Cambodia Day 5: A Reunion of Friends and So Much More

After working all week in the SEAPC Cambodia office, Saturday was a play day. Another huge blessing for me on this trip was my two dear friends, Sambo and Sreyda, who I met on my first trip to Cambodia, took an long overnight bus ride from the Banteay Meanchey province in northwest Cambodia to see me in Phnom Penh. Sambo was my translator when we taught English in the public schools of Banteay Meanchey. I love that girl to pieces. She is humbly fierce. She is quiet and sweet but when she works in ministry she is strong and passionate. She loves Jesus with all her heart and she holds a special place in my heart. Sreyda is just pure joy. She exudes joy like no one else I know. She is always smiling and it is impossible to be down when you are around her. I have pictures of her in my home and in my office to remind myself to be joyful like she is. Both ladies are so rich in the Lord and I was richly blessed to spend a weekend with them in a reunion of friends.

Even though I was not working today, the Lord was at work. His agenda for me included increasing my knowledge of Cambodian history and deepening my love and respect for the Cambodian people.

Our first stop was visiting the Genocide Museum. I had known about Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge and the horrific genocide that took place in this country, but knowing about it and seeing it are altogether different. The Genocide museum was the actual place where imprisonments, tortures, and executions occurred. We walked through the actual buildings where thousands of humans were chained and held in indescribable conditions. Some of the actual chains and instruments of brutality are still there. There were many pictures of the prisoners. Young and old, men, women, and children - each one suffered for nothing. Their only crime was that they existed and this evil man was an Asian version of Adolph Hitler.
The photos were gruesome. I won't go into further detail because hearing it from me does it no justice. You cannot understand unless you see and experience it for yourself. Outside the buildings are graves of the some of the victims. Monuments with their names inscribed are there too.

In the final room, they had a memorial and many ways to pay your respects to the victims. They had a book, similar to one at a funeral home, where you can write a note. They also had note cards with strings that you can write something on and hang on a tree. In the book, many people wrote things like "never again - nowhere on earth". I wrote words that my aunt had spoken a few years ago in regards to our family, but they applied to this situation as well. I wrote: "we cannot change the past, but we can build a better future". And that is exactly what is happening in Cambodia. There future is bright.

After the tour came the most precious experience. Two survivors of the Khmer Rouge, now elderly gentlemen, were sitting outside with some of their family members. They had written books and I got to sit next to them and I bought their book. I was a real honor.


My friends and I then went to another place which was one of the discovered killing fields where they dumped the bodies of victims. We saw human remains and learned more about the atrocities.


Lunch and some rest was in order next. After some rest, Oudom joined us and they took me to the river and we had a nice cruise on a river boat. We then visited the Phnom Penh Night Market and got some ice cream in a coconut bowl. Oudom asked the tuk tuk driver to drive through Diamond Island, a tourist attraction.

I had a wonderful time with my friends as my respect and love for the people grew.