the stupa skulls.
- Skulls in the stupa at Choeng Ek.
- Sign at Tuol Sleng.
- Sarah L-R takes a break at Choeng Ek and journals.
- Typical clothing for Khmer Rouge comrades.
- The Killing Tree.
- Kate with a photo of Duch, who ran the Tuol Sleng prison.
- Mass grave sign at Choeng Ek.
- Ann and Carina rest after walking the grounds at Choeng Ek.
- Joel with a painting by Van Nath, who survived Tuol Sleng and painted portraits of the forms of torture there.
- Sign at Choeng Ek.
- Sign at Choeng Ek.
- Lauren journals at the end of an emotional day at Choeng Ek.
Although this week is mostly about the Khmer Rouge — with multiple field trips and lectures — we’ll hold off on posting a Khmer Rouge blog until tomorrow. For tonight (morning in Goshen), this is just a brief blog about other activities this week. Women’s Night Out was Sunday evening, and the women went to the Baitong Restaurant, a site popular with Cambodian-run non-governmental organizations. The women thoroughly enjoyed the chance to share stories, learn to know Ann and Mia a bit better, and eat great Khmer food in a relaxing setting. One of our lecturers this week was Chak…
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- Women’s Night Out at Baitong Restaurant.
- Chak Sopheap, a well-known blogger and human rights activist.
- At Chak Sopheap’s lecture.
- After Chak Sopheap’s lecture, we also had our first quiz of the term.
- On the way home from Tuesday’s lecture, Keith and Mia stopped by their old street (from 2007′s Cambodia SST) to see the house where they lived.
- Seth, Henry, Brett, Lauren, and Nate enjoy the view from the Graber Miller balcony.
- Carina journals on the Graber Miller balcony.
- In down times, Seth is rarely seen without a book in his hands.
- Sarah L-R journals before dinner at P’teah Goshen.
- Madeleine relaxes on the balcony at P’teah Goshen.
- Lauren, Henry, Jacob, and Nate were this week’s cooks.
- Seth was happy to see orange juice with the breakfast meal.
- Eating at P’teah Goshen.
- The Breakfast Dinner at P’teah Goshen.
- Finishing up the meal at P’teah Goshen.
Although this week is mostly focused on the Khmer Rouge period, we began the week Monday with a presentation on Buddhist meditative practices, led by the Venerable Yos Hut Khemacaro, one of the leading monks in Cambodia. Monk Khemacaro spoke with the group for about an hour and led us in a personal meditation. About 96 percent of Cambodians are at least nominally Buddhist, which means having a spirit house or Buddhist shrine in or outside their homes, but this Buddhism often is blended with animist and Hindu spiritualities as well. Cambodian Buddhism is Theravada Buddhism, which is most common…
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- Students meditate at Wat Langka in Phnom Penh.
- Father Yos Hut Khemacaro and Nate.
- Henry, Audrey, Lauren, Carina, and Sarah L-R listen to the monk speak at Wat Langka.
- Venerable Yos Hut Khemacaro speaks to the group.
- Wat Langka is a beautiful Buddhist pagoda in the city’s center, near Independence Monument.
- Nate and Buddha.
- Students listen to the monk at Wat Langka.
- Some of the beautiful ceramic tile (and Keith’s feet) at Wat Langka. The tile is from the French Protectorate period in Cambodia’s history.
- The group meditates at Wat Langka.
- Listening for further instructions.
- Jessie meditates at Wat Langka.
- Group meditation. About 96 percent of Cambodians are at least nominally Buddhist.
- More of the French tile at Wat Langka.
- Behind Joel one can see paintings of the Buddha’s life, all around the top wall of the wat.
- The group’s meditation took place in the main pagoda, just in front of the shrine to Buddha.
- Madeleine meditating.
- Top view of Corey while he meditates.
- The group stands to relax after the meditation.
- Venerable Yos Hut Khemacaro finished by showing us a form of walking meditation.
- Students left the wat on their bikes, as always.
- Simon, Seth, and Jacob at Men’s Night Out.
- Henry and Jake at Men’s Night Out at Cafe Yejj.
- Corey, Brett, and Joel at Men’s Night Out Sunday.
- Francois Ponchaud lectures to students about Buddhism in Cambodia.
- Father Francois Ponchaud was a rather animated lecturer.
The Graber Millers had a rather remarkable Saturday afternoon, with a neighborhood fire taking 10 homes and/or businesses and threatening many others. We watched the fire unfold from our fourth-floor apartment balcony, accompanied by Sarah L-R, who happened to be here at the time. The fire was four adjoining structures away from our apartment complex, but the wind was blowing toward the north, so the fire followed that trajectory down the block. All of our neighbors were watering their rooftops with buckets and hoses, and businesses cleared out their goods. Motorcycles from a store in the line of the fire…
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- We first noticed dark smoke in our neighborhood around 1 p.m. Saturday.
- The flames quickly climbed a couple of stories high.
- Daron and Kirsten Docken Showalter’s building is the orange one directly left of the fire.
- Workers constructing an adjacent 10-story building watched the fire from their vantage point.
- Firetrucks arrived on the scene about a half hour after the fire began.
- The neighbors adjacent to our apartment watered their roofs with hoses and buckets.
- Neighbors helped homeowners carry out some of their goods while firefighters fought the blaze.
- Police tried to keep people away from the fire and the trucks.
- The fires attracted throngs of people to our street.
- New motos from one of the neighborhood businesses were temporarily stored on the ground floor of our apartment building.
- The crowds continued to watch throughout the afternoon.
- Above the heads of the crowd, the 10 burned homes and businesses are visible.
- The remains of one charred home.
- View through the closed gates of another burned home.
- Sarah L-R with mother Sopheara and brother David at the Sovanna Phum gathering Saturday evening.
- Sara K with brother Panha and other siblings and cousins.
- Sovanna Phum included male and female apsara dancers as well as shadow puppetry.
- Lauren squinting from the bright flash, with her sister and nephew.
- Joel’s family, including Salem Pen and Lee Lei Hong and their children.
- Henry with same-age brother Oudom/Denlen at Sovanna Phum.
- Apsara dancing was featured at the Sovanna Phum event.
- Renae’s grandmother and sister were part of the Sovanna Phum event.
